- Maker: Briana Torres-Boone
- Genre: Project 1 – Logos
- Level: Graduate
- Program: Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media
- Course: WRIT 5800: Editing, Layout, and Design
- Instructor: Dr. Eric Mason
- Semester Created: Winter 2026
Description
For this project, I wanted to create projects for two distinct creative identities that I’m planning on expanding on in the next year. First, Forge the World is a worldbuilding podcast, and The Wicked Dragon is a candle shop concept. Both had a fictional fantasy world as the concept, that is build through customization and flexibility. My goal was to create logos that were brand identities that could be recognizable and meaningful across all contexts, including merchandising.
The design process was more focused on what could work on a black shirt, a notebook, a book, and a sticker. This prompted my decision for line weighting and how complex the silhouette could be. For Forge the World, the watermark reads clearly at every scale from the large mug print to the smaller placement on the chest. The Wicked Dragon, on the other hand, is more illustrative and handmade—as I drew the mockups for it, showing off a more whimsical and slightly gothic. Forge the World is more bold and atmospheric, whereas The Wicked Dragon reflects a more homey feel.
Reflection
This project truly put several things into perspective. For the logos, I needed the logo to explain what the brand is without it explicitly stating it. Forge the World needed to communicate fantasy and building (so the towers and the forge itself), and it used familiar imagery that was based on these concepts. The Wicked Dragon, on the other hand, was something that would more than likely be seen in a sketchbook, further iterating that this is a handmade project.
The biggest difference between this and a written draft is that I could see the mistakes almost instantly. Whether it was aligning the text or drafting the dragon sketch, every piece out of order made the entire piece feel discordant. It was also incredibly nonlinear, and I restarted each piece at least five times before I came up with a logo that signified what I was aiming for.
I’m incredibly satisfied with how both logos can be used on merchandising, websites, and other forms of media without losing their specificity. I would say that I would be least satisfied regarding the font choices for The Wicked Dragon, but I was limited to what the design software could provide.
I followed the convention of scalability and whether it would work at any size. I also used limited color so they could function on any ground. It also gave flexibility to add color in the future. I intentionally broke minimalism with both designs and added more detail.
All in all, visual rhetoric (including Foss) really worked with how I understand how a logo is a rhetorical act. I was also thinking about semiotics and how symbols carry meaning outside of their literal context. I wanted to use genre symbols to signal exactly what each viewer would be able to experience when they came into contact with the rest of the media.
