Thursday, November 6, 2008

Modified certificate

I hope that you like my certificate design in the last entry. I am happy with my final work because I have tried my best to do it. The nice thing is that it fits the requirement such as logos of RMIT and English club, important signature areas, main text. I also chose the fonts of text that are suitable with the certificate. They increase the readability of text content in a formal document like certificate.

However, I have a problem with my work. After I sent the example of it to the club leader, he thought that it was not nice-looking and he does not like it. He asked me to take a look at some certificates of English club in the past. In order to help you understand the old ones visually, I also post an image of them in this entry. Here it is:


I think that this one is nice. The designer has a good layout for the text and the background. In my opinion, the formality of an important document like certificate requires clear content. You do not need to draw flowers and natural patterns or even colorful background in order to make it visually appealing. The certificate does not need that to say you have done something good for an organization or the public. Anyway, it is just my thought and I want to share it with you. I have tried to make some changes for my work and I hope you can give me advice on them. Here they are:




2 comments:

Red Cheese said...

I think your idea is nice and on. However, it seems a bit simple. You can try to add little textures or shapes to make it more interesting. You don't have to make it all shiny and highly like the sample one, but you need to make it at least stand out and attractive. That way, it will reflect the honor of the one received it. One more thing, the RMIT logo doesn't seem to get along well with the white background. You can delete the black background and make the words black ? Anyways, keep up the good work

Dim Sum said...

Of the 4 that you worked on, number 3 is the strongest.

As for the criticism from the client, I can understand his point of view.

Their is a tradition regarding the style of how a diploma looks. It normally uses scripted font, not for its readability, but because it adds a sense of elegance and formality of a momentous event that should be celebrated. Ever look at wedding invitations? Same kind of formality.

Also diplomas are items that people want to frame and put up for everyone to view. Hence they generally are more decorative with fancier borders, drawing the viewers attention to the middle, where the important information is.

So the main purpose of the diploma is actually not readability, but to declare in a very formal way someone's accomplishments.