project 2 research

our next project is creating an outdoor (billboard) campaign for a local business. developing a billboard can be challenging, because you have, like, 2-3 seconds to get your audience's attention. it makes no sense to bombard them with information. you want to design a piece with bold, simple imagery and brief copy. looking through some of my old communication arts and print mags, i found a few designs that inspire me.

to me, this billboard promoting children's literacy for the greater albuquerque chamber of commerce exemplifies what a good billboard should be. the message is simple. it's clever. it contains a call to action. 
(print, regional design annual 2004)

this example demonstrates how a series of billboards works together to communicate one message: that the milwaukee county zoo is near (and you should go). again, the primary copy is short (5 words). the imagery is clever. instead of animal portraits, the design implies animals' actions (the bites, the claw marks, the--um--defecation). it's humorous without being too complicated.
(print, regional design annual 2004)

these two designs aren't billboards; however, i wanted to include them because i think the bold imagery could work for billboard design. in the first example (which is actually a postcard series for the american center for design conference), the imagery is meant to convey "everyday 'living surfaces' and show them in micro-detail," in these cases, meat and grass. i think the simple imagery, coupled with a bold message, would work really well in billboard format. the second example is a poster for mtv, to commemorate the MTV2 seattle launch. the airplane illustration, which is composed of simple lines and 3-4 colors, would also work well in a billboard format.
(communication arts, design annual 2001)

sketches.

i'm going to start with this: designing a logo is HARD. you have to consider so many things. it should look good in black-and-white, it should take advantage of negative space, it should be able to be separated from the wordmark and still be instantly recognizable...i could go on forever. the thing i have the most trouble with is the cleverness aspect. here are a few rough sketches for project 1, a logo for an area nonprofit called Hands 4 Paws. they all seem to be lacking in one element or another, which is frustrating.