Process Book HUMBERTO PORTILLO · SPRING 2020
Table of Contents CONCEPTUALIZATION 1
FINDING THE RØMER
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VISUAL BRAND AUDIT
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DEBRANDING THE P72
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THE BRAND NAME
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EIDOLON VEHICLE CONTROL APP
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INSPIRATION 7
EIDOLON VEHICLE REVEAL
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LOGO DEVELOPMENT
THE DREAM
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Conceptualization The future of the car industry is electric and this is great for many reasons however, as innovative and advanced the electric vehicle is it can lack one thing—soul or passion. Tesla, for example, one of the most successful and largest electric car manufactures in the world, produces its vehicles in a factory where nearly the entire vehicle is built by robots. This may be more efficient in contrast to the human hand but the byproduct of all that innovation is something lifeless. Currently, the most desired and expensive vehicles ever made were not created by robots but by passionate imperfect human beings. Treasured cars are the ones that were built by passionate people and at some point, the vehicle is even remembered as an extension of the builder. Reflecting their nuances and bits of their personality and character throughout the vehicle. The resulting vehicle not only reflects the builder but even a bit of their soul. This is what I want the core ideology of my car brand to be, electric vehicles that are built with passion and excellence. OBJECTIVE Build a brand which will include the vehicle and any additional promotional material. MARKET Luxury electric vehicle manufacturer
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Visual Brand Audit One of the first things I did when starting my research was to conduct a brand audit on car manufacturers and to see what was out there. What I discovered was that the automobile industry is very diverse in its branding and is one of the most competitive markets in the world. There are literally hundreds of different types of automobile manufactures and their branding is so diverse that it can be difficult to see anything that stands out besides the major brands. However, one of the very few discoveries I made was that the use of a crest, shield, or some sort of circular shape is very common in the automobile industry. This alone was a major insight when coming up with my logo because just from that I already knew that my logo could not be any of those shapes.
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IMAGE SOURCE
Car Company Logos
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The Brand Name Coming up with a good name is always the most difficult part of the whole process and this was even more so because of the automobile industry. Automobile manufactures have quite literally exhausted most of the options and so this already difficult part of the process was amplified even more because of that. On top of that, I also had to name my vehicle so that it made sense with the rest of the brand. The list of names I had collected circled around the idea of electricity, light, the soul, or spirit and this was my initial list: • Conduit: a tube or trough for protecting electric wiring • Rotor: the armature of an electric motor. • Sole: (solenoid) a cylindrical coil of wire acting as a magnet when carrying electric current. • Wraith: a ghost or ghostlike image of someone, especially one seen shortly before or after their death. • Specter: a ghost. • Revenant: a person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead. • Eidolon: an idealized person or thing. a spectre or phantom • Fulguration: a flash like that of lightning. • Coruscate: (of light) flash or sparkle. • Ole Christensen Rømer: a Danish astronomer who, in 1676, made the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light. After a careful decision process, I realized that some names were taken by current auto manufactures and after some consideration, some names didn’t have much appeal. I was left with Eidolon as the name of my brand and Rømer as the name of my vehicle.
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Inspiration
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AUDI E-TRON – Audi TOP RIGHT
I was captivated by this idea of representing electricity as light streaks with all of its movement and power. It seemed such a fitting element to have as part of the branding because it not only reminded me of electricity but also the fact that the car would be named after the man who quantified the speed of light.
McLaren vs Aerodynamics - The Next Chapter – McLaren Automotive BOTTOM RIGHT
Dancing In The Dark At Gridlife – Speedhunters 7
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Logo Development Initially, I was fairly perplexed on how to represent soul, passion, or light in a logo without being literal about it. These are fairly abstract concepts and creating a logo to directly represent either one proved to be very difficult. I didn’t want to go the route of a literal representation of these concepts because it wouldn’t have impact or presence and so I had made the decision that my logo had to be fairly abstract. I began diving into the meaning of Eidolon and researching its origin in Greek mythology. I also looked into the meaning of light and electricity to see their different representations and meanings. I also researched passion and the history of its definition and origins but unfortunately, I just couldn’t find the bit of inspiration I was looking for. Until it hit me, I had proposed that my cars would be made by the passionate hands of the builders at Eidolon. The whole concept is that a vehicle being built by human hands at some point begins to retain the builders’ soul, hence giving the car a soul. Therefore, the human hand and it's marks became my inspiration for the Eidolon logo. 10
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INITIAL SKETCHES
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ILLUSTRATOR ARTBOARDS
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VECTOR ITERATIONS
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FINAL
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INITIAL LOGO TESTS
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INITIAL LOGO TESTS CONT.
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Finding The Rømer Finding the right car was something very important to me, I didn’t want to just get a Lamborghini and put my mark on it. I also did not want to find a completely made up car that had no basis in reality. I wanted a vehicle that was real, that represented my brand, and that wasn’t recognizable. The reason for that was if I choose a well-known car it would be difficult to look past the fact it was just a rebadged vehicle. Also, a car that isn’t known won’t have much of a brand behind it. Which would be very beneficial for me because it would provide me with a blank slate to work with. If the car already has a brand, it could influence my design decisions because of their established brand. I went through a couple of vehicles and I even considered learning a 3D design software to create my own. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, many of my plans for this project had changed. Thankfully, by pure chance, I ran into some photos of the DeTomaso P72. It is a beautiful vehicle and as I researched more about it the more I saw it as the Rømer. It wasn’t long after I found the P72 that I had decided it was going to be the car I’d use to be the Rømer. However, there was a problem, it wasn’t an electric car so, I had to find an electric drivetrain. This is where I looked to Rimac Automobili, they not only make an electric hypercar but also provide parts for other manufactures. Once I had my car and it’s electric drivetrain I then searched for images and began testing my logo on the car and branding it as the Eidolon Rømer.
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LOGO TESTS ON NEW CAR
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3D LOGO TESTS
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CREATING THE 3D LOGO & EXPORTING FROM PHOTOSHOP
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IMPORTING INTO ADOBE DIMENSIONS & APPLYING TEXTURE
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Debranding The P72 This was perhaps one of the most important parts of the whole branding process. My goal was to make every image look as convincing as possible and this required looking into every detail of the vehicle. This meant replacing every singe logo and text that wasn’t in line with my brand. This included changing details like the “start engine” button to “power” because my vehicle was electric, the fuel gauge to show percentage instead of gallons and the brake callipers to say Eidolon instead of DeTomaso. It was a myriad of details that I had to consider and was one of the most time consuming parts of my project. In total, I rebranded a total of 18 images using a mix of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Dimensions. I’d use Photoshop for most of the process of debranding but, I’d use Dimensions to help get the perspective of the logo and it’s lighting correct for each image. 29
IMAGES SOURCE
De Tomaso - 60th Anniversary - Project P World Premiere Press Kit
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BEFORE
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AFTER
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BEFORE
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AFTER
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BEFORE
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BEFORE
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AFTER
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Eidolon Vehicle Control App Because the Rømer is an electric car I only felt it appropriate that it would have an app that controlled it. To begin it’s development I made a very rough sketch of the basic layout and functions of the app to serve as my foundation. Once the foundation was laid I used Adobe XD to design and to prototype the app, while also using Adobe After Effects to make a bootup animation. The most difficult part of the whole process was mapping the prototype and its functions within Adobe XD. I wanted to have every basic function working, which meant every possible combination of controls had to be thought of and mapped. This process was very difficult and I went through multiple iterations and tests to ensure this goal was met.
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PROTOTYPE
Eidolon Vehicle Control App Prototype APP ANIMATION
Startup Animation VEHICLE IMAGE
Wyn Design ICONS
Horn - Adrien Coquet Car Dashboard - naim Material design Google
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APP STARTUP ANIMATION
APP SCREENSHOTS
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ADOBE XD FUNCTIONS MAP
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Eidolon Vehicle Reveal In my research I had seen that most car brands have some sort of trailer for their car and so I took on the challenge to create one. Using Adobe After Effects I took all of the elements I had used through out my brand (light, electrcity, and soul) and combined them together into this video. All of the effects seen in the video were created without any use of 3rdparty plugins or stock footage. The only out sourced parts of the video are the photo and the music, the rest is a combination of effects, masks, camera, and displacement maps.
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PROTOTYPE
Eidolon Vehicle Control App Prototype MUSIC
Downfall by Kai Engel
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The Dream Dream cars are the ones on posters hanging on bedroom walls, a car hasn't truly made it unless it has a poster. That is why I had to make a poster for the Rømer; it is approximately 24� � x 36� � and was made in Adobe Photoshop. This project in a sense, was a dream come true for me because when I was young I had a dream that one day I'd own my car brand. Despite the fact this is fictional but, it is the next best thing and I'm grateful to everyone who helped make it into a reality. To every professor, teacher, leader, colleague, friend, family member, and anyone who has ever gifted me some of your time and support I dedicate this to you all. I would not be here if it weren't for the love and support of the amazing people who had some grace with me and helped me in my walk of life. My accomplishments are yours and I pray that the Lord blesses every single one of you for being such a blessing to me. Thank you for taking the time to look at my project I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did making it. If you'd like to contact me or see more of my work feel free to visit my website Hportillo.com.
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