OUGD403: Study Task 2 - Symbol

This brief was the second task within this module and it was to develop a range of symbols for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, ones that would not only work as a standalone mark but also with the park's original type. The symbols would also have to work when scaled up or down when appropriate as it would be placed on many different things around the park including menus, gifts and sides of buildings.

To help along with the brief and to get a feel of what we would be creating a mark for, we visited the sculpture park and spent several hours there photographing sculptures and also learning about the sculptures themselves.

From these photographs I then developed many different small symbol ideas by taking elements of particular images and creating basic illustrations from them.

Initial Set of Logos

Three Chosen Logos

Colour Variations of Chosen Logos

The colours I've used have been taken from the initial photographs I took, the brown and green have been taken from the sculptures themselves with the brown colour being representative of rust. The blue was taken from the sky as I wanted to try a softer colour and this shade of blue, for me, worked well with the logos.

The text used along side the symbol is purely as a place holder and wouldn't necessarily be the final type used as I would use the type that they already use with their current branding.

After having a critique session in which I presented my work to a small group, some points were made that could potentially improve the symbol. One of those being that the line could maybe be an uneven one to represent the ground as opposed to it being so straight and un natural like. A second point was to maybe cut the bottom of the logo off entirely to create a slightly more abstract shape instead of the stereotypical circle logo. I made both of these adjustments to my symbol as shown below.

Logos with Adjustments

Personally, I was already quite happy with my original outcome but once I'd been given some suggestions and applied them, I think the logo on the left would definitely be my final logo purely because of how it feels more natural rather than the straight line. Not only that but the rust colour I've used gives the symbol a nature feel to it, with the sculpture making the link to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

If I was to redo this brief, I would have probably gone for a symbol to represent the sculpture park as a whole rather than using the shape of one sculpture in particular. This would then make for a more broad symbol that would be more recognisable and relatable, as not everyone would instantly recognise this as a sculpture within Yorkshire Sculpture Park.