Fictitious Grunge-Style Portfolio Cover (11"x17") Layout

The pSyCho jOe Designs Logo was stylized in the script-fancy, Zapfino typeface and the stencil font, Portagol, was used for 'designs'. Custom Photoshop brushes were researched and downloaded with experimentation in mind. This 11" x 17" layout was designed for a fictitious book cover of pSyCho jOe Designs portfolio prints.

In particular, the custom brushes were enlarged to accommodate a worst-case print scenario for a magazine cover. Designers can get lucky with the gamble that readers won't notice pixelation when it occurs, but distortion can be relatively diverted using Layer Styles to a measured degree. The lesson here is that sharp vector lines (see logo type) can be noticeably sharper than blurred bitmap renderings of improperly-scaled images that were sampled and created at less-than adequate resolution.

Although some readers may find this stylized, grungy type-treatment pleasing as a graphic - this same graphic would not be recommended for use as a primary logo. Logos should be printable and easily readable from fax machines. If this image had been converted to only black and white or if the color information had been discarded - the logo itself would still render too difficult to read. The grunge texture would translate as a logo that someone tried defacing, but the greater problem would be readability. Businesses do not need to be known as the business whose letterhead cannot be read. With all the warnings and caution tossed aside, this grunge effect was fun to create and as a reader you can determine for yourself how the composition makes you feel.