Logo Touch Up ~ a.k.a. Blogpost 112-3

A  P R O M P T

• How were you able to retouch up a logo from low resolution to making it a high resolution ready for print Vector File? You will eventually have to reproduce a logo in your design experience and the client will hand you a flyer or Ad. Then they will ask you to reproduce the ad with minor changes. Not too hard but then you open the files they gave you and note that the logo is really low resolution. Lastly, they confess they do not have a logo file. You will now have to redesign the file?How are you using these elements and principles to be successful with your own designs, give an example? 
• What were each of the applications uses, explain what you used Illustrator for and what you used Photoshop for? 
• Screenshot your files and drop them here on this post.

 For  our recent logo retouching project, I chose an older-era version of the United Airlines logo, circa 1960. There are a few websites that follow the logo history of various airlines, a topic I find fascinating. One resource I found is 1000logos.net  which has a page showing the United logo throughout time:

 

Looking online I could only find a lower-resolution file of the logo to adapt for colormating. First I put the file Photoshop and adjusted the levels a little bit. Then I put the file  Illustrator to do "live trace." This process makes the logo into a vector file that can be resized without loss of quality.  Luckily, the graphical nature of this United Airlines logo was fairly forgiving as it did not have too many detailed angles to try to replicate from a low-res file. Using the live trace feature for a 2-color graphic I was able to produce something decent looking, close to the original I saw online.

In the process, I made an interesting discovery showing a difference in working with the color picker in Illustrator vs. the color picker in Photoshop. 

This set of screenshots shows my process of color matching in Photoshop CS6:

 

 

This set of screenshots shows my process of color matching in Illustrator CS6:

 

 

 

 

The interesting discovery I made is that when using the color picker in Photoshop and Illustrator to try and match Pantone colors to the CMYK mix I got different results with either program. That surprised me since the whole process is digital. In this case I was choosing from the Pantone "Coated" Color Swatch library.

 

In Photoshop, the picker thought the closest Pantone Red was "Bright Red C" and closest Pantone Blue was "661 C":

 

 

PHOTOSHOP PICKER

 

 

 

In Illustrator, the picker thought the closest Pantone Red was "485 C" and closest Pantone Blue was "7687 C":

 

ILLUSTRATOR PICKER

Generally, a signature logo (like the one for United Airlines) would only have one set of Pantone colors as their "signature" colors. One might need to discuss with the client which colors they prefer. On my screen the Pantone colors I chose in Illustrator colors feel a better match in Pantone (Red: 485 c, Blue 7687 c) than the ones identified by Photoshop. As such, I would suggest to the client to use Pantone Red 485 and Pantone Blue 7687 in future logo-based projects.

 

Actually, I wish United Airlines was my client because I would tell them that it was really a shame that they eliminated their blue and red logo when they merged with Continental Airlines. From my perspective, the best logos from United Airlines were the versions from 1940 - 1961 or the "tulip" versions used from 1974 onwards until the Continental merger.

Prior to this class I have used "live trace" to borrow and adjust logos for some projects inspired by historical typography. Sometimes in order to have things look right you have to touch up an image in photoshop before putting it into illustrator for live trace, especially if it is something you have found off the internet which does not have a higher resolution to work with.

This image shows a newsletter header I created from grabbing an older newspaper graphic from an online archive in .pdf and did some adjustments in photoshop before putting it into illustrator for live trace: 

This shows the original source material from the online .pdf:

An ideal scenario is when you can scan the source material yourself and make a very high resolution high trace. 

Actually...that is my secret trick here. From the archive's .pdf the existing logo was not high-res enough to get a good live trace scan of the image to make it suitable for print. I physically printed out the .pdf and then did a very high resolution scan of the paper printout. From there I was able to make a live trace in Illustrator to get a working file that looked decent to then manipulate the logo for my project. This trick works best with one-color images or things with heavy line quality!

Elements and Principles of Design ~ a.k.a. Blogpost 112-2

 A  P R O M P T

• How are you using these elements and principles to be successful with your own designs, give an example? 
• Add an image that pertains to the elements and principles of design. Take a screenshot of an image from your computer and drag it onto your blog post. 

 

The blog article  What Makes Good Design? Basic Elements and Principles  points out the importance of considering line, shape, color and other elements. I've been working in graphic design for many years and in some ways I have absorbed these concepts and use them instinctually. But, taking a moment to break the design process into separate components can help give a fresh perspective on one's process and on the end result. 

 

I created this simple animated .gif to commemorate an exhibition debut. Choosing two bright primary colors (Red and Blue) and a flat graphic illustration sensibility helped make this design feel celebratory, simple and animated - the graphical element of a neon sign. This image would look very different in black and white and the circle shape helps it stand out. The animation was used in an email and as part of an Instagram post, for the Velaslavasay Panorama.

 

This screenshot shows some of the process work in Photoshop. The pattern is something I sourced online and altered and adjusted to fit the circle shape. I also used illustrator to bend the type to the circle and included both English and Chinese titles. I enjoy the "simplistic" type of animation one can make in a .gif file.

Introductions ~ a.k.a. Blogpost 112-1

A P R O M P T Describe who you are as an artist, designer, during COVD? What you are focusing onas an artist right now? What are your thoughts on blogging? Do you want to link people to other blog platforms on/or any other social media links? Share one artwork as a screenshot here that you are proud of.

The last several months have been an interesting time of hibernation. As before, I continue my work with the nonprofit museum I began in the year 2000 along with graphic design work at an electronics company. I've been putting more effort into situating my garage as a workspace and dipping into the practice of painting more. 

Two weekends ago I went with a few friends to paint in the park - this was quite enjoyable! For myself, time management and carving out space for creative work can be a challenge when there are no deadlines involved. In 2021, let's be dilligent on our creative work! 

ABOUT BLOGS

I would like to column justify the text in this blog but I do not know how to do that. There is always something new to learn! In the past (say 10 years ago) I was not so excited about blogging. But now, I consider this a much more preferable format than other types of social media i.e. Instagram, Facebook or others. The blog format encourages lengthier posts and more detailed information. Though I have not consulted it for some time, one blog that I thought was funny is "Unecessary Quotes Blog". It looks like this has stopped being updated but there are still some "real gems" in there. 

SHARING WORK

This is a painting I made over 20 years ago and was given to me recently because my parents are going through storage and finding lots of my old stuff. Holds up pretty well, don't you think?

I have been obsessed with color all my life and I realize my color sensibility is quite consistent over the years. I use similar color today as in this painting from a long while back.

Lunar New Year 2021 ~ a.k.a Getting to Know the Blog

Ring a Bell

Welcome 2021!