This is the continuation in the series of designs based on the alphabet from our Creative team. Each post will include their designs and a peek into their process. Enjoy!
I’ve had this sweet AM/FM radio in my home studio for months since my last trip to Seattle. I bought it at a thrift shop in Capitol Hill (a neighborhood in Seattle) without hesitation because it reminded me so much of my grandma back in Mexico City. Every single day she would blast her music and talk shows while cooking up a feast in her kitchen. In honor of my grandma, I decided to doodle this radio and give it a Type Tuesday twist.
Right off the bat, it was obvious to me that I would somehow make the speaker into the letter O and make it the focal point of the illustration. My approach did not include any sketching or tracing. Instead, I dove right into drawing it in Adobe Illustrator.
I mostly used simple shapes like squares and circles in combination with masks and lowered opacity effects. On some minor details, I used the pen tool, like the glare inside the speaker (I see a smile, do you?)
Once I had the illustration looking as close as the real thing, I moved grouped shapes around to make it work better with the 1:1 ratio in which we are producing all of these letter designs. I stacked the dials and knobs on top of the speaker and even added a custom JP branded touch to it.
The last detail was a contrasting gradient as a background to make it stand out a little more and create a small shadow. Voilà, the letter O!
Cheers, Grandma!
