My intention was to create a logotype which would represent HMV's ethics, history and the products sold, I also wanted to reach out to an alienated market of music lovers, having looked at the companies current set out and its sales figures I found it was committing more store space and money on gadgets, DVD's and merchandise whilst its highest selling products for the past year have been records and CD's. I wanted to create something that is current and trendy yet also pays homage to the companies rich history. Using the research I had found in study tasks such as the Logo design for Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and the group rebranding task, I understood rebranding, having looked at both successful rebrands and ones which had failed so bad that they reverted to there old ones almost immediately. I decided to rebrand HMV because having seen it struggle financially over the years and going into liquidation, narrowly avoiding extinction and now starting to make profit from a new business strategy, I felt it had lost way of its original ethos and idea, of supplying music and entertainment.
I looked at a range of popular music stores around leeds, there are no longer many high street stores like HMV all have lost there way financially and become extinct, while HMV has just narrowly survived this trend with music stores. I found there were many independent music stores around leeds, when I visited these stores I found them to always be popular, busy and always be refered to as record stores, whilst selling CDs and music gig tickets the main product of sale were records, each store holding a variation of classic musicians and bands LPs to brand new up and coming bands LPs and CDs. A couple of these stores sold merchandise with there own branding on and the independent logo was a popular one with youths and record collectors alike. This research really informed me of current popularity in music store styles and was a main contribution to how I designed my logotype.
All aspects of my designs were considered and researched in depth, firstly considering the colours and typeface which I would use. I considered a range of typefaces to use, I needed a relevant and enticing type which would work well on a range of platforms, from online sites to a high street signage. Through experimenting and feedback I decided to use Futura as the type for my various final outcomes, Futura was a successful choice as I gained positive feedback from my peers but also I found this type the most visually pleasing when it was in situ of my logo form. I used the colours from the current logo type whilst also using an off white colour which was used in an old logo of HMV's, the feedback I received on this was positive, my peers liked the choice to use the well known black and pink combination of the current logo, this meant that there is still an element of high street recognisability which HMV has found in recent years.
For the form and layout of my type I research a lot on records and LP design, looking at the arrangement of type and the kerning of the words. The designs I created were influenced by this research and they represented what I wanted the store to represent, which was music. I felt myself going too far with the symbols I used with my logotype, they sort of took over and this is an aspect which I would change as I felt that it did not keep to the brief, though visually pleasing I feel I looked too much into incorporating shapes to help my design and did not let the type stand for its self.
I asked myself a number of questions to evaluate my own work, these were;
- Do you think the type used is appropriate and works well?
- Is the feel and style of the logo and signage conveyed? Is it interpreted easily?
- Does the idea behind the work, considering type, layout and colour, work?
- Have I gone too retro with the look? Can this design work in the modern age?
I think that the type I have used, Futura, reflects the retro style of my idea and also the companies history, when it started opening high street stores is a similar time this type came out. Its sleek design works well, even though giving a retro feel keeps a sense of modern times which I feel is successful. I think the retro feel of the logo is successfully conveyed and can be interpreted yet I feel this is only through the shapes and symbols, and not the type alone, this is something I feel which makes the design weaker. I think all the aspects consist with my idea of retro and they also all work together as a group through the layout of the type, its main points are clear and legible and so are the second points. I feel that the information I have gathered gave me a clear idea of todays popular design styles and the design can work in this age, as I found people like retro feels, the nostalgic style is very popular and I feel it is a design which could stand the test of time.
I also put these questions to my peers in my final feedback and got a similar response, they agreed with me on most things and also mentioned the over use of shapes, this was helpful to me because I knew my successes and my failures within this brief and knew what I would change, given the chance. Overall I had a positive response to my logotype and have many aspects of it which have been very successful, I think I have very informed research and influenced design ideas, which all flows to my final pieces of work, I have followed the criteria and successfully met my brief with a visually pleasing outcome.
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