WHAT IT WAS
I was tasked with creating a series of four illustrations for screen printing class. I was reading The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi at the time. Musashi’s writings are separated into 5 parts - ground, water, fire, wind, and void. I tried to illustrate parts of his philosophy as birds.
THE CHALLENGE
A year later I had to expand a past project and form a brand around it. I’ve always wanted to create an apparel brand, especially one that is based on art and design. I decided to take my four illustrations and build a mock brand around them, making some adjustments on the way.
WHAT IT IS
ELEMENTL is an action sports clothing brand. It was established by two surfers who also like skateboarding, fire poi spinning and skydiving. Their target audience is people of the action sports community, and the goal is to bring as many action sports cultures together as possible.
PHASE ONE
Developing the graphics.
STONE
Stone is rigid, hard, dry and solid. It is defined by straight lines that cut, and the cracking sound it makes. I emitted the letter ‘c’ from the word ‘crack’ because it’s visually rounded, and that doesn’t fit stone as well as the sharp letter ‘k’. I printed on a 50lb slab of granite, which resulted in a beautiful texture.
WIND
Wind is free, light, and void. It has motion, which is why I chose the word ‘rise’. I expanded the letter ‘I’ in my first design, because it has great vertical movement, but later decided to skip on the type. I made the art by masking a piece of glass with vinyl, then acid etching the negative space to create a transparent positive.
WATER
Water is gentle, flowing, full-bodied and soft. Contrary to the stone bird, this one is all about round shapes and smoothness. That’s why I multiplied the letter ‘O’. I printed on hand-poured glass because it had a nice, flowing texture that reminded me of water. In addition, the glass used to be a liquid when it was poured.
FIRE
Fire is quick, hot, sharp and exciting. I noticed that the letter ‘U’ resembles the negative space between the licks of fire, which is why I multiplied it. I used the split fountain technique to achieve a smooth gradient, and printed on a wooden base because fire and wood have a special connection.
PHASE TWO
Logotype design and application.
BRAND RESEARCH
My research was aimed at discovering an appropriate style for the logo. I collected the logos of skateboarding, snowboarding, and surfing apparel brands. I discovered stylized, grid-constructed logotypes that suggest forward motion. Most are accompanied by a mark, but I decided to skip on that part.
THE LOGOTYPE
I used the elements of geometry to construct the ELEMNTL logotype. I placed circles inside of squares, then removed parts of the shapes until i arrived at the final mark. I wanted the logo to have 8 letters (so I can stack them) which is why I removed the letter ‘A’. I think that this add s little more interest to the mark . This flexible width of the logo aids when it comes to diverse application (web, mobile, print, etc.).
PHASE THREE
Putting it all together.
