Idea Inspiration

For this project I decided to create a clap board with my last name at the bottom, indicating movies by me. This idea relates to my course topic because my blog is all about movies, past and present. I wanted to create a unique logo that not only projected that, but also gave an indication that it was content designed by me.

Design Process

I was inspired to create a clap board when I did a simple google search of movie symbols. The main thing that came up was a clap board. There were numerous pictures of actors standing next to them, or directors holding them during a scene. I thought a good way to represent that my blog was about movies would be to create my own clap board.

A significant element in my design is the banner I created that says Ford Movies. This signifies that the blog is about movies that I find interesting, and think that people would as well. It also helps establish that the design is by me.

The design process I used from beginning to end was first identifying what I wanted my logo to look like. After I did a google search of symbols for movies and identified the clap board I then started to look at how I could accompany balance throughout the design. To try and figure this out I went back through the tutorials I completed to see if I could find an idea from that.

I really like the idea of a banner and attempted to create balance through the design by adding one. Once I had added the banner I added simple text, and then did my best to center everything so it looked balanced.

Technical Detail

I went about collecting elements to create my project by first going to freeimages.com and downloading a free image of a clap board. I then uploaded the image to Illustrator. I went to my layers and locked the image, that way while I worked on it , it would stay in place.

I also created a second layer for the cut out of the clap board. Then I used the pen tool and traced the clap board until I had the whole image traced. I then hide the first layer and was left with the traced clap board.

I then filled the cut out with the color black. I then went to the rectangle marque tool and added rectangles inside of the clap board to design the appearance of a real clap board. After I made sure to fill the rectangles with the color white I used the shift key to select everything I had designed.

I then right clicked and selected the group button so that I could move the whole design around. I then created the banner based off of the third Illustrator tutorial.

The biggest challenge I faced while designing this logo was making the banner. I had difficulties changing the font color, as well as finding a good color for the banner itself. I decided on gradient after a couple of colors. I am still not sure if I will use this for the final.

I also struggled with grouping all the elements of the clap board, but after playing around with the materials I was able to group everything.

Sources and Materials