The Ruts
logotype

Thiis was the development of creating my first logotype idea. I decided that one of the most effective ways of informing the viewer of the punk nature of the band was by illustrating a punk with the classic liberty spikes hair style, dyed purple, as many punks dyed their hair very bright colours  as a contract to accepted societal norms and beauty-grooming conventions. The punk character in this logo also has a piercing  that many punks had too. 

The character is clutching a retro style microphone that would have been used by bands around the  same time period as The Ruts, making this logo more time-period and relevant to the band.    

As many punk songs were sung in a hardcore and "unconventional" sense, I made sure to draw the punk almost shouting into  the microphone, as many punks did when creating music as they usually weren't trained singers, or trained musicians – often  only able to play either no chords or just a few chords on a guitar. This shows how the passion for messaging within punk music,  and I wanted to show this in my logo by making the character appear angry and rebellious.    

I made the band name, The Ruts, appear as if the words are flying out of the characters mouth, showing that this logo is for The  Ruts. I attempted to make it look like the punk character is shouting the band's name.  

I started this piece by creating a ransom text piece cut out from individual letters from various newspapers,  intentionally replicating Jamie Reid's iconic style. After I did this, I scanned it into Photoshop and used the  image trace function to turn my design into a digital graphic. I then started to experiment with Photoshop's  different filters and effects.    

The first effect I used seen in the third photo is the graphic pen effect, I like how rough it appears and the black and purple contrast is very prominent. The second effect I used is the note paper filter, making the  piece appear as if I have used purple ink on a rough surface, making the design look very rough and Dada  influenced. The third effect I used is the conte-crayon effect. I changed the background to a black and white  brick wall to make it seem like someone had sprayed the logo on a wall with spray paint which captures  punk's rebellious attitude. In the fourth picture I used the diffuse glow filter to make the piece look grainy and  vintage.  

This concept is influenced by the typefaces that usually appear in horror books, films and magazines. A lot of punks used similar  typefaces because of the hardcore imagery in horror themed things. A lot of horror typefaces appear distorted with jagged  edges to reflect the scary undertones, so therefore I chose to this concept logo in this specific style, because it shows the  intense conventions behind punk.    

I sketched out the design into illustrator with my Wacom tablet to get a bold outline. After I achieved this, I used the shape  builder tool to colour in the design with the appropriate colours. I chose a colour scheme similar to what Jamie Reid uses in  some of his pieces such as the McDonald's (I'm lovin' it/hatin' it) piece that I researched at the beginning of this project. This  consisted of "ugly" colours, meaning that the colours are purposely made to look grotesque and unconventional, which creates  impact, so I chose these themes in this concept.    

After I chose a slime-green and blood-red colour scheme, I wanted to make the design more interesting, so I imported the  piece into photoshop and started experimenting with the filters until I found a filter that I liked. I eventually found the grain  filter, and this was my favourite because it makes the piece look weathered yet fairly eye-catching at the same time, almost like  it was taken on an old and unsophisticated film camera from around the same time period that The Ruts were active.  


I first applied a grain effect to the type to make it logotype appear vintage and worn down. I then brightened the colours in the second image to try to make my logo stand out as much as possible but I thought the logo looked too basic so I  decided to keep the brighter colour and I changed the texture of it in the third image. I then added a very rough filter. I wanted to make the logo appear like it had been burnt and neglected, showing that the logo isn’t  meant to look polished and conventional, it is meant to appear used. 

Finally, I made the filter look even more rough by darkening the black tones. I didn’t think the logotype popped out enough, so I added a very thick black drop shadow around the lettering to make the logo stand out even more. I wanted it to appear as intense  as possible and personally think that I have achieved that.  

I attempted to incorporate a similar colour scheme to the Ramones’ leave home poster, and instead of the neon green and orange colour scheme, I used a neon green and red colour scheme. I wanted to make this logotype appear as damaged and D.I.Y as possible, radiating  intense energy. I did this by adding the thick black drop shadow and the rough black distorted effect that is placed upon the bright colours.  

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