Assembly is an iOS app that is particularly suited for those who like to design with shapes.  This is ideal for me because I never took a drawing class in my life.  In addition, my students have been working with Tinkercad (which is all about combining shapes to create) so I am kind of in that frame of mind.

I decided to try Assembly when I saw a blurb that mentioned it is good for creating logos.  I am even less practiced in graphic design than I am in drawing, but I have been looking for a new “Engage Their Minds” logo, and decided to give it a try.

Assembly is fairly intuitive if you’ve used other design programs. You drag shapes onto the screen, and you can then resize, rotate, move, and change their colors.  Put some shapes forward and others back, reverse the image and/or even group them if you so desire.

The free app includes 180 shapes – but I soon realized I needed more.  After about 5 minutes of using the app I decided to invest in the $11.99-never-have-to-buy-another-pack-of shapes-again option because I hate wondering if I could find the perfect shape if I just purchase one more pack, and then discovering that wasn’t the right pack at all.  I’m probably the company’s ideal customer, a non-artist with Delusions of Dazzling Design skills.

Here is my first attempt at designing a logo.  I created all of the letters in “Engage” and “Minds” using shapes in the Assembly app.  Then I imported the image to Type Drawing so I could stamp the “their” part where I wanted.  My husband, who has some experience with graphic design, actually seemed slightly impressed by my first try.

I have to admit that I had a blast making the logo, even if I don’t end up using it!

Pixite, the maker of the Assembly app, has other creative app options here.  The suite of apps includes a coloring one for those of you who like to administer self-therapy with adult coloring books 😉