Zenith - 3 Fictional Companies Project
In early 2019, I decided to start a new project to practice my design skills. The challenge I gave my self was to create three fictional companies, complete with a Motto, a Logo, and an Icon.
After setting the rules, I started exploring ideas for what these three companies would focus on. What would they sell? What items would capture a customer's attention?
Here some examples of the apparel and accessory designs I created for the three companies.
I decided that these three companies should focus on apparel and accessories. I made this decision due to the large amounts of companies advertising their apparel and accessory goods on social media platforms like Facebook, and Instagram.
With this idea in mind, I dove headfirst into the first fictional company.
I got a lot of ideas from having watched the X-Games as a child and as an adult.
Climbing to the ZENITH!
I was always a fan of extreme sports. I would watch the X-Games every summer and see professionals like Tony Hawk and Shawn White perform these amazing tricks on their skateboards. I was always curious about the company logos on their boards and wondered which ones they were. As I looked up some of these companies I would notice that they didn't just focus on skateboarding equipment. The would make equipment for other extreme sports, and some apparel designs as well.
I started out by writing down some ideas for a motto. This motto would help guide me in the direction I would want to take the design for the company in. What does the company want to convey with their branding? What kind of message would they want to send to their customers?
After much pondering, I settled on one of the first I wrote down, "Reaching new heights".
With the motto in mind, I can now focus on a name that would match it. I quickly started looking up synonyms for the top of a mountain. Keeping in line with the idea that the company would help you reach new heights, I wrote down many words that I felt matched that sentiment. I then read these words to my self many times and took a five-minute break. After the break, I tried to remember the words I repeated to my self earlier. Zenith was the first one that popped into my head. It's a very memorable word, it also sounds intriguing. I settled on Zenith as the name for this first fictional company.
We have a name. But what can I use to represent that name?
I started exploring ideas for a symbol. The obvious idea would be a small mountain. So I sketched many small thumbnails for what I thought the symbol could look like. I first thought that perhaps having the sun rising behind a silhouetted mountain would convey the message. As I continued sketching I felt that the sun wasn't necessary. I then focused more on the tip of the mountain instead. I wanted the symbol to have a geometric look to it. I added more angles to the last few sketches until I got a shape I felt had everything I wanted. A very pronounced peak, with smaller ones beneath it.
I have a name, and I have a symbol. The last thing to do is find a typeface that would match everything. Something even, something clean. I lined up many different typefaces for this purpose and compared it to the mountain sketch I decided on. After much thought and consideration, I went with TW Cent MT as the typeface. I felt it had the cleanest and most even look out of the other typefaces.
Now it's time to put it all together.
On top of the world!
This final product is something I can imagine seeing on a skater's board during the X-Games.
With my logo finally complete, now it's time to get to work making the merchandise that this fictional company would sell. Time to explore some items.
