OUGD402- Studio Brief 02- Self Branding- Development

I have developed my sketches by re creating them on Illustrator, allowing them to have a smooth, clean aesthetic. 

To see what my branding would look like in context I have mocked up some small business cards, I have used these geometric shapes as I think they look fun yet minimal, I also think they compliment the typeface well. 

Colour experiments

After seeing the zig zag repeated when experimenting with colour I noticed it could be improved, I have now created 4 different variations which I think look neater and more ordered than the original zig zag.

OUGD402- Studio Brief 02- Self Branding- Initial Ideas

I have scanned in some sketches and edited them using Photoshop and Illustrator so that I can freely move them around and play with scale and arrangement. 

Here I have used Apercu, Monosten, Futura and Gill Sans light. I think Apercu works best for my identity at the moment, as it is currently my favourite typeface, I like the curved aesthetic it has as well as being very legible and simple.

I have tried creating a small logo by doing various things such as compressing the letters in my name, making a badge type icon, etc, however I think the most successful design has either just been my name in capitals with very high kerning, or all the letters in a rectangle. 

OUGD402- Studio Brief 02- Self Branding

Things to consider

Who are you now? 

What have you learned? 

What skills do you have?

What do you know? 

What do you believe? 

In answering these questions remember that your design practice is informaed by a broad range of social, ethical, creative and professional concerns. What are they?

What information do you need to include? 

What formats can you use to effectively communicate or promote this information? 

What tone of voice best reflects you, your practice and your ambitions? What experiences have shaped your opinions and views both in and outside of the programme?
What are your creative concerns, opinions and beliefs and how do you communicate these practically, conceptually a practically? 

What has informed these decsions and who are the contextual references that reflect your individual focus?What is 'Brand You'? 

Your visual identity will help tie the information together. What fonts, formats, colours and production methods will help communicate and enhance your content.

What I want to reflect in my self branding is a fun, interesting yet sophisticated approach. I would like to incorporate fun or humour as I find this to be relevant in a lot work I like and some of my own too. I also like using different medias and textures other than just typography or digital work. I would like to show this in my self branding, perhaps by creating a print and using that, or even using hand rendered illustration.

The information I need to include is my name, or what I want to be recognised as, contact details, and hopefully the self branding itself will communicate the type of work I can do.

In a way Modernist views have slightly influenced me as I would like my card to be easily informative and legible, giving the information easily and effectively to the viewer.

I am unsure to what part of graphic design I would preferably put myself in to. I like working as a team but also feel that I am quite a perfectionist and like to work on things individually too, I like all areas of graphic design at the moment, I am yet to specialise in just one yet. 

If I were to narrow it down, at the moment I like branding, print, editorial design and publication design. I would rather work with an agency than free lance as I think I need more of a structure to follow by.

OUGD402- Studio Brief 02- Self Branding- Brief

We have been given a brief to design, develop and produce self branding that effectively communicates and promotes us as individuals, designers and learners. To inform your design decisions you should reflect upon your learning aspirations and design direction. You should aim to communicate the context of your interests by referencing specific designers, studios, principles and audiences where necessary.

We need to explore, develop and demonstrate content, processes and areas of design that interest us at this point in time and may indicate our emerging creative concerns in Graphic Design.

Deliverables:

Fully resolved self branding, including but not limited to:

A logotype/symbol
Colour swatch
Typeface (display and body copy)
Presentation template (grid)

This should be developed with reference and relevance to your own creative practice.

Evidence of practical, conceptual and contextula research into materials, fornats and content.

I have been researching other designers self branding to gather inspiration and an idea of what current up coming graphic designers are doing.

I like how simple this design is, simply just their initials arranged in a clever way to create a clean aesthetic. Seeing the branding spread across this wide range of collateral highlights how far we can take this, I think the stamp is a really good idea however I am unsure when you would actually use a stamp.

I really like the debossing on this design along with the metallic lettering, I think it creates a quality to the lettering, making all the white space around it appropriate as it gives it much more of a presence. There is no obvious text or indicator what this branding is for or what they do apart from a small safety pin- implying something to do with textiles. I think having a more subtle link like this is more effective than over crowding the card with a description which could be shown with a small symbol or illustration like this.

I find the bold, bright brush strokes used in this design exciting, and therefore eye catching and memorable. This is a good trait to have in self branding as the overall aim is to promote yourself, to make others more aware of yourself and your work and to ultimately remember you/your work. They have not over done it though, the overall aesthetic of the design is still very minimal, I would like to bring in another media or texture like they have.

I think this simplistic, debased design works very well, there is something different and interesting about the fact they have used no ink. However I feel that this style of design would not work well for me. My self branding needs to reflect my work and me also, and I try and make my work more exciting and fun, therefore I need to find a way in which my self branding shows this.

The only thing that is significantly different about this card is the spacing of the letters, I find it interesting by altering only one thing but on quite an extreme level can be enough to make the design stand out and be different yet effective. Another thing I have noticed while researching peoples self branding is that the most successful ones have had a very restricted colour pallet, down to mostly just 2 colours, and one of them being the stock. I think this makes the design more memorable and aesthetically pleasing as it doesn't look too busy or chaotic.

(Above) This is one of my favourites. There is something quite childlike about it, I think it is the little symbols in the middle as well as the curved lettering placement and the bold colour. I think it has a playful image and makes me want to have one, which proves it is a successful business card. It also looks like there is a subtle debossing on the card which brings in a different aspect and texture to the card physically.

This one is for a brand with a name, not a designers name, but I think this is really successful. They have linked the name in to the appearance of the type, showing spilt milk through the length and positioning of the 'i' and 'l'. This makes the card more interactive for the holder as they will make this link them selves. I think this is a very successful way of branding.

This same kind of idea has been done for this business card too (below). 

On behance you can see a wide range of peoples self grading projects and their development process. It is spread across different collateral and also shown how it would look in different places, e.g; a poster in a building. This enables you to see what your design would look like in the real world instead of just on your computer screen so I think this is a good idea. 

I really like the overall design of this too, it is very simplistic and has a geometric feel to it,  but they have also used just one bright colour to make the design stand out.

Leeds Print Festival 2015

Visiting the Leeds Print Festival was a really inspiring experience, I found looking at all the prints and talking to the makers very motivational. I have taken some pictures of a few prints that stood out to me.

Nathan Bolton Design

These screen prints by Nathan Bolton were one of my favourites. I find the use of geometric shapes along with bright complimentary colours very aesthetically pleasing. I have looked further in to Nathan Bolton Designs and found a short description he has written about these prints which I found very interesting.

"Steve Reich is an American composer who pioneered minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts. These compositions marked the use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm and canons.

Taking Reich's music as inspiration a series of hand pulled screen prints were created. The musical composition 'Clapping Music' was translated into shapes and patterns to reflect the rhythms of the piece 'Clapping Music'."

Nick Deakin

I really liked Nick Deakin's work at the Print Festival, and after researching him and looking at more of his designs I like his work even more. He manages to capture a fun aesthetic while still keeping it really simplistic and clean.

Kate Gibb

I found this design by Kate Gibb really interesting, it is so complex yet I don't find it too look too chaotic or messy, I like the vibrant colours paired with the calmer, cooler colours, it creates a point of focus. I have looked more in to Kate Gibb's work and I really like her style, she describes her work process as 'hiccups and happy accidents' and this is definitely evident throughout her work.

The Printing Project

The simple overlaying shapes and block colours of these designs really appeal to me. The are very simple and precise, however as they are wood block there are areas where the print hasn't printed as effectively and it is faded. Although I don't see this as a fault, I think it brings a natural, unique feel to the prints.

Amy Rodchester

These illustrated typeface prints were really nice, they were being sold individually with different coloured stock and colour combinations. This is a really nice idea and every letter was equally as interesting.

 Esther McManus

Esther McManus's style is very child like and fun. This book was my favourite out of what was on display, the use of only 2 colours, a light yellow stock and vibrant red made the illustrations really stand out and made the appearance of the pages in general look a lot more interesting. When researching her online I have found a short description of the book by her. 

"In August 2012 I finished a new hand-printed comic with Adam Ferner, which is the first issue in a new saga we will be working on together called Mevlana of the Golden Age.

It follows the life of a female prison inmate, and the ever-growing awareness and understanding that she harnesses whilst in her restrictive, isolated cell. As her time within the prison passes, she begins to sense that there is more to her captivity than she initially realised, and that the guards hold an unnerving secret that will affect her future and her freedom.

We printed and stitched an edition of 100 over the course of a weekend. They can be purchased in my online shop, as well as awesome places across the UK including Orbital (London), Good Press Gallery (Glasgow) and Village Bookstore (Leeds)."

I found this interesting as the illustrations are quite playful, however the content is quite mature.