Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Hey Bobby, what font is Kawasaki using for their ninja series?

This is topic Hey Bobby, what font is Kawasaki using for their ninja series? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 10-09-2003, 07:29 PM:

I need to know what font they are using for the ZX-9, ect part logos on their bikes. I'm redoing the station logo and would like to know so I can use that look.

Here's what it looks like.

Josh

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 10-10-2003, 05:38 PM:

I'm sure the "ZX-9" icon Kawasaki developed is a graphical creation and not part of a font set. Same thing goes for the "Ninja" logo.

The common practice these days is making lots of thumbnail sketches to hone in on a cool enough looking concept. Once the idea is settled, scan in the pencil sketch, place it in a vector drawing program like Illustrator, Freehand or CorelDRAW and then manually trace vector outline paths around the shapes. Once the basic tracing is done, you edit the paths to get the right polished look. This is the approach I would recommend for you in making a radio station logo.

Once you have the vector art created, you can scale it up down to any size, extrude and animate it in a 3D program (or even Adobe After Effects). And you can cut out the graphics in vinyl and slap it onto a bike! With a little ingenuity, you can make your own ZX-999,999 sticker! [Big Grin]

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 10-11-2003, 10:51 AM:

You can order logo stickers from Dennis Kirk, although some do get rather pricey.

Dennis Kirk online

Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 10-11-2003, 11:11 AM:

I was hoping it was a font so I could "borrow" it [Wink]

Josh

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 10-11-2003, 04:39 PM:

Sorry to disappoint. But actually logos that are true logos (rather than just being an arrangement of type) often look better. It might take a little more work, but in the end you wind up with something resembling a true icon rather than something more forgettable.

This is good advice to all those in the movie title business who just keep insisting on reguring titles out in Trajan. Whatever happened to creating real movie title logos? Does "Star Wars," "Back to the Future," "Robocop" or "Indiana Jones" ring a bell? One can argue "Star Wars" has a font. Well, there are a couple copycats. But the real logo has no identical characters (having digitized a version of it myself).

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-12-2003, 08:18 AM:

But, Bobby... original design requires talent!

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 10-12-2003, 11:37 AM:

A lot of people don't realize they have talent because they are too scared to try.

One of my coworkers kind of fit into this category, but a number of people encouraged her to market her portrait drawing ability. Now she has her own side business and website (http://www.portraitsbyvalorie.com). At a recent business tradeshow here in town, one fellow couldn't believe a person could draw a photo realistic portrait using pencils. He was convinced it was all done using computers. I guess one could take that as a compliment. [Roll Eyes]