Delorean Visual Development Guide by Zihua Chen

. 02

DELOREAN VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE

PART. i “Visual Research” THE ORIGINAL LOGO STUDY VISUALIZING THOUGHTS

05 07 10

PART. ii “Identity Development” AMBITIOUS PROGRESSIVE REVOLUTIONARY D I G I TA L I Z E

14 20 25 30

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART. i

VISUAL RESEARCH

. . .

THE ORIGINAL LOGO STUDY

VISUALIZING THOUGHTS

VISUAL RESEARCH

PART .i

DELOREAN DMC-12

“I got my 15 minutes of fame when I designed the logo for John DeLorean’s car company.” — Phil Gibon

VISUAL RESEARCH

PART .i

THE ORIGINAL OLDER VERSION OF DELOREAN MOTOR COMPANY

Before the innovative process of creating a new branding image for Delorean, it’s important to learn from the original picture that they have used for decades. There might have been some great inspirations from the old design to carry onto the next step. The DeLorean logo is deceptively simple. Found as brushed stainless steel letters on the front of the grille, the badge–the letters DMC, representing the DeLorean Motor Company–isn’t just a simple acronym like its oft-compared precursor, the red-letter GMC badge. It’s an example of what can be produced with clever font design that imitates geometric shapes. Although it was Detroit-born John Z. DeLorean who designed his dream car, it’s commonly recognized that he didn’t design the company’s logo. One source claims artist Phil Gibson designed it, while another claims it was done by Hector Gomez.

VISUAL RESEARCH

PART .i

LOGO STUDY TA K E A LO O K AT T H E COMPETITOR LOGO DESIGNS

After taking a deep look into the older Delorean Motor Company (DMC) branding design. Now we should move our sight onto the already existing logo designs in use. From these competitor/adjacent business designs, we might find inspirations or the demographic recognitions on certain concepts. As a designer, we simply have to figure out the symbol of a message and how our audiences resonate with these words.

VISUALIZING THOUGHTS A BRIEF MINDMAP

In order to reach out to as many ideas as possible, writing down key words is significant for a designer to record, take notes during the thinking process. I started with the three key words that represents the Delorean company the most and brand out to other possibilities that might link to those words.

PART. ii

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

AMBITIOUS .

PROGRESSIVE .

D I G I TA L I Z E .

FINALIZING

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

ROUND ONE

AMBITIOUS At the bottom of the Delorean brand, it is all about being ambitious in achievements. John Delorean had his ambition on his car industry, and I decide to inherite his spirit and apply to the logo mark.

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

ROUND TWO

PROGRESSIVE In order to encourage people to make achievements, it has to show a spirit of making progress. To become more progressive in life can help people to have more energy to get up from the couch and get to work.

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

ROUND THREE

REVOLUTIONARY John Delorean himself successfully founded and designed DMC based on his revolutionary spirit and he was brave enough to make breakthroughs in car manufacture industry. I consider this is one of the important trait that can help our demographic to achieve a better future.

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

DIGITALIZE TURNING DRAFT INTO DESIGN

After a wide range of exploration of possibilities on finding the right symbol for the new image of Delorean Motor Company, the next step come with turning those loose thoughts into a more solid form.

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

ROUND ONE

CONCRETIZE

First step I will be narrowing down which logo sketch has the most potention. Decisions will be made and many of them will be eliminated from the process. Only a few can remain and move on.

06 01

09 04

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

ROUND TWO

CONSOLIDATE

First step I will be narrowing down which logo sketch has the most potention. Decisions will be made and many of them will be eliminated from the process. Only a few can remain and move on.

A symbol of a leaping predator.

A symbol of direction pointing.

A mixture of both.

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

ROUND THREE

FINALIZE

In the last round of logo selection, there are three directions survived to the round before finalizing. The first direction is a symbol of a leaping predator, aiming for the prey and trying to catch something. It is the idealistic symbol of eager and ambition. The second direction falls under the category of pointing directions, which the right hand side represents moving forward. Combining the arrow with the first letter “D”, it becomes this solution that showcase a strong appearance of direction pointing. The last solution is a combination of the two above, whereas using only the negative space between the arrows as a predators head, it’s still a strong concept of moving forward.

LOGO MARK

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

LOGO DESIGN

LOGO ANATOMY The final logo is heavily influenced by the concept of being “progressive”. With the signature D letter of the brand and the “moving forward” arrow, the new logo represents the spirit of always making progress.

TYPOGRAPHY

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

TYPOGRAPHY

LOGO TYPOGRAPHY The Logo Typography is completely designed from ground and it carried some of the key elements that has been used in the logo mark.

PART .ii

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

COLOR PALETTE

PART .ii

TT ON

DISSECTED

1.5x

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

PART .ii

FULL VERSION

FINAL RENDER

DESIGNER

Zihua Chen

PRODUCTION

Blurb Binding & Print.

INSTRUCTOR

Wimmer Hunter

BOOK 2 VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE All Rights Reserved. No parts of this publication can be copied, stored in a system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission from Zihua Chen.