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After laying down the shadows we will make another pass, this time focusing on the highlights.

Quick reference

Moving Towards the Light

After laying down the shadows we will make another pass, this time focusing on the highlights.

When to use

After figuring out our flats and our shadows we can begin thinking about the highlights.

Instructions

  • Begin by opening the Moving Towards the Light - Exercise.ai file
  • We want to use the lighter color that we applied at the end of the previous section to the nose (tear drop shapes behind the nostrils)
  • Start off by selecting some of the solid shapes in the design and using the Eyedropper Tool (I) to try out the lighter color 
  • Experiment with the shapes on the horns, the nose and mouth, and also some of the main shapes on the face
  • Try zooming out to get a sense for how your logo looks at a smaller size and make sure that it still works
  • I have chosen to remove a few of the shapes on the forehead to give the eye a bit of room to rest
  • Try to experiment with this and see what other shapes may or may not be necessary as you work and apply highlights

Hints & tips

  • Be sure to zoom out when working on a logo to make sure that it reads well. Often times certain details can be lost when zoomed out, and this is how you know that you should either change them or remove them all together.
  • Not every pixel needs to be completely full of detail. In fact, it's usually a good thing to try and balance out areas of detail with areas that are plain and flat.
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  • 00:04 So now that we've got our main flat colors and our shadows figured out,
  • 00:08 we can start thinking about where we may wanna use our highlight colors.
  • 00:12 And for that, I'm thinking we may actually use this kind of pale yellow color
  • 00:15 a little bit more.
  • 00:17 I know it's saying that it'll probably only be used in one or two spots, but
  • 00:20 I think as long as we use it sparingly for
  • 00:23 our highlights, it will help tie everything together.
  • 00:25 So I'm gonna start by just selecting some of the shapes in here and
  • 00:29 seeing how they look using that color.
  • 00:31 I think that this will help actually if we use it a little bit more in this design.
  • 00:36 So what I'm gonna do is zoom in a little bit and
  • 00:38 select some of these other shapes here.
  • 00:41 And to see how it looks if I make them a highlight color.
  • 00:43 Maybe we want the top and the bottom to have a highlight and
  • 00:47 leave a little bit of a shadow here in the middle.
  • 00:49 I think that can be a pretty nice way to balance out the horns.
  • 00:53 Or you can see how they look as all highlight colors.
  • 00:56 Right, a little bit less contrast, especially when you zoom further out.
  • 00:59 And that's something that I like to do sometimes to check the logo and see how
  • 01:03 it's looking, is I'll actually zoom out and try to read it from further back.
  • 01:07 I think that's a good test for all logos to make sure that they read.
  • 01:12 And then I'll select these other little shapes here on the tops of the nose or
  • 01:15 the mouth.
  • 01:16 And I'll change those to highlights, and then let's also see, because based on
  • 01:20 this, we're thinking about the direction or the source of our light, right?
  • 01:25 So with the highlights on the top of the horns and
  • 01:27 the top of the nose here, the light is coming from the top.
  • 01:31 So because of that, I may wanna try and grab a few of these other shapes
  • 01:34 on the top and change those to highlight colors, just to see how they look.
  • 01:40 All right, I think that looks pretty good.
  • 01:41 I may not wanna change all of them.
  • 01:43 But let's just change maybe these three in the center here to a highlight color.
  • 01:50 And then I can try the same thing for some of these shapes and see how that looks.
  • 01:54 And then once again, I'm gonna zoom out just to see how it reads.
  • 01:58 And I think it's looking pretty good, but
  • 02:00 I'm wondering if we need these two shapes in here.
  • 02:03 So I'm just gonna cut those.
  • 02:04 And I actually like that a little bit better.
  • 02:07 I think with things like a logo design,
  • 02:09 it's important to give your eye some places to rest.
  • 02:12 So it's okay to have some spots that aren't just completely cluttered with
  • 02:15 detail and information.
  • 02:17 And that's part of the reason why I think it actually works better without those
  • 02:19 shapes in there.
  • 02:21 It give us a little bit of just kind of blank space and a little place for
  • 02:24 the eye to rest.
  • 02:25 But based on this, I think it's feeling pretty balanced and
  • 02:28 it looks pretty good with that highlight color.
  • 02:30 So we're gonna stick with that for now.

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