This project was a lot of fun because it allowed me to be extremely creative and think outside the box when it came to my topic—social media. For my initial draft, I created an iPhone with a Wi-Fi symbol and the words “Connecting Globally” underneath the phone. I was very happy with the initial draft and couldn’t wait to receive feedback from my group.
The constructive criticism was helpful and allowed me to take my design a step further. First, I changed a few of the colors. I made the outer shape of my iPhone black as well as changed the speaker and little home button to white. Looking at my design, I knew I needed to do something with the glass. I wanted to get the point across that it was actually glass so I changed the background to a light blue and used the inner glow effect. I played around with the opacity and blur until I found a style I liked.
It was also mentioned that I should add a circle around my image to help bring everything together. I made the circle a really light green, set the stroke to blue and also put the stroke weight to about 12 to make the blue stand out. I also changed the text color to blue to match the stroke. I was hoping all of the new changes would represent a globe-like appearance.
After I made the new changes, I had a creative block. I knew my design wasn’t at the level it needed to be, but I wasn’t sure how to make it better. I reached to my professor, Lisa, for some additional guidance. Her input was invaluable, and I was able to set off in another creative direction.
While I kept the blue stroke around the circle, I changed the weight to eight and changed the green color. I used two different greens and mixed them together with the gradient tool until I found a style that I liked best. I altered the text color to black so it wouldn’t distract from the overall message and so it would blend in better with the overall design. I also changed the app shapes to gray so they would have a better scalability.
While poking around in Illustrator, I found a Wi-Fi symbol and decided to use it within the design. My own attempts to create the symbol didn’t work out too well because it wasn’t instantly recognizable. I changed the Wi-Fi symbol to black it blend in with the design and put a symbol on each side of the text. I also moved the iPhone to the top of the circle and added another Wi-Fi symbol.
I believe I was able to accurately represent how social media can connect people globally. I chose a phone as the focal point of my logo because so many people use their phones to communicate on various social platforms. The Wi-Fi symbols help to show that connection as well and the circle represents the globe without being too obvious.
Looking at this new design, I can honestly say that I’m incredibly proud. When I look back at my first draft as well as the revisions I made to get to this point, I can’t believe that I was able to create something so nice. I’m very excited to continue to work with Illustrator on my own time.
Unique Insights 