Retro Badges & Logo's

The basis of 'The Outsiders' is two rival gangs. Whilst I was looking into newspapers and alternate ways of designing them, I came across this image.

source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/104568022570476957/

When I saw this image, I thought it would be the perfect way to portray the idea of the 'rebellious' theme in the book as someone has taken an article about something (in this case, the Beatles) and drawn their own idea of it over the top. This idea of what's essentially graffiti in it's most basic form sparked the concept I'm pursuing now.

I want to turn the title of the book into the 'tag' for the 'The Greasers' - who are what's described as 'The Outsiders'. The idea is to have their 'tag' over the top of a newspaper article (that's about them). A tag is basically what a gang (or more modernly, a graffiti artist) uses to identify themselves and the work that they do. 

As I have decided to go down the "retro design" avenue, I researched "what makes a design retro", and came up with the following article from 'productivedreams.com'.

http://www.productivedreams.com/what-makes-a-design-retro-vintage/

"Badges and logos play a crucial role in creating a retro feel. Badges are usually round shaped with a fluttering slim banner over them. Subtle and contrasting colors are used on retro logos and badges. Most of them can be created with Photoshop."

I read this and was reminded of all of the logos and badges that I have seen whilst browsing through examples of Retro Graphic Design. Below are some I have come across

These have inspired me to create my own badge for 'The Outsiders' and turn it into the main feature of my book cover. I think it will enhance both the 'retro' look of the cover as well as, if designed right,  putting across a theme of the book  - gang culture.

logo sources

http://designspiration.net/image/4705806543531/

http://designspiration.net/image/117452450160/

http://designspiration.net/image/1822891397756/

http://designspiration.net/image/617336192108/

http://designspiration.net/image/210268555934/

http://designspiration.net/image/210268555932/

http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/120094

http://dribbble.com/shots/111070-Safer-Logo

http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/122546

http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/123785

Retro Typography

I've made the decision to try and incorporate a 'retro' feel into my design. I'm doing this through my use of colour and use of era-specific imagery, but I also thought I could try and do it through typography. So, I decided to look into it further. My first response was so quickly google image "retro typography", and here is a quick look at the results.

all examples from: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=retro+typography&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB527GB527&espv=210&es_sm=91&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=dpakUoSMDq6M7Aalx4DwCA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1344&bih=955&dpr=1

To me, this did not really bring to light any obvious rules for 'retro' typography. Honestly, the main thing that stood out to me is the surrounding of the type - the textures (e.g. crumbled paper, "destroyed" effects, discreet gradients) and the colours - typically muted, minimal etc. 

So I decided to look further into what makes a font 'retro'. 

I looked at this article: http://www.productivedreams.com/what-makes-a-design-retro-vintage/

Whilst it had a very small part on typography, what it said did help.

"Designers of the retro eras used simple techniques like repositioning of fonts, duplicating and pixel strokes for adding unique flavour to a design."

 There are no specifics on the actual look of the font though, simply how you can manipulate a font to help it fit in within a retro design. 

Graphic Designer Bruno Nakano from Madrid, has some of his work on Behance.net, and one of his projects has inspired me. It's listed under 'retro', and the way he has used typography on his posters reminds me of newspapers and has given me an idea of the sorts of fonts I could use in my design. 

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Playstation-Mr-Lee-Tailor-Shop/1963665

I then read an article on line25.com - '30 web designs featuring vintage style typography'.

"Like many, my favourite aspect of vintage design is the elegance of classic typography with its mix of cursive & sans-serif typefaces, clever layouts and the combination of textures and illustrations to relate to the techniques used throughout the early 20th century."

http://line25.com/articles/30-web-designs-featuring-vintage-style-typography 

Through looking at a lot of examples of what is considered 'retro' type, I can see the point the writer is making. None of the fonts I have seen in my research have been particularly 'out there' - like below. 

http://www.dafont.com/metal-lord.font

http://www.dafont.com/jump-burn-ip.font

http://www.dafont.com/the-2k12.font

They are more "classic" fonts. By this I mean they are the sorts of fonts that are easily relatable to past 'era's' - if you were doing a comic book design in a retro style, you'd choose a very classic comic style font that everyone recognises as 'the comic book font', rather than a newer, adapted version. 

The sorts of fonts I've seen most in my search for "retro typography" are similar to the below.

http://www.dafont.com/market-deco.font

http://www.dafont.com/hamburger-heaven.font

http://www.dafont.com/titania.font

http://www.dafont.com/debute.font

Designers of retro work seem to then try to make these fonts look as if they were taken straight out of the era they're trying to portray. They'll do this through a very strong colour scheme and by adding effects like drop shadows, strokes and textures, as well as sometimes surrounding the text with imagery that enhances the feeling of the era they're trying to portray. 

Book Cover Content: Newspaper

I've been experimenting with the idea of featuring a newspaper in my design. Whilst the newspaper and "the news" are also relevant to the book, I want to utilise how a newspaper has different "articles" to subtly convey the themes of the book on the front cover. So, I've started to look at existing newspapers - from now and the 1960's, from america, and design that feature newspapers and have developed the concept of it. Below is a small mood board of this.

The above picture of the drawing over the newspaper has sparked an idea for my design. I want to convey a slight sense of gang culture/rebellion etc, and I think that the drawing above, how someone has disregarded the writing underneath and drawn what they want over it, hints towards this. I could perhaps write the title/author of the book this way if I'm going to base my design around a newspaper.

Also, the idea of a newspaper being ripped or destroyed seems to convey a similar thing - disregard, rebellion, violence.

Image sources:

http://calstate.fullerton.edu/news/Inside/spotlight/2009/fullerton-way/

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/the-boy-who-survived-a-1960-midair-crash/

http://www.simplypersonalized.com/newspaper-gifts/your-date-newspaper-books/washington-post-decade-books/washington-post-60s-decade-book/

http://bgfons.com/upload/newspaper_texture2847.jpg

http://designspiration.net/image/100304661580/

http://designspiration.net/image/3668522355939/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/104568022570476957/
http://designspiration.net/image/871566003405/
http://designspiration.net/image/411124935575/
http://designspiration.net/image/2309058308771/
http://designspiration.net/image/72221745316/
http://designspiration.net/image/1069848167347/

Design Styles and Colour Schemes

I've now started to look into the design style I'm going to go for and the colours I'm going to feature. I've found 2 pieces of work by artist Vanessa Fung, on her own blog.

http://syfungillustration.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/graphic-design-for-entertainment-with.html

copyright: Vanessa Fung, http://syfungillustration.blogspot.co.uk

I absolutely love the design style she's gone for. It's retro looking, and the colour she's chosen hold up the retro feel too. They're "muted colours" - colours mixed with shades of grey to "tone" them down, like below.

I absolutely think that the colours play a strong part in portraying the era that the design is set in, and I am almost definitely decided on featuring 'muted' colours in my design. They seem naturally nostalgic, through the use of their slight grey tones, and this will help towards providing a sense of 'the past' in my book cover. The sense of nostalgia the colours give off will also strengthen the "retro" style I'm aiming for.

Muted colours also seem to be a current trend, so whilst giving off a nostalgic, retro feel the use of them will at the same time present the book as a current, "trendy" item, and play a part in appealing to the teenagers of today. 

I also started to have a look at the colours featured in some photos that are actually from the 1960's, or are very obviously inspired by the 1960's. 

http://www.pinterest.com/lbigler1021/the-outsiders/

"Retro"

Above are all examples of the sort of design style I'm going for.

Summary of the "retro" design style:

- Muted colours, and limited use of them. 

- Use of shapes and illustrations (e.g. a silhouette, items built out of shapes of colour)

- Use of textures (e.g. as a background or to make certain shapes look more interesting)

- Very strong font choices

- Imagery significant to the era you're trying to represent ( a car, clothing etc)

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=retro%20design%20poster&rs=ac&len=12