Personal Graphic
1. Why a rat for the logo?
On a personal level, I have always felt a deep connection to rats. Aside from owning them as pets in the past, I feel as though they have a rather bad representation in media. When you first think of a rat the first thing that often comes to mind is a "sewer rat", you think of a scruffy, dirty, red eyed nasty little creature. Often in the media, rats are demonized, either they are the villains of the story or are presented in a negative way. Although, appearances can be deceiving. Rats are in fact extremely intelligent, sophisticated and even quite clean creatures! Having had two pet rats (Hector and Hellsing respectively), I can say without a doubt they were the most impactful and loving pets I have ever owned. I chose a rat because I really relate to the idea of people judging before they "get to know you" and as stated previously, appearances can be deceiving!
2. Why a pink rat?
I decided to go with a pink theme because its a color that not only brings me joy, but its a color that (obviously) is not seen in rats! I wanted my rat to be a somewhat personified version of myself. On a deeper level, I often wear pink (and my whole desk is pink themed) but I also find that the color pink relates to femininity. Being a *somewhat* masculine presenting person when it comes to personality, I wanted to show the parallel that pink is often seen as a "girl color". Pink is also simply a color that brings me comfort.
2010 - present
2010 - present
Sketching Process
1. What software(s) were used?
For the image/idea curation step I used the internet to gather images of sleeping rats and then used Procreate to sketch out my idea. I referenced a few different images of curled up sleeping rats but made sure to somewhat simplify the shapes to create a rat that fit my style. To create the text (seen in the final logo above) I used Illustrator and the "Type on a path" tool to create that curved look. The curved text itself would have been difficult to achieve using Procreate itself, with Procreate being a mainly illustration focused app, there are not many options for manipulating text.
2. What font did you use?
I decided on downloading a free font called "Las Marias" that was royalty free. I went with this font because it is has a somewhat bubbly look while also being easy enough to read. I did not want to go with a script/cursive inspired font as I wanted the overall logo to look almost nostalgic and "childish" in a way. A cursive font would have been too sophisticated for the vibe I was going for.