Blog Post 46 - Stage 2 - Completed Design: Logos

My finished design for Stage Two: On Disc Logo

As mentioned in Blog Post 39, the following posts will be in regards to the explanation of not only how, but more importantly why I went about designing the On Disc Label in the way that I did. For reference, my finished design is posted here. In a similar vein to that of the DVD Amaray Cover, these posts will be split into the following elements: Background; Border; Titles; Gene Hunt; Trio of Cars; Background Pattern; Logos; Information. The next element that will be discussed is that of the Logos.

Logos.

The use of Logos on the On Disc Label was always going to be something that was definitely going to be incorporated into the design, not only due to the specification stating that I had to create and "On Disc label with Logo" but also for that of logos of information too. With this in mind the following blog post will be split into four different sections in regards to the four different logos that have been used on the On Disc Label; Primary Production Logo; Secondary Production Logo; Age Certification Logo; DVD Video Logo. With this in mind, the first logo to be discussed is that of the Primary Production Logo.

Vectorised Logo with Image Trace Options

The Primary Production Logo was a logo that I wanted to incorporate into my design for the On Disc Logo, as this was a Logo that I used on the DVD Amaray Cover design too, so I wanted to promote the House Theme as to keep everything in keeping. Further details in regards to how I found this logo and edited to suit my needs can be found back in Blog Post 22 - DVD Information whereby there is a full explanation there. In the case of my On Disc Label, in order to include this in my design it was necessary for me to carry out a few alterations. Firstly, a new document was made in Illustrator, and then I was able to navigate to File -> Place and import the previously made logo into Illustrator. Once this was done, I decided that as the logo was current in bitmap format that it really would be best to convert it to a vectorised image. The reason being is that as Photoshop, where the Logo was previously made and edited, is a bitmap editing piece of software this meant that to gain the best results from the logo in Illustrator (a vectorised graphics editing piece of software) then converting to a vector image was the best route. With the logo now in place in Illustrator the I personally decided that the best route to vectorise this graphic was by using the Image Trace function, which I had previously used in the past to good effect. The default settings for this was a simple black and white logo, which was certainly not what I was looking for as it did not include any of the "Film Production" text which was obviously part of the design. So due to this I decided to use the 3 Colours Image Tracing option, which meant that three colours were kept in the vectorisation - in this case Red, Black and White. Having chose this, this meant that the colours were in the place, as well as the text and a vectorised graphic result. As previously mentioned, this Logo was sourced from online and adapted, and further details can be found in Blog Post 22 - DVD Information however I do believe that this was once a vectorised designed graphics hence the ease of converting from bitmap back to vector by using the Image Trace function. Now that I was happy with the vectorised graphic, this meant that I was ready to move it into my main design file DVDDiscCase. To do this, the Logo file was saved, and I reverted back to the DVD DiscCase file in Illustrator. I could then navigate to File -> Place and then I was able to import the vectorised logo into the DVDDiscCase file. Once this was done, by using the selection tool I was able to move and resize it to my location of choice. As per usual the Shift key was held down to ensure that the orientation of the image was not skewed and the aspect ratio was kept the same.

Secondary Production Logo

With the Primary Production Logo vectorised and in place, this meant that I was able to move onto the next logo which was the Secondary Production Logo. I decided to include a secondary production logo due to part of the specification of this stage of the assignment was not only to create the on disc label, but also a logo too. The Primary Production Logo mentioned above was something that I sourced and edited for the use in stage one of this assignment for the DVD Amaray Cover, however to keep with the House Theme/Style I wished to include that in this stage too. However, to adhere to the assignment specification I did want to create a specific logo for this stage of the assignment too. With this in mind, I decided to firstly do some research as to try and get some ideas of what sort of logo I could design and make, as I feel the research is something that usually helps me with a particular design task. After some time, I stumbled across the following website (http://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-create-a-retro-badgeemblem-style-logo)  that I found as I was looking to try and keep with a retro theme as well. This particular website was very good in that it gave a tutorial on how to make a Retro Badge/Emblem design and I decided that I was going to follow this tutorial to aid me in creating this logo which I could then use on my design. I think that it is worth pointing out that I did not follow the instructions exactly to the letter as I felt that I wanted to put my own personal touch on the design, although it was a very good source of inspiration. In regards to creating the logo it was actually rather simple, and following the helpful tips and tricks on the tutorial website helped too. In regards to making the logo, the first stage was in relation to creating a large circle using the Ellipse Tool, once again while holding down the ALT and Shift Key as this meant that it would be a true circle and also one that would be drawn out from the centre. Personally I feel that with the circle being drawn out from the centre this makes for a much easier design phase. Once a variety of different circles had been placed on top of each other, and their stroke and fill colours changed to suit the design (to create the impression of a ring), then this meant that a circle could be positioned in the centre of the ring in the middle of the design. Navigating to the Stroke settings this mean that a few changes could be made to create the dotted effect - namely the 4 Point  Weight, Round Cap, Bevel Joint, Dashed Line and 17 Point Gap. The reasons behind the choices for these settings were in regards to getting the above effect, the dashed line effect and spacing ensuring that the dots were spaced out, and the bevel joint and round cap ensuring that they were circular too. The next phase was in regards to the type around the top of the Logo, and for this another circle was draw and the fill and stroke set to clear - the reason being that I did not want the circle to be visible on the design as it was only being used as a place holder for the text. The type in this case was Type -> Type on a Path where I was able to use the aforementioned circle as a path for the text. The font that I chose was called "Market Deco", which another font that is available from standard and I sourced it from the Da Font website (http://www.dafont.com/market-deco.font) - personally I could not find a font in Illustrator that I liked the look of and suited the design so decided to expand my search to Da Font, which I had previously used in the past for Stage One of the assignment. In the end I chose Market Deco as it had a chunky appearance to it, and when the fill was set to white I felt that this worked well with the rest of the white circles and the design too. After this type on a path text had been completed, the final element was in regards to the large "M" motif in the middle of the logo, and I decided to put this "M" there as this was the first letter of the productions company name. Using the standard Type Tool, I decided to opt for the previously used Alien Encounters font that I used on the DVD Amaray Cover, as to keep in with the House Theme. One the font size was set to 92 Point (chosen to fill the circular area) I decided to change the appearance of the font ever so slightly. By selecting the stroke colour to Red and a fill colour to Black I felt that due to the nature of the design of the font it gave for a very retro effect with the Black lines running through the font. In small scale, this probably would not be very noticeable, however in a large scale (as can be done in a vectorised image) I felt that this effect was beneficial to the design and suited the rest of the 1980s retro style too. Now that I was happy with the vectorised graphic, this meant that I was ready to move it into my main design file DVDDiscCase. To do this, the Logo file was saved, and I reverted back to the DVD DiscCase file in Illustrator. I could then navigate to File -> Place and then I was able to import the vectorised logo into the DVDDiscCase file. Once this was done, by using the selection tool I was able to move and resize it to my location of choice. As per usual the Shift key was held down to ensure that the orientation of the image was not skewed and the aspect ratio was kept the same.

The next, and penultimate logo, that was going to feature on the On Disc Logo was that of the Age Certification Logo. On the previous stage of the assignment for the DVD Amaray Cover the age certification of the "15" Logo was used on the Spine and Front Cover of the cover, and further information in regards to the sourcing of the logo from the BBFC can be found in Blog Post 15 that details the sourcing of the logo. Having opened the logo into Illustrator using File -> Place I was then able to  move and resize it to my location of choice. As per usual the Shift key was held down to ensure that the orientation of the image was not skewed and the aspect ratio was kept the same.

The final Logo that I wished to add to my On Disc Label was that of the DVD Video Logo. Once again, this logo had been previously used by myself on the Front Cover of the DVD Amaray Cover. However in my case I decided to firstly import it into an Illustrator file so that I would be able to vectorise the graphic. As previously mentioned above, I decided that as the logo was currently in bitmap format that it really would be best to convert it to a vectorised image. The reason being is that as Photoshop, where the Logo was previously made and edited, is a bitmap editing piece of software this meant that to gain the best results from the logo in Illustrator (a vectorised graphics editing piece of software) then converting to a vector image was the best route. With the logo now in place in Illustrator the I personally decided that the best route to vectorise this graphic was by using the Image Trace function, which I had previously used in the past to good effect. Having used the Image Trace function I could then navigate to File -> Place and then I was able to import the vectorised logo into the DVDDiscCase file. Once this was done, by using the selection tool I was able to move and resize it to my location of choice. As per usual the Shift key was held down to ensure that the orientation of the image was not skewed and the aspect ratio was kept the same. 

Logo Placement

In regards to the overall design of the locations of the Logos, I decided to go against the standard expected "in a single line" design, and thought that I would slightly drop the centre two logos down a fraction. I did this and ensured that they were equally spaced as to keep the symmetrical theme of the design - overall, I was very happy with the positioning of the logos.

With all of the logos having been either creating or sourcing, this meant that I was now able to move onto the final stage of the design for the on disc label which was that of the Information.

Blog Post 45 - Stage 2 - Completed Design: Background Pattern

My finished design for Stage Two: On Disc Label

As mentioned in Blog Post 39, the following posts will be in regards to the explanation of not only how, but more importantly why I went about designing the On Disc Label in the way that I did. For reference, my finished design is posted here. In a similar vein to that of the DVD Amaray Cover, these posts will be split into the following elements: Background; Border; Titles; Gene Hunt; Trio of Cars; Background Pattern; Logos; Information. The next element that will be discussed is that of the Background Pattern.

Background Pattern

Having already added a Background (Blog Post 40) and a Border (Blog Post 41) to my on disc label the element of a background pattern was admittedly something that I hadn't really considered in the design ideas that I set out in Blog Post 38. However, once the Trio of Cars had been added I thought that I would like to investigate that of a potential background pattern as to add just that little something to the design. My first thoughts for this was to include some graduated shapes to graduate from the edges and fade to the centre. With this in mind I decided to do some research into what would be the best route for the effect that I was looking to achieve, as this was something that I had not been taught and therefore was an untaught feature that I was looking to expand my knowledge of. 

Video Tutorial for Vector Sunburst

After researching Google I came across a link to some Video Tutorials which covered a whole host of different techniques for using Illustrator, however the one that caught my eye was called a Vector Sunburst tutorial. Upon watching this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBTasGzCNrQ) video, I knew that this was the pattern that I was going to try and include in my design. The very first stage, as per usual, was to create a New Layer called Pattern which was placed behind the Trio of Cars and Title layers so that the pattern would effectively sit behind these layers that would be on top. In regards to how I went about this, to start with the Ellipse Tool was used along with the Shift and Alt Key so that the circle that I was to draw was kept to a true circle with exact dimensions, and also so that it was drawn out from the centre. Once this was done then the stroke could be confirmed as Black, however then the fill was deselected as this was not something that was needed. As I would later find out, this was in regards to the stroke being used as the sunburst effect and not in relation to the fill colour at all. Once this was in order I could then navigate to the Appearance panel and click onto the Stroke Options, whereby I could then fine tune the options for the stroke that I wanted. In the video tutorial the weight was selected to be 200 point, however I personally found that this was far too large for my application and therefore I decided to decrease the weight to 123 point which was the size that I was looking for - to span the entire disc area. 

Stroke Options

After this was selected, the Dashed Line option was selected and this meant that the sunburst result would be split up and therefore not remain totally solid which was not the result that I was looking for at all. The next stage was in regards to the Dash size, and in the video this was set to 20 which resulted in a large amount of sun beams around the edged. Personally I thought that this was not the result I was looking for, and therefore I ended up with using a 77 point dash size which was resulted in five sunbursts which was exactly the type of look that I was aiming for.

Now that the sunburst was in place and also with the number of sunbeams that I was looking for, I decided that I wanted to take this another stage further in regards to the appearance. I was looking to keep the appearance of the black sunbursts, however navigating to the Gradient panel this meant that I was able to fine tune the gradient that I was looking for. Also, the gradient was set to the Type of Radial, as opposed to Liner, which meant that the effect would be from inside out as opposed to one direction (radial). In the end I opted for the custom gradient that I wanted for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I felt that I would like the full black areas to continue to the very edges of the disc, however a gradient to blank (and thus to the background colour of grey) was chosen to emulate the effect of promoting that of Gene in the middle of the disc cover. 

Gradient Options

Thinking about to my previous research that I carried out there in the previous DVD Amaray Cover's that had already been made for Ashes to Ashes there was the inclusion of typical 1980s patterns such as chequerboard patterns to the design, and I suppose that this is my sort of take on a pattern that links in with the era that the DVD would be closely linked too.

Once the gradient was fine tuned and tweaked to a level that I wanted, this meant that this element was complete and I could move onto the next element which is the Logos.