Brochure Final

Here is the final brochure for Creative Stag! 

Letterhead and Business Card Final Mock-up

 

After a few revisions I finally settled on a design that I like that fits the feel of the company for both the letterhead and the business card. I abandoned trying to do a hand drawn typeface because of time and opted for a typeface (FFF Tusj) that looks like it has been drawn. Because the typeface for the company name looks so "messy" I decided to balance it with Helvetica for the contact information. Helvetica will be the typeface that it used alongside FFF Tusj throughout the identity of Creative Stag.  

Creative Stag Business Card mock up

Front

Back

Not really happy with how this looks. It will be redone once I finally complete the typeface.

Creative Stag Letterhead mock up

Back

Front

  I honestly got behind on this project because I am doing a custom typeface that is taking forever to come up with a version that I like. The name of the business is Creative Stag and will be placed in the upper left corner of the letterhead once it's done, and maybe in between the horns on the back of the letterhead.

Corporate Identity Questionnaire: Creative Stag

Part 1:

1)   What is your business?

A graphic design firm. 

2)   Describe your business in one sentence

Creative Stag is a freelance design firm dedicated to creating high quality work that will exceed the expectations of its clientele. 

3)   Who is your target audience?

The target audience will be Florida businesses that are looking to create a unique branding solution their company. 

4)   Who are your competitors?

Grafx Designs, J2 Studios, and a few other local firms.

5)   What makes them better/worse than your product/service?

One of the advantages that these firms have is an already established clientele list, and multiple designers within the firm. After looking over a few examples of their work, however; I noticed that a lot the work (like most design now-a-days) is done in a style that, while beautiful currently, may not last stylistically more than a few years.  

6)   Do you currently have an identity?  (This is more for companies that are already established and you’re just revamping the logo/corporate identity.  If you have a new company or product, skip this question.)

Yes.

7)   (If your answer to #6 is no, skip this question)  What do you like about it and what don’t you like about it?

I like the color scheme and logo, and the overall feel of the identity, but I am still experimenting with a typeface that fits. 

Part 2:

1)   How do you want your image to be seen in two years?

Within two years I would like Creative Stag to be seen as one of the top freelance design firms servicing Central Florida.

2)   If your company was an animal, what animal would it be and why?

A stag. Mainly because it is already part of the brand. The stag was chosen because of the phrase "going stag" (when a single man attends a social gathering alone) but in the case the company being founded by one man.

3)   If your company/brand was a person, who would it be and why?

Alec Baldwin. He is charismatic, charming, funny, and witty.

4)   If your company/brand was an object, what would it be?

A bottle of Remy Martin Louis XIII, pure opulence.

5)   If your customer was a cartoon character, who would it be?

Professor Xavier, from the X-men. Professor X is a well educated,  very sophisticated, leader that can read your mind.

Lyrical Collage

"That's why we stick to your game plans and party lines
But at night we're conspiring by candle light." - Rise Against

   For my lyrical collage I chose to use a line from the song Satellite by Rise Against. The dissenter in the foreground stands on the White House lawn as a reminder to those in "power" that they will only maintain that position by working for the people. He also faces the crowd to remind the viewer that it is all of our responsibility to keep the government in check. I added a new flag to the top of the White House as well. The flag stands at half mass to represent the loss of once highly held American ideals, and is flown upside down which denotes a sense of distress.



Here are the links to the images that I used for this project:
http://www.forestwander.com/wp-content/original/2009_01/Spruce-knob-night-sky-1.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_Jh_A3f5pIcMBI7DgCBoVzSm5HVUMctv-syLAF_C06xUX-C1WMEuZ0r20_oIcvz_Q1e08CAdfdo1cFvfRhw0Cb4-n1pGyqw0ZugveR_PHudIg9jAMujxl4uFJNeqoekU8fkDS8rqoObf/s1600/DSC_9171.JPG

http://www.flagsbay.com/flag/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/american-flag-at-night.jpg


**The photo of the person was shot specifically for this project**

Custom Graphic: Big Bang Theory

  For this assignment I started out with an illustration of a popular photo that came out of the Vietnam War by Edward Adams (Saigon Execution). Using this photo as a reference I created the illustration with only the brush tool by using a tablet and adjusting the brush settings to give me the look that I wanted. I then created my own brushes by taking pictures of smoke and converting a few of the images into Photoshop brushes that were used for the smoke coming from the gun. For the stars I did a Google search for "stars", and after finding an image that I liked I brought it into Photoshop and converted it into a pattern that was masked to only show in the smoke. Hope you enjoy!

The final image:

The images used for this illustration:

Saigon Execution by Edward Adams

Jeff Chambless

Jeff Chambless

 

http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/files/2011/05/stars-nasa1.jpeg

 

Self-Insertion project

Alright so this isn't me but I asked if it would be ok to use this image since it fit the general idea for the assignment, so here you go. This was done for my sister to use for her family Christmas cards after she got upset over the pictures that were taken by a (cheap) portrait studio. It was a quick job because it was so close to Christmas but she was happy and that's all that matters ( I know best big brother/uncle ever).

The separate images:

The final images:

Complex Vector Illustration

Original photo:

My Illustration:

  I chose the word "delicate" as inspiration for this illustration, and when I think delicate I think of flowers. A quick google image search of flowers came up with a ton of choices but I really like the overall composition, and limited color palette of this particular image. Because I chose such a simplistic image I decide to make it as detailed as I could within the allotted time (if I had more time and a higer resolution reference image I could have made it look exact), so I chose to use the gradient mesh tool for the entire image. It took the better part of a day (I want to say about 9 hours) to get it to this point. Overall I'm pretty happy with how it came out but like I said with more time I would have made it a bit more realistic. 

Exquisite Corpse

Project 2 part 3: The Final Logo

    Every designer dreams of landing a client that will springboard their company into the limelight, and for me the client was Springfield billionaire Charles Montgomery Burns. I was contacted personally by Mr. Burns' assistant, Mr. Smithers, who informed me that I had been hand selected by Mr. Burns himself to design a logo for his new fragrance line. Honored to work for such a prestigious client I accepted the offer (as if I had a choice) and began work immediately.  
 

The design brief:
   Design a logo to appear on both the packaging and the product for a new line of cologne by Charles Montgomery Burns. The logo needs reflect the personality and values of Mr. Burns while targeting other billionaires looking for an exclusive fragrance experience.

The Design:
   The design that was chosen by Mr. Burns consisted of two parts 1) a stylized silhouette of Mr. Burns' heads and 2) a elegant typeface which reads "Charles Montgomery Burns". While these logos were presented only in black and white to maintain their classic feel, they will be printed on the actual product in 24 karat gold leaf as shown in the product mockup.

The sketch: 

The finished logo:

The product mockup:

**The mock up for this project was done in Photoshop. Since I didn't not have cologne bottles without a label I had to take an image from the internet in order to create the mockup. I didn't take this picture here is the link to the original photograph: http://images.wisegeek.com/cologne-bottle.jpg

Calligramme

My calligramme was made using the lyrics from a song entitled "Edward Benz, 27 Times" by the band La Dispute placed inside the shape of a knife. The song is about an old man (Edward Benz) whose schizophrenic son stops taking his medication and ends up stabbing him 27 times.

Logo Sketches

  These are the 5 logos that I came up for the fragrance line by Charles Montgomery Burns. They are in order from my favorite to least favorite.

1)

This is a stylized contour line of Mr. Burns face. 

2)

The idea behind this would just be an elegant stylized monogram

3)

Mr. Burns signature is used for the logo in this design

4)

First of all please forgive how bad this sketch is but the idea would be to have a design based on the iconic pose of Mr. Burns' hands 

5)

This logo idea is a little more abstract but I think that it could still work well. The three circles make a triangle to represent a pyramid which symbolize ancient power (because Mr. Burns is old...get it?); however, these circles also reference the three age spots found on Mr. Burns balding head.

Project 2: Part 1 Company/product ideas

    I must admit that when I first tried to think of ideas for this project I got a little stressed out. Since the project was assigned I had all intentions of taking the whole thing completely serious and think of companies (or products) that would be viable as a real company/product. After a few hours of brainstorming that got me nowhere I took a break from the whole thing and decided to relax by watching some television. Eureka!!! Inspiration finally struck! Why not let television be my muse? Listed below are five ideas for  companies/products that were all inspired by characters from The Simpsons.

1) Charles Montgomery Burns - This would be a line of fragrances (like Tommy Hilfiger)  from the lovable evil millionaire. These colognes would be geared towards rich, heartless businessmen with scents such as: Excellent, and Eau de Money.

2) Springfield Skate Shop - In my imagination after Bart Simpson grows up he to opens a skate shop in Springfield.

3) Full Nelson Private Security - Here school bully Nelson puts his talents to good use by creating a private security company to protect the movers and shakers of Springfield.

4) Flanders Bar & Grill - After being raised by an ultra conservative father the Flanders boys decide to rebel and open up a bar & grill.

5) Millhouse Brewery - Years of rejection at the hand of Lisa Simpson lead Millhouse to the bottle, but out of this pain he finds his true passion. Millhouse opens up a microbrewery in the heart of Springfield that plans to overthrow Duff Beer.

Creative Logos

   One of my absolute favorite things in design is the creative interplay between positive and negative space in logo design. I have chosen five logos that creatively use positive and negative space well, some a little more subtly than others but all of them amazing nonetheless. I hope you enjoy these logos as much as I do. The logos are listed from least subtle to how did I miss that?!

5)

In this design for Illusion Studios the designer (Anthony Lane) used white in the negative space of the "S" to link both the foreground and background into one cohesive unit. 

4)

This logo for Z Films uses two strips of movie film to frame out a "z" in the negative space.

3)

The logo for Wine Searcher cleverly uses two forms to create what the company is all about. The glasses are easily recognizable but the green lines are also the contour lines of two wine bottles hidden in negative space.

2)

This one is so cool to me! The woman in the yoga pose in positive space frames the shape of Australia in negative space using the arm that is grabbing her lifted leg. 

1)

Ok, so I chose the Fedex logo as my favorite because I may be the only person who didn't notice the use of negative space after years of seeing the logo, but I'm sure some others have missed it too. Have you ever noticed the arrow that is formed by the "E" and the "X"? If you never have before it will probably be the first thing that you see from now on when you see the logo...at least it is for me.

Project 1: ASCII

The graphic that I did for this project was based off a painting (see below) that I did over the summer for my new place. For both the painting and this project I reference the movie 300 and based the look of the helmet on the one worn by King Leonidas. In this version I have "SPARTANS" written under the helmet and the number 31 (the year the college was founded) to make the graphic show a little more school spirit. Hope you like it!

Here is a detail shot of the painting that inspired the graphic:

This is the drawing for the project:

Work in progress:

This was by far the most time consuming portion of the entire project. To be honest the was a lot of trial and error in getting the quadratic curves and bezier curves the way that I liked them, but after all was said in done I am happy with the final helmet. The little details to try and give the helmet a little texture was actually the most annoying part of the whole thing...

Adding in the text:

The final result:

Here is the code for the final graphic: 

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grd.addColorStop(0, 'rgb(150,150,150)');

grd.addColorStop(.5, 'rgb(75,75,75)');

grd.addColorStop(1, 'rgb(190,190,190)');

context.fillStyle = grd;

context.fill();

//Helmet//

//left eye top triangle//

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context.moveTo(325,250);

context.lineTo(375,250);

context.lineTo(375,275);

context.lineTo(325,250);

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(0,0,0)';

context.fill();

context.stroke();

context.closePath();

//inside helmet path//

context.beginPath();

context.moveTo(375,330);

context.lineTo(330,330);

context.lineTo(330,490);

context.lineTo(425,425);

context.lineTo(425,400);

context.lineTo(700,462);

//straight lines//

context.lineTo(650,400);

context.lineTo(650,225);

context.lineTo(500,200);

context.lineTo(375,225);

context.lineTo(375,330);

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(0,0,0)';

context.fill();

context.stroke();

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//left eye bottom beveled edge//

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context.lineTo(325,325);

context.lineTo(325,500);

context.lineTo(330,490);

context.lineTo(330,330);

context.lineTo(375,330);

context.lineTo(375,325);

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(255,201,76)';

context.fill();

context.stroke();

context.closePath();

//line in left eye bottom beveled edge//

context.beginPath();

context.moveTo(325,325);

context.lineTo(330,330);

context.stroke();

//Hair in helmet//

context.beginPath();

context.moveTo(403,75);

context.quadraticCurveTo(390,30,350,5);

context.bezierCurveTo(450,5,685,50,692,226);

context.lineTo(403,75);

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(0,0,0)';

context.fill();

context.stroke();

//top portion of helmet//

context.beginPath();

context.moveTo(400,144);

context.lineTo(400,75);

context.bezierCurveTo(500,75,650,75,692,226);

context.lineTo(400,144);

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(255,201,76)';

context.fill();

context.closePath();

context.stroke();

//Helmet outside//

context.beginPath();

context.moveTo(325, 250);

context.bezierCurveTo(400, 50, 650, 50, 700, 250);

context.moveTo(700,250);

context.bezierCurveTo(710, 300, 710, 375, 687, 400);

context.quadraticCurveTo(675,425,700,462);

context.quadraticCurveTo(625,400,550,400);

context.lineTo(550,462);

context.lineTo(450,500);

context.lineTo(450,325);

context.lineTo(500,325);

context.lineTo(500,375);

context.lineTo(510,325);

context.lineTo(540,325);

context.lineTo(575,300);

context.lineTo(600,250);

context.lineTo(510,250);

context.lineTo(500,225);

context.lineTo(500,250);

context.lineTo(400,250);

context.moveTo(400,250);

context.quadraticCurveTo(390,300,400,350);

context.lineTo(375,375);

context.lineTo(369,350);

context.lineTo(375,330);

context.lineTo(375,250);

context.lineTo(325,250);

context.moveTo(375,330);

context.lineTo(375,375);

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(255,201,76)';

context.fill();

context.closePath();

context.stroke();

//helmet details//

context.beginPath();

context.arc(400, 200, 2, 0 , 2 * Math.PI, false);

context.stroke();

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(0,0,0)';

context.fill();

context.closePath();

context.beginPath();

context.arc(350, 225, 1, 0 , 2 * Math.PI, false);

context.stroke();

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(0,0,0)';

context.fill();

context.closePath();

context.beginPath();

context.arc(550, 150, 2, 0 , 2 * Math.PI, false);

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(0,0,0)'

context.fill();

context.closePath();

context.closePath();

context.beginPath();

context.arc(575, 200, 3, 0 , 2 * Math.PI, false);

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(0,0,0)'

context.fill();

context.closePath();

context.beginPath();

context.arc(615, 275, 1, 0 , 2 * Math.PI, false);

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(0,0,0)'

context.fill();

context.closePath();

context.beginPath();

context.arc(600, 300, 2, 0 , 2 * Math.PI, false);

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(0,0,0)'

context.fill();

context.closePath();

context.beginPath();

context.arc(675, 275, 2, 0 , 2 * Math.PI, false);

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(0,0,0)'

context.fill();

context.closePath();

context.beginPath();

context.arc(640,175, 2, 0 , 2 * Math.PI, false);

context.fillStyle = 'rgb(0,0,0)'

context.fill();

context.closePath();

context.moveTo(475,425)

context.lineTo(500,450)

context.lineWidth = .2;

context.stroke();

context.moveTo(460,375);

context.lineTo(525,440);

context.stroke();

context.moveTo(515,400);

context.lineTo(525,410);

context.stroke();

//helmet highlights//

context.beginPath();

context.arc(450,175, 50, 0 , 2 * Math.PI, false);

var grd=context.createRadialGradient(450, 175, 45, 450, 175, 5);

  grd.addColorStop(0, 'rgb(255,201,80)');

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  context.fill();

context.beginPath();

context.moveTo(415,90);

context.lineTo(415,120);

context.quadraticCurveTo(450,90,510,90);

context.quadraticCurveTo(450,80,415,90);

var grd = context.createLinearGradient(415, 100, 510, 100);

  grd.addColorStop(0, 'rgb(250,250,200)');

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context.fillStyle = grd

context.fill();

context.closePath();

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