27/05/20 - 15/07/20 (Week 7 - 14)
Azmina Fathima Haris (0337113)
Creative Brand Strategy
Project 3
INSTRUCTIONS
Project 3
This week, after finalising Project 2A, we started working on Project 3 right away, which was to execute our proposed event by creating a visual identity.
Our first task was to start developing our logo. I started working on finalising the logo based on what I had done in the previous project as part of my ideation. I came up with a few possible versions that I thought would work. Ms. Low selected two which she felt were good and appropriate for being used as a canvas for my participatory design.
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| Logo development process in Ai |
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| Logo development process in Ai |
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| Logo development process in Ai |
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| Finalised options for logo |
I decided to go with the one in the right (second row) but I still had to make a few changes to it and also add the word "walls".
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| Finalised logo |
Based on the rough sketches that I had done for Project 2A, I started working on my visuals. The style that I went with was rather different from what I normally work with and was more minimal, with more emphasis on colour.
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| Creating visuals in Ai |
Main illustrations for collateral -
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| Aspinwall House |
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| Pepper house |
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| Fishing boats |
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| Chinese fishing nets |
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| Finalised posters #2 |
Ms. Low commented that they were good but I could maybe try going with the last two as a secondary set of posters and have one poster as the main one. She also said it was a good idea that I added a QR code to the posters. I was told to fix my margins a bit and to try arranging my visuals in a different way maybe.
I also started working on the event wristbands, which would double as tickets for the individual venues as well as the identity tags for staff, artists and press.
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| Process in Ai |
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| Event wristbands |
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| ID tags - front |
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| ID tags - back |
I also tried animating my logo so that it could used later in my animation video and/or in the website. It was rather difficult but I tried doing it first using the variations I had for the logo initially. I also tried adding colour, but that didn't work out so well.
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| Logo animation - first attempt |
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| Logo animation - first attempt |
Ms. Low suggested adding more rhythm to the animation and maybe moving "off" first and then "beat".
The following week I started working on the mural/participatory design. I decided to go for something simple with only minimal details but enough space to act as the canvas for the mural.
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| Participatory design process in Ai |
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| Initial attempt - participatory design |
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| Initial attempt - participatory design |
I also started working on the sticker designs for social media. I focused on adding the cultural icons from the city to promote local culture and also fun quotes on art. There were also stickers included for the event tagline and the event details.
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| Initial attempt - social media stickers |
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| Mockup on Instagram |
Ms. Low said they were good and I should maybe 2-3 more so it would seem more like a complete set. She also said it would be great if I could try animating some in a looping animation.
I also started working on my event map for the guide, which would be in a trifold A4 brochure. I found some references for the design.
The process ended up being rather time consuming and more confusing than I thought it would be, but thankfully I found this really convenient map for For Kochi that is a
cultural mapping project that shows various cultural landmarks and event venues in the city which ended up being very helpful for me. I started marking the required locations on the map and planning it out.
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| Cultural mapping project |
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| Plotting important locations and event venues |
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| Plotting important locations and event venues |
I started working on the additional visuals I would need for the map.
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| Process in Ai |
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| Santa Cruz Basilica |
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| Ferry |
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| Delta School |
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| Cocker's Theatre |
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| Kashi Art Gallery |
Once I was done creating the visuals I started arranging them on the map and playing around with the colours. I first tried out this shade of light blue but it didn't work too well and looked inconsistent with the rest of the brand's identity.
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| Initial attempt - event map |
For next week's class I worked on the following design but again, I wasn't too sure about the colours I used or the layout for the content as it ended up being quite different from what I had planned.
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| Progress for event guide |
Ms. Low suggested that I change the colour used for the land as it seemed to blend in with the rest of the page and told me to try a lighter shade from my colour palette. The top parts of some buildings seemed to disappear with the water as well, which I didn't notice before. I made some changes and below was the finalised version of the event map –
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| Outer cover of trifold brochure |
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| Inside of brochure - event map and artists/speakers lineup |
Since I was told to come up with a few more stickers, I played around with a few more options. I also worked on the animation for the stickers and decided to make three to balance out the number.
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| Process of creating sticker in Ai |
Ms. Low commented that they looked okay but I should probably just go with the first 2 stickers ad the last one seemed kind of random.
These were the finalised stickers –
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| Finalised stickers in Instagram |
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| Finalised stickers in Instagram |
I started working on my merchandise which were a set of totebags and initially decided to have two.
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| Tote bag design process in Ai |
I wasn't too happy with how they turned out and Ms. Low suggested some alternate ways of arranging the visuals. I also created some more variations and then turned it into another set. Below are the finalised tote bags –
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| Tote bag - set #1 |
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| Tote bag - set #2 |
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| Tote bag - set #1 |
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| Tote bag - set #2 |
After finalising these applications, I started working on my social media applications, i.e the instagram feed and the postings. I started working on around 15-18 posts for the feed initially but cut down the amount as they wouldn't all be visible on the profile and ended up doing around 12 instead.
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| Initial attempt for Instagram feed |
Ms. Low commented that I need to fix the spacing a bit and also consider how I allocate the visuals and the shapes across the posts. She suggested some changes for the feed and gave me some ideas for how I could do my carousel posts –
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| Process of creating the carousel post |
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| Finalised instagram feed |
As we were nearing week 13, I began working on Instagram story ad and also on finalising my other applications that had yet to be finalised.
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| Workshop apron design |
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| Finalised participatory design |
I started working on my website UI as well, and divided the content into four main section and did it in the form of a simple microsite.
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| Finalised website UI |
I also revised my logo animation and added the words "Walls 2020" underneath it.
For my animation story I decided to incorporate the above logo animation and show some info about the event but kept it to a minimum, like a teaser videos of sorts.
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| Process of creating the animation video |
Compilation of weekly progress -
Final submission
Pre-event touchpoints
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| Instagram feed mockup |
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| Instagram carousel post |
Instagram sponsored story –
Mobile website UI -
During event touchpoints
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| ID tags - Artists |
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| ID tags - Staff |
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| ID tags - Press |
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| Event wristbands |
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| Finalised stickers in Instagram |
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| Finalised stickers in Instagram |
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| Event Guide - outside |
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| Event Guide - inside |
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| Participatory design |
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| Participatory design (close up) |
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| Workshop apron |
Post-event touchpoints
FEEDBACK
Week 8
For my variations for the logo, Ms. Low approved but asked me to decide between two variants, considering which one would work best with my event and one of my applications – which was the participatory design. I decided to go with the logo that had a bigger font width and letterforms that would perhaps be more suited as a canvas. Since I had not started working on my applications yet, I was told to work on that and also send my visuals for approval.
Week 9
Ms. Low approved of my work for the event ID tags and also the participants wristlets. As for my posters, she suggested some ways I could try arranging my visuals – which could also apply to my social media posts and we were told to finalise our poster designs for next week. With the finalised version of the logo, I was suggested to change the font weight for the word "2020" as it was not very illigible in smaller spaces. As for the animation of my logo, she said what I have for now is workable but I should try playing around more with the movement to make it look more dynamic, i.e "off" first and the word "beat" could be animated.
Week 10
Specific feedback: Ms. Low approved of my updated poster design and said that it was okay to go with just two variants. As for my participatory design, she said it looked good and I could maybe try using it as the back of a postcard invite. She also approved of Instagram stickers and said I could maybe add 3-4 more, including the event venues this time so participants can include that when visiting each venue. She also suggested adding wearable stickers.
Peer Review: My classmates said my event looked like one people would love to attend and commented that the logo looked interesting. The illustrations and typography also looked nice. They seemed to like the stickers too and commented that I should fix the type width in one piece of text for my tagline sticker as it was a little hard to read.
Week 11
Ms. Low suggested some changes to my Instagram feed; the arrangement of visuals and text could do with a bit more work and I should also keep in mind how the posts would individually appear on a user's timeline, so I should also add a logo and title for each text-only post. For the posts that only had a title (event features), I was told to create a carousel post with more info, and she also suggested a way I could arrange my visuals in them. My stickers were approved but she commented it would be nice if I could try animating some of them in a looping gif. For my tote bag and apron, I said I would try out more variations by next week so I was suggested to include my Instagram stickers here in variations of dark blue or off-white. And for next week, I was told to show a static version of the story animation of the layout.
Week 12
For this week's progress, I sent Ms. Low my slides compilation and asked for feedback online. She approved of my event guide brochure but suggested adding a colour to the "land" in the map so it can be differentiated from the legend and the other text at the bottom. She approved of my tote bag designs and selected three that I could go with. She said that my instagram feed layout looks good, better than last week and I could try working on the carousel posts if I have time. Ms. Low also commented that my stickers looked nice but maybe I should stick to just doing two instead of three (the last one's movement seemed kind of random). I was told to send in my progress for the animation story later by this weekend.
Week 13
Ms. Low said everything was looking fine so far. She suggested some changes to my animation video and said I should add some information and not just have the illustrations. She also pointed out that there seemed to be an issue with the mockup I had for my social media stickers and commented the black did like a little greenish and I should recheck the colour modes. I still had to fix the event map and she suggested some colours I could use instead.
Week 14
After the pitch this week, Ms. Low commented that everything was looking good so far and that my visual identity and design direction was in line with my brand values and the goals – she said it as good that I had the participatory design as one application as inclusiveness and participation is one of my core brand values and differentiators. However, she suggested that I could add a person to the mockup so it could be shown how the template actually works. She also said that my design direction in my pitch should be more about the values that I'm incorporating, and how they are being represented, in my case with the cultural icons.
FURTHER READING
Logos are the first visual cues for your event and is the visual that is going to stay with your audience for long. An ideal logo should reflect the values, demographics, interests and psychology of the targeted audience. These were the basic requisites for a good event logo, as explained in the article –
- The logo should be the visual summation of your event and the logo should briefly tell the audience about all the important information of your event.
- The logo should be attractive in a very obvious, yet simplistic way. Too many details can be overwhelming and hard to recall and might often end up being too distracting, which is why designers must refrain from designing a logo with too many elements – it is important to focus more on the arrangement and placement of elements within the logo than the number of elements themselves.
- The logo does not have to be in trend. In the digital age, one might think it is important to understand and follow trends but for an event it is more important to be able to stand out and not blend into the crowd.
- Make the logo social-media friendly so that it can look just as appealing on social media platforms. It would also be a good idea to check how they appear on different platforms to understand your requirements better.
- Include important dates – adding the date or year of the logo would make the logo more informative and in the case of an annual event, it can also tell the audience which edition of the event it is.
- Last but not the least, it is essential to analyse and understand the target audience that the event is catering to – it is important to understand the audience's interests, choices, and what appeals to them.
What Does it Really Mean to "Brand" a Festival?
This article looked into various brand identities created for festivals and campaigns by renown design studios. There were several points about event branding that I felt were very relevant to this module as a whole.
Who are we designing for?
Festival graphics have to tread the muddy path of appealing to everyone from the bands (and brands) the promoters want to attract, to an often very varied crowd that could include young families, old hippies, and excitable drunk teens all in one event. There’s no one solution to getting around that, but Form, a UK based design studio, advises going with instinct rather than clinical (and often unreliable) focus groups or research. It has also found “letting the images do the talking,” and taking a photographic approach for larger festival clients, to be helpful.
“Obviously the promoters need to be happy and on board with what you’re doing,” says West, the co-founder of Form. “But festivals like V, Latitude, Reading and Leeds have enormous gravitas, so it’s more about capturing the enthusiasm and excitement but also remaining respectful to the brands.
Festival branding has to be successful across such a vast range of scales—from huge stage scrims to tiny wristbands. But the most successful and honest festival branding, it seems, relies not only on type, color, logomarks and a suite of photography, but on creating a holistic identity built around more abstract and experiential concepts. In creating the Day For Night branding, design studio Work-Order says it wanted the art and music to speak for the brand, above the actual design. “It’s great when the design can help with wayfinding and help you feel like you’re there, but it can also step back and let [artists like] Philip Glass and UVA speak for your brand.
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