Concept, Intentions and Construction
The development of the Don Michael Studio Brand
The development of the Don Michael Studio Brand
“Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the same horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his head away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men..."
― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
A personal and angelic look of power is the driving conceptuse to create the Don Michael Studio logo. Upon continued examination, I wantthe viewer to feel they are looking at a seal. Then, with more observation Iwant the viewer to feel a sense of care or love. My goal was to create a strong highcontrasting symbol of trust to sustain the viewer need for safety.
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I wanted to collectively bring together two decades of visualart experiences, my beliefs in design, symbolism, mystery and a littlemythology. In the beginning, I created my list of ten words and expressions pertainingto my business. These choices did nothave the visual strength in maintaining the attention of viewers. After severalredesigns, there remained two symbols which were used as the foundation for thelogo final design. The wings of Michael the Archangel resonates a strong connection tomy faith and the mannerism or method I want to use when I do business with myclients. After creating several renditionsof wings and sampling stroke thickness choices, I decided to use standardgeometry to sculpt the wing forms. The association of wings, birds and freedomspeaks to my experiences as a man growing up in the United States, with thesame trials and tribulations as other men. The freedoms we Americans have inour country and my opportunity to learn and grown emulates this symbolicallyfor me. There are also two main fluid forms – a human shape and a teardrop-- thatI want a link to the concept of blood, water or rivers that we cross over orcrosses that we bear and overcome. Hard work is part of the upbringing of Midwesternerslike myself so the phrase of ‘blood, sweat and tears’ relates directly to myvisual intention to portray a sense of being grounded. Then there is love. Whatis more powerful than the visual expression of love or the coupling of twopeople in love? I would like to think that some of these fluid forms would makeone feel a sense of comfort, so much so they would be reminded of their abilityto love another person.
I wanted to collectively bring together two decades of visualart experiences, my beliefs in design, symbolism, mystery and a littlemythology. In the beginning, I created my list of ten words and expressions pertainingto my business. These choices did nothave the visual strength in maintaining the attention of viewers. After severalredesigns, there remained two symbols which were used as the foundation for thelogo final design. The wings of Michael the Archangel resonates a strong connection tomy faith and the mannerism or method I want to use when I do business with myclients. After creating several renditionsof wings and sampling stroke thickness choices, I decided to use standardgeometry to sculpt the wing forms. The association of wings, birds and freedomspeaks to my experiences as a man growing up in the United States, with thesame trials and tribulations as other men. The freedoms we Americans have inour country and my opportunity to learn and grown emulates this symbolicallyfor me. There are also two main fluid forms – a human shape and a teardrop-- thatI want a link to the concept of blood, water or rivers that we cross over orcrosses that we bear and overcome. Hard work is part of the upbringing of Midwesternerslike myself so the phrase of ‘blood, sweat and tears’ relates directly to myvisual intention to portray a sense of being grounded. Then there is love. Whatis more powerful than the visual expression of love or the coupling of twopeople in love? I would like to think that some of these fluid forms would makeone feel a sense of comfort, so much so they would be reminded of their abilityto love another person.
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The physical structure of the Don Michael Studio logo isbased on geometric forms and symmetrical balancing of rhythmic and repeatedelements. The thick white stroke used throughoutbrings together the individual elements as they change and move your eyes backand forth in space and negative space as well. There was a concern regardingthe limits of scale reduction but the strokes have been calibrated to maintainthe design integrity for basic scaling down needs. Pantone Black is the color used and AdobeIllustrator was the program used to create this logo. The typeface chosen wasCentury Gothic. I resisted and thought long about this choice because of overuse of this font. However, I decided to use this instead of Futura or Gotham becauseCentury Gothic’s ‘C’ and ‘E’ have the same visual element variations of strokeend caps and shapes found in the logo. Clean and geometrically constructedletterforms were the reasons for my typographic choice.
The physical structure of the Don Michael Studio logo isbased on geometric forms and symmetrical balancing of rhythmic and repeatedelements. The thick white stroke used throughoutbrings together the individual elements as they change and move your eyes backand forth in space and negative space as well. There was a concern regardingthe limits of scale reduction but the strokes have been calibrated to maintainthe design integrity for basic scaling down needs. Pantone Black is the color used and AdobeIllustrator was the program used to create this logo. The typeface chosen wasCentury Gothic. I resisted and thought long about this choice because of overuse of this font. However, I decided to use this instead of Futura or Gotham becauseCentury Gothic’s ‘C’ and ‘E’ have the same visual element variations of strokeend caps and shapes found in the logo. Clean and geometrically constructedletterforms were the reasons for my typographic choice.
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