After many false starts, I think we have something workable...
I’ve been working on a Valt logo for a while, with the idea that all of this making and thinking about making will eventually become my day job and not just my life’s work. I’ve taught my high school students how to design logos, but it’s easier said than done. You want something that illustrates the idea behind your business, and also merges text and image seamlessly. It needs to work well in color or black and white, small or large. I decided that I wanted mine to work as a window to showcase new designs as they arrive or to help delineate the sectors of our business. (i.e., clothing, stationary, etc…)
I found some info online about designing logos when I was teaching my class, but didn’t bookmark it. Coincidentally, I stopped by my favorite book store (Book Court) on Friday and picked up D.I.Y. Design It Yourself by Ellen Lupton. It was in the employee picks section and has a multitude of great design tips and ideas from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Turns out, as I was flipping through it, I found the same logo design info I had found online. Great resource for DIYers!
For the past few months this logo’s been my doodling occupation during whatever downtime I might have. I’ve been mostly playing with a sort of bubble lettering. Friday, I had the idea that I wanted the letters to butt up against each other, like stratas of rock and dirt on a fault line that shift with the fault is active. This really cemented the process for me and made it make sense. Now, any image that I wanted to put in the logo could be split and shifted to look like it was on a fault, emphasizing the play on words. I’m really happy with the initial results. The grassy stuff on top was a Photoshop brush accident turned happy.
It really does say a lot about me and my work. Always shifting, always changing, but with some core elements. I put in some black and white lines for starters to illustrate the concept and hope to refine it as needed.
