Reconsideration

In truth, I feel quite frustrated right now, like I'm banging my head against a wall without resolution.

I had a meeting with Hannah Tuesday that didn't go anything like I was anticipating, it felt like a rude awakening—yet at the same time it's really just my fault. Somehow, against even my own better senses, I started making things inside my own little world and not showing them to others when I had an opportunity to.

I don't know if I simply felt that time in class was for explicitly talking about our project. Whatever it was, I feel quite stupid, it wasn't my intention to divorce my project of other people's comments and critique. It didn't seem like I was being scolded for not work, but doing something worse, not showing it.

Today in class, I spent time with Erika, Amanda, and Anna going over what I was doing, it was both useful and eye-opening. Admittedly, it was also disheartening, as I found I'd made progress but not in a particularly useful direction. I basically assembled all the scraps of paper and iterations of the logo I'd made, then printed anything off I may have never had and brought it in.

We talked about a sampling of logos student groups already have:





Discovery
I then opened up about some ideas I'd had along the way.





On the one hand, it was nice to hear I wasn't entirely lost. Some of the ideas I'd gone through and sort of dismissed people in my group voiced similar reservations either to the idea or the way in which I explored them. It was also of interest to hear people's interpretation of the images.

Of particular note, Anna pointed out she liked the concept of glasses, because it mimicked the idea of reading and research, that the logo was action oriented. Reality is, I'd not even considered that, I was trying to draw an allusion to Franklin Roosevelt and rejected it because I felt it wasn't firm enough.

Her comment got me thinking about where I ended up, that thinking of a visual image for the research, writing, and publication is really hard. So we moved on to where I was now, and talked about some of the problems with the logo itself and its usage.




They seemed to have a general feeling of 'seal' or 'officiality' that I had intended, but not necessarily in the right manner. Amanda said it felt like a political party, which was not my intention. In fact, that's the reason I'd been pushing away from the moose imagery. The Roosevelt Institute doesn't have political allegiance, it advocates for logical decisions based off research. There was also mention of it seeming similar to Jimmy John's logo, but I think it's more apparent that a circular format with ringed text is pretty common.

Positively, I gleaned from the conversation that the logo did feel authoritative—albeit maybe unimaginatively—and I wasn't totally misguided in my use of it on a poster or flyer, which comments on seemed to be positive but we didn't get to spend a ton of time talking about them specifically.

So maybe I should point back to an earlier blog post. What happens when I drop off this excess? Do I really need to say University of Michigan? Do people care when it's established? Does it even need to say the name? Maybe I was too caught up pursuing a particular aesthetic, than deciding based off a reasoned approach (oh, sweet irony).

So I'm back here:


There is something that draws me to this character. Of the dozens I went through, I think it's fitting to the group because it's bold, robust, unique, and maybe even slightly aggressive. I looked at keywords I'd developed earlier for the group, "student investigate, pragmatic, reasoned," and I do see some correlation between the two. It is a unique group, and students do need to be outgoing and a bit aggressive to initiate projects and get their policies implemented.

On the other hand, perhaps I should learn to kill my dears. Print the letterform 24x36, hang it on my wall and try something completely new again. I'm in murky territory. I've done few logotypes before and advertising for any entire group is a very new experience, I'm finding this all to be much more work than I'd expected, made complicated by the fact I'd not talked with people. Still, I feel an overriding visual simplicity will be helpful. The challenge is always that, when things are simple, every little move must be perfect.

What Next
Unfortunately, I've put myself in a hole. I really do need to get this done soon, but at the same time I shouldn't be rushing the foundation of my project. I need to seek as much input as possible, about both what I've done, what I'm thinking, and remember to continue getting critiqued. As far as my timeline:

1. Finish development of logotype through critique

2. Create poster for regional conference on November 13–14

3. Make flyer for a writing workshop October 27

4. Begin sketches and critique for book jacket of regional publication. This book is a heavy recruitment tool for the group

5. Finalize collected demographic information

6. Use research demographics to create two advertisements for the group that aren’t advertising a particular event, but the group as a whole

7. Write grant proposal

I think it would also help if I didn't think of the project so personally, I'd be more willing to have comments.

How I Spent My Time
Over the weekend I ended up working on both a poster and flyer design (pictured above). Certainly, I spent time reeling from my meeting Tuesday. It took me a few days to lick my wounds, swallow my pride, and try to look at things objectively. I also started looking into how much funding I think I may need for printed materials, which was a convenient segway to class Thursday morning. I also finished A Type Primer by John Kane, which was a great read.