For my final Logo, I decided to add more to my draft and finalize the artwork by adding more detail that relates to my topic. When I first completed my draft, I felt that it was a little dry, and needed more changing, but I didn’t know exactly what to add. After I had time to think about it, I came to conclusion that my overall design was good, I just needed to change some placements of things, and add in some cartoon muscles. With this change, I was able to demonstrate my brand through my logo more clearly. During my design process, I noticed a lot of brands similar to my topic had some features that stood out to me, including the idea of adding weights and cartoons, so I decided to include both. I wanted my logo to be simple, yet effective, and I think the way I created my logo executed that perfectly, and even though I didn’t get feedback from classmates, the feedback given to me by my professor was to add more, but keep the same idea. Which lead to me including some cartoon muscles.  

Technical Detail- While using Adobe Illustrator, I learned a lot of new things, and it helped a lot when it came to finalizing my logo. When originally putting it together I use all sorts of tools ranging from the line tool, rectangle tool, polygon tool, etc. While trying to change the colors on the shapes I ran into issues on how to make the logos colors most efficient so I added a green stop sign as an idea to not stop working out, and keep up the “daily grind.” after I figure that out, I used the stroke to make certain places on my logo stand out. Lastly, I rounded the edges on my main background to create a smooth touch and complete my logo. 

Outside art work credit- ‘Healthy lifestyle – Cartoon’ by Ivan Ryabokon https://www.iconfinder.com/icons/1741167/arm_biceps_cartoon_fitness_hands_muscle_sign_icon 

For my project logo I decided to go with the idea of making a sign that says “Daily Grind” since my topic is about working out. This sign includes a weight on a sign that’s like a stop sign, but I made it green, so the audience doesn’t mistake it for me trying to say stop working out. The idea of this logo came straight from my imagination, and at first, I was thinking of just having weights with the words “Daily Grind” above it, but I decided that adding the sign and making it green was a good touch. I think by adding this octagon shape behind the weights and name, it added the key element of motivation to those who view it. Although it’s a little corny to add a green sign that replicates a stop sign as an act to motivate those to keep going rather than stopping was a good idea. My design process from beginning to end followed a lot of the reading “5 Branding Basics Every Logo Designer Should Know.” When I first researched other gym brands, a lot of them had weights in the name, which makes sense since their brand is all about going to the gym. Another key part to the branding basics was having a short, simple, yet effective brand name, and I think the name “Daily Grind” delivered that perfectly. My logo however was different than any other similar logos since I had the idea of adding the sign in the background which I just thought of randomly while I looked at it and wondered what I could add to make it more interesting. Some of the tools and techniques I used in adobe illustrator involved a lot of the shaping tools, color tools, texting tools, and I added strokes and different effects to complete my shapes. Some problems I ran into were finding where some of the effects were located, but with enough clicking around I was able to figure everything out and complete my logo.  

Although I did’t get much feedback, the feedback I did get helped me complete a more detailed version of my topic. This final version has a lot more detail, and tells a better story of what my topic is all about. I feel that my rough draft was not complete and needed more to it in order to be more entertaining, but now that I completely erased my rough draft and redid the project, I’m a lot more happy with the outcome.

The idea of my post is to get to the gym and workout. It’s simple, working out helps make you feel happier, more motivated, and more confident, and that’s why I want to encourage others to give it a try. Working out has became a big part of my life recently, and I have no intentions of stopping, the feeling after a great workout is irreplaceable, and I want my post to motivate others to go out and try it, because the end results are unbeatable.

This design process was a little more complex then my original, but I’m glad I put the extra work in. I had the idea of making a workout plan/magazine cover type post since it’s easy to follow and not distracting to look at. All workouts in this post are great ways to gain muscle as well, so compacting these workouts into one post is a good idea since they all can be completed in a basic gym. I think having a picture as the background was a good idea since it was related to my theme, and pretty much everywhere you look there’s some sort of workout going on. Including the reps and sets of each workout was an idea given to me by my professor, and I thought it was a great idea on making my post more complete.

Technical details- The images I collect were simple and easily collected at the gym where I do my workouts. I figured it’d be best to show the natural setting for where all of work takes place. The picture of the food was in my kitchen where I do all of my cooking. The tools I used in Adobe Photoshop included the size adjuster, crop tool, shading, type tool, and different effects on the photos I added

Idea and Inspiration 

For this project I included two pictures of some of the key workouts I do. These were important to include since these workouts are some of the main ones for increasing upper body strength. The last picture is a picture of a healthy meal I prepared. The meals included in your diet play a big role in staying healthy and happy, and that’s why I found this picture important to add. This project relates to my topic since my topic is all about working out, gaining strength, staying happy as well as hardworking, and staying dedicated to the gym.  

Design Process 

The design I used for this project was a simple design that just included key elements to my topic. I figured that since my project is all about working out and staying healthy, the best idea would be including pictures of daily workouts as well as some of the dieting that goes into it. Designer Peter Mendelsund helped influence me a little with the simple background idea. Since Peter used simple colors for background, and didn’t go over the top with the whole design, I found the design clean and appreciable, so I decided to choose a simple colored background, then add photos over the top of it to tell the story of what my topic is about. Also, in the reading “The Power of Color” it talks about how just having color alone makes the pictures stand out and more appealing, so I chose a couple colors and stuck to a simple pattern for each photo.  

Technical Detail 

The images I collect were simple and easily collected at the gym where I do my workouts. I figured it’d be best to show the natural setting for where all of work takes place. The picture of the food was in my kitchen where I do all of my cooking. The tools I used in Adobe Photoshop included the size adjuster, crop tool, shading, type tool, and different effects on the photos I added. One problem I had was the photo wasn’t able to be added directly into wordpress, so I figured out a way to add the photo to my phone, then transfer it back to my laptop where later I figured out how to post it to wordpress. 

For my blogging project I’d like to show people that working out and staying healthy leads to a happier version of yourself.