Week Nine| Susan Mihalick

Rationale

Project 3 | Logo in Stationery System

Design Strategy:

I hoped to convey a funky, creative and friendly identity with my logo. I knew I wanted to incorporate my initials of “SPAM” as both my visual and verbal in this design. My logo would ideally present me as a creative yet professional individual. I am an advertising major, so I also liked that I was almost treating myself and identity as a product, like “SPAM”.

Choice of typefaces:

I chose to use a serif, called Weidemann Std. for all my lettering. This font was chosen based on its universal readability and its style. I decided to kern or overlap the “a” and “m” letters in my logo, to mimic that of the actual SPAM product logo. The letters in “spam” are capitalized both because they are my initials and because it mirrors the letters on the product’s label. Hormel, the makers of SPAM, also used a serif typeface but one with more curves, and less modern styling.

Visuals:

My representation of a can of SPAM on my business card’s front was intentionally hand drawn looking. I wanted the visual to be bold but have a whimsical personality to it, so I decided to draw it out with the paintbrush tool in Illustrator. I gave it a cartoon-like, three dimensionality by adding the top of the can. This adds depth and interest to the image. I feel that this visual is youthful, creative and lighthearted. It conveys my personality well. My use of color was a key part of my design. I wanted to reference the color of the product, without completely copying it, and I also wanted to include a certain artistic flair. The use of primary colors in Pop art was an essential influence. I added a bit of a twist my using shades of the primaries, and used “CMYK” cyan, magenta, and yellow in the Adobe suite. I made the back of the business card a bit more professional, but still played with bright, saturated color and type. I decided to bold the “s” “p” “a” and “m” in my name, to reemphasize my initials and theme of SPAM. I also played with the theme of the can on both the envelope and stationery. The envelope’s address section is supposed to resemble the top of the can, while the stationery is framed by the profile of a stylized can. Again the saturated CMYK colors were repeated and reversed for readability and style.