Case Study- Logo Design Challenge

Overview

The objective of this exercise was to get our creative juices flowing. This was quite different than any other exercises we had done before and therefore, challenged us in a new way. We also began the exercise with a short video from logo designer Aaron Draplin that gave us some inspiration.

Context and Challenge

Once again, this mini-project was proposed by Lexi our instructor. She gave us a bunch of sticky notes and instructed us to draw a logo for a fictional diner called Marlows. The catch was that we could only spend one minute on each drawing. So after a minute was up, we would remove the stick note and start a new one. The purpose of all of this was to get lots of ideas flowing and iterate on what worked while dismissing what didn’t work. It was meant to be very fast and overwhelming so one was forced to think quickly. Also, afterwards we would group up and pick the best logos that our peers had created and give feedback on what worked and what didn’t work. This was one of the first group exercises we did so our instructor Lexi was trying to get us used to working with others.

The Process and Insight

This project started out sort of rough for myself. I never fancied myself much of a drawer so I wasn’t really looking forward to this challenge. At first, my drawings were really bland and cookie cutter, but after about the 5th or 6th minute, I starting getting a little creative and really experimenting. I started coming up with some wacky looking logos and for every 2 or 3 bad logos, I would have a good one. I started to see the process even while I was in the midst of this challenge. I learned that one is meant to have a few bad designs in there so you can rule out what does and doesn’t work. After our 15 minutes or so was up, we grouped up in to groups of 3 and traded sticky notes and picked the best 3 out of the 15 or so the others had created. Also during this time, we gave each other feedback and chatted about how we really enjoyed the challenge. Based on what my peers selected, I started to understand the less is more approach to design. My simpler, clean and more elegant designs were the ones being selected, while my more elaborate and complex designs were being left out. This mentality would stick with me throughout the rest of the course.

The Results