Graffiti Logo, Graphic Art

Art of the outside world. Istanbul Modern.

~~~

Process Notes

What could be more city than graffiti?

I was going for something that could be executed swiftly & fluidly.

My first iteration had the bottom of the V & the B coming together at a point. Then I started wondering if I was channeling the Warner Brothers logo. So I turned the B the other way. Then – perhaps the under the influence of cartoons – I saw the branches of the Vs as duck feet and could not unsee it.

Time for a redo.

I went through 37 iterations, although I do save versions early & often. I never know when I will want to go back a few steps. Contrary to my usual design habits, much of this was drawn by eye rather than onto a grid. I did use guides to line up points, thinking it might give an underlying structure.

Things I learned

A slightly shallower curve makes the ends pointy. In the past, this was an attribute that popped up randomly where I didn’t want it and then I had to figure out how to get rid of it or to live with it. This time, it was an element I wanted to keep and had to adjust the curves carefully to make sure I didn’t lose the points.

Which goes to show that different features have their place. This was the WB/duck foot version.

Pointy bit management also figured in the final design, There is the slightest bulge in the bottom left of the V. Turns out that a straight line made the bottom point go away. Conversely, getting a point on the middle bar of the B meant losing the shape of the middle interior space. I decided this was where a marker would be going one way and then reversing the other way, so a blunt end made sense. Apparently designs have internal narratives.

Inspiration

Current online class, UC Graham: From Istanbul to Cairo: The City in the Historical Novels of the Middle East. Was on hiatus, hence generalized city instead of Cairo or Istanbul.

Onwards!
Katherine