What a fitting way it is to get the ball rolling by introducing this blog's visual identity! This includes the logo, wordmark and other supporting graphics of the blog.
The Big Picture
There are 2 ways to describe this blog: 'bold' and 'elegant'. These are the principles I would follow to ensure that my blog looks as captivating as possible. The balance between boldness and elegance ensures that the blog does not look too edgy or Tumblr-like (not that these designs are bad, they are just not suitable for a branding blog).
Logo
My first idea was to use a label to represent the blog. It was the typical label silhouette with a B to represent branding. Labels usually carry the brand logo and is used to differentiate brand products from other brands (e.g. most bananas look the same, but their taste might be different so people depend on the sticker labels to decide). This was what I came up with:
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| Very 'meh' |
It looked quite mediocre to me; there was nothing about the logo which got me excited. Furthermore, many other countries have red and white on their flags, making this logo look versatile...Branding Japan/Indonesia anyone?
I started playing around with the bottom of the label by attempting to attach the Marina Bay skyline unto it. It did not work because the label looked torn. After several attempts to make the logo more Singaporean, I decided that the best way was to trace the silhouette of northern Singapore to resemble the bottom of the label.
Then I realised that the Internet might see this logo as discriminatory towards the Singaporeans living in the South. Furthermore, it might take a while for people to notice that the bottom of the label (which does not really look like a label already) is northern Singapore. I fixed it by tracing southern Singapore on another block.
The whole label idea was in the trash by now. In replacement of that, we now have a banner. The 2 blocks of the banner surrounding the country silhouette represent the act of 'collecting' brand identities to be featured on this blog, like how you would close a container to store its contents.
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| RIP Orchard, Marina Bay, Sentosa |
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| Still clueless about the silhouette? Here's an SG |
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| First draft to final logo |
Wordmark
To make the 'B' and 'SG' on the logo stand out, I needed a thick and bold font. Lot managed to achieve beautifully.
The wordmark was then created with the same font, with 'branding' in white and 'SG' in red.
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| Yes, the C is Pac-man. |
The wordmark was then created with the same font, with 'branding' in white and 'SG' in red.
Colour Palette
It was a no-brainer to use a red/white palette to represent Singapore. Baby blue was also added so that it contrasted the main colours used.
Secondary Marks (In Motion, Mascots)
The In Motion mark is as literal as it could get it – bold and easy to remember. All my other drafts looked too commercial and serious so I was quite satisfied with this as it did not scream "give me your money".
I laughed so hard at this Mascot idea when I first thought of it, but then I told myself that this would be memorable...so I did it. Turned out fine. I am even considering to make this little guy the blog's mascot. I am just going to see the reception first!
Final Thoughts
I want people to feel like they are in a museum when they come here. This is more than a blog; it is a curation of brand identities from 21st century Singapore. Future generations will look at these posts and label these identities as retro, throwback design stuff.I hope that 2017 be a good year for this blog, where the design community of Singapore can come together to celebrate our unique culture and appreciate greatness.
CONVERSATION