PPP3: Own Brand Re-brand

Knowing that I would need to contact studios and get a placement, I felt like it would be a good idea for me to change my personal branding. Following from last years branding, I didn't feel very confident about the idea of sending it off for other people to see and was pretty much embarrassed by what I had produced on reflection. In the summer, this was something which prevented me from personally feeling confident or comfortable contacting studios therefore I felt that this was something that I had to do. I couldn't move on without addressing this issue.

I  had some initial thoughts for my brand identity. I knew that I wanted to include some writing in it and that I wanted to have some sort of logo i-dent that could be used separately from the wording. I liked the idea of having some simple yet effective.

Typeface

I started off by trying to find a suitable typeface which would be sophisticated yet highlight the conceptual aspect of my design style. One typeface that I had found recently that I quite liked was Vevey due to the fact that it is quite sophisticated and dramatic and this is what I wanted to come across within my design work so I decided that I would run with this to see whether it would give the desired aesthetic, even more so when I separated the two words with some space between.  I don't like my full name yet using it fitted the line length better than using that I prefer.

Development of Circle

I wanted a brand identity that included my name but could also have a smaller logo ident which could be used in its place for smaller collateral. Following from the initial sketches that I produced, the first thing I did was start experimenting with shapes. I particularly liked the simplicity of the circle as I felt it gave the impression of me being a well-rounded designer and person. I started developing the circle by adding smaller circles around it or instead of it and found that I liked the option of having 4 smaller circles on the larger circle. The 4 circles would represent my aspects of design I work with; brand identity, illustration, concepts and ideas. It gives the impression of being like an atom, with the 4 components making up the larger circle which represents me as a designer. 

Circle Border

Whilst developing this, I went onto seeing about putting another shape as a border around the circle so as to give it definition. I started with a square but felt that it was very plain so I tilted it to one side so as to create a diamond. I found that I was able to interlock the diamonds so that they made a pattern when next to each other and played around with the use of circles within it.

Diamond Shape Development

I felt that the diamond shape I had created from a titled square was quite crude and rudimentary so I decided to improve it by producing a more accurate diamond representation. Instantly, I felt that this gave a much more interesting development to the branding. The problem was that I felt that the diamond shape was incorrect in regards to my design work as diamonds usually imply perfection which I am definitely not. However, what I do agree with is that I am a developing and improving designer who is always practicing and learning so I decided to rotate the diamond upside down to show this.

Experimentation with Circles

I started experimenting with the placement of the ident in regards to the brand identity as, due to the size of the bottom of the diamond, found that the ident fitted better when on my preferred name rather than my christian name which I instantly preferred. Then I started casually developing the logo by adding circles to the straight lines. A lot of the time this didn't work well, however, I did like the more simplistic and sophisticated use of two circles at the end of the separating line as it gave some personality without being too much.

Text Placement Experimentation

I continued to experiment with the ident and the logo, specifically playing around with the placement of the text and the sizing of the lettering. In my opinion, it was worth a try however I felt that all of these were unsuccessful. 

Pattern Attempt from Ident

I liked the idea of maybe having a logo which could work as a pattern so I decided to see how a large amount of diamonds would link together, however, despite the fact that it worked on a small scale, on a larger scale, the pattern wouldn't interlock very well so there were gaps. This would not give the professional impression that the identity needs. 

New Typeface and Logo

I felt that the Vevey typeface, whilst giving off the right impression, wasn't working for me in regards to my personality, as it seemed quite abrupt and harsh. In response I decided to look at more rounded san serif typefaces and felt that Mensch or Blanch were good substitutes as they are illustrative and friendly. Saying that, I felt that Blanch was a little too lighthearted and unsophisticated. I decided to see if it was a good idea to try out a more realistic- looking diamond so that there would be less empty space at the tip of the image but this wasn't as successful either.

Overall, so far I am happy in the direction of the logo, however, I felt that it needed to have a more structured aesthetic.

Colour Experimentation

I use a lot of colour in my practice so I felt it only necessary that I attempted to develop my identity with the use of colour. However, I soon found that the logo didn't look half as effective with colour added to it then when it is black and white. To see whether it would work as a full black and white filled logo, I decided to try it out but again had the same results. I realised that the logo looked the most sophisticated when it was just in its outline form.

Development of Logo

Like I had done with the previous logo, I expanded on it with details. I decided to include Graphic Designer on the logo so as to contextualise the purpose of the brand as well as what I work on. Using contrasting weights for the different pieces of information I felt gave a more sophisticated approach in regards to hierarchy of information.

Comparing Babas Neue and Mensch

I wasn't sure if Mensch was giving off the right impression so I decided to see if Bebas Neue would be as successful for my brand identity yet it was incredibly thin and didn't make that much of a positive impression towards my work. I had to kern the spacing between the words as the text was very widely spaced apart and was quite illegible.

Brand Identity Logo

Overall, I am quite happy with the visual identity of the brand as I have a more sophisticated identity that I previously had and would feel more comfortable using it than I previous one. I think it represents where I am at the moment and what I am like and striving for quite well. I think with any personal brand, it is difficult to produce something that you think is great but I feel much more confident using this.

Business Cards

Business Card Experimentation

I moved onto looking at applying the new brand identity to business cards as these would be something practical that I would need for when I go on visits. I knew that my logo would be on the front but I wasn't sure what information I was going to put on the back. I decided to just have my contact details on the back with a smaller version of my logo on the back. I had to decide which typeface I was going to use for the information on the back as it would be quite difficult to read. I went with Lane- Narrow as it was quite a rounded and easy to read font, with the legibility being the main thing. The fact that it was quite a thin font as well meant that it went well with the Mensch typeface for the logo. From that, I went onto playing with the layout of the information but I wasn't convinced as of yet.

Business Card Development

I developed the information on the card by doing some simple illustrations of the ways of contact so as to inform as to which method you can use. I decided that having my logo twice was pointless so I got rid of it and felt that it was just repeating a fact that is already known. I felt that it was very nice to have the details on the back alone as it was simple and to the point. As a test, I decided to see what it would be like to have a descriptive piece of text on the back to contextualise my practice but the text did not sit well.

Business Card

Final Business Card Design

I decided to leave my business card with just the information on the back so that it is simple yet effective. I hadn't realise how difficult it would be to produce a business card design but the fact that it is so simple actually makes it harder to design for.

Portfolio

The next stage would be to produce a digital portfolio showcasing my work so that I could send it to possible places to visit.

To go with the visual identity that I had established for the logo. I decided to use Mensch in a light and normal weight to determine between the header and body copy text. Also, based on the lack of colour and use of large amounts of space with the logo, I have decided that I should try and reflect this within my design decisions for the portfolio.

I decided that for each brief, I would have a short description of what I had to do and my response so as to contextualise the work that I was going to show and have purpose to the images that I was using.

Attempt at Impact Page

Instantly, the first problem I had would be to produce an opening page for the briefs which needed to act as an impact page so as to get people to look and be interested in my work. I started by trying to approach the layout as if I would a design board as usually, they start with an impact board showing  a large image but then I soon realised that this wouldn't work out as the images would have a line visibly showing through them. I felt that this would be unprofessional of me so I decided that I should have one image on one page. 

Layout Development

From the layout that I initially started with, I began to develop the starting pages of the briefs. I moved the image to one side so that it would have a full page to itself. People read from left to right so I decided to have text on the left and image on the right. I found that having the text in one long paragraph took up a lot of room and didn't fit as well on the page so I condensed the size of it down and made it into more of a column instead. I remembered to add page numbers to the portfolio and put them to the bottom corners. Following this, I felt that the Mensch font was fine as a header however, it was difficult to read in a paragraph as a piece of body copy so I decided to change this to Avenir Next (from light to regular) so that it was readable on screen. I enlarged the header so that it was more defined and I moved the page numbers so that they were more separate from where the image would be.

I felt that it would be important for the next pages to have just images on them as I wanted the portfolio to mainly be about the work. I wanted the images to be large and visible so I was quite limited in regards to how I presented my work but I felt that working on the basis of having just a few images of an average of 4 per brief would allow for the best images to take centre stage. 

Following this, I went onto resizing all of my images so that they would fit precisely into the layout that I had produced for them. I did this by putting them into Photoshop. 

I applied these layout principles to the rest of the briefs that I wanted to include so that I had a full portfolio. 

Digital Portfolio

Digital Portfolio with a range of briefs completed to send to studios for work experience.

I am quite proud of the overall style, visual identity and layout of the portfolio as the information is minimal yet important whilst letting the images of the work do the talking, allowing them to take centre stage. I think I have made good use of the space and think that I have a range of briefs which show a range of different skills and ideas.

CV

The last thing that I felt was a necessity to my brand identity for sending to potential placements was to include a CV. This way, the studios would be able to get a quick glimpse at what I can do and I could add a few words about myself. 

I decided to have my CV at the beginning of the portfolio because it seemed a really silly idea for me to send lots of different files to a studio when I can have everything within one file so therefore it came across to me as more convenient and professional. 

Headers for CV

The most important aspects of a CV tend to be any skills you have and your education. Normally this would have previous experience but I haven't had any experience within the design sector as of yet. I decided to produce headers for each section including a contact information section so that it can be refered back to. 

Content for CV

The first thing I did was produce the content for the CV, with much of it based on what I put for the second year one i produced. The difference being was that I included more of an introduction/ description of me at the beginning. I wanted the content to be laid out similarly to the way that I had produced the content for the portfolio so I kept everything in columns. In regards to skills, I wasn't sure how I would be able to show what I was good at visually. I thought about maybe using the logo shape but I wanted something that would be simpler so I went with the circles that I had used for the logo and banner ends. Instantly this made for an easy to use system. 

Addition of Content

I put the information onto the double page spread, trying to keep everything columnised, changing the initial paragraph so that it is much more in keeping with the narrowing of the rest of the information. I started by having the information on the top of the page but it was very disjointed so I centred it so that it was more in keeping with the rest of the page. Despite this, the amount of information on one side to the other was skewed. 

Add Contact Information

To deal with the skewed information, I decided to add a contact section so that I could add a bit more information to the other side so it was more equal. For the contact section, I decided to use what I had for the business cards with the small outline drawings so that it was clear which information was what.

Layout Development

I went onto trying to centre and spread out the information more evenly by aligning it all which would help with the readability of the content. Also, I aligned the paragraph at the beginning so that it fitted in with the already existing layout properly.

Larger Headings

To emphasise the text on the page, I decided to make the text headings larger so that they had more of an impact. I did this to all of the other pages in the portfolio for consistency. Also I split the opening block of text on the CV to make it easier to read.

Font weight change

The problem next was the fact that the 'Ultra Light' weight for the 'Avenir Next' font suited the design of the portfolio but was difficult to read, especially on the opening paragraph of the CV even though I had already split the block of text. To make it easier, I decided to change the weight of the font to 'Regular' so that the font would be more defined and easier to read on screen, adjusting this through out the portfolio.

Getting rid of Information 

Due to the fact that I was having trouble with the information fitting well on the page, I got rid of some of my education information so that there was much more breathing room for the information on the left page. Instantly this opened up the layout and allowed for equality amongst the pages.

Final Layout for CV

The final thing I did for the layout was add some page numbers as they are at the beginning of the portfolio. I am quite happy with the way that the information is presented as it is simple, to the point and very specific. It could also be easily add to at a later date so that when I do have experience, I can add this to the information.

Final Portfolio and CV

A4 Digital Portfolio and CV Publication for potential work placements.

I am quite happy with the way that the CV and the Portfolio work together succinctly and coherently as it makes for a smart and sophisticated portfolio. If I was to improve it, I would perhaps take some better photographs of my Swash work so that it is up to a similar standard as the rest of my photographs, however, I think that the rest of my work seems to hide this immediate issue.

In the future, now that I have this, I intend to send it off to studios which I would like to visit as I feel a bit more confident about approaching studios now that I have a more sophisticated and professional-looking portfolio.