My Alan Fletcher Influences

My last post explained why I liked Alan Fletcher's work, so this one will

include my own work which is influenced by his style.

LEAVES

The first texture which came into mind when I thought: 'nature', was leaves. I collected various leaves from my garden and printed a hand print on top of them with white poster paint (again, influencing Fletcher's techniques.) I did this to try and visualise the concept of harmony between humans and the environment.

Unfortunately, the print didn't show up very well on this idea so I didn't use it.

I sandwiched some leaves between my sketchbook pages and cut out shapes so the images would appear to be ocmposed of leaves. I did a panda paw print here to convey a link to the original WWF logo. I think this texture looks nice and works well because it combines the plant and animal world.

I used the same technique here with these type experiments. When looking at them collectively, I am more drawn to the curvy style rather than angular because it seems more welcoming and friendly. I also think tha the spearated letters works bettwe because it emphasised the texture more.

Overall, this experiment was very successful but I think it is more effective on imagery.

BARK

I moved on to looking at bark as a texture. This turned out to be a happy accident as I didn't plan on this heart shape (made out of bark) to split into two pieces. But this helped me get the idea to make one symbolise a footprint and the other, a paw print. I really like how the texture underneath adds more effect and realism to the image. In general, I think the image is clear in demonstrating how we help animals and the environment through the WWF.

Because of its effect, I decided to use this imagery for my final rebranded logo. This is the first draft of it (as I experimented with various layouts of rough digital versions of the image.) I placed the bark texture behind it to add depth to it. This not only influences Fletcher because of the texture, but it also influences another artist called Kristen Nikosey, as she created movement in her paintings through lines.

Alan Fletcher

So, part of our rebranding project was to research 4 artists and take influence from then where appropriate. I did this, and found that I could influence some, but I took most influence from Alan Fletcher.

Alan Fletcher is a graphic designer, who founded a company called Fletcher/ Forbes/ Gill, who had big-name clients such as Penguin Books and Pirelli. During his career, Fletcher has written two Graphics books regarding visual thinking.

Of Course, being a project to do with rebranding a logo, Fletcher himself also did some logo work:

These three logos were designed by Fletcher, and I can see that he favours the use of type manipulation instead of imagery for his logos. My favourite logo out of these is the logo for the Victoria & Albert museum. I like it because Fletcher has used a simple technique by manipulating the crossbar of the A into being part of the ampersand.

These are a couple of examples of Fletcher's graphics work. With both images, it can be seen that he uses texture for realism or impact on viewers (wet paint, and tree respectively.)

The tree image caught my eye the most, as it is composed of thumbprints to symbolise the leaves. There is a childlike quality behind it as well. I found that both of these qualities could be used in my WWF logo as one of their services involves helping the environment, but they also invite the younger generation to help out as well.

Because of these things, I found Fletcher's style easy to influence with my design ideas.

WWF Rebranding

Well yet another new project! This one involves rebranding a companie's logo!

Admittedly, it took me quite a while to decide which logo to do... all I knew was that it had to be an acronym, so like HMV, or ABC, or ITV... you get the idea. Well, eventually I decided to rebrand the WWF logo, which currently looks like this: 

Yes, I know the panda is cute, but this gives the impression that WWF is all about animals... Well that is wrong. The WWF are all about conserving natural habitats, national parks and rainforests. They promote sustainability and raise awareness for climate change- a very green future..

Well, this logo tells a different story. It is black and white, the default colours for most programmes, which doesn't make it stand out! And that is why Mr Panda has to get out of the logo. There is no illustration or colour to show the environmental side of the company at all, which could be a problem...

This logo hints that they are solely about the animal adoption idea, but this is no longer a unique thing. Lots of companies do the same thing so to make it unique, WWF needs to expose its other ideas and aims!

Find out more at www.wwf.org.uk