Start of project - 24/4/2013
Logo discussion
At the start of the project we started off by looking at different logos. As we all know, a logo is the most important part of the brand as it tells the audience and user who you are, so naturally, it is important to have a logo with meaning and that looks professional.
The work that we started off with was a class discussion. We each picked one logo that we thought was good and effective and one which could be improved.
For my first logo I picked a company called piano forest. This logo uses negative space to implement both words into the logo without making it too obvious at first glance. I think this is really effective and makes it look like the designer has put a lot of thought into it. When we were going through the logos some of the class didn't see both meanings straight away and were "oh yeah". Now if designers go like that imagine what the public would be like. I think that would be more interested in that company than another.
I picked the Nike logo for the improvable. One of the reasons I picked this is because of the size of the brand and the company. For a company as big as Nike, is it really that good? Sure, it's well known and it sponsors big sports teams and sporting figures, but if you actually focused in on the logo would you think it's amazing, considering it would get confused with school exam paper. At the end of the day, it is just a tick and when you look at the adverts and posters they do, it doesn't quite match them. I suppose you could say it's a tick to say, this is the correct brand to choose but I think they could do a lot better. On some variations of the logo they have the name, 'Nike' underneath the tick which looks just as bad. The kerning is all wrong and it looks too squashed when they could have used a clean font and lined it up with the edges of the emblem, and what's with the italics?
In conclusion, this exercise was beneficial as I've learnt what other people see and look for in a logo and how you can make them go "WOW", especially when your talking to fellow designers with creative minds, although I think if I was to do a similar exercise I would talk with members of the public and business owners, the people that you would be attracting.
Reflection - 12/6/2013
After time away from this exercise and further thinking about the 'Nike' logo, my mind has changed slightly. You have to think carefully what this logo stands for. It has a flowing, swooshing movement to it, which obviously represents the movement and fast nature of sport aswell as being a 'tick'. This may suggest that this is the correct choice of sportswear, and considering that the logo was bought from a young designer for $5, they did pretty well to say they're one of the biggest and well known brands in the world.
Questions&Answers
Identify the gap in the market
I think the gap in the market lay with phones, tablets and apps. More and more people are using phones and tablets these days to access websites and the Internet. The average user spends 5-10 seconds on a web page before they decide whether it appeals to them or not, therefore it's important that the design of apps and websites show the user what they want, and be easy for them to navigate through, as well as look appealing and slick. This would rely on the designer to consider the placement and layout of the features on the websites so it is familiar and natural for the user, such as the logo, the text and search bars.
What services will you offer?
I would offer services which would be useful for businesses starting off and existing businesses, either looking to rebrand their company or expand.
Services:
- Logo & Branding
- Publications, Packaging & Print
- Web & Interface Design & Development
- Mobile, Tablet & App Design
- Photography, Film & Video editing
Future services could include printing. If the company turned over enough money per year and grew into a national/international company, the company may turn into a printing company as well as just Design.
I could also start up a company with a friend which could offer more services within the business. He is studying a course in 3D modelling and animation which would be a brilliant addition to the companies services.
What makes you unique from other people and companies out there?
I am a minimalist and believe that less is more. I think this would allow me to create clean and easy to use designs and focus and emphasise interactivity within websites and other designs. In terms of publications and print work, think clean designs can put across the desired message with less clutter and things going on. Don't get me wrong, I think if you have the talent and skills you can make anything look brilliant.
I believe interactivity is important with websites as it will be more likely to keep people engaged and interested in the website, using methods such as moving images, live feeds, breaking news, roller over animations and maybe even sound? This goes hand in hand with a good, flowing design layout.
I also like to think I am good at picturing animations and can see how things can be morphed, change shape or move around the page in my head and would utilise this in my designs.
Client base
In terms of the client and customer base for my company. Generally I would try and target all types of businesses. Specifically I would want to target people aged 18 - 35. I think people in this age bracket would be easy to talk to and get along with, due to me being in that age group. I would target these audience by being myself. For example if I was pitching a presentation about me, my company and what I offer as a designer, I would wear casual clothes that I like to wear and what I actually work in. This way, I feel comfortable and can be me. I would speak to the client in terms that they understand, this would show them that I can communicate well with a client in an 'Intimidating environment' and have a smooth and slick working relationship. I would ask for feedback throughout a project so I can keep up to date with clients and improve my work as I go along for other clients.
Typography Work - 8/5/2013
Typefaces & Fonts
I started the day off by looking at different 'Typefaces' and how they differed from 'Fonts'. It turns out that a typeface a is the name of a family of fonts. For example, 'Helvetica' is a typeface. The variations within the typeface are fonts such as, Regular, Bold, Oblique & Condensed. I had heard of the 2 terms before this, but i was always under the impression that they were the same thing.
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Typeface & Font Example |
Typeface Classifications
After that, we then went onto talk about the different classifications of typefaces. I was already aware of 2, Sans-Serif & Serif, but didn't realise their were 3 main other classifications.
Slab-Serif:
A slab serif typeface such as the one above is a very bold, plain and straight font. Unlike the other typefaces this font has straight edges with minimal curves which makes it unique from it’s fellow typefaces. Examples of use for a Slab Serif typeface would be for titles on things such as newspapers or newsletters. The uppercase letters seem to be more straight edged than the lowercase letters which feature more curves. Unfortunately, Slab Serif typefaces don’t normal have different fonts, such as condensed or light.
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Slab Serif Examples |
Clarendon:
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| Clarendon Examples |
Typewriter:
A typewriter font is exactly what it says. It was the standard and only font which was available on a classic typewriter. It's definition means that each letter is the same height and width.
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| Typewriter Examples |
Typography Classifications:
The image below shows what each part of a letter is called. The part of letter that I will refer to will be highlighted and pointed to. For the example I used the simple Sans-Serif Font, Century Gothic.
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| Typography Classifications |
Company Name & Initial Logo Ideas - 15/5/2013
I will show photographs of my sketches underneath the correct name. As I will be a Freelance Designer, I will need to be coming up with concepts and other various ideas, therefore I would like to feature a light bulb within my logo to represent my ideas.
Vanilla - This is another word for 'clean', 'pure', 'uncluttered', exactly what I want my designs to be like. Less is more.
Initial thoughts & ideas:
- Lightbulb - Represents ideas and thoughts
- Colour Wheel - Represents creativity and dynamics
- Ice Cream - I just like it, and you can get it in Vanilla flavour
- Sharp, fluid, sleek - Typography, 'VANILLA'.
I am still deciding whether I am going to call the company 'Vanilla Design', 'Vanilla Studios' or simply 'Vanilla'.
Typeface and lettering:
These are my initial sketches of the typeface and letters for 'Vanilla'. When sketching out these typefaces and letters I kept in mind what I had learnt previously, using grids and guidelines to create my letters.
Overview of my typeface sketches.
This is the one I will take forward to develop, I think taking into consideration the shape, style and size of the emblem I am going to have, this typeface style will suit better. Obviously I will digitise this, develop and tweak if necessary to the style I want.
I sketched out different styles of lettering that I could use on the typeface. I came up with two variations. 1 which had both sides of the letter flick to one side and another where 1 side was straight, with the other side curving to meet at the end of the letters. I used the letters 'V' and 'L' to demo this.
Emblem:
The concept for my emblem is crossed between peoples instant representation of Vanilla and bright ideas. I decided to go with an Ice-Cream cone crossed with a light bulb. The idea is that Ice-Cream represents 'Cool' designs, being that cool means cold but being a word that would be used by my target audience. The Light bulb represents a cool, good or bright idea, which is what you need to keep coming up with in the creative industry.
The emblem will be smaller than what I have drawn here. I have drawn it bigger here so I could show the detail bigger. In terms of the colours for the emblem, I want to incorporate the 4 colours in my palette into the bulb, still keeping the shape of the bulb so that people know that it is.
I would also like to see what effect it would create if I used the gradient mesh tool in illustrator to merge all 4 colours together. My aim with this is I would hope to create a cloudy effect like some light bulbs have.
Another development I will try will be to make it look like the emblem is melting using the 4 colours. This won't represent anything, it will just be there for effect.
Branding
Visual
Logo:
A logo is a crucial part of the branding of a company. This is what symbolises your company and helps people recognise what you do and what your company can offer, therefore it is crucial to have a good, professional looking logo. If your logo stands out and builds up a reputation it can be recognised instantly by either a quick glance or a single section of the logo. For example, McDonald's have been around for years and years and are arguably the most successful fast food chain, because of this most people can recognise the logo by just a yellow 'M'.
Straplines:
A strapline is also another big branding technique. A clever strapline can send out a strong message to the audience. Like a logo, if a company has a big enough reputation, the audience will be able to recognise it without a logo.
Colours and style:
Clout and styling is also another crucial part of a companies branding. This is important as it keeps all documents, artwork and other things consistent. Things such as letterheads, websites, business cards and leaflets may have a set style for a header and footer, a certain fonts and paragraph styles. As well as consistency, it also helps the company look professional and makes it look like you've thought about how to impress in fine details.
When a company needs new material creating such as leaflets or posters, a colour palette would be used with the correct pantones for that company. It is imperative that these are are used on everything, especially print as anything slightly different could be a big different in the long run. For example, light could fade the colour more harsh than the correct colour over time.
To create a style and branding, the colours are usually within the logo with maybe one or two colours that aren't such as black, grey or white. Same goes in terms of the graphics. For instance if a leaf is used in a logo, then a leaf could be used as part of a header and a footer.
Fundamental
Relationships
A relationship between a business and a client is very much part of a brand of a company. For example how loyal are your customers? A good example would be customers that buy certain products and nothing else, like Heinz. There baked beans and tomato ketchup are know as the best of the type due to testing and tweaking over the years. The point is, that even if the price of something that you always buys goes up, will you still buy it or try something new?
Methods of targeting
Another brand model would be the way that you target your audience. Will you use something to get a message across. For example, charities commonly use the subject of purpose of the charity to make you sympathetic and feel sorry for animals or children. When you feel like this you will be more likely to donate money to the charity, if not you feel guilty and cruel as you’re not helping.
Environment
What I mean by this is working conditions. For example, set break periods and lengths could be set to reduce stress levels and socialize. This could not only help with the work produced by how workers get along with fellow colleagues. A laid back approach could be also used to communicate with clients, either on a TV ad or text on a website. This could give a client the impression that the company is easy to approach and talk to. An example is Google. Google have an open plan office, music and bean bags, this can create a cool, stress free environment to work and be in.
Business plan:
Generally a business plan would start off with a description of your own company, concluding what services you will provide to people, how you would deliver these services, the tools you would use and how you would typically communicate with a client, in terms of the jobs you could be doing for them.
Not only will a business plan explains what the company will offer, achieve and do but it will also be key on how the business attracts it's audience. Obviously, an audience will have to be targeted for your company, which will allow you to decide on things such as how you will communicate with them. For example, you may choose to use a more informal, jokey style of text if you we're targeting a younger, more laid back audience whereas you would use a more formal, serious style if you we're targeting hardcore businessman. But would this really matter, should you just be your self in the creative industry? Would you sit and work in suits all day?
This leads onto your competitors. You would have to research into how other companies in the industry promote themselves and communicate with their audience. Knowing this would be crucial as you would be able to go one step ahead of them and make yourself unique against the rest.
Getting away from audience and industry background, one of the main things about a business plan would be to set a list of targets and objects that you wish to achieve over a x amount of time. For example, the aim could be to turnover an increase of £100,000 a year after tax or have a profit increase of 50%.
A business plan would contain projections and predictions on turnover and profit for x amounts of time. This would help you make decisions on where you should take your company when you think the trends and projections will change. This could be that you change location into a more business associated area or target a wider audience.
Remember, if you are part of a team, it's not just you trying to achieve the targets and goals. A list of team members and their roles within the company will be vital. This could be used to keep a check on them and what they're doing. A certain title could be given to an employee in their area of expertise to concentrate on, which would prevent confusion on who was doing what.
A business plan is not set in stone, it can change. Like I said previously it can be changed due to trends and projections, therefore it will be changed to suit those. As well as that, changes could be made when targets are hit or if you haven't met them within the time you specific in the business plan. New targets could be set, taking into consideration the previous targets, maybe to set more ambitious targets or more realistic ones. In a business plan you could record weekly or monthly progress notes down which could help you project whether or not you will meet the targets set out initially.
Brand plan:
Visual
A brand plan on the other hand is completely different. Whereas with a business plan you plan out where your heading and what you want to do with your company, a brand plan will set out how your company will present its self along the way.
Although they are different, they can go hand in hand with each other. A specific target audience will help as you can design a logo which represents your target audience whereas if you didn't have one you could just create a logo which was just text or had a graphic which just represented the name of the company.
When creating a brand for you company it needs to go in order of importance. The first things that needs to be settled is a logo. A logo will be a starting point, allowing you to then take the colours, shapes and style and apply it to things like headers and footers for business cards and letterheads.
Once a logo has been established, a website in the style would need to be created, which includes an online portfolio, styling and contact details. This would give your business an online presence along with your branding. This would continue to let people know who you are and what you look like. The more places your logo and styling is, the more people will recognise you as a company.
With the styling and branding, like I said before, letterheads and business cards should be created. This will not reinforce your brand to clients and customers, it also looks professional on email and letter.
Other things to show off branding and promote the business are things like roller and pop banners. These will be great at exhibitions to create an instant impact. Services, contact details, styling and your logo should be placed on these to give people information about your company. Exhibitions are great places to promote your company, you get the chance to pitch your company to clients and explain to them in simple terms instead of them reading a website or a leaflet. You can hand out business cards and free samples to try and get them on board.
I did further research into brand plans and realised I didn't quite understand it first time around. I will leave the above section but also write more underneath to rectify.
Fundamental
Another part of the brand is not just visually but how the average person will perceive the company, or the target audience. A company needs to know how it will advertise, communicate and present itself.
A brand plan is very similar to a business plan in the fact that it is a plan on what you are going to do with your business, just in a different context. As a business plan is about facts, figures and the financial side of a business, a brand plan is how your company is going to act and do things differently from others. You need to know how you will communicate with your customers. When you work on a job for someone, are you going to just do that and then take their cash or are you going to give them a unique experience whilst they are working with me. Will you give the client an insight into how you work, the environment. A meeting to discuss what they want in the workplace would be a good idea for them to see this, and possible work with you there and then, it would be a good time. For example, if Subway didn’t want you to have the experience of the customer creating and seeing their sandwich being made, they would make and prepare the sandwich in the back, out of the way or have it pre-made. If they took that experience away, it would be an ordinary sandwich shop, it wouldn’t be unique. Another form of communication between client and company would be how you present yourself and your staff. The clothes you wear, how you speak all makes up. A suit would give more of a formal impression whereas trendy, casual clothes gives off a more relaxed, laid back approach, maybe this would make the client feel more relaxed and be more prepared to approach you and talk.
Advertising and how a company advertises itself is also part of a brand. I will use Subway as an example again, they use olympic athletes, inspirational figures to endorse the sandwiches and food. This technique will make people aspire to be like them and will want to do what they want to, in this case, eat the sandwiches. Compare the Market use the meerkats to advertise their company and also continue the meerkats through into the design side of brand, giving away fluffy toy replicas of them. This may give people the incentive to keep using them to gather the full collection of toys. Part of their brand plan could be to advertise in a way that you won’t forget easily. For example cadbury’s used gorilla playing drums, which has completely nothing to do with chocolate, but you don’t forget it because it’s different and unique.
Market drivers
Web and phone:
One market driver would be the increase of people using phones and tablets. Years ago before phone use took off people would commonly use a computer and Internet to access websites and browse the web for things such as the news, watch videos and chat to friends on MSN and social media. As technology has progressed and more things have become possible in terms of technology, more and more people have started texting and using the web on their smartphones and tablets. The introduction of 3G started it off really as it allowed people to access the internet on the move within the palm of their hand. With the percentages of people using mobile and tablet technology it was obvious that it needed to be more ergonomic to use the Internet on a smaller screen, therefore, tablet and web apps were born. This allowed people to view websites on a format more suited to a smaller screen without zooming in and out all the time. This caught on and more and more companies are designing their own apps to make things easier. As programs and the Internet developed it become possible to do more things on the apps which needed upgrades in technology. Companies such as Apple and Samsung took this on and decided to keep up with the demand of new technology to display and interact with new technologies. With this came 4G, an upgrade from 3G with a faster speed and a wider area of use.
Environmental factors:
Environmental issues cold include things like wind or rain, things hat will effect your plans. For example, if you have plans to install a wind farm in a certain places, sudden and unexpected falls in wind speed will have an effect on your plans. It would either delay it, relying on further information over a certain time period or scrap the plans all together, therefore having to make more decisions.
State of the economy:
This would include things like inflation of prices which would require you to alter a budget or come up with other alternatives. For example, within a budget you will have various items and a certain cost, but some of these items will be required to be bought later on within the project. If the project is an 8 month thing, the prices of the items you need may have gone up or even down in price, which will have an effect on your overall cost and budget. The longest the project, the harder it is to predict
Promotion - 21/5/2013
Exhibitions
Exhibitions are a great way to promote your business and meet other people in your local area or people who are interested in making the most out of your company.
I have recently had the experience of going to an exhibition called BExpo to represent the company I am an apprentice at. It was great, I had the opportunity to meet new people and get the chance to tell people what we do and what we can offer them. I handed out leaflets, told them how easy it was to work with us and communicate with us in terms they could understand. This gave me a lot of confidence and experience in dealing with random questions and communication.
Other than standing by the stand, advertising, meeting people and representing the company, I had the chance to go and visit some of the speakers who were on the stage throughout the day. These people were fully of inspiration quotes and stories of how they made their fortunes and came out strong through tough times. Altogether 3 different speakers were on, talking about, general business, social media and local community involvement. These were great to listen, especially the social media talk. This talk was all about how the use of social media can help promote your business, both nationally ad internationally, using methods such as group and business pages, to help you find people in your industry and industries that are associated with you.
Another interesting talk was about community involvement. This involved taking part in community business gatherings, such as breakfast clubs and networking sessions. This gives you the chance meet people who are involved in different local businesses around your area and building friendships and trust with them. This would hopefully get new work with new people. Another thing which relates to this is 'word of mouth', where people who you have worked with tell their friends or business associates about your company and their experiences with you. Hopefully this would then bring in more work to your business.
A benefit of being invovled in BExpo is that I have seen it build up from start to finish, as my boss was one of the 3 organisers. This has been very beneficial as I have seen the processes that have have been needed to make it possible, in terms of the design and creative side, such as the designing of the logo (which I designed), Website, Application forms, Web & print advertising material (for exhibitors, as well as the actual exhibition), Business cards, Letterheads & Brochures. Not only did this give me experience of the processes involved in something like this, but also skills needed to be a graphic designer.
MailChimp - http://mailchimp.com/
MailChimp is a great way to promote offers and new services that you offer. MailChimp is a service that allows you to send campaigns out to a mailing list. For example, you could collate all of your business and client contact email addresses into one list and then create an email/newsletter/mini website/campaign which can include both text and images on. It is used in the creative industry mostly to advertise new services or offers on print and web work within a certain time period, say, within the months of June & July, for example.
The great thing about this is that you can track what people do with the email they receive. For example, you can see if people delete it straight away, click on the email, how long they spend on the email and if they have forwarded it go anyone. A disadvantage to this is when people have receive the email, they can choose to unsubscribe to your mailing list so you can't send them it again or any other future campaigns/emails.
Typography continued - 2/6/2013
Terminology
Type Size:
This is the size that the text will be, depending on what you want it to be. It is the measure of the text. E.G. The height and length of each letter.
Baseline:
The baseline is the part that the body of each letter sits. There can be overhand over the baseline which would be the tails, descenders and loops of the letters.
Leading:
The leading is the space between each line of text. This can be altered so each line is closer or further apart. An example of when this would be used is when a teacher is marking a pupils work and needs space to write inbetween the lines.
Kerning:
This is the spacing between each letter. This can be adjusted like leading, closer or further apart. There are also two default options for kerning, Optical & Metrics, but spacing can be specified to tailor the users needs.
Metrics: This uses 'kern pairs', which are included with most fonts. Kern pairs contain information about the spacing of specific pairs of letters. Some of these are: LA, P., To, Tr, Ta, Tu, Te, Ty, Wa, WA, We, Wo, Ya and Yo.
Optical: This adjusts the spacing based on the letter shapes. Some fonts include robust kern-pair specifications. However, when a font includes only minimal built-in kerning or none at all, or if you use two different typefaces or sizes in one or more words on a line, you may want to use the optical kerning option.
Justification:
This is an allignment of text. This makes sure the body of text is in one block. The further you pull a text box, the further the spacing between letters, depending on the size of the words.
Other text box options include, central, left and right allignment, which are self explanatory.
Logo Developments - 4/6/2013 - 6/6/2013
Logo Development, Digital:
I used the pen tool to draw out the shape of a bulb and then used the outline stroke. This converted the shape from a single line to a shape.
I then used the 'offset path' tool to expand the shape but keeping the same size. This defined the emblem more than a thing line.
Once I had the emblem that I wanted I decided to try and find an existing font to see if it would be easier than creating my own. I come across 'Futura' and had the effect that I wanted. I then thought that putting the emblem above the letter 'V' to act as a cone for the bulb. This made more sense than my sketches, as it incorporated the emblem into the typography.
I placed the emblem on top of the v and came up with 3 variations of the logo. I decided for two of them I would alter some of the letters. Because the letter 'A' and 'V' are the same, just flipped, I wanted to show some correlation between them, therefore I took the bar out of the 'A's' and also made the other ones into upside down 'cones'.
After I had used an existing font, I decided to go ahead and create the typeface that I had orginally sketch out. I think the result is good. The idea is that each letter will have a curved, flicked edge sort of thing. I created a thin, regular and bold version.
Because I have created my own typography for my logo, I wanted to see what it looked like with the emblem above the 'V'. I have placed the emblem above a standard 'V' and the new letter 'V'. Personally I don't like one over the other, therefore I think I will opt to go with the new 'V' so it matches the rest of the text.
The two above logos are the twi variations with my own typography and with the emblem above the 'V'. I have noticed since I have changed from the existing font to my own the 'V' is smaller than it was and I think that this makes a bit different from the previous one to this newer one. Due to the typography being a test to see what it looked like, I will go back and tweak the each letter to make sure it all looks equal and proportionate. I also have a few more ideas that I could implement into a development for this logo to then settle on a final design.
Down to 3 colours, Brown, Blue and Yellow. ( Create a new sheet with different tints going down in 20's. Base colours. Create a gradient both from dark to original colour and light to original. on each of the colour strips, state the codes, RGB & CYMK. Use a triangle to indicate the start of colour.
Unit 4 - 'Just my type' - 5/6/2013
The brief for this unit is asking me to create my own typeface. The idea is that I will learn how to communicate through the language of art and design and use research and creativity to create my own visual typeface. I will use my knowledge of type classifications and Type styles I learnt earlier in the project to develop my new typeface such as grids to layout my typeface.
I will be creating a full alphabet ranging from A - Z and 1 - 9. I will try and incorporate this font into my logo. This could also expand to headers and titles on business cards, letterheads, brochures or maybe even my standard font for all publications.
Earlier in the unit (11) I sketched out some letters in a certain style. I decided to take this and develop it for this unit. Before I was introduced to this unit (4) I went off of the idea of creating an actual typeface for my company and just altering an existing font.
These two shapes are the what I will be using to create my new letters.
Unit 4 - Type Research - 11/6/2013
Primary research
Alas!:
I decided to do some research into existing typography and how it can be used in ways other than just basic and flat. I heard about a blog called, 'type foundry', which blogs down various typography and shares views and opinions. I found a font that used sunlight to make it look different. The font I sound is a standard serif font, which created a font which has thicker edges depending on which side the sun is in comparison to the word.
This type is used on a headstone and in my opinion is a really good method of making a simple, plain serif font dynamic and unusual. Thinking about it, this could have been unintentional. The creator may have intended it just to be a standard serif font with an embossed effect, which just happened to create a shadow, either way it is very unique.
Overall this can style can be used on almost any type classification (serif, sans-serif, typewriter...) and could even be used on objects, like a QR code for example. Obviously, whatever type of typeface and font you want to use with this method would need to be considered carefully as it will look different depending on the position of the sun and in overcast weather conditions.
Source:
Pine:
The font below is a font created by a guy called Cody Petts, a designer on a Behance. As I was searching through the endless amounts of typefaces and designs I came across an interesting concept which created a beautifully simplistic typeface.
The font is inspired by the outdoors and nature. The font includes an arrow head point which is designed to look like wood carved to a point such as tribes do to make spears and spikes. He has then used consistently used this style throughout the typeface and is effective.
I think this font has the potential to be created with actual wood and knives to create posters and take pictures.
Source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Pine-typeface/9419501
Secondary research
Dirt:
The typography used in the DiRT 3 typography caught my eye when I was looking around for type due to a few things. The first thing that I liked about it is the fact that it uses lower and upper-case letters in it. If we're talking about the communication through type, this shows a better understanding due to the fact it uses 2 types of lettering, although very similar.
A reason for them using lower case between upper-case is because of the triangle above the 'i' to represent a dot. This is used to showcase the theme and visual branding for the game. This developers of the game have gone with a triangular theme, which is easily noticed when playing and looking at the cover. Anyway, staying on topic I think using type in terms of films, games and logos, representing the branding within the type is a good thing, as it shows that there is continuity and consistency throughout a business/company.
Taking a closer look at the type, there is a slight texture, which symbolizes tyre marks and tracks. This is clearly used to show the audience that it is about rally cars or cars. This same typography is used on the back of the case as sub titles to show unique features about the game.
One thing that I would like to see is the 'T' and '3' join up. The end of the 'T' is bigger than the start of the 3. I think if these were the same size and joined up it would be better than how it is.
Halo:
I picked the HALO typography out because of the futuristic and unique style. The font uses styles which are included within the game such as the letter 'O'. The lens flare is part of the game as it is included within cut scenes and stills.
The different shades and tints of colour on the typeface also relate to the futuristic style of the video game. Buildings and objects use the silver and blu-ish tint with reflections of light to create the flares included in the game.
This typeface has clearly been kept in mind when creating the game due to the correlation between the two. I think a lot more designers should consider the ethos and branding of companies, materials and other media before creating the product as it can be a great way of representation of the product.
Unit 11 - Further developments and tweaks to my logo - 12/6/2013
Further Development:
These two logo ideas are digitised versions of my latest sketches. I created the 'N' in an arched shape as I thought it would work better than the standard one. I believe it is more effective and will stick with this variation.
The other logo combines the 'A' and the 'N'. When I sketched this out I thought it would have a good effect when digitised. Looking at it I think a lot of people would think it is an 'M', and I think it works better separated anyway.
I will take the separated letters version and mock it up with different colour variations for my final logo.
Final Logo with Variations of Colour:
Unit 11 - Letterheads and Business Cards 12/11/6/2013
What makes a good business card?
A business card can be a great networking tool and can be used to start and/or end a conversation. For example, the company I work for have more than just a personal business card. We have personal, which just states our name, company and job role, a company business card, which includes various services we offer and business cards which go into detail about a certain sector of the company. For example, the 'web' business cards have what offers we offer within the area of web, such as design, development, SEO, etc..
Useful Contact Information & Size
Obviously you need your contact details here incase people want to take the card further and enquire about your services. The obvious details on a business card would be your Name, Telephone Number, Possibly Mobile Number, Email Address & your Website Address. I personally don't think Twitter and Facebook is all that necessary, simply because of how cluttered the business card may look. Although if done properly, you could simply just include the icons. I think Twitter and Facebook is that well-known now, people will know what is meant by the logos. Do people even use FAX machines anymore?
This takes me on to the text size on a business card. In my opinion there is a fine line between too big and too small. I think the correct size, depending on the amount of content on the card, that 6 or 7 is usually the correct size to go with. This all depends on how big or small or the amount of content. Obviously too small will be too hard to read especially on a small card anyway, so I would say bigger is better than smaller in this case.
Size in terms of the business card itself is also key. Most people will be carrying business cards around in their pocket or wallet, therefore it is key that the business card fits the most common storage. Even when using a bespoke cut.
Spacing
Spacing is key with a business card, although there is not that much room, if it is uncluttered, your spacing between lines of text can make the difference. If it is too close together, it will look empty around it and poorly designed.
Quality
The quality of the business cards obvious needs to be good, you can just go and tile your designs up and print them using the thing next to your computer. The best method is to go to a printers where you can get multiple cards or almost every material including different weights of paper and textures. I think your paper selection and effects you use will really have an impact on the customer. Think about it, if they like the look of it, they will go to pick it up, when they feel it, they know that it has been printed with care and on a good material. Nothings worse than picking a business card up and it being bendy because they used some standard A4 paper from the corner shop. If your card isn't professionally finished, the customer will think your un-professional ad don't deliver the highest quality as a business, it will reflect your company and your personal image. The quality of the card and design go hand-n-hand. When I was at the exhibition, I was handing business cards out to people and telling them about the different services we offer, and people were actually testing the physicality of the card.
A variety of finishes can also be added to the card to give it a wow factor. For example you could digital emboss it so it has a sort of 3D feel to it. This would be good if you had a spiders web design on the card. Hopefully the image below will explain the effect better than I can.
My personal favourite effect is the Sport UV. This effect creates a glossy and shiny effect on a specified section or side of your card. This could be used for logos, text or anything you wanted. The effect goes best with an uncoated finish, perfect for the side with a logo on. Below is an example of Spot UV. I am not necessary saying it is a good or bad design, just as an example of what I mean by Sport UV.
9 Examples of smart looking business cards
The above images not only show sleek designs but have also been presented nice. I think the angles, lighting and environment need to be considered when displaying your work. For example on a portfolio page on a website. An idea which I will implement into the design of my website will be case studies. When you click on an image of some work, it will take you to a page will shows you the process to get to the final designs, along with more work for that particular client. I think effort like this, along with clean presentation will show a customer that you've put you time and effort into making your designs look good.
Below is an image of a bespoke business card. This is a good way symbolising what your company is about, especially in the food industry. I think if designers look at this card, they would say it is common to have a munch out of the card, but to the public who may not go looking for business card designs, it's very effective.
9 Methods to contact a design agency
1. Office/Home/Mobile telephone number.
2. Email Address.
3. Twitter/Facebook/Social Media Message.
4. Skype (Video Messaging, call)
5. Text Messaging.
6. Letters
7. Face-2-Face (Meetings)
8. FAX
9. Enquiry Form
Revisited Logo (Further Development) - 18/6/2013
I decided to go back to my 'final logo' and tweak the letters slightly. I decided to do this as I felt that the letter 'L' didn't match the styling. I noticed this when I went to start my business cards. I looked at each letter induvidually and noticed a round-ish trend to the letters. I felt that this needed to be carried on to the letter 'L' to complete the logo.
This is my FINAL logo. I am happy with all of the letters and feel as though they work well together. As you can see the 'L's' have changed so they are similar to the letter 'N'.
Redesiging a peers vsual identity - 19/6/2013
At the start of the lesson today we gathered around and picked a business card that we thought looked and felt professional. The idea behind this activity was to look and evaluate peers work, similar to what we did at the beginning of the project with the logo excercise.
The thing that I liked most about the business card I picked was the rigidity of the card. When I was flicking through them, it instantly felt stronger than all of the other cards, this stood out to me. When deciding on the finish and print of the business card I want it to be stirdy and strong like the above picture.
Other than the strength of the card, the design stood out to me, she's changed the norm, she's gone for a vertical card instead of a regular, common horizontal. I'm selective in what vertical cards I like, but you can't deny the fact that in a bunch of horizontal cards, this would stand out, which needs to be considered when creating a business card.
The uncoated finish on this business card works well with the spot UV on the logo, no other comment on this apart from I've always thought it works well, especially when it is a black on a grey.
When me and the group were sharing views and thoughts, one student had picked a card which relied on the user to turn it one way, so the user would have to flip it forward. This is all well and good and is good thinking, but wouldn't most people pick the card up with one hand and flip it left or right? If people did this, they would relase that the text is upside down and have to flip it again. Although this is only a small issue, people may think that it has been printed wrong or designed badly. I have placed the image below.
The next part of the activity was to pick a name out of a hat which had a name of one of my fellow students on. The idea behind this was to take the bsuiness card they had owned and create it using the style of the card we had picked. We had one hour to recreate the logo and imitate the style as close was me could.
These are the images/pictures of the card I picked and the card that I have redesigned to the same style.
Card I picked:
When I completed this small activity I learnt that it is a whole lot easier to 'redesign' or copy someone else identity, especially if they use standard flat colours and simple design methods. This shows the importance of copyrighting design,making the design complex or hard to copy.
Below I have posted a few pics of other people's personal identities. I really like the way they've all laid there work out and taken photographs. I think the use of GIF images and animations to illustrate colour variations and how logos will be animated is a really nice touch and makes it look professional and thought about. This is something that I will consider doing later on in the project. I have chosen Behance & Design Newz as sources of main inspiration as I think they offer a wide array of creative industry sectors, including design blogs and articles as well student and professional portfolios.
Unit 11 - Creation & Inspiration of stationary packs 19-26/6/2013
I have included hyper-links to the original sources and further images. The images below will contain all of the products that a design company/business would expect to have, like business cards, letterheads, compliment slips, mugs etc, everything that I will create for Vanilla later in the project.
Dolobox - Behance
Wandering Nomands - Bostock and Pollitt:
What if you hire Arek - Behance
Potwash Josh - Behance
Code D'or - Behance
Stationary Pack
Unit 4 - 26/6/2013
Today I decided I would come back to Unit 4 and try and finish my font. Earlier in this blog I explained what I would be doing during this unit and am sticking to my plan. This was a pretty simply task for most of the letters as I could use the curves and edges that I used in my Vanilla logo. As I was going through the alphabet I came across some letters than I left and came back to at the end. These letters were 'E, S, Z'. This is because these would use different angles and tighter curves to keep the letters the same height as the rest.
It was a simple task of halving the size of the current curve so that is would fit. I then added the end curves and flipped one of the curved so that it looked like an S.
For the E, I used a standard curve and a smaller one from the S I had just created.
The Z was the easiest, I used the lines with the same angle as the 'V'.
I used Adobe illustrator to create typeface. I feel easier doing almost all creations in illustrator as I find it a lot easier to use such as gradients and merging shapes together. Obviously I use InDesign to put every together in a layout.
Something that I didn't explain earlier is the fact that I will be creating a publications to show off my typeface. I will create a booklet containing each letter on 1 page, including the front and back cover. I will use Adobe InDesign to put this together.
Below is my finished A - Z font. I have taken Photographs of a print off, on screen and created a JPEG of the A - Z & 1 - 9.
The typeface that inspired me for this typeface was the typeface, Century Gothic, although I wanted to creative a font that could be used for my logo for unit 11. With this in mind the font needed to be clean, fresh and simple, matching the ethos of my company.
Unit 11 - Business Plan - 26/6/2013
Vanilla,
is a dynamic, creative company, located on the outskirts of Leeds, specializing
in Graphic, Web & UI design, utilizing the vast skills, media &
knowledge within the team. We approach every job with open minds, focusing on
customer satisfaction, so you get the best possible solution.
If you search the word 'Vanilla' on a dictionary or thesaurus, you will find two types of results, the Vanilla which is the aim of the company and the other of 'Dull' and 'Bland'. The wrong representations of the word inspired me even more to choose Vanilla as a name, to prove those representations wrong, to create designs which contradicted those meanings.
Rest of business plan uploaded to work doc.
Unit 11 - Creation of Profile Pic - 26/6/2013
I realised that for Twitter & Facebook, I needed a profile picture that would represent my company. I decided to go with the emblem that I have used on my stationary pack and is part of my brand to represent me.
I created this picture at 150px x 150px. I chose this size as it is the bigger than most profile picture sizes, therefore can be placed and scaled in without any interference with the quality of the image. The resolution is 72dpi in RGB colour.
SCREENSHOTS OF TWITTER AND FACEBOOK UPDATE
Unit 11 - Companies I admire - 28/6/2013 UPDATE
If I didn't decide to start my own company up or it didn't go the way I planned, I think I would have to aim for a company. I have listed a couple of companies below that I would love to work for.
Google - I think this company would suit my relaxed lifestyle and personality. I researched into google as a brand and found out they do have a very relaxed working environment and headquarters. Their designs and technology are so easy to use and are very clean and simple, very much how I like design to be and my own.
Microsoft - The main reason I have chosen Microsoft is because of the products they produce. The xbox is one of the most successful products they produce and is a product that I am loyal to, therefore would love to influence the interface and design of future xbox products, consoles or games.
Unit 11 - Business plan on Word Doc - 3/7/2013
Unit 4 - Completing the unit - 17/7/2013
At the beginning of the the day I asked my peers about my font and what they thought of it. Overall, the majority said they liked them all and that they were consistent and were in the same style, although most people said that the 'K' was odd compared with letters similar such as the 'C' and the 'X'. I took the advise and changed the letter.
The image below shows the transformation and what I changed to the letter.
As you can see the old letter K has the curve just touching the other part of the letter whereas my letter 'X' has the two curved joined and merged together, which is the method my peers have advised me to go with to make the typeface more consistent.
I agree with my peers that the K should have been changed. I think the shape of the letter is more fluid and is more consistent in comparison with the other letters in my typeface. This change has been done after my previous work on this unit on the 26/6/2013.
Poster
When I completed the font I went onto create a poster to display my typeface. I decided to create the poster in the style of my Vanilla stationary to represent the correlation between the twi units and how I used one unit for another.
Unit 11 - Final stationary pix
Because I have changed my logo slightly on my stationary I have created a new emblem and profile picture for social media such as facebook and twitter. It is simply the V from my font inside the bulb. This combines both the 'cone' and 'bulb' in one.
Profile Pix & Emblem
Stationary Pix
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Unit 11 - Web Presence
As I will explain in my evaluation, I will continue to develop this project after completion, especially the website as i feel as though with further developments it can be perfected.
Now that I have made Jpegs and looked more closely at them, I can see that some of the lines are more defined than they should be. I think this is a case of going back and changing the grey to a lighter colour so they arn't as in your face.
Intro
This intro page is what will come up when you first load the website up. On this screen you have two options, the first to discover and take a look at some of the work I have done and to read a bit about me as a designer and Vanilla as a company.
The second option is to watch a showreel. I had visions of this page going into a video, with the two options sweeping off to the side and the logo coming into the centre and doing some sort of animation as an introduction to the video, after the showreel has stopped playing, it will automatically go to the main website where you will be able to explore more.
I would develop this page by making the buttons more stylized, although flat colour matches the rest of my branding. I'm still not so sure about the mountains theme on the background, this sort of matched my old branding until I developed it to be more clean.
Home page
This is the first part of my website, as I mentioned earlier, I will go back and amend the colours, as on this page the grey and blacks at the bottom and dacker than I made them on the illustrator document. The idea was that it would split the section off from the portfolio, ever so slightly.
As for the content, the darker text under the word portfolio, will be a slider, changing to different quotes to show the representation of 'Actions speak louder than words'. I feel as though I have carried this on by having the portfolio page as the 'home' page and having 'about' secondary.
I decided to go ahead and include a static menu bar, as i find them easier for people to use when they are scrolling down a page, it is just their, no need to scroll back up to the top to click on the next section.
Coming further down the page, there are options to filter the work. 'Web', 'Brand' & 'Media'. When you click on one of these, the work below will dissapear or appear on the screen depending on what category the work is in. Some work maybe in more than one category as you can brand a company and create a website.
At the bottom of the page, you can see contact details which can be hovered over to see an effect and clicked on to take action, you can see the difference between the one that is hovered on and he two that aren't.
The social networking links at the bottom are simply there so you can go to them, although when you hover over one, the whole of the bottom bar will change colour depending on what social media link you are on. For example, if you hover over facebook, it will change to the dark blue to match their branding.
About page
For my about page I decided to go away from the norm. When you click on about, the word about will change to green and underline but instead of opening a new page, it would drop down from above, moving everything down, as you can see on the image at the top. On this 'drop down' will be a slider which can be manually changed displaying information about the company and what services are provided.
The first slider will contain information about Vanilla in general with a picture of me, and if the company expands, the team. The second slider will contain information about the services we provide as can be seen on the screenshot below. When you hover over one of these services, it will highlight and dim the colour on the other 2 services, focusing on the one you want to view.
I think I will develop this section so that their is more breathing room as I think it looks a bit cramped. I think a good size would be the same size as the 'connect' section is on the home page.
On the about section there is a a green bar that moves along. Once it gets to every 1/3 section, it will change to the next slider, obviously if you are hovering over a service and want to read it, the bar will pause to give you chance.
Something that I forgot to mention is the spotlight rollover on the case studies. The green box will swivel from the centre of the image to tell you the name of the case study and a magnifying glass to symbolise you can view more of that particular case study.
Another development I will make is to design the case study window. When you click on one of the pieces of work, it will open a window on top of the existing where you can read and view more images of the case study that has just been picked.
Phone
I wanted to mock up some sort of intro page for a phone as a further development of my web presence will be to create a complete phone version of the website. In the mean time the introduction page is a cut down version of the intro page I have done for the main website.
Unit 11 - Evaluation
Now that I have finished unit 11, I have looked back to see how I have progressed and how it matches what I originally wanted to achieve from the project. Since the start of this college course I have seen an improvement in my work and I believe it has shown in this project.
I have always been critical of my work but never really took anyones opinion on and just sulked and got on with it. But on this project I decided to take my logo and branding style to my peers and asked for feedback. This helped me improve my work, especially with my logo as can be seen on the developments. With my developments, I wanted to make it more simple and clean as the slash for the header and footer on my initial designs didn't really relate to the logo and font style, therefore decided to go with a link with a diagonal flick on the end.
Coming away from the design side of the project, my research into business has helped me realise what it is like to start up and what's involved in running a business. I think this can only be valuable if I decide to turn this into an actual freelance business. As well as business I looked into other design agencies to see what wording and phrasing they use to introduce people to their website and what their business is and their ethos.
I will continue to develop this at my own pace, not so much the logo and branding but more the website. Web design, GUI & UI design is where I want to take my career so it is important for me that I develop my skills, but also thw work I have done to show future employers. One way I will develop my website will be spacing and typeface size. I am confident that with larger spacing between the content and proportional text size will improve the asthetics of the interface. I will extend the developments further by creating brand guidelines, showing how the logo can be used, colours and typefaces.
I am quite happy with how Unit 4 planned out, I think the typeface works well and is slick and I feel as though it was a good idea to carry the few letters I did for my logo into a full typeface alphabet. I believe it shows that I have joined two projects together and made them work well together. The poster I made came together better than I thought it was going to do. I think my decision to create the poster in the same style as my Unit 11 stationary was a good call and works well with the minimalistic style of Vanilla.
Out of all the units I have done so far for my BTEC, I believe Unit 4 & Unit 5 is the strongest project. As I said before, I have seen a real improvement in this project from my last ones and hope to continue improving for my last projects and in my career. I believe the work I have produced in Unit 4 & Unit 5 will be a good portfolio of work to show future employers what I can do, and show them have, and how I have improved.
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