WIP Wednesday | The Musicks in Japan #2

Hello friends,


Today's post is much less a work in progress as it is a complete product. Nearly one month ago, on Toriaezu Tuesday, I announced the beginning of my commission for /the Musicks in Japan podcast. Sometime early last week, I completed the first portion of the project; drafting the logo and rendering mockups. In the following paragraphs, I've taken the opportunity to explain some of my design decisions throughout the process.

For the logo, I knew an enclosed circular design would be ideal to not only organize the wordmark, but easily implement its use as an icon across various social media platforms. Second, I chose to create a hand lettered font with swooping curves and rounded shapes to reflect the kind and approachable nature the Musicks's envoke through their podcast. These softer shapes also do well to keep the circular framing device more consistent throughout the composition. I decided to reinforce that idea by using the traditonal scallop pattern to also breakup stagnant negative space in the background. Third, I think utilizing red was an obvious choice to reference the hinomaru symbol emlazoned upon Japan's national flag, as well as discreetly communicating the idea of the Musicks literally being in Japan. Finally, there are limited opportunities to visually tie the content of the podcast to the logo in more obvious ways. Therefore, I figured utilizing the iconic imagery of Hokusai's Great Wave would be the safest and easiest way to bring all the elements in the design together while simultaneously framing the logo in a manner to keep audience's attention within the boundaries of the composition.

After completing the logo, I thought it would be nice to try my hand at creating mockups. Mockups are an easy way to showcase ways in which designs can be implemented on various products. I'd never created mockups before this project, but I'm considering returning to several older designs to fill out my portfolio in a more comprehensive way.

What do you guys think? Are you looking for a project to be commissioned? Which one of my former projects should I return and mockup? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. As always, don't forget to like and share this post~

Until next time,
Peace