NSM Casio Archives & Logotype Brief (New!)

After the last design practice tutorial I've really pulled my socks up. So much so I'm probably pissing off my family and friends by being so antisocial.
One of the key issues that arose during the tutorial was the sheer lack of direction on the Casio work- there was a lack of a real brief behind it, and thus, no context, no purpose. I spent some time researching how I could use this work constructively, and eventually found that The National Science Museum in Tokyo archives all models of Casio's calculators from the 60's to the present day. I rewrote the brief to be about informing people of this fact, and decided that I would produce a series of A2 posters that would be most suitable in large underground railway stations, or airports. I chose to do the posters colour scheme in the style of the NSM's website and logo. Here is the board I produced today, resolving the brief as much as possible at this point (there is some margin for change still). Click for bigger:



A point I thought I would address as early as possible is the fact that the National Science Museum is based in Tokyo, Japan. So therefore a Japanese version of the poster would probably be a good idea. Thanks to my helpful bro Stephen Cody for translating the text, all of which is shown below to prove I'm not just bullshitting;

Casio Calculator History
カシオ計算機の歴史。

Archived in the National Science Museum
国立科学博物館に保管しているのです。

Casio calculators: More than 1 Billion sold worldwide. All models archived at the National Science Museum
カシオ計算機:世界中に１０億以上を売りました。
すべてのモデルは国立科学博物館で保管しているのです。

Opening hours:
開設時間： 月曜ー木曜までの9:00から5:00（最後の訪問者入場時間：4:30まで）
金曜：9:00から 8:00まで（最後の訪問者入場時間：7:30まで）

Hours may be extended for special exhibitions
臨時の展示会の場合は開設時間が延長するかもうしれません。

I re-did the posters into Japanese. I will be hoping to get feedback on their legibility soon, as I am unable to judge them.







I mentioned I wanted to do a brief designing type from the circuitboards I had been illustrating (see the calculator and NES pad for examples), so I wrote a brief to design the logotype for an electronic repairs store (for use in their stationery etc.). I began pulling sections off one of the drawings, and started re-arranging it into letterforms. However the result looked like shit, and there was simply no rules, no structure. See below for the circuitrey sections that I plucked, and some of the letterforms that came from it:





I decided to create a more structured type, developed from one of the best 'natural shapes' I had plucked (the letter 'a') and basing the rest of the letterforms on the rules established from this letter;

1. All lines must join or close (no lines going off into nowhere).
2. Must be legible, even when small (although the minimum size probably stands around 48pt. or so)
3. Should resemble circuitry on close inspection. (simple enough.)
4. Parallel lines must be measured accurately (this is tricky and requires a very painstaiking approach)

Development of the letter 'a':



Closeup on letterforms:



Developing the word 'Repair'



As you can see, I have only started developing lower-case letters, I can't imagine the headache that upper case will no doubt cause me. Keep watching this space.