Conceptual design in graphic design entails the creation and investigation of creative ideas, concepts, and visual methods that serve as the cornerstone of a design project. It is the stage at which designers discuss and plan the broad direction and message of a design, often before delving into the intricacies of layout, typography, and imagery. Conceptual design is vital for developing a project’s clear and engaging story or visual identity.
Good example of conceptual design logo/masthead
This logo is the ideal representation of conceptual design in action. The National Geographic logo is a recognisable symbol praised for its clarity and easy association with the company.
The bright yellow rectangle, which serves as the logo’s most recognisable element, has come to represent the “national Geographic” brand. The yellow colour symbolism is connected to positivity, happiness, and warmth. It is particularly eye-catching and readily recognisable. It conveys an optimistic and adventurous feeling that fits with the magazine’s exploration and discovery-focused content.
The rectangle is a metaphor for a picture frame. This component stands for the company’s dedication to visual storytelling, research, and its extensive publishing history.Yellow is a representation of the sun. Since 1888, the National Geographic magazine’s edges have been framed by a distinctive yellow border.
The words “National Geographic” are positioned inside the yellow rectangle and are written in a bold, sans-serif typeface; the word “Geographic” is slightly larger than “The National,” and the font they used on the cover is clean and contemporary, ensuring readability and timeless quality. The logo is recognisable in the media and publishing industries because it is immediately linked to the best photographs, films, and educational materials on nature, science, and culture.
The logo’s versatility and adaptability to numerous contexts and media—whether on a magazine cover, website, or television screen—ensure that it will continue to be powerful and memorable in a variety of digital settings.
Overall, the magazine logo for “National Geography” is a perfect example of powerful branding achieved through simplicity. It expresses the magazine’s central subject of discovery and exploration while being timeless and instantly recognisable by viewers everywhere.
Bad Example of conceptual logo design
This is a logo which is not designed conceptually. This is the logo for ‘Summer ” Magazine
My Redesign
I have chosen to redesign a summer magazines logo which have been designed non-conceptually. I started exploring to reference image which is linked to summer and found one which I believed needs to be redesigned in conceptual way. Summer or summer time is one of from temperature seasons which occur between spring and autumn. It is characterised by loner days, warmer temperature, and favourable weather for peoples outdoor activates. The way people wear also changes with the weather condition in which in a summer people tend to wear, shorts, T-shirts, and flipflops. Considering those things, I decided to use the word summer to design those things inside the word ’SUMMER’. As it is shown in the picture, I plane to design inside the two ‘M’ letters a short when seen from the front and the back of it also I used the letter ‘U’ to design two flipflops. Then after, I design those using adobe illustrator for this process i used pen tool to deign the short and flipflop from the reference images which each easier than sketch to me and i used poopins font for the typography because it is much bolder than the older one and easy to make it curved and edit
Reference List
- Conceptual design: What it is and how to build it (2023) Webflow. Available at: https://webflow.com/blog/conceptual-designer (Accessed: November 2, 2023).
- Summer magazine (no date) Sarah Smith. Available at: https://emilyladowportfolio.weebly.com/summer-magazine.html (Accessed: November 2, 2023).
- The National Geographic logo: The history behind the brand (no date) Logo.com. Available at: https://logo.com/blog/national-geographic-logo (Accessed: November 2, 2023).
Yellow (no date) Gmu.edu. Available at: https://mason.gmu.edu/~mgraha16/507/module3-3.html (Accessed: November 2, 2023).