Logo design and reflection

 

Final logo design

Connotations:

The studio name is "K&K STUDIO", formed by me and my friend Tom who is also in media studies. Since we are good friends and played important roles on each other's project, I think he deserved more than a simple credit. That is why I decided to take our Vietnamese names' first letters to form "K&K STUDIO" which is an abbreviation of "KHOI AND KIEN STUDIO". Next is my choice of colors, red and blue resembles opposition or duality which is inspired based on how I and Tom have different approaches to Media Studies. I'm the blue K with less contrast which connotes a calm and methodical approach to film-making. Tom is the vibrant and high contrast red K since he has a much more unique and experimental style to his film-making approach. Red and blue are also very similar colors on the spectrum which symbolizes unity and synergy between us. The unique shape is the final key to completing this logo. The unique shape ties the two Ks together my tricking the eye into believing that the logo was made of two multi-colored shapes, one at the front and one behind. The sharp edges help the logo POP out more with a 3D illusion effect as well as make the logo look a lot sharper.

Design choices:

The logo is based on the name of the fictional studio name : "K&K STUDIO". I took inspiration from luxury brand's logo like Channel or Gucci which had two letters flipped and intersects each other, creating a unique and memorable shape. I chose the color scheme of red and blue which is based on their color theories. Red and blue are very similar in hue which allows the two color to still be distinguishable but at the same time establishes unity. Since the colors are similar in hue, I used very distinct values of dark and light to help the shape stands out. This is what the logo looks like in greyscale:

Greyscale version of the logo, high emphasis on values.

Design process and roadblocks:

Generally, I follow these steps to create my logo:

1. Concepting and sketching on paper

2. Pick the best option(s) and import into Illustrator

3. Draw the strokes of half the shape (since all of my designs are symmetrical)

4. Fill in the shapes

5. Remove the strokes

6. Fixing small errors

7. Copy, flip and place into position for the other side

8. Coloring

9. Other adjustments

This logo design has proven to have many difficulty in the creation process. First I sketch the logo concept on paper, I played around with different shapes and settled on this modern and intricate design. Later on when I was drawing the outlines, I ran into an issue with how strokes work in Illustrator. The shapes that I create wasn't based on the area inside the outline but actually eats into the strokes which for messed up my measurements. Second issue comes in when I was piecing my shapes together and found certain angles incorrectly measured which creates gaps in the overall shape which then needed to be tweaked manually. At the end I found out the colors on my logo is flat 

Original concept:

Reflections:

There are some points I needed to reflect on for the next time I make the logo. First is to do proper measurements on the top and bottom angles since when I first flipped the shape they do not fit together properly which introduces other issues. The next one is to use proper techniques when making complex shapes, the logo is made using my experience with other Adobe apps like Photoshop and some quick practice with the tools, further research and practice is needed to not leave any blemishes on the logo.