Assalamu Alaikum, welcome to GFXMentor, I'm your teacher Imran. And today I've brought class no. 5 of logo design course. And today's topic is kinda twisted. Twisted I mean, kinda confusing it's gonna be. Maybe you understand well, or maybe get confused. But no worries! That's why I'm here to explain! So c'mon let's start! (😃) Alright welcome back, so today's topic is Metaphor! What is it anyway? Well it's just like when we use one thing to explain something else. Or when we hint at something to explain another. As an example, a matter that's much common here, if someone's foolish, we can compare him with any animals. Not "can" actually. It's wrong, but still we do. Like calling as owl! Now see, owl is a symbol of foolishness here in our continent, I dunno about India (well they have too!) but if someone's called an owl in Pakistan, that means he's a fool. But you know what, in western countries owl is considered genius! And it's the reason in many universities, educations or even libraries owl's picture is very common. You must've seen in Harry Potter too. So yes, keep in mind one thing, all these... metaphors given; see metaphor means, to explain someone foolish, we've shown owl as example. Now, that's a metaphor. But people do understand what's the context beneath. Do remember that some metaphors get different meanings countrywise. So just like if we talk about owls, if that's the symbol of foolishness in Pakistan, it's also the symbol of genius in western countries. So do consider it while working. From where your client is, what's his/her target audience, which area does (s)he belongs, the customs there, the rules and ways, what meanings do they follow from things, it's much much much important to do research on it! Now let me explain why we're discussing metaphor in logos. Many times, the brand in our logo, we can create them from metaphors. Meaning its symbol, its icon; be it pictorial logo or abstract, in both of them metaphors are much useful for us. Let me share a great example of it. There's a browser- Safari. Belonging to Apple. If y'all have used iPhone, iPad or Mac, there the common default browser is Safari. Now try to understand what's this for a while, it's an internet browser. Now, what's its job? That you go to internet, do surfing. Surfing is a metaphor too right? Even though it means the fantastic stunts above the waves with a surfing board. That thing is called surfing, which goes quite freely. That's why, this word is used to mean the free roaming on internet. Similarly, the name "Safari", is itself a metaphor. Meaning, like you go to internet, and you never know what you may find next. That's the reason even the name "Internet Explorer" is a metaphor. Explorer is called those who travel to new places and explore. Just like that you explore internet, hence "Internet Explorer". Why the name Safari? Because it's like you're venturing into a jungle and you don't know what things may come. So that's how Safari is one kind of metaphor... metaphoric name it is. Right? Now alongside, another interesting thing is its icon is a compass! And, everyone knows, when technology wasn't widely available, then for safaris, meaning when travelling in new places, the one most important tool you'd have then, is a compass. With it you can understand where's north, south, east or west! And amazingly, the logo or icon of Safari, that's also a... compass! You can notice, the purpose of this browser... a metaphor came from its name, and another metaphor came from that metaphor- compass. So I hope you've understood metaphors. Now why am I discussing this subject with y'all? Because in next class, we'll create a mindmap. And for that, good understanding of metaphors is much important! I hope you've understood it well. I want you to find metaphors from lots of words by yourself, research more on those words and metaphor itself. I hope you're gonna get more interesting ideas from there. If you've loved this class please give it a Like. And please subscribe if you haven't yet. Thank you! (😊)
