(not me in the pic, but apparently, i’m not the only one…)
it really is the simple things in life, isn’t it?
i’m working on the design for the main templeasylum.org website, and part of that is developing the logo and icons.
logo development.
the great mystery.
only the great masters can do it.
NOT.
it only seems that way. now, it may be true that not everyone can develop truly great logo designs. but after finding some solid logo creators online who shared their development sketches and their process, i discovered
(once again)
that there’s not as much difference between me and the “great masters” as i thought. that’s not me being arrogant. just learning again that it isn’t so much my native talent or the quality of my ideas that makes the difference between me and those who are doing well in creative business.
it’s about who’s got the play-doh®!
er, just kidding.
success isn’t in the play-doh.
it’s in continued practice, hard work, experience, persistence, networking, and all that jazz.
however i made a fun discovery this week!
sketching with play-doh frees my brain (and hands) from certain limitations.
limitations of marking, erasing, re-drawing.
of 2-dimensionality.
of too-long-traveled ruts of thinking.
you have all the benefits of being able to move existing shapes around (as if on their very own layers in a design program!) to play with overlapping, negative spacial fun, stretching and squooshing (er, resizing, that is). delight!
it works especially well for logo design (as opposed to manga page layout) because good logos are simple. and consist of hopefully-clever visual puns incorporating just one or two letters.
so, hey.
play-doh is cheap.
next time you want to brainstorm logo creation, whip out the little plastic canister of hands-on creative inspiration.
and meanwhile, check out these top-notch logo-related sites:
- David Airey’s logodesignlove site
- Logopond.com (great for inspiration)
- 38one’s logolog (logo design blog)
i was especially inspired by seeing the development sketches behind airey’s personal logo and smashLAB’s sinkit logo.
seeing the sketches (and how similar they are to mine) was what really convinced me that logo greatness might yet be within my reach. ^_^
By no means would I call myself a master, but I appreciate your kind words. I’ve a lot to learn, that’s for sure, and I’ve no doubt that you have the capacity to be a great logo designer.
Practice, hard work, persistence… you mention a lot of great characteristics, and I’m glad you found something of interest on my blog.
All the best.
Oh, and your link from my name goes to LogoPond, not my website.
Ciao.
Thanks for catching that, David! (And my apologies for the mistake) Not sure how it happened, but it’s fixed. I pointed it at your new logodesignlove site. Beauty!