An Exercise on Bullshit
2005.05.12
I’ve hit designer’s block with a logo design project. My rather mediocre design ideas have been politey turned down by the client, and no amount of bullshit seems to convince him. This led to the frightening thought that my skills at bullshitting has depleted. You designers out there understand my dilemma.
This is an exercise to check my bullshittability and to learn from masters out there who’d be willing to give a helping hand.
The Client
mad artist is an art supplies store that caters to all types of artists. We are almost as crazy as our customers. The name says it all.
The logo
Don’t tell me it sucks, I already know. Tell me how to bullshit it.
The Bullshit
The logo is based on the nautilus shell, a particularly intriguing masterpiece by probably the maddest artist of all: nature. The curve has an uneven thickness, reflecting artistic confidence and unwillingness to be stereo-typed, characteristics the customers of mad artist would be delighted to be associated with.
The name is in lowercase, and the typeface used has a ’rounded’ feel to it, depicting the friendly and sociable personality of the company. Bright orange is used to highlight the free and playful spirit of mad artist.
And you say…
How would you shit it out?
12 Comments
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indi
May 12th, 2005 at 6:44 pm
I would make something with a paintbrush that just finished painting the word ‘artist’. They are selling paint supplies. Splatter looks crazy.
Maybe a bloody and severed ear would be good.
Mahangu
May 12th, 2005 at 6:53 pm
The Bullshit
The logo is based on chaos. There is no end or beginning to a spiral, just a continuum. For years, the spiral has been a symbol of total, unchecked creativity that can’t be quite defined.
The non-linear format makes it very clear that there is nothing ordinary or normal about the products you offer. It’s not about sticking to rules, it’s about breaking them, right?
The type face is nice warm and free flowing, symbolising the mind of the mad artist. There is no convention here - just free thought.
The orange, as well as contrasting brilliantly with the black, shows that the mad artist is not afraid to be bold, and stand out. At the same time, the little dash of black shows that there is indeed, a slight method to the madness.
- end -
Well that’s about all I could think up. It’s been a long day and I’m sleepy. Good luck with the Design Block.
Lohan Gunaweera
May 12th, 2005 at 6:56 pm
I like the shell. It reminds me of the snails by Henri Mattisse. It is not similar to his work because it’s a collage. Most “Mad artists” who are coming to the paint shop will definitely know the old fellow and his snail.
I like it. One of the best logos I’ve seen recently.
deshan
May 12th, 2005 at 7:13 pm
indi’s got a good idea there.
rotate shell through 90 degrees clockwise so it resembles ear. leave colour as is.
align so that text aligns to the left of the central whorl.
you’ve just made it look like an ear but not said anything about it.
if you space ‘mad’ and ‘artist’ you can hint at eyes.
consider changing font. your logo seems to thrive on contrast (orange/black), why not apply to type as well - maybe a sharp serif to contrast with rounded shell?
tell client you have Re-visualised. Good luck.
also remember the real reason your client hates this is becasue the shell line thickness is not uniform ; )
OldBoy
May 12th, 2005 at 9:54 pm
Noly the bulshit, right ?
The Bullshit:
Artists are people who identify madness in art & art in madness. Two spirals on logo (orange spiral & white spiral) are bound together, each spiral resembling artist & madness. Actually only an artist notices that there are two spirals on logo.
Obviously, that’s a kind of limitation. Since non-artists (in sales division) will be using this on letter heads. The designer decides to print words “MAD ARTIST”, in orange & black, in real big letters, with a clear colour contrast between “mad” and “artist”, So sales guys get it.
….. best! ;)
Prabhath
May 13th, 2005 at 9:08 am
Wow. You guys make me feel such an amateur. Some of the bullshit above is world class.
Those are the words of a guy who bullshits to make a living.
Scarey, but very, very creative.
Dude, I drew it and I didn’t see two. What are those japanese feeding you?
Dulan
May 13th, 2005 at 10:06 am
Inspiration, my friend - inspiration.
Relax. Walk around. Do something totally unrelated - it generally clears the bottleneck (or at least relocates it to some other part of your creativity).
But of course, one man’s cure is another’s poison.
So all I can say is that you need to get some fresh air. Or maybe just need to stand by the beach and be buffeted by the salty breeze… and the train, if you’re standing too close to the tracks.
Sometimes, too much focus can point you in the wrong direction…
Dave Chappelle
May 17th, 2005 at 11:34 pm
Smoke weed dude, lots of weed. Then have a breakdown and flee to South Africa.
Jim
May 18th, 2005 at 8:47 am
I’d get rid of the spiral altogether. Spirals like that are way too overused in logos. Take Debian’s logo, for example, which is far too similar and instantly recognisable to anybody who uses Debian:
http://www.debian.org
Nidahas » Flow wi&hellip
July 14th, 2005 at 9:21 am
[…] sess. If only I could finish this print design. Perhaps I should put more effort in to the bullshit which I’ve already applied in […]
betta
July 14th, 2005 at 4:37 pm
i think the concept is good. you don’t need to get rid of the spiral. everything is overused anyway so don’t worry.
maybe just make it more ‘MAD’ … get loose with it. i like the paint spatter idea. think about your art school days when you enjoyed experimenting.
the spiral is good but too contrived maybe… experiment with its depth and structure… try some negative colours as white can be too ‘clean’…
i hate artists block. your’e not alone.
good luck and thanks for sharing.
Prabhath
July 22nd, 2005 at 11:00 am
Wanted to mention this but forgot.
Nice…