Brolithic Designs
Using creative freedoms and acquired knowledge, the objective of this academic assignment was to create a completely unique name and visual aesthetic for a fictitious design business. This was a great exercise in building a brand identity from the ground up.
The Process
Throughout the development of the composition, I stuck true to the core concept of creating a visually pleasing and consistent message. In the beginning, I gave a lot of time to think over and through the intricacies of my business name and message. I knew once chosen, it would be set in stone and using foresight to plan ahead would allow me greater potential than settling with the first name idea that came to mind. I settled on the abstract word amalgamation of “Brolithic Designs” and the rest of the design fell into place - one element after another.
The partnering message consisted of: “The stepping stone to your company’s visual branding”. This delivered a promise to the customer directly out of the gate of presenting a solid branding model, as well as highlighting the client base as those who are in need of branding, whether the company has been recently conceived or established for a time and in need of a refresh. Between the use of “Brolithic” and “stepping stone”, my collage needed to consist of visual elements and color assortment that would bridge the gap of this theme to convey the method of branding off of an idea; monoliths, lithospheres, rocks, and earth.
Image Composition
Throughout the development of the composition, I employed a variety of tools in order to deliver the final product. Cropping was heavily used on the monolith images to center them within the space of the polaroid and give the effect of them breaking the bounds; drop shadows completed this effect and added great contrast. The central circle was also the product of cropping down to size to form the foundation texture for the other three elements (polaroid, illustration, and text) to build upon.
Geometric Illustration
Shape building tools, the pen tool, and stroke effects created the linework weaving throughout the piece that guides the eye. The pen tool also had a major part in creating the minimal illustration to depict a slice of the earth’s sphere that anchors the top of the artboard. I made sure to create a color spectrum spanning the full range of my palette, utilized to represent shading in earth tones and gradients to bind the entire artboard together, sparingly placing the sharper blues to add emphasis where needed.
Typography
In the end, the boldness of the typeface coincided nicely with the stoic visage of the monoliths. Rather than being perfectly centered, I offset the text of the business name against the background circle to catch the eye, while balancing the space with other elements and fitting it within the side margins of the artboard; not too close, not too distant. The linework assists the movement by running counter-clockwise, trailing off the right hand side of the page as a subtle metaphor for moving forward and onward consistent with timelines and eras.