The first element of the design that was to be decided was the aesthetic attributes of the design. The first stage of designing came down to the choice to use hand rendered style illustration done completely through illustrator but designed so that they were a little rough around the edge to represent they being drawn by hand as this made them convey a much more friendly and inviting sense of which is important to utilise through the Tratar Bicycles logo as this family run, ethical and eco-friendly ethos is exactly what they need to display to the potential customers in order to improve sales. I had originally started out my designing stage by hand rendering an illustrating a number off different cicyle possibilities and an in keeping style with the logo illustrations so that they could be used through the design stage. This variety of bicycle illustrations allowed me to use a variety of variations depending on what worked best with the logo each time. This was a good addition to the logo as this means that they're was no room for error from prospective companies as they will know immediately what Tratar provide.
Throughout the logo designs there is a heavy use of bordering whether this be done with general outlines or the fact that the logos are set around chests, badges and shields, and then finished with scrolls. The inclusion of this style is yet again reminiscent "Old American" style designs of which yet again works very well for the design ideas as this yet again ensure the sense of homeliness and warmth through its welcoming informal illustrations but while still doing this it also enforces a sense of strength and robustness of which is another crucial side of Tratar Bicycles that need to convey. This is essential as the quality and strength of the products is an important unique selling point for the company and this is conveyed very well through the strength seen in said robust shapes. In the logo in the bottom right corner I decided to try experimenting with mostly typography with a small inclusion of iconography and this worked very efficiently as it looked a lot more cluttered that come of the other designs and subsequently a lot more professional looking while still remaining strong with the heavy bold simple font. The final inclusion in the logo designs was the illustrations of nature scenes and this was included to make reference to the eco-friendliness side of the company and this is something that the company need to make an emphasis to and it could be what set them apart from the rest and also the inclusion of bike related aspects such and the gears seen in the designs which was in keeping with the aesthetic style of the logos but also referent to the concept of the logo and company.
The next element of the design stage to decide on is the font styles that should be used. Initially the decision for the typography came down to some big and bold slab style typefaces like Bebas and Din but after evaluating this with some of my classmates in a informal feedback session situation I deemed that they weren't relatable and applicable for Tratar bicycles as they look far too corporate and series and so didn't fully represent what Tratar bicycles are about so I decided to scrap them and start again and below are my results;
The next step was to tackle the typography choices again and get some new results. Instead of the use of the serif style fonts I decided to try and use something a little more and instead chose to try and use some classic series style fonts instead to convey the vintage feel that was desired. These serif style fonts worked much more effectively as they instead of looking over professional and corporate the designs now instead looked inviting and personable, the perfect meaning to be conveyed about Tratar through the logo. In a few cases Instead of using a font I tried to employ a hand rendered style through the use of typography drawn with paths. This worked vey well as they looked aesthetically similar to the imperfect illustration making the whole logo come together as a whole. Within the serif font category a few different aesthetic styles were experimented with, the first of these seen in the logo in the top left is reminiscent of a turn of the century decorative hand writing style typeface, the typeface remains bold and in the viewers face like the original pros of the slab serif style font but while doing that still conveys to the viewer an inviting sense of friendliness and this works positively for the typeface. The only downside to this font is that it is very bold due to the nature of it and this doesn't match well aesthetically with the illustrations and ruins them. Next it was time to try another font reminiscent of this one and this in the font in the logo in the bottom left of the initial designs. Like the first typeface the series script style cursive font displayed a warm and welcoming feeling but instead of being overly bold like the first typeface, it works much better with the illustrations and it ties the whole design together and makes it much more uniform and therefore more professional. The last font tried in the design stage was a final serif style font but instead of being like the first to as a cursive turn of the country style font it was more like an old american western style type face. This kept the ongoing welcoming and inviting essence while still not being overly bold and uniform and finally also worked very well with the illustrations as they work aesthetically with both the vintage american style logo attributes such as the scrolls, crests and badges but also worked with the natural aesthetic of the hand rendered style of the logos.
The final aspect to think about was the colour choices and there use in the logo designs. rather then using overly in the face saturated colours like bright reds, blues, yellow etc of which can look overly tacky and furthermore unprofessional I decided to stick to muted tones of which makes the logo look much more inviting and professional. Furthermore the colour decision was made to stick with earthy natural tones such as shades of green and brown as these are referent to the natural side of Tratar Bikes of which is an important message they need to display through the logo and these colours worked very well as solo colours in the lifework logos but even the more muted tones can still be a little too much or make it a little less legible. The brown tones also have the obvious links to the product itself as the bicycle frames are carved out of wood but they could cause a problem further down the line as this brown may not be very visible on a wooden product.
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