Extended Practice: Yamaha: Kando In Context/ Kando Campaign

Following on from the group crit on monday, I became more aware of the ambiguous nature of this brief. As there were no specific deliverables or requirements for this competition, everyone agreed that it was going to be difficult to know which direction to take this concept.

During the crit, it was suggested that instead of focusing on creating a new logo for Yamaha, as this was already fully established, to present my concept as more of a campaign. By doing this, I would be able to effectively show my ideas in context, allowing for the judges to get a feel for my interpretation of 'kando' in terms of Yamaha music and Yamaha motors.

My initial thoughts were to experiment with different images of musical instruments and motorbikes alongside my kando logo to see how they worked together. This would also give me a chance to decide if the logo was appropriate or not.

In order for the logos to work more effectively, I created a inverted version of my favourite variations. I felt this was necessary as the original black versions were not always as prominent against darker images.

My initial experiment in Photoshop (shown above) was to place the kando logo onto a yamaha motorbike. I thought the best place to do this was the seat or back box where there were large black areas. In order to make these look a bit more realistic, I experimented with different filters such as difference, overlay and colour dodge. These all looked reasonably similar due to working with a white logo.

I was pleased with the logo placed here, but the overall image was dull and unlikely to grab much attention. There was also no indication that kando was the intended main focus point. Following on from this, I began experimenting with different layers and positioning of the motorbike just to get some inspiration. The outcomes were surprisingly visually interesting..

By applying a red background and again experimenting with the different opacities and layer modes/effects, I was able to create a series of unusual poster mock ups. I particularly liked working with the 'divide' layer mode. It created a type of skeleton motorbike effect. It also resembles the photography effect of exposing in a darkroom.

Initial poster design. Experimentation with red and
white

Large Kando logo with enlarged motorbike in bg and
photographic layer experimentation

Large Kando logo with smaller motorbike facing
forward and red 'YAMAHA' placed at the bottom.

Smaller Kando logo placed at the bottom with
'YAMAHA' with incorporation of colour from photo.

Minimal red and white poster - without
photography

Alteration of positioning of motorbike imagery to
face corners with slightly enlarged Kando logo

Re-visit of photography layer with red tones as
background detail. 'Divide' layer effect of
motorbike imagery.

Experimentation with different photo as background
to compare effectiveness of overall poster

Smaller point size for 'YAMAHA' and reduced logo
size keeping the same positioning the
same as previously

Experimentation with black logo in center and addition
of 'MUSIC AND MOTORS' at bottom end of the poster

Experimentation with extra large logo variation,
dominating the poster as its main focus. Background
detail of multiple imagery, with text remaining at the
bottom of the poster