What is it about these logos/wordmarks that make it recognizable to us? Is it the design itself or the millions of dollars spent marketing and ingraining the image into our minds? I can just imagine a designer putting in hundreds of hours, going through critique after critique and thinking of every psychological thought behind the design. Some of these designs are simply designed, whereas others have been meticulously illustrated/designed. Sometimes even just a portion of the logo is used and we still can envision the company or brand.

As an artist, aspiring to be a designer, I feel the need to vent sometimes about how little I get paid to create art. I was asked to illustrate a children's book for a friend-of-a-friend, the conversation went something like this. "So what are you charging to illustrate a 32 page children's book, full color with text, cover, and back cover included." my answer - "wow, that's a lot of work involved, probably would take me a good 6 months of full time work." his response - "I was thinking about $8 a page? Sound about right?" Me after picking up my jaw off the floor - "We're looking more at $12,000-15,000 for a 32 page, full color, all bells and whistles included." His response a day later - "That's way too much money." 

Yes, yes sir it is way too much money for someone who thinks that $8 a page is reasonable. {venting nearing end} Most people think that art is what people do for fun and don't realize that we have kids and families, rent or mortgage, car payments, etc. just like everyone else. If we want the world and the designs around us to be beautiful and well made, then the world needs to realize who we are and what we do for a living. {vent over}

I was going through Ipad apps for graphic designers and came across this app, and if you haven't heard of it then you should really check it out. You can draw out your own typeface, choosing between different starting fonts to draw from. This is more something to do in the spare time, but really helps to create a love for typography and the hard work that goes into creating a typeface. 

This week, like most of the class, I have been thinking about Wordmarks. What constitutes a good wordmark? I believe that whether simple, elegant, or witty...it has to have one thing, and that is effectiveness. Here is the Harry Potter wordmark, with the creepy typeface and the lightning bolt as the line in the "P". This design works perfectly for any of the Harry Potter products and makes me giddy thinking about what we can create in our careers.

This week I've thought a lot about the fact that our career path is vital for businesses, large and small. We are the creators, editors, and psycho-analyzers of the outcome of logos, designs, etc.. These two images are examples of proofing and sleeping on a design, as well as letting outside sources proof before finalizing. Innocent ideas can become dreadful designs without even knowing it. 

These are two of my favorite shows, Dexter and Game of Thrones. Look at the type that was made for these shows and you can see that they are very fitting for their certain genre/style. One is befitting of a King while the other is fits a likable serial killer. I love the idea of creating my own version of type for a certain product. Now everywhere I look I see type and understand more of why we will always be able to find a job.  (if i didn't write this then "job" would have been an orphan. lol)

I watched a lot of college football this weekend. At some point I realized that, for the most part, the name on the back of the jersey is a sans serif, not the case for Texas A&M. Yes, most people know of Johnny Manziel and his loss to #1 ranked Alabama, but how many could really tell that his name has block serifs? 

I am no longer "ignorantly bliss" to the world of typography and graphic design. Thanks...  NOT!  :)