Research
Inspiration
The main inspiration for my brand falls to Ancient English history, I want the brand to be rooted into the fabric of the country, tying in with select parts of the history of this country through design and philosophy, however it also has to tie in to the modern market. This line of thinking lead me to brainstorming a few inspirations to pull from that I shall explore in this post.
- Ancient Romans/ Anglo Saxons – some of the first settlers of England
- Dragons – Lengthy ties with kings and old fairy tales, could tie the brand in with mysticism and premium quality while also being aggressive enough target the right market.
- Ancient Calligraphy/ Runes – Symbols with meaning, People often associate them with power as Runes/ Hieroglyphs play a big part in some mythology
Dragons – Known for their Mythical creature status, fiery breath, reptilian scales and large wingspan, dragons are ingrained into society as a staple of the fantasy genre, often appearing in medieval settings alongside castles, kings and fighting princes, they truly are the embodiment of raw power. If I were to use this link in my design process by styling my cars based on creatures such as this dragon like many car brands have done (e.g.Peugeot redesign) I believe it would attract the right audience to the brand, giving the cars the powerful premium look that so many go for.
History
Romans – Known for their Distinctive Red Gold and Silver armor Romans were one of the first main settlers of this country, dating back to about 43AD. Their main design elements were their armor and shields so if I were to use these for inspiration for the final car design i would most likely include chrome or gold elements to achieve this, or use the shape of the helmet to form a front grille or rear diffuser for the vehicle.
Anglo-Saxons – Appearing to settle in what became England at around 500AD, the Anglo-Saxons Brought with them Runes, Specifically Anglo-Saxon Futhark an offshoot of Elder Futhark. The word Futhark actually represents the order the runes go in to make a sentence as with most runes Futhark did not use alphabetical order and its been speculated the order had meanings we’ve yet to discover. Runes also have heavy ties to magic with some people even believing they were the gifts from zeus himself after learning them hanging from a tree for 9 days according to the ancient Sparlösa runestone. So if i were to tie this into my designs it would be a car like no other, it could even be used in marketing in order to pitch the cars as extensions of zeus’ blessing to mankind which would make for a good marketing campaign. The runes would most likely be seen on the interior of the car however some elements may be used towards the designing of the lights, logo or grille too.
My Rune Inspired Initial Logo Design
When I first started looking into runes I came across 5. this translator I decided to create a rough draft of how the brand could look if I only used these rune shapes in order to create a logo design for the brand. I chose a short work that resonates with me ‘Luck’ in order to give myself not too many characters to work with while still demonstrating the variety of runes. Initially I had no shape in mind however as I moved the runes I began to see a shape appear, forming a dragon leading me to the happy realisation that dragons also relate with the brand identity im going for.
References
- Dragon+Head+Front Images – browse 3,302 stock photos, vectors, and video (no date) Adobe Stock. Available at: https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=dragon%2Bhead%2Bfront (Accessed: 17 November 2024).
- History.com Staff (2023) Who built the first automobile?, HISTORY. Available at: https://www.history.com/news/who-built-the-first-automobile (Accessed: 19 November 2024).
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History of United Kingdom: How old is United Kingdom? (no date) History of United Kingdom | How Old is United Kingdom? Available at: https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/united-kingdom/history (Accessed: 18 November 2024).
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Whitfield, A. (2019) When the Romans tried to conquer Moray, Grampian Online. Available at: https://www.grampianonline.co.uk/news/when-the-romans-tried-to-conquer-moray-178626/ (Accessed: 18 November 2024).
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Text To Runes (2024) Rune Converter. Available at: https://valhyr.com/pages/rune-converter (Accessed: 20 November 2024).

