Labels

Advance Typography - Task 2/Key Artwork/Collateral

13/9/2023 - 7/11/2023 / Week  3 - Week 10
Janice Marie Eng Chia Hui  / 0361521
Advance Typography / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media / Taylors University 
Task 2: Key Artwork/Collateral

Table of Contents

Lectures

Lectures can be viewed in Advance Typography/Exercises.

Instructions


Task 2

Key Artwork

Things to do for this task :
  • Come up with a lettering/wordmark of your chosen name/nickname
  • Explore as many variations as we can
  • Explore yourself :D

Finding inspo and mind mapping

I started mind mapping in Canva.

Figure 1.1 Mind Map (18/9/23)

After that, I went to my good friend Pinterest to look for inspo.  Pinterest blog link.

Sketching

I was supposed to be doing research for research methods, but after a soul-searching session, I decided to start sketching some ideas down.

Figure 2.1 Final Sketches(18/9/23)

  • The one on the top left has a bubbly shape because I have anger management issues and want to aspire to have a more bubbly personality
  • The one in the middle left and top right was created because I like stars and I want to be a star and SHINE BRIGHT LIKE A DIAMOND
  • The one on the middle right I made to look like a smile, cause I found out that I smile a lot
  • The one on the bottom left signifies me trying to put structure in my life because I'm trying to get it together.
Digitization

I asked my friends which design they liked more and most of them chose the bubbly one. Which is good because I like that one too. After deciding which design I wanted to create, I decided to explore more variations of that design.

Figure 3.1 Process and evolution of my word mark(24/9/23)

Initially, I used the font RETRO COOL as a base for the design. After that, I wrapped the font and freehand drew it to the design I wanted. But the lines were a bit inconsistent in my opinion and I did not like how it looked in the end. 

So I decided to do another one, but this time I used the font IMPACT as a base. This time, however, I decided to block out the shapes I wanted first(as can be seen in Fig 3.1) before using the anchor tool, quick selection tool and shape builder tool to obtain the curved shape i wanted. 

Figure 3.2 Initial design submitted for feedback(27/9/23)

In class, Sir made us print out our designs and show them to him one by one for feedback. It took me a while to figure out how to drop my file to the printer. My friend was struggling to use the printer cause she forgot her password. Maybe we should get one person to print everything next time to make things easier lmao idk.  After getting feedback, I changed it accordingly.

Figure 3.3 Design but with thic-er and consistent gaps(ignore the design on top)(27/9/23)

After that, I got more feedback from Sir on how to refine the design, so I did that. I also decided to add a flower to the design cause I really like flowers.

Figure 3.4 Refinement after more feedback from sir(27/9/23)

After a while, I realized my design looked like the PowerPuff Girls logo. After checking out the logo, I found out that it did not look the same but they both gave off the same vibes. So I used the logo as an inspo. 

Figure 3.5 Final design(28/9/23)

Key Collateral

To-do :
  • Identify 3 key collateral 
  • Expand your key art in the logo
  • Take a black-and-white self-portrait
  • Animate your key art 
  • Make an Instagram account for your brand
  • Make 9 posts on the Instagram account

Inspiration

I first went onto Google to look for inspiration. I tried to find some that fit the look of my key art. After some hunting, I managed to find a few. 
I noticed that most branding had the logotype and some form of graphical logo based on the logotype. So I tried to make one too. 

Expansions

Colour palette 

I started off by picking a colour palette. Sir recommended we use the website Colour Hunt to find some colour palettes we liked. Initially, I was just browsing through the most popular palettes to find one I might like. But I decided to narrow down the colour choice to red, blue and yellow because I love the primary colour combination. Eventually, I managed to find a colour palette that had the right saturation that I had in mind. 

After deciding on a colour palette, I tried out some colour combinations with my wordmark. However, in the end, I decided that I liked it more with all the primary colours in the word and leaving the background (off) white. Truly I was going for the Google core.

However, after getting some feedback from Sir, he mentioned that putting the yellow next to the very highly saturated red and blue makes it pale and advised me to change it to something more orangy. So I pulled the yellow more towards red and made it less saturated. However, for the rest of the collateral, I kept the yellow instead of changing it to the more orange shade.

Figure 4.1 'Its giving Google/Corporate vibes' palette

Figure 4.2 Trying out different colour combinations with the word mark(3/10/23)

Figure 4.3 Chosen word mark colour combination VS Google colour combo(4/10/23)

Figure 4.4 A more orange yellow(left) vs original yellow(right)(4/10/23)

Collateral / Branding 

After choosing the palette, I moved on to making some branding for my brand. At first, I wanted to do a cosmetic line, but couldn't find any good mock-ups, so I changed to a wine shop. Again there were not many mock-ups that I liked. So I changed to a cafe instead. 

The first thing I did was make some patterns/designs from my wordmark so I could use it in the mock-up and in the Instagram posts. The first design was a poster. This poster is based on Sir's example of an expansion. I noticed that in my wordmark, the long tail of the R and the 2 dots can be used as a graphic element. 

Figure 5.1 Poster 1 (3/10/23)

After making the first poster, I was very stumped on what to do. So I went onto Pinterest and started browsing for inspiration again. It was then that I decided to make a graphical logo. My main source of inspiration was the logos from K-pop groups.

I noticed that the MR of my wordmark was very striking. I made that into the logo. I started off by cutting away the tail of the R with the shape builder tool. I then used the perspective grids to help me free transform the MR into a 3D-looking box. 

Initially, I was only going to use MR for the logo. But I realised that my R was very top-heavy while my M was very bottom-heavy. This made it look very imbalanced. So I decided to add one of the circles into the R to fill up the space. And finally, I love flowers so I placed a flower in between the MR.

Figure 5.2 MR process (3/10/23)

After that, I went on to do the collaterals or mock-ups. I got most of my mock-up template from the website unblast. I initially wanted to do water bottles, cup sleeves and a paper bag. However, I did not like how it looked because it looked very scuffed. So I initially tried to come up with new patterns for the mock-ups. But I realised further down the line that I actually didn't like the mock-ups I had chosen. 

So I went back onto unblast to find a different mock-up. I wanted to do a menu mock-up but I couldn't find the template that I like. So I made my own template. 

Figure 5.3 Old Collateral(left) vs New Collateral (right)(8/10/23)

After I came up with the mock-ups, I went to take a self-portrait. I had taken a few initial shots and wanted to use it, but after looking at my friend's amazing self-portrait(shoutout to you Safia), I decided to retake mine. After taking the self-portrait, I started arranging the Instagram feed.

I wasn't satisfied with my mock-ups, so I went and did some visual analysis of what other cafe brands used as their mock-ups. I finally settled on a baked goods bag, a beverage cup and t-shirts.

BAKED GOODS BAG(#1)

I dissected my logo and decided to make a pattern with the flower and the dot. I also made the pattern and logos outline only because having them as solid shapes made it too distracting and strong. 

The other small package design was pretty simple. Just the flower of my logo.

Figure 5.4 Making of the pattern(15/10/23)

Figure 5.5 Pattern used(15/10/23)

Figure 5.6 Baked goods collateral(15/10/23)

BEVERAGE CUP(#2)

I had decided to make a beverage cup one of my collateral. The design would be just my key art, with the established date and service located on top and at the bottom of it. The font used in the design is MONSERRAT.

Figure 5.7 Design used(15/10/23)



Figure 5.8 Beverage cup collateral(15/10/23)

T-SHIRT(#3)

The concept of this tee was that it would be the uniform for the cafe staff. The front would be my logo with the MR while the back would be my key art. The key art would be stacked on top of one another. I used the shape builder tool to combine them together.

Figure 5.9 Pattern used (16/10/23)

Figure 5.10 T-shirt collateral (16/10/23)

SELF PORTRAIT
Not going to lie, I struggled so much with this part. I cannot take a good pic to save my life. My initial pic was not good and got rejected, so I used an old pic in my gallery. I thought it looked ok. Then at 12 am, I was watching a video on how to take portraits and had a burst of motivation. I took some masking tape and cut out flowers with them. I tied my hair into 2 pigtails and started taking pic. Shoutout to the torchlight for being my impromptu studio lights.

Figure 5.11 Main self-portrait with no word mark VS with word mark(15/10/23)

Instagram

Figure 6.1 Initial Instagram feed (10/10/23)

I was asked to rework my Instagram feed during week 6;-;. Graphic design is not my passion. After getting feedback from Sir, I went onto Pinterest to find some inspiration. I decided to follow a grided layout?? Is that what it is called.

After advance typo class on week 6, I went home, looked for more inspo and Instagram feed and finally came up with something. I initially wanted to make the tiles all interact with each other, but that then changed to some tiles interacting with each other. However, I realised that I am currently not capable of making the tiles interact while also making them look nice due to my lack of skill. So I finally just decided to make the tiles be individuals.

It took me 5 tries of uploading the content to Instagram to finally realise that making them interact wouldn't look good because of my skill issues. So, I went back to AI to do some editing to make the individual tiles. 

This time, I decided to make the diagonal tiles have the same colour to form a pattern when looking at the tiles.

Figure 6.2 Some Instagram feed grid planning I followed

Figure 6.3 Trying to make a new feed from scratch(11/10/23)

Figure 6.4 Initial Instagram layout for take 2 of the insta layout (15/10/23)

Figure 6.5 Evolution of images from left to right (15/10/23)

Figure 6.6 Instagram layout before final one (15/10/23)

Animating

I decided to use After Effects to animate my wordmark. I again went onto Pinterest to look for inspo. Initially, I had wanted to do my wordmark being drawn in or fading in, but one of my friends had already done that. So I chose something else. I finally settled for making my wordmark pop up followed by a flower spinning into the camera blocking the wordmark, creating a new canvas for the wordmark to appear.

Links to inspo:
After that, I took my key art into AE and started animating. To make the words pop up, I used the scale tool and added a keyframe where the letters of the key war were at zero scaling. After that, I added more keyframes where the letters got progressively bigger until it reached its original size. I also compressed and stretched the letters before returning them to their original size to make it seem that the letters were rubbery.

Figure 7.1 Progress for the animation(1/10/23)

Figure 7.2 Keyframes (1/10/23)

Final Work


Figure 8.1 Final Key Art Black and White (16/10/23)

Figure 8.2 Final Key Art Colour(main) (16/10/23)
Figure 8.3 Final Key Art Colour (against the darkest background) (16/10/23)
Figure 8.4 Key Art Animation (16/10/23)

Figure 8.5 Colour Pallate (16/10/23)

Figure 8.6 Baked goods bag (collateral #1)(16/10/23)

Figure 8.7 T-shirt (collateral #2)(16/10/23)

Figure 8.8 Beverage cup(collateral #3)(16/10/23)
Figure 8.9 Desktop screengrab(16/10/23)

Figure8.10 Close up of Instagram page(16/10/23)

Figure 8.11 PDF of final work (26/10/23)

Feedback 

Week 4

General Feedback: Have a specific reason why you chose that design / Have a general idea and a wide concept so that it is relatable with other people / If it doesn't look good in black and white then its not working/expand on your idea later have a general idea

Specific Feedback: The star ones are not too readable, try to work on it more especially the a / acceptable ideas, choose one and expand on it

Week 5

Specific feedback: Try to make the gaps between your words the same size so that its consistent / The curved part of the R does not match the i fix that / The gap between RiE is a bit weird even though its consistent, try to closer the gap to make it look more consistent

Week 6

General Feedback: Don't use gradient in the wordmark / Have a legible and readable brand / Have high contrast in your wordmark / Expand your wordmark, try not to slap on the logo/repetition creates a pattern, can use as expansion / Use strong colours otherwise they don't stand out / pastel shades are not suitable for branding

Specific Feedback: Yellow is too light change it to something more orange / The pattern is too noisy and chaotic / Expand more / The poster of Marie is ok can use it

Week 7

General Feedback: The self-portrait needs to be clear / don't be repetitive / connectivity is good

Specific Feedback: Stylize your self-portrait / need to redo the Instagram feed, make it bloom/rearrange the Instagram feed

Reflection

This task gave me experience in graphic design. While it did focus more on creating a logotype, creating a brand does require a lot of graphic designing skills, something that I realised I am sorely lacking in. The entire process of creating a brand identity allowed me to do a lot of self-reflection. How do I want to be perceived? What do I want to show to people? I realised that if I spent too much time thinking about these, the work would never be done. Thus, I tried to only focus on a few things that I identified or liked. For example, in the colour palate, I allowed myself to choose colour combinations that I personally liked when I had initially wanted to go for something more 'professional' looking (is that the right term). From then I could expand those colours to make the brand fit my identity more. Overall, I struggled quite a bit with this task, especially when designing the Instagram page. However, this may be due to the lack of research on my end. My only regret is that I could not make the Instagram feed look like a one-connected picture.

Though I may have struggled with this task, I realised that consistency in design is important when creating a brand identity. This could be in terms of the letterspacing of your logotype or the use of colour in your Instagram feed. Having such elements have a consistent pattern makes the brand look more cohesive. However, I realised that having some intentional inconsistency can help make the design more unique. Another thing that I have observed throughout this task, is that because there were many parts to it (i.e., the key art, expansion collateral, etc), I genuinely forgot how I had achieved some of the designs that I did. Were it not for this blog, that information would have been lost in the abyss.

Overall, this task exposed me to branding. It has taught me many valuable lessons such as considering how the design might look in different sizes and how to expand from a single design into multiple designs as well as how to create a somewhat decent Instagram feed. Overall, it gave me the basic knowledge needed to start designing a brand, with of course opportunities to improve upon in the future.

Further Reading

1. VIGENELLI CANON ON DESIGN

Figure 9.1 Vigenelli Canon on design 

Identity and Diversity 
This page of the book goes over the importance of a unique identity to ensure differentiation among brands while also highlighting that the diversity in the design should be controlled to prevent fragmentation. It stresses the importance of 1st creating a strong identity that allows the brands to play around with the exploration without losing sight of the original design. Finally, the author ends it off by using sets of furniture as an example to show how identity can be maintained while also creating a diverse set of designs.

Colour
This section of the book refers to colour as a signifier or identifier. The author highlights how colour, in the corporate world, is more often used as a symbol to convey a specific message. It highlights the importance of using limited colours to ensure a clear message is transferred to the user/consumer/viewer. Finally, the author ends it off by saying that choosing the correct colour entirely depends on the context of the usage and situation.


Figure 9.2 How to make my insta feed look cohesive

This website goes over some of this on how to make an Instagram feed look cohesive. I visited this site when I was struggling coming up with the Instagram feed. Some tips include using a grided layout, have a consistent theme/colour scheme and to ensure the images are of the same size. 


Figure 9.3 Megan Tan YouTube Vids

This video documents the process of a YouTuber and how she takes her self-portraits. It's not very descriptive, but it motivated me to get off my ass and take some pictures. My main takeaway from this video is to have good lighting, accessorize yourself for more details in the picture and to have a good reference picture. 

Comments

Post a Comment