COP3// Practical Final Photos: Items as a set & Evaluation

In Evaluation. The aim of this project was to take knowledge I had gained through the process of writing the dissertation element of this module and synthesise this new understanding with a design based practical element. I chose to re-design the visual identity for the company Deep Space Industries, an American start up hoping to mine asteroids in the near future. The reasoning behind this is that the written element focuses heavily on the cold war era space race between the US and USSR. Today private companies are just beginning the same journey, albeit with different aims, nevertheless ‘racing’ each other into space. This new race will focus heavily on the technology involved, however as they are privately owned rather than government bodies they also need a strong visual identity to guide investment and public opinion in an open market with competition looming.

The core identity I came up with takes reference from Deep Space Industries existing logo, with heavy, wide, swooping lines, and brings it up to date with a more modern and usable standard. With the addition of the text element I have drawn a simple ‘encounter line’. This red line represents a spacecraft trajectory as it encounters, orbits and then de-orbits from an object in space. The new visual identity directly relates DSI with space activities through this simple graphic analogy.

One other aspect of the redesign included the production of various paraphernalia that the identity may be used with. This is discussed in detail in the visual identity manual which I have provided for guidance. The aim of the visual identity manual is to lay down rules and explanations on how to use the new DSI identity with examples.

This process has been continued with the production of mission insignia for upcoming DSI missions named ‘Firefly’ and ‘Dragonfly’; real word events planned for launching in the near future. To design these I took elements from the existing mission insignia and completely overhauled the design. The new versions appear more professional with a more simplistic and suitable tone of voice. The insignia redesign looks futuristic, incorporating visual representations of the insects described carrying out the mission tasks; Firefly illuminates with his tail and Dragonfly captures and asteroid. The production of the insignia directly relates to topics discussed in the written element of this module, from the use of illustrations to the depictions of mission parameters in a simple and workable way. I mounted the insignia on some laser-cut plastic to give an impression of what the insignia would look like in action; which would be on the side of a space craft.

To flesh out the development of the identity further I produced a mission plaque. This was inspired by the use of mission plaques by NASA, most famously on the Apollo 11 mission. The wording on the plaque itself is heavily inspired by this. Its use would theoretically be too leave it on the first asteroid visited by a private company in history aboard the ‘Firefly’ mission. The plaque looks great but I had a few problems in its production. At the moment it looks used, as if it has returned from space, due to the staining of the engraved portions. The aim was too have the engraved portions inked up, however this was not possible due to time constrains. Nevertheless, visually it is still striking and the rusty aesthetics of the unfinished product gives a good tone of voice for a deep space mining organisation.

Finally I produced a small plastic sign to illustrate a scaled down version of  much larger corporate signage, that could appear outside offices or launch facilities. This is the DSI logo laser-cut in plastic and affixed to some white plastic. This product gives a lot of context to the design, especially in photography, as it displays a working version of the logo in context. The ability to photograph it under different conditions illustrates the strength of this visual identity, it is readable even at very low visibility and as different scales; this is illustrated further by images which can be found on my blog.

Overall I am very happy with the DSI visual identity redesign. The new logo is very strong visually, referencing space activities and science fiction aesthetics. It can remain so at a range of scales and lighting conditions; desirable properties for an identity which must be readable in all extremes. In its relationship with the written element; I have taken the goals and aims of NASA in using mission insignia to propagate notions of American identity and nationhood and applied the theory behind this to a private organisation. The visual identity here connotes on a sci-fi futurism which will reflect well on the aspirations and level of vision of this new organisation. The visual identity manual explains how the DSI logo works and the insignia, plaque and signage exists to flesh out and contextualise this. My aim for the future of this project is to produce a design pack for this work and ink the plaque, I would then send the designs to DSI and ask for their opinion of the work, or if I could do any work for them in the future. Looking forward I am very interested in this new industry and would very much like to be part of it.