SPE370: Corporate Logo

The Marlboro logo is immediately recognizable in both positive and negative reproductions. Marlboro is a brand of cigarette made by Philip Morris USA. In the early 1960s Philip Morris invented "Marlboro Country" and depicted their manly concept into the rugged cowboys we know today as the "Marlboro Men." It emerged as the number one youth-initiation brand, largely on its reputation as a full-flavored brand considered delicious by many smokers. The Marlboro logo design represents the idea of rough and tough, masculinity. The logo represents Marlboro the brand and not the product of cigarettes. In my opinion, they aren’t trying to make anyone smoke, but if they do smoke they want you to smoke their brand.

The logo is simple and adjustable to different sizes and color palates. There is a red logo, gold, silver and green. Because of its simplicity and sophistication the Marlboro logo and trademark are envied by many. Simplicity, as we have learned, is key when you want to allow people to put their own thoughts, feelings, and opinions to things.

Colors are also a big deal when it comes to advertizing. The colors that come to mind when you think Marlboro are red, white, and black. The background is white with a cap of red at the top. The font is depicted in black. The color white is associated with youth or youthfulness. Candy cigarettes are always white. So I feel like they do this to target a younger audience. Red is associated with strength, sex, passion, excitement, and danger. Cigarette smoking goes hand in hand with all these emotions. People smoke after sex, they may have a passion for smoking, I personally get excited over them, and of course they are very dangerous for your health. Red is also an impulsive color, it makes you want to do things. Like buy this brand of cigarettes. Black is associated with sophistication, elegance, seductiveness, and mystery. All of these emotions are enticing not only to the emotionally, but visually as well.

The font choice is Neo Contact which is bold and condensed. The letters in Neo Contact are filled with personality. The letters have two distinct weights of line, and the serifs are made up of tiny, strict slabs.

I think the colors on the logo make out the picture of a mountain. This ties the whole “Western frontier”/ cowboy idea together with the logo. Obviously there is no actually mountain there, but due to closure, that is what my eyes see. I also feel like the “l” and the “b” in the word Marlboro creates gestural lines to point at the mountain created by the red and white contrast.  

SPE 370- Font

                For this week’s blog post we were instructed to take a font quiz. I thought the questions were silly and meaningless, but after submitting it my result was spot on. I am “Edwardian Script”. The description reads “A true romantic at heart, nothing gets your juices flowing more than the promise of flowery, fluttery love. Can you hear the violins playing? They are playing just for you, baby.” Not only did I fall in love with the font that showed up, but the description was so fitting. I am such a hopeless romantic! It was interesting to see how a series of pointless questions could result in such descriptions

            The definition of calligraphy is decorative handwriting or hand written lettering. I looked up the Edwardian Script font and found out that “unlike traditional calligraphic scripts which tend to suggest a flat-tipped writing instrument, it was influenced by a more flexible steel-point pen.” When you look at the letters, when using this font, you can see the varying pressure which is produced by thick and thin strokes. It’s meant to look like fancy hand written text. Calligraphy is easy on the eyes because of the whimsical look it has. The elegant and formal look that makes it suitable for personal, professional or business purposes.

            I can’t imagine a world that didn’t have fonts. I love that you can manipulate fonts to portray such a different meaning. But it is something we all take for granted because we don’t really discuss fonts in our everyday life. Which is sad considering fonts and text can convey so many different attitudes, personalities, and needs.        

SPE370- B&W Comic

I have never been a fan of comic strips. My brother has always loved them and cut and saved them from just about every Sunday’s newspaper since he started to read. So this assignment, at first, seemed to be a little challenging off the bat.

For our second post we needed to pick a black and white comic and discuss line and shadow techniques. I chose one from the Peanuts.

The first thing I notice when I look at the comic are all the textural lines. Due to the lines in Patty's hair you get the appearance of strands. The lines also show the lines or stripes on her shirt. At the bottom of her shoes the lines create the textured of the soles. Even the grass has a little bit of texture. Although it is just a few scribble lines and doesn't necessarily look like grass, we can recognize it as grass due to where is sits in the picture and the precise way it is drawn.

The eye lines are distinct in this comic. In the first square we can see Patty and Snoopy are looking at one another because they are drawn from a side view and we are only able to see one eye on each character. In the second block both characters are looking out at the viewer. We see both pairs of eyes and have a frontal view of their faces. Snoopy's eyes are closed in the third block. Patty stays the same after the first block, but the size of her eyes do change slightly to suggest different emotions. In the third square they are the biggest because she is surprised by Snoopy's kiss. 

The contour lines are the easiest lines to see. They are what give each character their shape. It allows us to differentiate Patty's hair from her face, her cloths from her body, and gives her a specific look. The same goes with Snoopy.  

         There is no tonal rang in this comic in my opinion. It looks like it was all drawn with the same kind of “pen” or whatever it was crafted out of. There is no shadowing or difference between blacks. The comic and all the lines it is composed of are all dark without change in tone. 

Beautifully Simple

My Icon

            Close your eyes and put yourself in a little kid’s shoes. You watch as an adult cautiously twists the lid off of a brightly colored bottle trying not to spill what is inside. You glance inside and see a clear liquid swishing around with a stick in it. When the stick is pulled out, you realize that it has a circle on the end of it, but it appears empty. As you begin to lose interest, they put it to their mouth and softly blow. Like magic, three-dimensional circles appear in the air. They dance and swirl around you. You can see right through them, but you can also see a tint of bright colors. When you finally touch one of the bubbles, it disappears!

The icon I chose to describe myself as well as my personality is a picture of bubbles. I chose this specific picture because I am constantly being told that I have an extremely bubbly personality. So I felt as if this image was quite fitting for me. When I was little I always loved when my mom would blow bubbles for my brother and I to chase around, and then pop.  I can almost bet that everyone has a positive childhood memory that involves chasing bubbles.

            At twenty years old I still love blowing and popping bubbles. I truly am a kid at heart, and I think that bubbles represent that as well. I am also a very simplistic person, I enjoy the simple things in life and bubbles are one of those simple pleasures that life has to offer. I feel like seeing a sea of bubble forces an instant smile on the face of everyone who comes in contact with them. I have also been told that I can light up a room. I believe that I am told this because I am always very energetic, and try my hardest to put a smile on everyone’s faces when I am around them. Everyone has to smile when they see bubbles because they provide you with a moment of simple happiness before they pop.