A magazine design trial.

I choose to start the design based on the shape of a pen tip, as it can easily be associated to a writer. Though, the pen tip is a common shape without any special feature that distinguishes Leo Tolstoy to any other writers. 

Besides being a great writer, Leo Tolstoy is also a believer of nonviolent resistance who eventually influenced Gandhi. Therefore; to represent this nonviolent yet mighty force, I shaped the pan tip into a water drop, as it is both seamless and influential. Together with the pointy top, which devotes to social impacts done by Leo Tolstoy’s critical realism works, the logo itself fuses gentleness and force, which is a homage to characters in Leo’s works, containing both bright as well as dark sides of human natures.

I struggled with the typeface selection. Among all my previous designs, I always favor in San Serif fonts, as they remark simplicity as well as a modern taste. However, as a writer from 18th century, Leo Tolstoy needs to be expressed in a classical way with the elegance and sophistication that capable of bringing viewers back to the era when typewriters and pens are the only way of writing. Therefore, I selected Footlight front throughout the entire brand. 

The dark blue throughout this design implies the color of water, which contributes to the establishment of the previously mentioned water drop design. I kept the overall contrast relatively low, not only refers to my personal aesthetic preference but also avoids diverting too much attention from the actual content. I believe the brand design should provide a distinguishable yet ambient atmosphere without distracting core contents, especially when the person this brand referring to is a writer.

SHAPE 

The shape illustrates Mars, together with its two moons, rising gently above a blurred horizon. The creation of the shape was meant to deliver a sense of simplicity which is my tribute paid to the suprematism movement. Two orbits around Mars not only illustrate two moons Mars has, but also provide the two-dimensional red circle with a three-dimensional feeling.

TYPEFACE SELECTION 

The typeface used in the poster is simple, light, and futuristic. The thin typeface with wide tracking avoids capitalized words seeing too heavy, hence provides more empty space that kept the tone gentle. Over all, the poster is created to evoke curiosity with a gentle yet mysterious tone, instead of straightforward claims or overwhelming information.

COLOR SELECTION 

The color scheme with the relatively low contrast, was inspired by Ukiyo-e, a Japanese woodblock print- ing, as well as various sci-fi art works. The dark ashy red, the color of iron rich soil, is commonly used to represent the planet Mars; the goldish brown, providing a dusty misty feeling, is usually perceived as the color of Martian sky.