my "real" blog.

If anyone is interested, my "real" blog is at //sixfivesamurai.blogspot.com

Thanks again for all the great feedback this semester!

Final thoughts

Well, now that I'm finished with the final project I can reflect on the semester. I really enjoyed this class. The blogging played a large role in this, it was good to put our work up and hear back during the week as we worked. In other classes, I've been in critiques where no one says anything, or barely anything, and you end up with feedback from only the instructor. Selila has great feedback, of course, but it was good to hear what others thought and it's more comfortable a lot of the time expressing yourself in written form and in a somewhat more anonymous manner. Truthfully, I wish we did blogs in all design classes. Even without anyone else viewing the blog, it's valuable as an exercise in self-reflection.

Ad.

Here is a print ad that would run in the Sunday coupon supplement, based on an excellent suggestion Jenny made. Also, Jennifer had a good thought in a comment she made on my last post: maybe I am overusing the 'typewriter' type. In the case of this product, I think it can work to use that type for most of the packaging, since I am going for a bit of a home-made, DIY vibe. In this ad, I started out designing in the one font only but it did feel a bit undynamic. So, I tried something that I thought might complement the original type and the people's organic logo.



(click to enlarge)

Here is the backside of the coffee packaging; again, I mixed in Frutiger (a sans-serif typeface) to avoid overusing the typewriter typeface. Looking at it again, I may need to make adjustments to the green area so that the logo can be seen. Thoughts?

label

Ok, I've settled on a logo, and I plan on using the type part of the logo both with the Hand mark and without, as you can see on my packaging. To clarify: this is the front and back of my coffee label (so far). I think the back (R) needs a lot more work. I plan on having nothing on the sides of the bag, just plain brown paper.

new versions of logo

Based on feedback, here are further revisions of the logo (on the bottom row). I think the all lowercase works, while the other does not.



Update: I am really leaning toward going with the logo below, in the slightly heavier weight on the left.

New logo versions

In response to some suggestions from the blog and in critique, as well as my own dissatisfaction, I have revised the logo. Here are some versions with the text on the right, wrapping the circle, and one with a smaller circle/fist area.
Additionally, I have chosen the "typewriter" style font for these, if anyone prefers another I'll try that too. Camden likes the rounded type from the last post (and I do respect her opinion ;) , but I think it is a little too smooth somehow.
Color suggestions?


(click for larger version)

Logos.

Here is the logo with some logotypes. The ones with 'coffee' in them are an example of how the product will work into the logo on the packaging. Still haven't locked down my direction color-wise, but I do like the orange and brown as it will be on a brown recycled paper/cardboard box.
I tried some different typefaces that I thought conveyed both organic and 'of the people'.
On the logo circle I used a slight 'roughen' under effect>distort and transform to make it slightly less perfectly circular.

Thoughts?