Graphic Design Blog

Discord Server

My friends and I are preparing to open our Discord to the school. It would allow us to communicate about homework and assignments, and give us a way to stay in touch over the summer! But we needed a logo. I decided to pick two colors that fit the general design of our server and Calliope provided us with a fantastic idea for a name: Kutzzone. [perfect!!]

On the left, you can see the invite slip we created. Below are the various designs of logos I created. The three of us (Calliope, Mason Ewing, and I) voted on the logos. I would tweak the logo, send it in the chat, and they would critique it. Then that process repeated. I used a vector art software to create them.

Original Logo

This was the starting logo. I made it just for fun, but we ended up going further with it.

Next Iteration

We decided to extend the bottom part of the K and make it a nice 90 degree right triangle. We also extended the gradients a little more.

Final Logo

After 5 attempts, we added a Z in the logo to make it more "KutzZone"-y.

Look closely at the parts where the K and Z overlap. That overlap color effect was very difficult to do because I had to reshape each individual point on the letter! In the end it looked really great.

How I design things for others

My design style involves making 3 different things: getting down the Fonts and Colors, the official logos and names, and other notes about the branding. I designed the CTV Branding and some branding for my friends CD making. (He didn't ask for it but I wanted to make one for him anyway :D)

Top 7 Best Rebrands of the 2020s

From Nokia to Burger King, the 2020s were packed with rebrands that show changing times. A lot of these logos involved simplification to make the logo more recognizable or to reduce the ink used on packaging. Here are 7 of my favorites this year, plus a few that really stand out now.

#7 - Tastykake. A classic Pennsylvania company that's known for Krimpets, Cherry PIes, and a lot more- made a slight change to their packaging, but it looks great!

#6 - Discord. A ton of people were upset with the Discord rebranding. I agree that it was unnecessary. But the new fonts they made? Fantastic!

#5 - Nissan, slightly unnoticed, but important because it's a good simplification.

#4 - Sprite, very smooth with the "dot" in the i! Fantastic. Also look at the way the dot cuts into the t and forms a circlular shape.

#3 - Windows

After a new version of the Windows operating system was leaked to the public, Microsoft was forced to revealed their redesigned Windows 11 branding. It looks really smooth and matches the aesthetic of the 2020s.

#2 - Pepsi

Pepsi suddenly rebranded in 2023 to make their logo fit what the public's view. There's a very interesting article about it: read it at this link. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/28/business/pepsi-new-logo/index.html

#1 - Burger King

Burger King by far had a design change that perfectly fits the new simplicity of the 2020s. It stands out and actually goes back to the 80's with a retro redesign.

Reflection: Why do I like Graphic Design?

I have loved graphic design since I was in preschool. I remember telling my mom about how the McDonald's logo used to have text in the center, and it shifted, something she noticed made me different from most kids. I would talk about logos from the Leap Frog logo on my tablet, to the Vtech logo on our house phone. It grew me into the person I am today. I notice the little changes in everything. For example, I used the Tastykake logo as one of the best rebrands on this page- most people wouldn't have noticed a small font and render change like that in the logo! However, I did. I guess I am pretty good at that.

I'm pretty proud of my work here because I was able to explain my design process in a way that makes sense, not in a scrambled way. I like how I showed the various iterations of the logo for my Discord server- that's something I worked hard on, not just with the organization, but with finding all of the logos in my Google drive (I'm organized... sometimes).

I might even take this geek out blog and do a little more geeking out over the summer! We've entered a new era in the 2020's where large companies are trying to simply their logo and reach everyone that they can- which is going to keep me entertained with all the new logos that are coming.

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