OUGD603 - Brief 07 - Loneliness - Digital Development: Name, Logo & Typography

In response to the final concept made I have considered some names for the campaign and service. As the audience is both young and elderly people the name needs to be suitable for both. After careful consideration the name 'Here to help' has been picked as it is friendly, welcoming and not direct in its link to loneliness. Feedback has been received on the name by a variety of young and elderly people and it has been suggested as being the most appropriate name to use.

For the next step in the process I have considered the values behind the service to try and inform logoshape ideas. The main aspects that the service aims to give out is positivity, community, friendship, equality, warmth, trust and communication. Visual experimentation can be seen:

After playing with type and shapes a logoshape has been produced. A plus is a symbol of positivity and a circle is representative of community. By playing with type I have found that the two shapes could be take from the 'to' letters. This has resulted in a final logoshape being created that could be incorporated into digital designs. 

In terms of typography I have researched into whether a serif or sans-serif typeface is more appropriate. Whilst there have been arguments that serif typefaces are more legibile in print, there has been strong evidence that sans-serif typefaces are more legible, especially for the elderly, as the ‘ticks’ and ‘tails’ at the end of most strokes on serif typefaces tend to obscure the shapes of letters. People with dyslexia also find sans-serif typefaces much easier to read. As I want to focus on accessibility in this project and designing for all, a sans-serif typeface is more appropriate. Gotham Light has been picked due to its letterform simplicity. In terms of type size, further research has indicated that 9–12 pt type is suggested as a minimum for partially sighted people. For visually impaired, type should be a minimum of 16pt. Informed by this two sets of design outcomes will be created, one for ordinary / partially sighted people (14pt) and one for those that are visually impaired (18pt).