GRAPHIC DESIGNER JOSHUA JACOBS
Joseph Kosuth, a conceptual artist, once said that his goal was to define the line between art and reality. In reference to his artwork, this statement makes sense, but what can it mean on a larger scale? To me, it means determining where art stops being just art, and becomes part of our world. This is my ethos; I take my worldly knowledge and combine it with artistic history and trends to create an whole new experience for my clients, an experience which they can then pass on. I identify relevant aspects of my art and my reality and blend them to create a new being. It is my hope that you take this mindset with you in the coming pages, and that you come to understand this philosophy better through the work. Thank you, and enjoy!
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”
CONCEPT: DEFINING THE LINE BETWEEN
ART & REALITY” - JOSEPH KOSUTH | CONCEPTUAL ARTIST
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Client: Home Depot
[ BUILDING BETTER ]
Problem: Rebrand the company to bring it into a more modern visual era Solution: Going in to this project, I wanted to create a mark that really represented some of the core values of the company, a goal not achieved by the current HD branding. My solution is what I refer to affectionately as the ‘Paint’ logo; through this representation of the paint strip, I vied to illustrate how the Home Depot is a cornerstone for community; as a child, I always remember going to Home Depot with my father and having them help us with our various projects, and test groups felt that this new logo brought about mostly the same feelings with them.
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Original Home Depot Logo
Above: From the get-go, I wanted to capitalize on the core pillars of the company; what makes the Home Depot so great?
Below: based on my experiences with the company and their value statement, I concluded that the new logo should reflect the Home Depot’s community impact
THE
HOME DEPOT
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THE
HOME DEPOT
BUILDING BETTER, TOGETHER.
The final product of this mark does alot of things right. For starters, its shape, which resembles a paint strip, identifies one of the company’s key services. However, by morphing the squares into a simplified home, this logo also reflects some of the company’s core values: community and togetherness. Thusly, I decided to create a slogan to accompany the logo itself. “Building Better, Together” says alot for three words, but also capitalizes on all the key points that makes the Home Depot so great.
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Above: In my research, I concluded that many security company’s used edgy, scifi-esque symbols to represent themselves. As you can see, this idea inspired my process.
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Below: during the conceptual stage, I constantly referred back to the idea of using an eye. Its combination of intrigue and symmetry made it an idea symbol for this project.
Client: ADSEC Security LLC
[ SECURITY ESSENTIALS ]
Problem: Take an underdeveloped brand and reinvigorate it with a new mark, slogan, and visual identity. Solution: This project was all about bringing a company into modern times. I was contacted by the two gentlemen who run the LLC as advised by a professor, and they selected my design out of a handful of other submissions. Research into the marks of other security hardware providers showed that most were very modern and some almost sci-fi in nature, which I kept in mind in developing this piece. I developed the logotype to work in tandem with the mark itself, and all parties felt that the new mark was a significant improvement from the previous branding.
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I still do work for Adsec to this day, and the more I work with this mark the more I enjoy it. It has a symmetrical aspect which is visually pleasing, but at the same time its sharp edges and unique shape give off a very futuristic vibe. Overall, this has been my favorite project to date, and I’ve really enjoyed my time creating business cards, letter heads, and more for them.
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During the summer of 2013 I did a 13 week internship with the marketing department of a company called LocumTenens.com. LT is a medical placement job board; hospitals all over the world post positions when they need to temporarily fill a vacancy until a new full-time employee is hired. With the marketing department, I was given the opportunity to work on 50+ projects of all different sorts, but my greatest take away from it all was the internal branding I helped to develop for the company. I developed three unique sub-brands for the company; LocumTenens Technology, LocumTenens Path, and the LocumTenens Advisory Board. Each set of marks provided different challenges, and I will explore each of these trials and processes in detail in the following pages.
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[ A QUICK BLURB ]
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Client: LocumTenens.com Problem: Develop a brand for the technology division Solution: Working with the technology department, I strove to develop an identity that encompassed multiple aspects of their services. Since LocumTenens.com is a medical service provider, the mark I created reflects both the medical and technological aspects of the division by simplifying a stethoscope in a technical blueprint fashion. The LT Tech Manager, Bill Woodson, was quite pleased.
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[ TECHNOLOGY + MEDICINE ]
LT TECH
Above: The final draft of the LT Tech Logo. My goal was to create a marriage between medicine and technology through one unique symbol.
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Above: I struggled alot with this project, mainly because I was given express instructions to create a mark that could work both alongside the LT logotype and apart from it. Many drafts were tossed in the trash before we came to the final mark (below).
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Below: The final mark (skewed)
Client: Locumtenens.com Human Resources Problem: Develop a mark to represent the LocumTenens. com internal hiring process Solution: The LT Path project was difficult in that it doesn’t really represent a company or person, but a subset of the LocumTenens brand to emphasize importance of the internal hiring process. It had to work with the current LT brand while simultaneously meaning it’s own thing. With this in mind, I developed two versions of this mark; a standalone yellow mark and a combined logo using the LocumTenens. com company blue.
[ HIRING FROM WITHIN ]
I came into this project with a very different idea of what a sub-brand should look like. I would come to create this piece, which works alone but also with the LT mark, and it has grown on me over time. In the weeks it took for me to create the final product, I became quite attached to other concepts, but almost all of them turned out to be more intricate or too simplified to properly state the idea. This mark is a great balance of detail and simplification, and my colleagues agree that it reaches the goal of communicating the idea of the road ahead.
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Client: LocumTenens.com Problem: Create an identity to represent the board of corporate advisors for LocumTenens.com Solution: The Advisory Board project was difficult for me, as I was given little direction and was asked to create an abstract mark that evoked class. The final result, seen here, is currently in use on all Advisory Board materials; stamps, packaging, robes, and signage from the previous meeting of the board are just a few examples.
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[ HIGH-CLASS CLIENTELE ]
Above, Left: The finished product, a symbol which purveys elegance & style. This would come to be the most used of my logos; the board meets annually, and this is the mark used in all of the embroidery & novelties.
Below: Like in all good projects, we did not stop work after the first draft. My favorite mark featured an oversimplified version of the Caduceus, a symbol for medicine.
In the beginning of this process, I created many pieces that featured imagery related to medicine or advisory boards; shaking hands, the red cross, and more made it into my files. But the final product here taught me a final lesson. Sometimes, an abstract creation may in fact do better in representing an identity than any of its associated imagery. I have used this ideal in many of my personal projects since my time with LT, including the creation of my personal symbology.
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Above: The final draft you see here is one of 16 drafts previous. I struggled with the concept of typographical contrast throughout my time with it, but I came to finally understand what it means by the last draft.
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Below: The final construction was a behemoth of a piece, at almost 7 inches thick. However, the Plexiglas and screws were necessary to exude the desired effect.
Client: Audioslave (Band) Problem: Develop an art piece to be sold in the audioslave.com retail store Solution: The challenge here was to develop a work of art that incorporated the lyrics of Audioslave into a promotional piece to be sold on the Audioslave website. I chose to create a calendar, as it seemed to me to be a functional and relevant idea. Each month features typographic depictions of a different Audioslave song; these depictions, I hope, will invoke a similar experience to that of listening to the song depicted. The depictions are housed in a Plexiglas casing and are held together by screws and metal hinges, giving it an more industrial feel.
[ THE ORIGINAL FIRE ]
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c a l e n d a r
JANUARY
USE O H R U O Y IN y room
b m o o r for you there
O BE; I LONG T
E N STO (patien
tly)
I’ll wait
a e k Li
there I'll wait for you
alone
“LIKE A STONE” • AUDIOSLAVE • 2003
FEBRUARY
IN MY
HAND R E AT O R FROM MY C ME
E YOU GAV
LIFE LIVE! HOW TO
ME NOW SHOW
“SHOW ME HOW TO LIVE” • AUDIOSLAVE • 2003
MARCH MARCH
FI RE I dont
fly AROUND your
APRIL
anymore!
•
“MOTH” • REVELATIONS • 2006
! N O
GO
APRIL
! F L E S R U O Y E & SAV TAKE IT OUT on ME “COCHISE” • AUDIOSLAVE • 2003
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MAY MAY
r u yoself BE
can do is all that you
“BE YOURSELF” • OUT OF EXILE • 2005
JUNE
SET Going into shock the last thing that he said was
S I H T OFF!
“SET IT OFF” • AUDIOSLAVE • 2003
JULY JULY
T O N
I AM
blowing YOUR
WIND NG I N T H LIG I AM THE
“I AM THE HIGHWAY” • AUDIOSLAVE • 2003
AUGUST
Fire
the
orig
ina
l
RIOT ha
a
BU
TT
g o nned
HE
dieds
insid
“ORIGINAL FIRE” • REVELATIONS • 2006
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e mo
ves o
n.
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[ KICK OUT THE JAMS ]
Client: University of Tampa Student Productions Problem: Lack of campus knowledge of Party in the Park Solution: I developed this series of posters as a response to low campus knowledge of the concert or the process of ordering tickets. I conceived two posters; a stylish poster, advertising the concert date and location, and a second, more informational poster about the ticker ordering process. Over 2500 students attended the concert, despite a last minute location change.
Party in the Park Poster, Spring 2014
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Above: The poster created for the 2013 Party in the Park struggled to be successful due to a lack of a proper brand identity. A problem which would be solved in the subsequent year (see the next page).
Below: One of the toughest challenges in creating a poster like this is the amount of information required; how does one create a typographic piece featuring over 100 words?
I was in charge of marketing for Party in the Park for four years, however I was constantly plagued by an insurmountable problem; the logo was designed by someone else, and it was horrible. In fact, I recreated the posters seen on the previous pages to exclude the original logo. Finally, in April of 2104 I was asked to redesign the Party in the Park logo, the final piece of which can be seen below. I wanted to make a piece that said something about the event instead of a basic logotype; the abstract shapes in the background can be seen in my photograph from this past year’s
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event, and is a staple of the park itself. The speakers provide a stark contrast to the amorphous nature of the spires in their realism, and also say alot about the event itself. I also created a custom logotype specifically for the event, which can be seen on the adjacent page and poster. I wanted to make something modern and fun to represent the band itself, and though it was hardly used this year, it is my hope that I inspire future generations of marketers to create similar such marks.