Typophile

Personal Visual Identity - Seeking advice

Alex Beltechi

Hello,

I'm in the process of creating my own visual identity and am looking for any advice on how to proceed. Let me explain the project briefly. I've settled on a word mark built around an ambigram of my initials, A,B. The ambigram will serve as a watermark for my illustration work and acts as a distinct element - i'm not planning on keeping the wordmark and ambigram together in the final layout.

The ambigram is meant to resemble a percentage mark by joining the letter 'a' on top of the 'b'. The forward slash though is only at a 15 degree angle, so I'm wondering if it's enough to make it look like a percentage mark, not just a unified a+b.

The final ambigram also determines the layout of the wordmark (see image "3"). The positioning of the "a" and "b" from the ambigram corresponds with the initials from the wordmark. I wanted to preserve the resemblance between the two elements as much as possible, but perhaps it only creates an unbalanced wordmark?

So here are my questions. Does the wordmark look unbalanced? Are there any other layouts I should try (keep both words side by side seems a bit long to me and left alignement may be difficult since i have an "a" and "b" to align).

Also at a first glance, does the ambigram resemble a percentage mark?

Any advice is welcomed, related or non related to the questions above. The font is made from scratch.

EDIT: Feel free to critique my letterforms, kerning etc.

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Nick Curtis

Also at a first glance, does the ambigram resemble a percentage mark?

Somewhat, yes; is this necessarily bad?

Alex Beltechi

@oldnick No, it's what I intended actually.

Nick Shinn

The ambigram looks like "q b".

Jasper Michael ...

I agree whith Nick Shinn. I like it much better without the ambigram. Is the typeface a custom job?

Alex Beltechi

Yes, the ambigram may indeed look like a q b because it's too tall. I'm going to try to develop them individually today, and post some updates.

And yes, the typeface is custom.

Alex Beltechi

UPDATE: I've changed the alignment of the wordmark and I think it's looking better now. Seems I also have a little vertical fed ex arrow going on now. The horizontal position of the letters is still identical to the new ambigram, but not vertically. The ambigram is now shorter, and at a -20 degree angle.

Jasper Michael ...

In your wordmark the c is to wide and that x is begging for a gap like you did in e. I like it, but the ambigram doesn't really add anything if you ask me. If this typeface was custom-made by you, you should make it into a full family. Good luck.

Alex Beltechi

UPDATE. New ambigram, and slightly modified wordmark.

Michael Brady

I prefer the last version to the first "percentage mark" version. Did you have a reason to introduce the concept of percentage into your own mark? I didn't read the mark as a %, but then when I did see it, there was no obvious reason for it. I found it a bit distracting ("What's that all about?").

Alex Beltechi

@Typehuile: The percentage mark was only a medium to bring together the two letters. Other than that, it didn't have a reason or concept.

That's also why I prefer the latter version as well. It's cleaner, more readable at small sizes, and doesn't leave you wondering "What's that all about?". :)

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