Design is my Demon

The Whitespace Market is a weekend bazaar with a refined selection of offerings and delectable international fare.  Recently, I made the new logo for the event.  (See post here.) Since late last year, I've been designing  illustrated posters for them, reflecting Whitespace Market's cheerful mood, relaxed pace and added experiential value (beyond plainly shopping).

Here are some of the posters.

"Matryoshka" December 2010

"Owl" January 2011

"Shop, Dine + Love" February 2011

"Indulge" March 2011

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Browse the consolidated portfolio at lawrenceantaran.com.

I’ve been doing posters and e-flyers for the Whitespace Market, a weekend bazaar held at the eponymous venue, since end of last year.  Unlike other bazaars, the selection is refined so as to include wines, cheeses, fresh organic produce as well as curios and hand-made crafts, not just the usual clothes and bags.  And while shopping, there’s invigorating food by The Commissary (Cibo) and an exhibit at the adjacent Manila Contemporary gallery to enjoy.

This time however, I was asked to create also the logo for the event.

Emblem "Mashematics" Bag photo via iGreenSpot

One of my initial ideas was to combine a virtual map pin and the silhouette of a shopping tote, especially since the bazaar encourages people to bring reusable bags.  The idea of using the pin was to communicate that Whitespace is an important spot, much like when people place pins on a map.  It’s either they want to go there or they’ve gone there and they value the experience.




Sketching the shape, it started to look like an ogee, a pattern I’ve always adored.  So I stacked the shapes together, visualizing possible patterns for Whitespace Market.

The resulting logo was streamlined to just include the bag silhouette as it went unclear to its audience what the pointed bottom was for. Still solid and clean, the emblem maintained its possibilities for various applications.

Final Logo

Logo as Pattern

Announcement Poster and E-invite (Click on image to enlarge.)

The Whitespace Market is back this Sunday (September 25) and the first four Sundays of October (2, 9, 16 and 23).  The bazaar is at 2314 Chino Roces Ave. Ext., Makati City and is open from 12NN to 6PM.

See you there!

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Browse the consolidated portfolio at lawrenceantaran.com.

Just won the 99Design contest for Hunks and Fruit!

Winning Design

The client went for the original design of the hunk drinking the smoothie.  The final however involved a younger-appealing font for “Exotic Smoothie Bar,” which shouldn’t be crazy and unreadable.  At the same time it should jive with brand name’s typography.

Variations and alternatives included a winking hunk, two-smoothie version and a leaf enclosure. (There was also a blonde but that didn’t quite work out…)

Original Sketch The initial plan involved star tattoos on the hunk’s shoulders but was moved up and behind to prevent the logo from looking busy.

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Browse the consolidated portfolio at lawrenceantaran.com

I’m back in the design contest circuit again.  Specifically, I joined a few more contests in 99Designs for the past month.  The latest contests are for logos that involve characters.  As I’m writing this, the contests are not yet over.  There are more or less two days to go for each of them.

The first is for Hunks and Fruit, a mobile smoothie bar in Miami driven by good-looking hunks, which offers exotic fruits in their blend.  Reading the brief, I immediately got excited as it seems like a bold and playful brand.  At the same time, I saw the contest as a challenge in balance as it outlined the logo to be “funny, sexy, manly and young; flirty without been tacky.” (View the contest here.)

Initial Logo Design

Alternative Entry

The client response has been great, so I’m crossing fingers for the win. More importantly, this contest somehow rekindled my interest in illustrating men since I’m usually asked to draw women in my editorial assignments.

The other is for an up and coming website, Completionaut.com, which allows its users to keep track of all the movies they have seen, books read and video games beaten. Instead of a human space explorer, I decided to create a robot companion. (View the contest here.)

Initial Entry (Click to enlarge.)

COPO: COmpletionaut Personal Otomaton, the robot companion involved a very thorough characterization, so thorough that it involved a background and visualizations how it can be used in the site.  However, the client did not require these and noted that site mechanisms are already in place.
With a few days left for the contest, I made a quick, slight revision.

Revised Logo Design

Hope this works for the client. Wish me luck!

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View the consolidated portfolio at lawrenceantaran.com