Branding Moodboard
I began my logo development by researching other brand logos and visuals and included my favourite in the above moodbaord. I was particularly interested in drawing inspiration from within educational, coding and environmental awareness spaces. However, I also branched out to look at any brands I found visually appealing, ranging from finance companies to mental health services. I found a lot of the above outcomes through Pentagram. I love the visual style of this branding studio in particular so I always find it to be a good starting place when looking for visual inspiration.
CodeArc initial sketches.
After having considered the general visual style I wanted to achieve with the brand, I moved to sketching. I can by considering how to incorporate characters taken from code, how I wanted the wordmark to appear, using straight lines, the inclusion of an arced line and the inclusion of a star/asterisk or flash to present the notion of the spark when the arc is first formed in welding.
CodeArc logo development- digital outcomes
When I felt I had got all my ideas out on paper, I moved to exploring digital outcomes. I began by focusing on a CA monogram and then experimented with the inclusion of an asterisk as a representation of the flash in welding within the monogram. From there, I began looking at the asterisks within angle brackets and finally under a curved bracket. I loved this outcome and decided to place it between the words “code” and “arc” really emphasising the meaning behind the word arc in the brand as the asterisk and arc above it reflect and weld (joining the two words together). This doubles as a great pictorial mark, and by moving away from the monogram outcome, I left room for the brand to expand and include other training topics, such as sales, an outcome I experimented with, as can be seen above. At this stage, I also attempted to customise my wordmark; however, the outcome was a little clunky and unevenly spaced, so I then moved to look at different typefaces.
First list of typefaces, displaying the CodeArc and links to type foundries.
Second list of typefaces, displaying the CodeArc and links to type foundries
I was particularly interested in how the asterisk appeared when considering different typefaces. I, therefore, worked my way through each of the type foundries linked to on Blackboard and typed the Code*Arc (with and without capital letters) to see how the letters and asterisk looked. I took screenshots of my favourites and included them, the name of the typeface and a link to the type foundry in the above lists. This was a great way for me to compare and contrast outcomes and allowed me to get some quick input from others. The top-ranking typefaces were N27, Ruder Plakat and Brockmann.
Taking these three typefaces, I moved back to Illustrator and began experimenting with final outcomes. The asterisk in N27 was my favourite; however, I wasn’t sold on the lettering, particularly if I were to double its use for headings also. I, therefore took the asterisk from N27 and paired it with Brockmann, the typeface I felt was most reflective of the visual style I wanted to achieve for my brand as an online learning platform. I was particularly drawn to Brockmann as a typeface due to its straight lines, round geometric lettering and sharp edges. When considering scale, I believe that the outcome remains clear and recognisable with this typeface and was therefore was happy to include it in the logo’s wordmark. Additionally, this worked well not only for the logo but also as a heading typeface, as shown to the right.
CodeArc brand colour experimentation.
I began exploring colours by drawing inspiration from my moodboard and focussed on colours such as purples, oranges, greens, blues and yellows. I was also interested in colour combinations as I felt that the right colour combination would be the difference in creating a really eye-catching outcome.
Image of welding used to inspire colour selection