OUGD505 Product Range Distribution - Development, Logo Mock-ups (Studio Brief Two)

For further development of my logo, I decided to use Adobe Illustrator. I began considering ways I could create illustrations using letterforms, the concept behind this being that there's more than meets the eye, which there is when it comes to bees, as a lot of people that took my survey were aware, however weren't sure of how to help.

This design was created using the word 'BEE/BEES'. the first design isn't very successful as it isn't obvious at all that it is about bees, however I believe the second is a lot clearer and slicker. I actually think this logo design is really successful, as it looks like a very abstract bee with wings, however I think the design is quite obvious, so for this reason I am going to carry on with the development process.

Continuing, I decided to carry on using letterforms and try to develop this concept further. I experimented multiple different ways (three images below) however I still didn't think they were very successful as the designs looked quite messy and kind of like they had been created by a child.

I then tried a different approach as I knew that using the full body of a bee made designs look like they were created for the Manchester Bee Project. The different approach was to draw a bee face-on. These designs were still created using solely letterforms. I think they had an element of success, as you could tell that they were bees and they looked quite neat, however I think this would put a lot of people off if a logo was of an insect, as a lot of people are scared/dislike insects. For this reason, I thought it would be useful to go with quite an abstract approach, or something that can be related to bees but isn't as obvious as an actual bee.

This shape was created by using a hexagon and cutting away at it. I actually quite like this logo design, I think it looks like a very abstract bee with a stinger, which could be relevant, however I don't think it's obvious enough or slick enough to be used as my final logo design.

NextI tried to create a bee using imperfect semicircles. This was definitely unsuccessful. It does look a lot like a bee, however it isn't slick or neat and is far too abstract. It also looks a little bit like a cone when it is turned on its side, which isn't relevant for the project at all.

I then tried a very illustrative approach to drawing a bee. This was created using the pen tool. This logo design is definitely the most successful logo design that I have created this far, as it is obvious that it is a bee, but it abstract and playful and could appeal to a wide demographic. The one thing that is putting me off this logo design is the fact I think I might've seen something very similar before and unconsciously recreated it. I can't find anything online, however I don't want to risk creating a logo design that has been used before, as I want my project to be very original and eye opening to the public.

I then created an illustration of a bee. As I have previously mentioned, I don't want to use a bee facing this way as I believe it looks very similar to the Manchester Bees, however I thought it might be useful to have an illustration available for when I come to design other parts of this project.

I tried an abstract approach, using squares and circles to create a very abstract logo design. Personally, I thought this was quite successful, however I asked for feedback and nobody could figure out what the shape was supposed to represent. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing however. The main thing that put me off using this logo design was the fact that it used both shapes and lines. This would make it really difficult to work with on smaller scales.

Finally, I decided to go a lot more scientific with my design and create a design based on a pollen particle. I think this is my strongest concept for the logo design yet, however it definitely needs some refining. This is definitely my preferred design style also, as I could create a really slick, minimal logo design that is very vague as the the concept of the project, and would therefore attract a wider demographic.