Design for Dummies
Day 21
Results Ambiguous
Task 21: Create a logo
I did it. I created a logo — so I guess this was a success in a way. What the logo is meant for is another matter. Essentially, I have no idea. I started out with the objective of designing a logo for myself. I tried imagining myself as a brand and thought of how I would want that brand represented. I use my initials so often when signing (I’m too lazy to write out my whole name) that I thought that might be a good place to start. I got out my sketch book and the colored pencils and started doodling different versions of TEA. I did block letters, cursive letters, lowercase letters; I tried connecting all of the letters; I tried stretching the letters out… Finally, I did my initial/signature but instead of the letters running left to right I stacked them. Then I played around with it for a minute, colored in certain parts and decided to photograph it so I could touch it up in Photoshop. So there it is. Yeah, like I said, no idea what it’s for. It clearly bears no resemblance to TEA in any font (perhaps a lopsided i) but that’s what I came up with. Rather, that’s what I ended up with. I understand now why good graphic designers are so bloody expensive.
Of course, if I’d had Adobe Illustrator instead of just Photoshop I may have been able to come up with something that at least resembled my original intention. But I don’t and I wasn’t about to pay for it for this little experiment.
I poked around on Fiverr for awhile to see what you could find there for 5 bucks, just for comparison. Let’s just say you get what you pay for.
There’s also an interesting website that uses Artificial Intelligence to generate logos. Just enter a name, initials, etc. and the program will randomly generate a selection of logos. As you scroll through, you can click on the heart for the ones you like and the system will recognize the features of that selection and use it to refine further image options. I tried it first with my full name and then with just the TEA. It did come up with some interesting stuff, generally better than the logo without a purpose you see above. On the whole, however, they left something to be desired. And if it’s any indication of the state of artificial intelligence we can all relax; Skynet is a long way off. Both my full name and just my initials produced similar results, even when I chose a category for my “business.” For lack of a better option, I chose Arts & Culture as my category, yet the program thought it would be wise to give me an option that included a guy wearing a hospital mask and another with a bar graph. My favorite, however, is shown below. You’ll know it when you see it.
It’s still a fun site and worth checking out. You can also tweak the ones you like and download them for free. They ask if you’d care to “chip in” but it’s not required. For fledgling businesses it could be a handy resource. Check them out here.
And now I’m off for today’s task. I have a story I began writing years ago that several people really loved (yes, all of them friends. I do take my grain of salt). I probably haven’t looked at it in at least two years but a friend asked me about it the other day and I decided it might be fun to have another go at polishing it up. So I’m going to work, shooting for 1000 words but may trim that a bit if it all just turns to incoherent blathering.
It’s been a spectacular Saturday. Here’s to an equal Sunday. Cheers!
