CalArts Capstone Project - Woodland Story Time Press

In early 2025, I was fortunate enough to be able to take an online graphic design specialization certificate through CalArts. I learned a lot about the basics, like color theory, art history, typography, and imagemaking. In a lot of ways, it lit the fire to start my own side hustle. This is the capstone project for that program, and I found that I still have the knack for creating logos. It also guided me in the basics, and to literally play with design and approach it not necessarily from a mechanical process, although that is important too, but to have fun and experiment. I was able to generate a plethora of logotypes, and while some are more successful than others, the exercise made me think and create like a designer.

Woodland Story Time Press - Logo Variations and Colors

I've learned a lot during this certification, and one of the things that I really aced was choosing a color palette. The instructor in the tutorials gleaned it down to almost a science. Most palettes have four to five colors, and genearlly have a light and dark neutral, with a highlight color and a complementary color. Certain colors emit a certain type of feeling and response, but generally, there's not a bad color, just colors not used in the best way.

In this instance I chose a darker grayish green for the dark neutral, and then a lighter gray. For the highlight color I chose a coral orange, and then a soft pastel green to complement it. For calls to action, I will generally choose the orange color. However, when it comes to bolder colors, they're harder to complement other elements when used as a logotype. This can be easily be swapped out with the soft green or other neutrals.

Woodland Storytime Capstone Project

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