Archive / videos / Process Four — Detailed aesthetic
Process Four
How a simple mark is earned.
Three spreads from the same book. No final logo is shown — only how it was earned: by prototyping A’s, by drawing hundreds of circles, by starting with words.
024—025 — Fast prototyping of ‘A’
Four rows of A’s. First row: sharp, flat apex. Second: soft, then wavy. Third: horizontal bars become curves. Fourth: the counter becomes the form. Right side: the same A, but the leg becomes negative space, then hatched.
What to see
- Top-left: chevrons stacked (3 lines) → becomes a solid A with thick top bar.
- Second row: bar becomes white negative gap, then separates.
- Third row: horizontal bars become waves — the A breathes.
- Fourth row: counter is pushed off-center, then the leg splits.
- Right page: A derived from triangle with bar, then hatched for “botanical”.
Detail — 025 lower
Hatched triangles and overlaid diamonds. The hatching is always 45°, 0.8px, same as the blue circles on 066. It’s not texture — it’s a second grid.
Print: 2000×1333 at 150dpi = 13.3×8.9in spread. WebP 44K.
066—067 — Hundreds of circles
Seven rows of six, per spread = 42 + 42 = 84 blue circles. Each circle is cut, not drawn. A white shape is subtracted. The blue is always the same: #2B4EA3 on white.
System
All marks are circles with a single subtraction: half-moon, quarter, stripe, diamond, dots. The outer circle never changes — 48px diameter at print. Only the counter moves.
Color
Blue is Process Cyan + 20% Black — #2B4EA3. Not bright, not navy. It survives on kraft, on white, and as a foil on black (see 024’s blue dots on black).
Count
84 shown, “hundreds” explored. The final mark (not shown here) is the simplest: a circle with a single vertical cut. That is why this spread exists — to prove simplicity was a choice, not a shortcut.
082—083 — Words to form
Left: twelve names — MA, TAKI, TEMPLE, PORTAL, HONOR, MODE, TOKEN, ECHO, RELIC, DOJA, AKIN, ODYSSEY, NOMAD, NAMA — all possible routes. Right: four geometric lockups in heavy black, exploring “the balance between Indian and Japanese botanicals.”
Why words first
Naming before form forces the mark to carry meaning. “Akin” and “Odyssey” want different weights; “Mata” wants symmetry. The type on the left is not a logo — it’s a brief.
Route 1
Top-left: D + square + bar — “two sides” literal. Top-right: A with flat top, as if folded. Bottom-left: S + B ligature? Bottom-right: J + A in a black field. All are black on white, 900 weight, no color — color comes later.