Winter Branding : BCS Dept. of Raw Power
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8520/8...b20d889e_c.jpg
I spoke with Eric at Winter this morning and he's happy to share the initial concepts that I produced for him. THIS LINK is a direct link to a zip file (about 9mb). You will notice that there are several PDF's and a subfolder titled "Winter Concepts". Within that folder includes several things: Some inspiration images to provide initial direction (I also have a very large clipping file of a lot of old ad art, catalogs etc along with many books I often reference - I believe I studied up heavily on my Taschen "All American Ad's of the 20's"), drawings from previous art that Eric provided, and then some drafts done by Eric when we went back and forth on some concepts where he physically drew his thoughts on paper. This was very helpful as I stated as I will often do this myself as things come together. The PDF's include 4 of the 5 rounds (I believe Round 3 only had 1 or 2 tweaks to something early on regarding some fine detail exploration). And of course, the final art labeled accordingly.
Start with the concepts folder, view pdf's in order and then view the final art pdf last so you can see the progression.
I've stated this elsewhere, but as I'm generating concepts, most times it starts as very simple pencil sketches that are scanned and then traced in Adobe Illustrator and then the line art is refined from there. Sometimes I'll even print out a set of letters or a logo and work over top of this using Graphics 360 (kind of a translucent sketch paper) or sketch directly onto the printout and then scan / import this back into Illustrator. That's if a particular form is just not resolving itself and I just need to get down to business. I know I did this a few times on that "W" in Winter's logo script. Getting that flourish just right was key to set up the flow - basically the whole logo script has the movement of that W's flourish. His original script was upright too, so I retained some of that look and feel in the new letter forms but pushed it further to give it that newness but also let it not completely deviate from the path he had already started. Starting with the basics (Pencil + Paper) allows you to quickly generate concepts without them being too precious. I feel as though this also really lets you feel out the forms too unlike sketching directly via a computer - I know if simulates it, but there's nothing like the drag of a nice sharp HB pencil on some rag! (That's just me)
Also of note: I knew from the start that his logo and icon (HT Badge) would be reproduced in a type of metal. Most likely a casting. I believe he settled on a pewter piece. So I knew it had to not be tonal, but simple black and white and something that can create some relief and set up the ability to include a patina to give it that relief. That is why much of his art is black and white to start so that when the badges were made, it gave some room for the artisans to add some relief and interpretation through their individual processes (I was a goldsmith, so I know the craft). But also via the design process, simple black and white allows us to concentrate on the forms rather than let color dictate our decisions.
Enjoy this exclusive look behind AND under the curtain.