Congratulations, you just won a logo design competition!
Tell us a bit about what the competition was about?
First of all, thank you! I’m so happy to be the winner of this contest.
The competition was about creating a new logo for Turun Sarjakuvakerho, based on a few given guidelines such as the colour palette and their funny octopus mascot. Though we had the guidelines, we were very free to experiment ourselves, and I like a lot this way of doing things.
I entered the contest thanks to my teacher, Annukka Leppänen. But that was not the only reason of course. As a freelance illustrator and aspiring manga artist I’m very close and connected to the world of comics, so when I realized what the contest was about, I immediately jumped on it.
I was actually speechless when I got the news, since I have never won anything in my life. I really liked my logo even though I’m usually too self-critical, so of course I am proud of it. I think it’s always hard to make your work stand out from all the huge competition out there, but if that happens, then it definitely feels great and unreal at the same time!
Have you done many logos before? Tell us more about the design process: was it hard to get an idea, how many sketches you did, how long the whole process took etc.
I have only made two logos before this: my first one was a pure (terrible) experiment and I had no clue on what I was doing, I remember I did it at the very beginning of my graphic design studies. The second one was an actual work for a customer, and this time I had much more knowledge of my tools.
I usually struggle a lot with getting ideas, but for this logo it was surprising to see how my first idea was also the last and final one. Of course I have done many sketches of it, looked for references (especially because I have never drawn an octopus!), and changed some details during the process, but the overall design was kept until the end.
On the other hand I struggled a bit with the colour palette: I wanted to respect somehow the guidelines for the colours (mainly violet and fuchsia), but in the end it felt too overwhelming to my eyes, so I switched to lighter ones. I wanted to create an elegant mood, but friendly at the same time… and this is it.
I think that the whole process took about a month, also because I didn’t have a tight schedule so I worked at my own pace (very unusual for me!). It was also good to work on it for a long period, because everyday I could spot some other mistake or get new ideas to improve the final result.
How long have you studied, and what are you studying at Kullervonkatu? What’s best about media studies?
It’s about two years now that I’ve been studying at Kullervonkatu in the “Julkaisutuotanto” field. I’ve focused my studies on vector graphics, editorial design and packaging design.
I think the best side of studying media is that you have tons of choices of fields to study, and the amazing things is that most of them can be merged into one work. Just to give out an example: I also attended a photography course. Not really related to graphic design, someone might think, but actually it’s not correct. When I had to submit my editorial design exam, I created my own magazine with my own pictures, instead of using those stock pictures from the web. It was so great to see a big project like a magazine, only made with my own material.
Most of the times you can implement a type of media with another one, so the more tools you know, the more powerful you are!
What are your future plans? For the summer and in general after school?
I have some projects going on for the summer: I’m working as a background artist for a Finnish game! Besides that, I also keep up with my personal projects related to comics and illustrations, and I’m also attending an online course, so I luckily have many things to do.
After graduating from this school I have the very common dream of finding a job as a graphic designer! I finally made up my mind and decided what I want to do. Since I was a kid I was already so passionate about graphic and drawing, also thanks to my dad, who is a photographer and taught me the basics of Photoshop when I was… maybe 8 y.o.? Graphic has always been part of my life and I do want to keep working in this amazing field.