CCSF Break'n Friday - Identity Design Process

Recently I was asked to come up with an identity for the CCSF Breakdance club – Break’n Friday. I have always been fascinated by the breakdance culture, so it’s a pretty cool experience to put my fingers on expressing the culture into simplistic icons or images.

I divided this project into two parts: 1.)The CCSF emblem and 2.)The title of the club.
Color choice was red and they like to have things in the shape of a diamond/rhombus. Clear enough, here goes the design process:

↑ Using the shape to start off, I tried various placements of the letters to create the emblem. I wanted it to be symmetrical to balance off the free-hand script that I had in mind for the club title.

Ended up with a few options:

Final: Instead of using the letters to form the shape, which turned out to be too plain and hollow on dark backgrounds, I chose to encompass the letters with the shape. The edges were thickened to relatively make the letters look more compact.

Part 2 – the script. Breakdancing is spontaneous. It’s all about improvisation with the music and mix given at the battle. Therefore, I chose to free-hand the script. Just the right amount of imperfection gave it the right touch.

↑ I’ve messed around with graffiti before, it’s fun to tag around again. I chose markers with various thickness to write out the words. I also tried it with different compositions, placements, and symbols.

The one that really hit the spot:

Into digitizing:

Sidenote// I’ve received questions on how I digitize my sketches many times, thought I use this chance to explain: None of my sketches are scanned by an actual scanner. They’re all taken by either my dSLR or iphone. Then, I’d trace and refine the sketches through illutrator/photoshop. I might have to make some changes to the design directly through the software, but most parts would base from the original sketch. So it’s crucial to start the design with a detailed and proportioned sketch.

Result: