5. Logo Re-design

Logo is an essential element of a brand which plays an important role in brand communication (Chen, 2008). The distinct and unique logo contains profound meaning. Before Re-designing my logo, I have done three logo design.

Researches

• 1. YSL – Letters. The full name of the brand is Yves Saint Laurent. It is the name of the founder of the brand. The logo looks very simple, but full of many "revolutionary" design ideas. It makes three letters which are difficult to coordinate became an organic whole (Machado, Costa & Lencastre, 2011). So I think logo design should be concise. 

• 2. Chanel – Interlocking C’s. Chanel’s logo is designed by Coco Chanel herself in 1925 (Machado, Costa & Lencastre, 2011). The logo is inspired by a love story. Interlocking C’s is concise, elegant, and classic.

• 3. Paul Smith-Signature. The signature version of the logo looks simple, but it is unique. It comes from the hand of Paul Smith’ friend that is difficult to imitate and use.

The inspiration of my logo

Therefore, inspired by these brand logos, I intend to use the combination of my letters of name to design the logo which is unique for me. The shape is like a ‘heart’ and the color is pink, because I hope my design gives people a bright and warm feeling. The composition is very simple. Below are my sketch of my initial idea.

Old Logo

Re-design idea

The design process of my logo 

Step1: I drew a logo design sketch on paper.  Then, I put it in photoshop use horizontal type tool to edit my name letters respectively. The use of number of Move Tool and Free Transform is very frequent that make the position of the letters look more harmonious. Lastly, I think a simple monogram looks very ‘heavy’, so I use Polygonal Lasso Tool to cut a triangle out of the corner of letters.

Step2: I change my Logo design like a heart shape, so I adjust the angle of the letters through rotating. And I fill it with red and stroke it with 15px .

Step3: I use Brush Tool to make the letter looks smoother. It embodies the concept of stroke sharing. Letters will become an integral logo.

Step4: I use Path Selection Tool to make further consolidation of letters, and change the colour to pink.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the logo must be clear and concise, but must be recognizable. The art of the logo is also cannot be ignored that can be remembered by people. Then, the design should conform to the object's intuitive ability to accept, aesthetic consciousness, social psychology and taboos (Small, Jevons & Ewing, 2007). My logo design goes through a careful thinking for a long time. Next, the color of the logo should be pure and bold. Before designing the logo, I have learned some art form and technique. Because the logo design is equipped with some art rules, such as decoration and order, etc. Lastly, Logo design needs to experience a process of correction. I have made many changes for graphics and color, and it is an essential stage for a satisfying logo. 

Reflection

As far as I am concerned, logo design needs a comprehensive understanding about the enterprise the design elements. There are several designing principles should be attached importance. Firstly, do not use more than 3 kinds of color, the font must be clear and easy to recognize. Design a unique logo design and layout. Thinking independently, don't listen to other people’s ideas (Machado, Costa & Lencastre, 2011). Ensure the logo design at least can attract the attention of three people. Secondly, if possible to sign a square layout, avoid the layout is difficult to understand. Reasonable layout makes text supplement each other. Use special effects and clip art can make the logo looks ugly, such as italics, shadow, reflection and radiation (Small, Jevons & Ewing, 2007). Thirdly, I think logo should inspire courage and self-confident feeling, rather than a weakness and inflexible feeling. My logo is not perfect, but the first impression is more important. My new logo has minimalist design whitch is clearer and more unique than old logo.

References:

Chen, Z. W. (2008). Research on the new trend of logo design. Packaging Engineering. http://d.wanfangdata.com.cn/Periodical/bzgc200803036

Machado, J. C., Vacas‐De‐Carvalho, L., Costa, P., & Lencastre, P. (2011). Brand mergers: examining consumers' responses to name and logo design. Working Papers De Gestão, 21(6), 418-427. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/10610421211264900

Small, J., Pittard, N., Jevons, C., & Ewing, M. (2007). Aesthetic theory and logo design: examining consumer response to proportion across cultures. International Marketing Review, 24(4), 457-473. 10.1108/02651330710761026

4.Website improvements - Social Media

Research

• This week I started a lot of research on social medial, and I will compare the differences between them.

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4837/social-media【Accessed 18/10/2017】

•  In this research , I will do survey and comparison on Facebook, Twitter and Google+, because they represent today's more popular and practical Social medial, and there are a lot of similarities between them, for example, they can establish a circle of interpersonal relationship between people. Users can establish the circle through adding friends or following somebody, because they can search users to link to each other. And they can show their works in their own accounts.

https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/the-difference-between-facebook-twitter-linkedin-google-youtube-pinterest【Accessed 18/10/2017】

Facebook is a popular social networking software with a large number of users. Many designers would like to create a Facebook account, because they can publish their articles, works, videos as well as comments on Facebook. At the same time, they can extend their public relations circle and follow the users they interested in, and interacting with other users on this platform.

 

https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/the-difference-between-facebook-twitter-linkedin-google-youtube-pinterest【Accessed 18/10/2017】

However, Twitter is known for its fast-paced. Hence, in this social networking platform, users can post information, works, and reviews, browse the latest news, follow other users and communicate with them.

https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/the-difference-between-facebook-twitter-linkedin-google-youtube-pinterest【Accessed 18/10/2017】

Google+ is similar with Facebook. Users can post their blog and articles and express their views. They can also publish their own work and the process and details of the work. Therefore, many designers choose Google+ to display their ideas and works in a more diversification and all-around way.

• Then I investigate three different designers’ Google＋.

 https://plus.google.com/102407528040831558639

The first is Mike Lane, he is a product designer. He has 7489 followers and lots of Blog post. As you can see, his avatar and background is his photos. This will give other users a first impression. Then click on his profile, with a simple self-introduction, and he introduced his design style and philosophy. This enables other users learn more about him more quickly.

 https://plus.google.com/+MistyMcPadden

The second is Misty Belardo, she is an Illustrator. She has 11016 followers. She uses her own photo as avatar, but the difference is that her background is her illustrations. This is a good opportunity to display her Illustrator skills, which can leave a profound impression to other users. Although her profile is not particularly detailed, users can also learn about her design from her blog post.

                                                          https://plus.google.com/112025209852076779883

The third is Mike Rohde, he is a user experience designer and book Illustrator. He has 3751 followers. His blog post sharing many of his designs and work experience. His avatar is also personal photos, but he has no design on home page background and does not have much introduction.

• Google+ is the main social media that I want to show, because it can create group study circle more quickly, and I can share my articles and my study process, such as my own design ideas, concepts and digital works, more conveniently. So I'm going to further improve it, my plans are:

• 1. I will add self-introduction on my home page.
• 2. I will share my post from my blog.

So first, I entered the "modify profile" page, and then add self-introduction in this page.

Then I modified the "settings" page to set my Blog article as open.

This is my Google+ after the completion of the home page. My personal information is more complete than before, so users who viewed this page will know me more quickly, and they can view my work that I share in my blog post.

To summarize,Social media gives designers a wonderful platform to show themselves, especially Google+. In the process of designing my own Google+, I found its design is very quick and easy, and you can create and join interest groups and study groups, you can increase your personal insight. And the design of your own personal home page is very simple, designers can design their own home page according to their interests and preferences with freedom and share their blog post to other users. I also designed a personal home page according to my research, retaining personal style and enriching my personal information.

Reflection

On the home page design of Google+ , I added my personal information, and shared more blog posts. It make my page looks more professional. Other users can learn more about my ideas and designs.

3.Website improvements - Infographics

Infographics

I researched some different Infographic fashion CV

(https://www.behance.net/gallery/31218541/Curriculum-vitae) 

I find this infographic inspiration because it has the following features:

·Reasonable layout

·Clear & well organized

·The perfect combination of line and icons

·The collocation of words and diagrams is reasonable

According to the features of this CV, I learned that try to layout the image reasonably to save a part of the space of the page in order to avoid too many text message. At the same time, the use of line will make the page looks clean and tidy which is also easy to read.

                                                 

(https://trocatrocafashion.com.br/2014/07/30/curriculos-criativos-como-fazer-o-seu/)

I find this infographic inspiration because it has the following features:

·The bright orange easier to attract the attention of readers

·The change of the font is helpful to highlight the key information

·The use of icons helps easier to get the information

·The photo is comic style that has great personality

As a result of looking at this fashion infographic CV, I think the collocation of color is very important, especially some more bright colors. Although it has the role of eye-catching, it needs further study and improvement. Then, the font size should consider the size of the module.

(https://www.facebook.com/dtqmi) 

I find this infographic inspiration because it has the following features:

·Sense of design & Professional

·The application of triangles and circles is appropriate

·Graphics segmentation principle

·The color is single, but concise

There are many elements and techniques in designing the infographic CV whcih are very professional. The perfect collocation of three color: black, white and ash makes the page look very layered. Contrast represents a kind of attraction, the stronger the contrast, the more attractive. In addtion,the segmentation and overlap of various shapes increse sense of design.

(http://littlemad.fr)

I find this infographic inspiration because it has the following features:

·Dark background makes the page look more flexible

·The distinction between modules make readers easily capture the key information

·The use of timeline and mark makes the information is very clear

·The content is rich and comprehensive

·Color collocation is reasonable

This infographic CV is different from several CV we mentioned above, it has better readability which gives a more comprehensive understanding about designer. At the same time, it quantifys the designer's experience and compentencies. So I think the CV should not only focus on reasonable layout, but give attention to integrity of information.

Pictochart.com 

Canva.com

Firstly, I choose pictochart.com to make my Infographic fashion CV, because there are many template on the website, and the design is also very delicate and concise. I chose the template in the red circle below for its brisk style with a sense of design.

Then you will see that I opened a larger version of the template. It needs to upload my own photos, and I replace the picture in the red circle. The method I use is direct shear off the original image, and put my upload photos in the same place again by using the mouse to adjust into the appropriate size

Next, I need to write a simple introduction, with one or two sentences. I directly delete the original text and replace it with my introduction. Use text editing tools to change the font to 27 Trebuchet MS.

At the same time, I also use text editing tools to change my name to the size of 64 Trebuchet MS fonts. Because the name is beside the photos, so I chose the larger font. And in the design of the whole CV, the font can't more than three in order to ensure the compliance of each section.

Then the next step is I continue to use text editing tools to edit my "The skills". Because of different plates, for a small distinction, I chose the Montserrat and 22 fonts. A few small font changes are beneficial to make the whole layout of the page looks not very monotonous.

As for “ The Education”,  I also chose to use Montserrat font. There is some distinction about colour and font size of the date and content. The subtitle and date is white font with the size of 34. The content is 28 font with black gray colour.

Afterwards, I edit my personal contact information in the "Contact" section. It includes personal web pages, E-mail and Instagram. And I find the Icon of Ins in the search box of Graphics, but I think it is not so necessary, so I deleted it.

Furthermore, I edit the hobbies plate and add some my own interests, but since I found out that the design of the plate color is not very professional, and it is not very useful, so I delete it.

At the same time, I also found my photo is not professional and not formal, and I took a photo of a more formal do the replacement. I edited the size of image, and change the position of personal profile. In addition, I put it to the right side of the photo.

At last, I've done the whole modification to Infographic fashion CV. I changed the background colour to white. And most of the colour of font, I changed it to pink which is more appropriate for my personal web page. Due to there are many applications of pink elements in my personal web page and logo, and my CV will also be put on my website. Therefore, in order to provide users with better visual experience and maintain the consistency with website, I have changed its overall style.

This is the finial effect of my CV. It reflects my design style is concise and easy to read.

                                      

Finally, I removed the contact part because it duplicates the content with the contact page in my page. I also re-white my introduction，meanwhile I avoid using abbreviations.

Conclusion

The CV design process needs to continuously explore, and reference the design of template is the most basic which can bring me a lot of inspiration. Although there are many different styles of the resume, it is believe that a good CV should have the following characteristics. First of all, the information is concise and comprehensive. A post may receive dozens or even hundreds of CV led to HR has quite limited time to check the CV. Therefore, it is recommended that the CV should be simple and powerful. Then, highlight the key points and strengthen the advantage. If there are no clear goals in a CV, then it will be eliminated directly. Highlight personal advantages which are related with the target position is also very important, including the professional skills, quality and experience by virtue of cases. Thirdly, the format is convenient to read. Some websites have provided many CV templates, but they just play a reference role. After all, each person's situation is different, and the template may not be suitable for everyone. Therefore, it is suggested that job seekers should reasonably use the CV templates and design according to their own situation. The above mentioned points have been attached great importance in the process of making my CV.

Reflection:

As far as I am concerned, a good CV should not only pay more attention to visual presentation and concise information, but only add the original elements to attract readers and present unique style.
From the vision, How to cause the reader's interest, how to cause the reader's interest and attract them to continue reading becomes the primary problem I need to conquer. Actually it likes people who meet for the first time, and the first impression is often based on visual. A good CV is like that. Guide the reader is willing to actively understand me from the visual is far easier to get their favor. Therefore, I constantly adjust color and font to highlight the key information, such as my name. The collocation of pink, white and black gray makes the whole page looks clean and clear. Every important aspect, such as education, experience, skills and interests are presented by using soft color which makes the whole design give readers with a strong practical style. Then, the designer's professional ability will combine the layout and information properly. For example, the introduction of occupational activities is based on the standard horizontal stripe which is beneficial to make the CV looks is organized very well. Even though it only contains three main parts: education, experience and professional knowledge, it is enough to make employers know me, because he can get the most effective information.

2. Website Re-Design

 Website Re-Design gallery Page

I will improve the fashion gallery page of my website design, include background, font and layout:
I will remove the unnecessary link on my portfolio of my gallery page and change my font on my gallery page.

• I used seven different fonts in this gallery page, now I will improve it because too many different fonts, colors and graphic styles will hold the users up.

                                         

•  I improved my font in three different types that were easy-to-read, respectively were Play, Arial and Cooper std. It looks more attractive and harmonize. So I tweaked fonts, made sure everything is consistent, these all result in a very professional and usable website design.

• I will remove the button"Get in touch" that I highlight in red circle, because it not linked to anything, and many users will feel confuse.

•  I removed the the button"Get in touch", and got a better presentation.

•  The screen shot above show the process of get "get in touch" remove. I didi it in Wix editor by selecting button button settings. 

• This is a slideshow template, I didn't need this option in every portfolio page. This is default setting in the template of the slideshow.

In order to improve the consistency on the website, I will establish basic page designs for my web pages and stick with the model. Make sure my headings, font size and typeface are consistent too.

This improvement is also apply to my other page design , I will keep the look, layout, navigation,typefaces, and colors consistent on all page. I will choose fonts that easy-to-read, clean and consistent with the user settings of color, font, and so on. I will change the non-tradition and overly creative fonts.

• I will remove the group work project from my gallery page, because I want to focus on my MA major Fashion Design. I want to upload every project that are focus on fashion design.

• After I remove the group work page, I would like edit some picture from my 2d/3d project, because those picture are not very professional. Such as I need remove the excess part below.

• First step, I choose this picture from My Images. Then I use edit tool to crop it.

• Second step, I  cropped and sized it and balanced the tone and colour in edit page.

• Third step, as you can see I removed the excess part of this picture and made it more professional. Then I use this way to edit many picture have the same problem.

• Fifth step, I added a new page about my new project for fashion design and wrote introduction to introduce my new project.

•  At the same time, I used text editing tools to change my introduction to the size of 15 Play fonts.

•  Then I upload my design and wrote title and description for each design by using Organize tool.

 Website Re-Design contact Page

• And I find the Icon of Ins , but it is not so necessary, so I remove it. At the same time, I also use text editing tools to change the information fonts to the size of 33 Play fonts. Because  in the design of the whole contact page, the font can't more than three in order to ensure the consistency of each section.

                                      

Website Re-design home page

• I will remove the instagram icon and link, because I think my social media link is enough. This is not very useful.

• Then I changed my Logo. The method I use is direct shear off the original image, and put my upload photos in the same place again by using the mouse to adjust into the appropriate size.

• I removed all of this picture, because it is not my work making at LIPC, so I will change these images.

• I upload my new project image about protecting coral reefs.

                                      

• Then I  use text editing tools to change the introduction fonts to the size of 35 Play fonts.

  

Website Re-design about page

• I removed the timeline of my education, because it is showy but of no practical use or content.

• Then I add a new subpage for more about me about my CV.

Final piece

                                      

Conclusion

According to website design experience, I suppsed that the  the flat style is the best form of presenting personal information. Geometry, simple elements, bright color and clean lines may constitute a flat style which conforms to the modern's aesthetic view. It can present useful information to a great extent. For example, remove excess, thick and multifarious adornment effect in order to make the page is beautiful simple and clear. Design skills focus on simple design elements, the consistency of fonts and the color. Simplicity is becoming a contemporary aesthetic standard, so the design of the layout is simple but more appealing. The lively personality graphics are full of visual impact. The color is pure that gives readers a kind of comfortable feeling. A large area of white space is to make a distinction between the pictures and information. However, this simple and clear style design is also a challenge for the website. For example, the collocation of color, the font size setting and the collocation of module need to constantly improve.

Reflection

I supposed the website looks clean is very important. In homegape I took advantage of the soft pink include my logo  present a fashion of plane visual effect, and bright and transparent icon shows a really positive atmosphere. All the elements are closely together, compact and orderly. In about page, I leave enough comfortable reading space to introduce myself. Moreover, in more about page I use contrasting colors and reduce redundant information to show neat appearance. It is divided into several functional blocks, and each simple graphic is to show a certain aspect. However, there are still many shortcomings in My CV design. Firstly, my picture has occupied too much space. I think there should be more practical experiences which are very useful to show my professional skills. Some details should be given. The existing information is too little which looks a little hollow. Maybe it is not enough to make readers fully understand me. Secondly, the CV needs to add more original elements. The template looks very ordinary, and I need to learn more skills of the layout. The CV only contains the personal information and simple graph splicing that lacks personality elements.However, In gallery page, I think I need keep to write more detail to explain my work. In contact, it is clear and reasonable.