WORK SMART, NOT HARD

I've listened to this quote on a TV show and I think it's quite funny. I want to emphasize the word SMART, and maybe add some country work or farm illustration.

DAY 1

Brainstorming:

Work Smart, Not Hard - image 1 - student project

I know, it's not very long. But I think I've got the idea.

I've found some interesting material doing the research:

I want "smart" to be as simple as these "MOTEL" letters. I want my design to be as simple as possible.
I think I like the idea of use a bulb illustration, and add some electricity motives as ornament. Pretty related with smart people!

Work Smart, Not Hard - image 2 - student project

I've also practiced different styles:

Work Smart, Not Hard - image 3 - student project

And made my first sketches:

Work Smart, Not Hard - image 4 - student project

I've tried both, farm and bulb illustrations, and several styles of letters.

I chose the second sketch of the bottom line. It's a very, very simple composition which emphasizes the word "smart" a lot and I think that "on a curve" style will work very well.

DAY 2

I've worked a lot lately, but I didn't update the project. I'm sorry about that, let's fix it! :-)

I think I am pretty close to what I was looking for. This is my final sketch:

Work Smart, Not Hard - image 5 - student project

I also went to illustrator, digitalized it and tried a few colors:

Work Smart, Not Hard - image 6 - student project

Work Smart, Not Hard - image 7 - student project

I didn't really like any of the palettes of color I was trying, so I realized composition might not be working. Letters on a curve, round bulb...Maybe it was the square background. And so it was:

Work Smart, Not Hard - image 8 - student project

Work Smart, Not Hard - image 9 - student project

I think that rounded background improves composition a lot! It was a poster, but now is a label! :-)

There's a few things I would like to improve:

Shadow underneath SMART. I want to redraw it correctly.
Palette of colors: I really love the blue and pink combination, but something is not working (maybe the green/gold ornaments?) I like it much more, but overall I think brown and pink works better. Any advice?

Thank you so much for your attention! :-)

DAY 3

Hi! I think It's finished!

Finally I chose the blue one, worked on colors and added texture.

For SMART and NOT HARD I tried some brushes looking for a grainy texture.

For the background I used this one:

Work Smart, Not Hard - image 10 - student project

Here you have the result:

Work Smart, Not Hard - image 11 - student project

I was so confident that even made an animated gif:

Work Smart, Not Hard - image 12 - student project

I want to thank Mary Kate for sharing her knowdledge with us!

I had such a great time following this class...

Also I want to thank you all for your support and advice!!! See you next time! :-)

Ce Cruz

Designer

23

196