Department Symbols

[Dr. Quinn]

Hey guys. This year I started a course in Graphic design. Here is the final results of an assignment I just finished. The brief required me to design symbols for three departments; Drawing, Photography and Colour Theory. I also was not allowed to use colour or text in my designs. Just in case it isn't too obvious the symbols are for Drawing a compass, Photography a camera on tripod, and for Colour Theory; Newtons light prism colour experiment. I've finished the project so won't be updating but feel free to hammer away with critism.

[s.ketch]

The photography logo reads incredibly well. I immediately understood "Camera and tripod" without thinking. I had no idea what drawing was until I read your post. It would look more like compass if you had put the pencil and needle detail on the legs. As for color theory, I felt it had something to do with beams of light but I didn't quite understand what until you said it. I wouldn't have put that round object at the top (presumably a light bulb) Just a beam of light entering and seven beams exiting. Sort of like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon cover only vertical. And the prism be a triangle.

You broke up the symmetry for the camera and it works well. Don't be afraid to do that. And adding more detail would help, like with the compass. The thick diagonal lines will generally read pretty well no matter what. So adding a little more complexity to the positive space shouldn't hurt.

[Dr. Quinn]

Thanks S.ketch. My course so far has put a lot of emphasis on designing with Unity so I was keen to try stick with the 2 compass legs, 3 tripod legs and 4 lines representing the light. Also for colour it seemed relevant to have 3 circles coming out for the primary colours. Colour theory was probably the hardest one to come up with ideas for; there isn't many objects that you can use as obvious symbols. Otherwise I totally agree with removing the light bulb and playing with the thickness of the lines, infact everytime I look at it now it looks worse to me, maybe I could have also tapered the legs to for better effect.