Presidential Logo Rebrand

December 10, 2020December 10, 2020 | Darby Tanner

I was assigned with the task of working with the Green Party’s 2020 logo, analyzing its rhetorical situation, developing a creative brief, and ultimately redesigning it. I chose the Green Party’s logo for two reasons: 1. while the original logo isn’t terrible, it has obvious design issues and 2. I was able to learn about the platform of a lesser-known political party, providing a unique rhetorical challenge. I was able to create a logo that better reflects Hawkin’s platform of environmentalism, socialism, and peace by choosing a less-angular font, sampling the Green Party’s color palette, incorporating leaf iconography, and blurbing the logo with a quote inspired by the information on environmentalism provided by the Green Party’s official website.

Shandelions Business Logo Review

November 6, 2020December 10, 2020 | Darby Tanner

For my student led project, I plan on creating my own set of personal branding materials for future creative freelance projects. The materials will include a logo, business card, and social media headers, including for my website.

I chose a logo from a freelance artist that I follow closely on Instagram. She has a very specific, eclectic persona that helps market her artistic pursuits, including cosplay, wool felting, and illustration. She sells these products on her Instagram @shandelions and her website https://shandelions.bigcartel.com/.

What I admire about her branding is her utilization of three design principles: the Gestalt principle, balance, and colors of a similar tone. The Gestalt principle has to do with association due to proximity. If you go to her website, she sells a lot of merchandise focused on nature, with motifs of pumpkins, mushrooms, plants, and insects. The name that she goes by, Shan, is also on display within her username for her social media platforms Shandelions. The proximity of her most used motifs and her name incorporated into the word “dandelions” immediately creates a connection within the minds of users that Shan is a creator who loves nature, which her products reflect.

The balance of her hand-drawn elements is evident with the two similarly sized mushrooms closing in her name Shandelions, drawing the eye to her brand name. The other elements, including the butterflies, ladybug, and pumpkin, are small yet evident enough to allow her to display her earthy, eclectic personality without drawing the eye away from the primary content. Incorporating the ladybug and pumpkin into her name was a great way for the design to remain balanced yet true to her personality.

Lastly, her choice of colors also speak to her earthy persona and are appropriate to the colors she incorporates into most of her art. Not only do the colors display what she care’s about in her art, but the color scheme is not distracting because only a few colors are actually used just in varying values.

Overall, I want my branding materials to capture my own eclecticism and artistic personality to the success that I view Shan’s, using proximity, balance, and colors to her marketing advantage.

Pyperbleu Daily Art Challenge Design Review

October 22, 2020 | Darby Tanner

Pyperbleu (screen name for artist Annabelle on Instagram) created this design to showcase her daily plan for Inktober, a popular daily art challenge in October. Inktober usually refers to only ink drawing, but Pyperbleu decided to focus more on guache painting than ink drawings; thus, she titled this piece Daily Art Challenge: OCT instead of Inktober Prompts .

This design is appealing to me because of the natural color palette, handwritten font style, and simple drawings. Also, the format appeals to me because I love using Instagram for updates on my favorite artists. She used this picture for an Instagram story, which is evident because of the text’s size and organization.

The color palette, font, and doodles are appealing to me as an aspiring artist and writer because of the sketchy, creative aesthetic. Her art style always catches my attention because all of her informational posts are designed this way and reflects her branding as a freelance artist.

Howie Hawkins 2020 Presidential Logo Design Review

September 30, 2020October 6, 2020 | Darby Tanner

The three design principles I will be discussing in review of the 2020 Green Party Presidential candidate’s (Howie Hawkins) logo are as follows: color, font, and content.

First, the colors are muted versions of green that are pleasing to the eye, sparingly used, and appropriate for identifying the Green Party. Since only two shades of green are used, the logo is appealing rather than confusing, and interesting rather to monotonous. It would be very difficult for anyone to misconstrue the logo as for any other political party.

Second, the two fonts used are similar enough to remain streamlined while establishing a hierarchy of importance. For instance, the actual logo is the largest size while the descriptions decrease in size and boldness as the eye travels downward.

Third, the bolded “H” is of eerie resemblance to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Democratic campaign logo that was widely mocked for its lack of substance. In contrast to Clinton’s logo, the “H” is more appropriate in this context because the letter stands for both of Hawkins’s initials; also, the addition of a bold “’20” adds more character to the design. As a stand-alone logo, the design appears as more of an advertisement for water than a presidential candidate, unfortunately. It kind of makes sense due to his strong stance on environmental issues but can be comedically distracting. The “Black Power” fist within the zero also identifies Hawkins’s respect for social justice issues.

darby tanner

Reader, Writer, Artist, Designer

design review

Presidential Logo Rebrand

Shandelions Business Logo Review

Pyperbleu Daily Art Challenge Design Review

Howie Hawkins 2020 Presidential Logo Design Review