OUGD602 - Job Title task

Imagined job titles of dream jobs
Chief graphic designer
Senior graphics overseer
Senior project overseer
Art director
President of (studio)
Visual branding campaigner
Branding campaign manager

Visual branding executive
- Filthy Illustrator of branding

OUGD603 - Sports Rebranding - Evaluation

Exploring a project that focused on rebranding a sports team's identity provided me with further knowledge of identity campaigns. Starting out with research into the history and heritage of Fulham FC, the logo rebranding was made easier by the back story of the club and the reasons for its past logo identities. Research into the teams inspirations and football ground architecture, influenced the decisions of the logo design during the early stages of the project.

Having created a new logo and explored some of the existing uses of football identity, I was able to list a number of uses for the newly designed emblem. This included its uses for social media, physical printed application, mobile uses and other public promotions. Each of these avenues then allowed me to delve deeper into the possibilities and appropriations of the logo. For example, when creating the Instagram posts it was beneficial to take inspiration from other premier league team and to focus on the content patterns of their public accounts. The result of this was a set of Instagram posts that varied in their intentions but all encouraged discussion and support among the followers and fans of Fulham FC.

I felt that creating this identity for a team like Fulham FC was appropriate to their current position in the Premier League, as the current identity had existed since 2001 and lacked influence from the clubs history as well as the contemporary design trends of today's teams. It also became clearer that an identity rebranding project like this would work well for Fulham as they had recently struggled financially and were placed in the relegation zone of the league. Therefore, applying and implementing a new identity could help to give the team a boost in support as well as international appeal. As a result of this, the promotional material and advertising would help to bring more money to the team in its time of need.

One thing that I had learnt from this project was the possibilities and variety of options when it comes to a promotional campaign. As there were many different ways to promote a new identity, it was clear that the more variations I made the better the project would communicate its intentions. Overall, I feel that there are many lessons that had been learnt from a project such as this that will benefit  similar branding project in the future.

OUGD603 - Sports Rebranding - Digital Application

In addition to the mock up designs for Fulham FC's identity rebrand, I decided to take the project a step further and apply the designs to different scenarios. This includes online promotion of the new logo, Instagram posts and product advertising.

The first of these mock ups started with the mobile friendly promotions, starting with a reimagined logo for the Fulham FC app and several Instagram posts.

The Instagram posts would focus primarily on the achievement of the players in recent games. As with many other football club's social media platforms, this was one way that was found to attract fans attention after a recent game and would be a good place for discussion between fans. Therefore, introducing the new logo identity into these posts, would eventually give the club more recognition among the fans online.

The first post would show fans the man of the match, which would then give audiences the option to comment on the post and share thought on the recent performance. This type of post had also been found among other football teams Instagram accounts, making it a suitable approach for the identity to use.

Similar to the last post, recreating promotions for certain players had also been found in several football accounts. Titling this post "Mitro's on fire" referred to the chants known to the fans, based on striker Aleksander Mitrovic and his recent performance at Fulham.

I think a post such as this would resonate well with followers, because on one side it shows Mitrovic's celebration and on the other the support of the fans. Images like these are examples of how the club shows appreciation for its audience and their passion for the sport.

Like most sports team accounts, many often feature posts that promote the products sold in the online stores and at the grounds. Taking this previous design and tweaking it to promote the 2018/19 away kit would give fans and followers links to the products.

Instagram had recently introduced a labelling option for online sellers, making the post more relevant to its audience, as they could tap the image to quickly see the product price tag.

After researching several premier league team's Instagram accounts, it was clear that the majority of their posts were made up of images from recent games. In particular, these accounts would post images of the players who either scored in the game or had prominent coverage for their performance. In the same way, I edited this image of André Schürrle based on his coverage after scoring.

Once the digital application had been explored, I started to think about the physical placement of the advertising in public. To understand the best way to do this, I began by researching the area around Craven Cottage and where the fans would be likely to see advertising in person. As the grounds are based on the edge of the river Thames, one idea would involve advertising near this waterfront so that passers-by would notice these.

Creating a bus stop ad was also appropriate to the project because many of the fans would use the same bus stop to get to the game each week. Therefore, placing these ads at bus stops that are frequently used would help to push the promotion of the products and the new identity.

 Rebranding the stadium store front also allows tourists and fans alike to notice the rebranded identity upon entering the shop.

OUGD603 - Sports Rebranding - Tickets

For the printed material I designed this template for a match ticket, which features the Fulham FC sponsors across the top, match information in the middle and subtle hints of the logo design in the background. 

For this mock up I used the Ticketing font in bold letters, as this gave the ticket more authenticity in its visual form. As a result of this mock up it was possible to create material that would be studied in a physical format by the fans, further increasing the appropriation of the logos uses.

To get to this point in the application process, I deconstructed the logo design and tried combining elements to make patterns. This could then be applied to different versions of the ticket design. Applying a gradient to these designs was the alternative option to the patterns, as it allowed the text to better stand out.

Final design 

After trying different styles of gradient design for the ticket, eventually the final design mixed elements of the initial proposed layout with the pattern variations. The end result would use the same red gradient with a subtle stamp on the right of the layout.

OUGD603 - Sports Rebranding - Application

Once the 3 designs had been critiqued by others, I found that the most appealing logo was the same as the one I had chosen. This meant that the application process could then begin using the same design. For this I would be applying the logo to different promotional material and online branding, in an attempt to replicate the club's professional existing identity. This would include the design for the tickets, football kits, seating within the stadium, uniforms and online material etc.

I began the application process by first adding the logo to a mock up football jersey material. This would give the identity a clear visual example of how it might look on both the home and away shirts, as well as the black shorts. Applying the design in this way also made me think about the visual approach of the promotion and how it could later be used in advertising.

By applying the design to different aspects of the club's existing identity, it was possible to see how well the logo worked. This also made me think about how the audience would see the logo, depending on where it could be found. For example, this mockup was made as a way to introduce the logo to the players as they arrive on the pitch, which would as a result lift the spirit of the team.

Following on from the last mock up, I thought about how the identity could be incorporated into the location of the club. My first idea was to show the logo across the roof of Craven Cottage or the roof of the stands. However, this would have drawn attention away from the iconic history of the club and the ground architecture.  Therefore, I instead decided to create a mock up of the seating arrangements within the stands, applying the logo to the backrests of each seat.

OUGD603 - Group Critique on Research Led brief

Today's group critique allowed me the chance to get feedback on the research led investigation brief and the practical outcome produced so far. It was found that the layout could be improved so that the text is smaller on the publication when printed. It was also suggested that the material be better considered as this will improve the quality of the publication.

Therefore, I decided I would order the publication to be printed using a lower paper weight and recyclable paper, as this would put the publication into context as being environmentally aware as well as useful as a guide.

OUGD603 - Sports Rebranding - Developed Logo

After deciding on the content for the logo, the colour palette and the contemporary style to use I began making several different variations of the design. By changing small details and comparing styles during this development stage, it was easier to see which logos were most stand out. When designing each logo, it was evident that the black and white allowed the red to contrast in a striking way. When taking the thick black outline away the design became more minimal, allowing just two colours to contrast one another. This reminded me of the simple football logo designs of the early 1900s.

As a result of this fine tuning, the decision of the final logo could be narrowed down to just 3 final designs.

• The logo to the left was chosen for its subtle border, which gave the inner red shield a focus point in the design. By keeping the shield outline thin, the triangular shape in the centre and coat of arms are then more striking in contrast. 
• The centre logo made the design more encased, as the thickness would draw attention from the outer text to the inner icons. Having a black/red/black layering in this logo made each section contrast the next.
• The logo to the right was a compromise between the previous two, adding features of each in order to mix styles.

Finalised design

Out of all the designs I liked this version the most, based on it's colour layering and variation of stroke width. This made the icons within the design easier on the eye and the text more legible in contrast. As a result, I feel that this design encapsulates the historical background of Fulham F.C. and the familiar colours as well as architecture in Craven Cottage. Overall, this design is most likely to appeal most to fans and resonate most with those that are familiar with the ground or the team's back story.