02 VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE
02 VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE
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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ��
CONCEPTING
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Our Past Identity
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Keywords
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Primary Sketches
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Primary Distillation
CHAPTER ��
REFINEMENT
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Secondary Sketches
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Secondary Distillation
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CHAPTER ��
FINALIZATION
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Tertiary Sketches
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Tertiary Distillation
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Fine-Tuning
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Logo Competition
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CHAPTER ��
SOURCES
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CHAPTER ��
CONCEPTING With the new vision of our brand’s future in mind, it is time to move forward by beginning the initial phase of development for our brand’s new identity. It contains the core ideas which we feel compose our brand and sketches that correspond to each one of those ideas. The goal in this phase was to produce as much variety as possible in order to help us get one stop closer to a solution which fits well with our brand.
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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE
OUR PAST IDENTITY
Before making changes to our current logo’s appearance, it is highly important that we look at our identity in the past. By doing so, we can see what was previously working successfully and bring it into the new direction should we find an appropriate fit for it. We might also find something which catered to our brand’s core ideas which we might like to retain. The most recent iteration of our logo was designed by the advertising agency Amusement Park. Moving away from a techfocused look, they opted for something much more clean and simple, with more friendly and approachable typography. The central focus of the logo is the circle “o” icon which stands for the connections made between family and friends.
CONCEPTING
Memorex’s current logo, as redesigned by Amusement Park Inc.
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KEYWORDS
To create a logo harmonious with our brand’s soul, it is quite important to extract the essence which makes our soul what it is. The way we approached this was to create three keywords which best represented what we aspire to become in the future, and then create phrases to help us to visualize what those keywords mean. In order to create those keywords, we revisited the mission of our brand which could already have some keywords embedded within itself: Enhancing experiences to make them closely resemble or simulate real memories. We felt that the three keywords that best represented us were immersive, enhanced, and realistic. From these three concepts, we began the process of developing our new identity by sketching logos into three separate camps, each belonging to one of those particular concepts. During this phase, variety is key as we tried to explore as many solutions per camp as possible. With nothing too specific in mind at this point, we explored logos in different forms.
CONCEPTING
KEYWORD A
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IMMERSIVE
An experience in which a variety of information and stimuli completely surrounds a user.
KEYWORD B
ENHANCED
Technology that has been advanced, improved, as well as refined to become the modern standard.
KEYWORD C
REALISTIC
An experience which gives specific cues to a user making it seem as if it is reality.
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PRIMARY SKETCHES
A number of ideas within this camp revolve around stimuli from the outside converging into a central focal point, symbolizing the experience that the user might go through with our future products.
CONCEPTING
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KEYWORD / IMMERSIVE
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KEYWORD / IMMERSIVE
CONCEPTING
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KEYWORD / IMMERSIVE
CONCEPTING
The idea of encapsulation seemed like it could be a very simple solution which could incorporate the “M� very easily, but due to its simplicity it might be an icon that has been done before.
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KEYWORD / IMMERSIVE
The convergence of sound waves is an excellent way to represent immersion, however it may be difficult to portray the waves in a simplified manner fit for a logo.
CONCEPTING
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KEYWORD / IMMERSIVE
Some of the more successful typographic solutions we came up with involved the concept of encapsulation, and we did so through the projection of specific parts of characters and circling them around the text.
CONCEPTING
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KEYWORD / ENHANCED
Many of the solutions we created in this camp display the concept of enhancement very literally—upward arrows or triangles, and plus signs showing positive movement. In this case, we tried to signify growth as a part of enhancement, meaning that our company has grown to a better position over the years.
CONCEPTING
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KEYWORD / ENHANCED
CONCEPTING
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KEYWORD / ENHANCED
CONCEPTING
Another way we tried to show enhancement was through the means of scientific icons, however many of these came out to be everyday icons which we see in other places.
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KEYWORD / REALISTIC
One way we tried to show this concept of realism was by dividing real from virtual. In this case, we have the solid area symbolizing the real space, and the dashed area symbolizing the virtual space.
CONCEPTING
In this icon, we created the “M” out of negative space by using as little positive space as possible. Although the “M” is clearly shown, it is not actually there because of the illusion created by the objects around it.
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PRIMARY DISTILLATION IMMERSIVE
ENHANCED
REALISTIC
CONCEPTING
From this point, we have a good understanding of each of the three concepts and how they might look visually. We can narrow down the selection by eliminating the weakest of the three, and we felt that the enhanced concept was not quite as successful as the other two.
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CHAPTER ��
REFINEMENT This is the secondary phase of development for our brand’s new identity. After eliminating one of the concepts from our initial phase, we can move forward with more concentrated ideas in the remaining two concepts. Here, sketches are a little less divergent in new ideas as they explore variety within a particular idea we might have already produced before.
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SECONDARY SKETCHES
This visual representation of immersive deals with one object inside of another. We used a sphere inside of a cube for many of them to give differentiation between the shapes in order to display something in an immersive environment. Some of these icons, however, might look too scientific for what we are trying to achieve.
REFINEMENT
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KEYWORD / IMMERSIVE
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KEYWORD / IMMERSIVE
REFINEMENT
Most of these icons represent sound waves intersecting with one another; if one were to be in the middle of it, they would be surrounded with stimuli. We tried various shapes, round and square, but many of them look like they could be tribal patterns or possibly even religious marks.
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KEYWORD / IMMERSIVE
This idea was the simple capsulation of an M. The sharp points formed by the apices create a look which resembles electronic data waves. The example above is one of the more successful ones, whereas others look like simple sound waves and others even look like electrocardiograms used to measure heart activity.
REFINEMENT
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KEYWORD / IMMERSIVE
These icons are based on the idea of an event horizon, where two worlds are connected and the exit to one world leads to another. Although the idea was a good one, many of these turned out to look like something that could be found in a science textbook, so we decided not to go with this direction.
REFINEMENT
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KEYWORD / IMMERSIVE
This was one of our most successful typographic solutions for the immersive concept. The orbital swoosh which extends from the X is a nice touch, however, this technique or idea might seem dated; it would have been a great solution years ago, but not for today’s day and age in design. Furthermore, this type of orbital circle was something present in one of the previous Memorex logos, so we decided to move forward from this.
REFINEMENT
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KEYWORD / REALISTIC
REFINEMENT
The negative spaced M was one of the successful icons in the realistic group from our last round of sketches. It seemed to work well with sans-serif typefaces, but no so well with serifs. The example with serifs look more fashion-oriented, whereas the simplicity of the geometry created by a sans-serif M look more like the style we might be trying to achieve.
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KEYWORD / REALISTIC
REFINEMENT
The concepts from this set of icons in particular were the ones we felt were the most successful in conveying the concept of our soul. The half and half visualization of reality and simulation comes off quite clearly in many of these icons. Unfortunately, some the unsuccessful ones are ones that are not shaped like an M. The reason why is because some of the shapes when placed next to each other create an effect which looks more like a shadow rather than a separate half. Furthermore, some of the icons we tried to use to represent this concept, such a bridge (as in bridging the two worlds
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together), are not very clear. Fortunately, the M character is already balanced and symmetric to begin with, and we believe that there lies great potential in a number of these ideas.
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SECONDARY DISTILLATION At the end of the second round of sketches, it is once again time to eliminate the weaker set and move forward with the one which has more conceptual and visual potential. Although the immersive set has some ideas which could work, they do not carry our message as much as the realistic camp does.
IMMERSIVE
REFINEMENT
REALISTIC
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CHAPTER ��
FINALIZATION We have narrowed it down to a singular idea in this final phase of development. While there is still some exploration in this phase, it is highly concentrated on that particular idea. Once we are done exploring, we can finally settle down on one logo which will be chosen to represent our brand.
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TERTIARY SKETCHES
FINALIZATION
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KEYWORD / REALISTIC
At this point, we have only one direction—the concept of being realistic. We decided to move forward with the half real, half virtual idea in these sketches and tried to represent them in various ways. We also decided not to use any icons other than the letter M, because the concept might get lost from the use of a different shape. It does work well to use the M, however, due to its symmetrical nature.
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KEYWORD / REALISTIC
Logos like the ones above are ones which clearly display our brand’s soul, where something that seems real is just like the real thing. Although the M with positive space might be quite literal, we are gravitating towards the hidden M in the negative space.
FINALIZATION
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TERTIARY DISTILLATION
FINALIZATION
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KEYWORD / REALISTIC
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KEYWORD / REALISTIC
FINALIZATION
Although some of the logos to the left are some of the ones we like, the logo variation which we decided to pursue further and bring into the finalization process which clearly creates the distinction between reality and simulation. It also displays the initial letter of our company without doing so literally.
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FINE-TUNING
VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE
FINALIZATION
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ICON
The finalized “M” icon selected to be the face of our brand—the left half representing reality and the right portion representing simulation. We decided to use vertical strokes rather than horizontal because since the horizontal versions have the lines touching, it might be problematic when creating a two-toned color scheme for the logo.
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WORDMARK
VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE
FINALIZATION
The finalized wordmark chosen to represent us, with subtle changes to match the angles of the icon. The missing segments also give a hint to the concept of memory.
MEMOREX
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ICON & WORDMARK LOCKUPS
With a clear concept and idea in mind, the logo has now been finalized. This process included more iterations with less variety as we fine tuned the look and feel of the logo. In this case, finding the right balance between the amount of strokes and gaps as well as the size of them was the biggest challenge in creating the icon. We found that having a bigger size of stroke compared to gap created a more balanced visual effect when comparing it to the left solid half.  The wordmark to accompany the icon must share some specific characteristics which the icon has. For the wordmark we have chosen, we decided to use DTL Nobel, a geometric sans-serif typeface, to provide our company with a fresh and modern look and feel, while still adhering to the geometry of our
icon. Furthermore, the M matches the style of the M created by the negative space of the icon, so it made sense to use this as the typeface for our wordmark.
FINALIZATION
Vertical logo lockup.
Horizontal logo lockup.
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LOGO COMPETITORS
Before moving forward with our design, it is critical to perform some visual research of other logos in the market to make sure that what we have has not already been done before. So many logos have been created in the past, and it can be difficult to make something completely original. However, depending on the core ideas of the brand, as well as what services or products they provide in a given sector, the meaning of a similar logo can differ from one company to another. It is still important, though, to be aware of similar logos and how they differentiate from our own design.
FINALIZATION
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IBM / COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY The M in this logo shares the same lines/stripes which make up the right portion of our new logo, although the entire logo shares that characteristic.
MOTOROLA / TELECOMMUNICATIONS The M in this logo is created by two shapes which as symmetrical in nature, but the shapes resemble arrows and are bound by a circular enclosure.
MASH CREATIVE / DESIGN STUDIO The shape of the logo is very similar to our design, but rotated ninety degrees. It also shares the same kind of line style, although this logo has it through its entirety.
HERMAN MILLER / FURNITURE The overall shape is quite similar to our logo, however this one is much more organic and is also bound by a circular enclosure.
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FORMULA � / AUTO RACING This logo uses negative space to shape a character, as well as half of the logo using lines, however those lines represent speed.
MOTION AUTHORS / ANIMATION The same core shape as our logo, but these transparent shapes represent lights as opposed to reality. In addition, both sides are solid whereas ours is only half solid.
MICHAEL STRAHAN / SPORTSCASTER An M logo which fills in some of the negative space to show a minimal shape. The inner shape is similar to ours, however in this case that particular shape is negative space, whereas ours is positive space.
MILTON PARK / ADMINISTRATION An M made of the negative space formed by three triangles. A similar concept like ours, but ours uses a differently styled M shape.
FINALIZATION
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MAJESTIC / REAL ESTATE This shape very closely resembles the logo we created, however, this logo has some curvatures which accent the points on each corners. Furthermore, this logo is completely solid whereas ours is only half solid.
MATA ATLANTICA / TRAVEL This logo uses two triangles to create an M shape, just as ours does. However, this logo is using equilateral triangles whereas ours uses right triangles.
MATHIEU DECOENE / PERSONAL IDENTITY An M logo created by two arrow-like shapes. Although it creates the same letter as our logo, this uses positive space and also has more acute angles.
R. MULLER & CIE / TEXTILES The inner shape of this logo resembles the inner shape of our logo, but this one is bound by a diamond shape.
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MITCH SHEPHARD / PERSONAL IDENTITY This logo has the same shape and half and half style as ours, but one is solid and the other is just outlined whereas our second half is striped.
THE MELLIER / LUXURY RESIDENCE This logo has a similar shape to ours, but the extra embellishments are the things that differentiate it from ours. Also, the shapes are made from thin strokes whereas our shapes are solids.
M� / PERSONAL IDENTITY This logo has the same half and half concept as ours, but this uses positive space rather than negative space to create the M.
CLARKE MAGUIE NARKIS / LEGAL This logo is not that similar to our own, but its use of negative space to create the M is a similar technique which we employed in our own logo.
FINALIZATION
MELLBYE / ARCHITECTURE This logo uses negative space to make our eyes connect the positive space—our logo does not use this kind of technique at all.
MOFO / ARTS FESTIVAL This logo creates an M out of negative space as ours does, but unlike ours, it uses three-dimensional shadows to create the character.
JUPITER MOUNTAIN / MASSAGE & SPA This logo uses the two triangles to create the M to form a mountain, but our triangles symbolize something much different. In addition, this logo has a number of additional embellishments around it.
MIHAEL MIKLOSIC / PERSONAL IDENTITY This logo uses triangles to make an M as ours does, however this logo uses much more that just two triangles to achieve that.
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MOVING FORWARD
Now that we have thoroughly researched other logos in the market, we know that it is not one that has been done before. Although some might look similar, they differ both visually and conceptually. With a final version of our logo developed, and after performing competitor logo research, we are now able to begin using the logo for different applications. Before applying the logo to various deliverables, we must develop a set of rules for the logo and how it should be used. These rules serve as guide to ensure that the logo is displayed as we intended it to be—with clarity and legibility, as well as with the core ideas of our brand intact. These rules can be seen in our Visual Standards Guide.
CHAPTER ��
SOURCES
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PHOTO SOURCES PAGE
SOURCE WEBPAGE
04–05
http://img02.deviantart.net/0bfe/i/2012/015/8/2/futuristic_world_by_starlystock-d4mfxgq.jpg
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http://logonoid.com/images/memorex-logo.png
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http://backgrounds-free.com/highresolution/l_091.png
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http://www.graygeardesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/futuristic-wallpapers-backgrounds-futuristic-abstract-wallpaper1920x1080-android-photoshop-tutorial-designs-wallpapers-1920x1200-for-walls-iphone-pack-5.jpg
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http://bgfons.com/upload/light_texture2320.jpg
SOURCES
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design
Raymond Monsada
printing & binding
Chum’s Design & Print 582 Market St #100 San Francisco, CA 94104
course
Nature of Identity Fall 2015 Academy of Art University
instructor
Hunter Wimmer
All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of Memorex. A digital version of this Visual Development Guide book is available online at realisticmemories.com.