OUGD504 STUDIO BRIEF TWO - LED SIGN RESEARCH

After researching Tracey Emin's LED artwork, I decided to research a bit further into other LED artwork, to see different typefaces that are used, and different styles as well, to help me when producing my own LED logo.

This is an interesting form of LED lighting, where the writing itself is interestingly made up of greenery on some form of board. This is to create a new green option for signage, that is slightly more environmentally friendly. This much darker coloured text makes the blue LED lighting appear much brighter, almost sparkling, as it reflects off the underside of the board. The blue adds to the natural appearance of this type sign, looking a bit like a river weaving in between the trees. I like how this sign is made out of a board being an solid, opaque feature, with the LED lights behind it, which is different from just using LED tubing, as it makes it look more sophisticated, as the typeface choice is a lot more extensive if it's not made using LED tubing. 

This is a completely different style of LED lighting to the one above. Created by 3D artist Rizon Parein, this is a much more modernist example of LED lighting, using tubing to create the lettering, this is a simple, very geometric typeface, where the tubing is cut off as a straight line, rather than having rounded terminals as most other LED typefaces have. This uses a similar colour blue to the above example though, perhaps because this is a cheap colour lighting to buy, or it could be a reference to what the text is saying "The night is ours" in French, so blue is an appropriate colour, especially against the dark background, it could represent the moon. It makes it look a bit mysterious and magical almost, a bit like mist as the light blurs out from the source. I should be careful what kind of atmosphere the colours I use and the background used gives off to the public, not to create an atmosphere that is irrelevant to the publication.

This LED example is titled Five Words in Green Neon, and was produced in 1965 by Joseph Kosuth. It is of a similar minimalist style as Parerin's, and the lighting itself is in a similar colour blue as well, despite what the name of the piece is called. Instead of it being on a dark background, or white where the blue lighting would stand out, it's against a green background, which is very similar to the writing, so it all blends together, which I am not sure is the aim, however it doesn't make this piece have a lot of impact. You can also see the wiring, which you couldn't on either of the above examples, which makes it look a bit more grungy and imperfect. I should be careful what background I put on my logo to ensure that the type can be read easily and the logo itself stands out effectively rather than blending in.

This is a much more dynamic LED type example, titled Build or Destroy by Patrick Martinez. The letters reflect the words themselves, for example "destroy" has it's letterforms scattered around, reflecting the meaning of the word itself. The outline is also broken apart, which creates a very dynamic appearance. The typeface used however is the same standard sans serif, uppercase lettering, with rounded terminals rather than straight cut off ones. The colours are also very similar to the examples previously, green and blue, which must be common colours used for LED lighting, as there doesn't seem to be any cause for it being these colours. However the green could reflect the destruction of the forests perhaps, or of nature, although I don't think showing this through LED lighting is the most appropriate way. These lights appear much brighter than the other examples, so perhaps I should consider how this is achieved and whether a brighter or duller appearance would look more effective.

Researching other examples of LED lighting, and different designs they have been produced with, has helped me to see which colours work best, and are more common, blue. It has also shown me different techniques used with LED lighting, such as the board with greenery on it in the first example, which isn't something I had thought about before, but could be interesting, to have the lighting shown up behind the board. These are all things I should experiment with with my own logo, to find the most effective and appropriate resolution.