Name Tag Design [Kate Ewen]

For Kate's name tag, she asked for a clean and simple lines, muted colors, and a uniform look in the letters of her name. In my first draft, I decided to create a modern design that I believed represented Kate as a designer. I experimented with a gradient look using a muted blue prismacolor marker, and used dark purple for the lettering and lines, since that was one of the colors that Kate liked.

In my revision, I decided that gray letters would complement the soft blue tone more so than white. The gray marker on top of the blue marker created a unique white-out effect that made the overall design look more interesting.

The principles and elements of design are also present in the name tag.  It has a sense of proportion-- all of the letters are the same size and take up almost half of the overall name tag, which is substantial and creates a unified look. All of the letters are spaced evenly apart, spanning across the length of the tag which contributes to the balance of the design. The lightness at the top of the name tag also balances with the light color of the letters at the bottom. The fact that all of the letters are the same size and are spaced evenly also contributes to the principle of rhythm. Each letter creates an equal "beat" across the name tag.  A happy accident that took place when I used the gray marker on top of the blue was the play of positive and negative space, the letters being negative and the solid lines of the blue floating on top of the name. This design takes advantage of a straight horizontal line that is continuous across the name tag.  I considered the constrictions of a header on blogger in the shape of the name tag. I wanted the form to be simple and easy to scan and display. Since Kate wanted muted colors, I decided on this cool blue tone that would play well with a soft grey. Texture is evident in this design through the soft, watery blending of the marker.  Finally, I played with value and contrast in the gradient pattern, moving from darker and heavier at the bottom to lighter at the top.