OUGD603 - Personal Branding Development

To begin developing the concept, it was necessary to first consider the formats in which the personal branding could be applied. This meant thinking about how my practice will develop after the course and what promotional material may be needed for the chance to gain employment. Using Behance as a source of inspiration to the materials, I found that many existing designers would create their own business card. Therefore, I decided to start by applying the concept to a business card of my own.

In order for this idea to work in an online portfolio context, I decided to add the design to a mock up that could potentially be used for online promotion. In addition to this, I had 100 physical copies of the card printed using a off-white coloured recycled paper. This would reflect some of my sustainability awareness within my practice. Using Gill Sans MT Bold for the front of the card, the viewer is shown I am a graphic designer. On the back, using Avenir Black, the card states what it is I specialise in. At the bottom, using Avenir Light, the card shows potential clients or contacts how to see work posted online and how to get in touch.

In order to design content that would work to promote my portfolio both to studios and clients, I decided to design 3 documents that could be used to handle business transactions in the near future.

Applying the personal branding identity to these documents, allows clients or potential commissioners to see the professional potential of this identity and the many ways it is applied throughout my work.

Having previously studied online examples of these documents, it became clear what I would need to include in order for contacts to understand who I am as a designer and what I would be proposing.

I started by creating an introduction letter, titled 'Who I am'. This gave viewers a brief summary of my practice, experience and references.

The next document was a proposal letter, which would be used to inform the client or commissioner of the financial information and payments, based on my hourly rate. I used the navy blue colour for the header and the light blue for the body text boxes. In the background there is a subtle pattern of the shape of the logo.

The tax invoice document contains the name of the project, the date in which it was set, reference numbers and descriptions of the service. This document was designed in the same way that the proposal letter had been, so that the two would correspond in relevance to one another and show clients they are both needed.

At this stage, I feel that these documents could be developed further so that the information included is clear and the audience are aware of the intentions of these documents.

Creating mock ups of the personal branding items, made it easier to understand how these features would look as real documents. It also provided the online promotion with more sophisticated imagery to use when trying to appeal to contacts.

OUGD602 - Personal Manifesto

I consider myself to be enthusiastic about commercially driven design, particularly when it comes to branding and identity concepts. I plan to seek a position at a design studio in the north west that focuses on sports or event branding, as I enjoy working with different format to best appropriate a consistent identity. This will benefit my practice as I believe this is where my talents and passion for graphic design lie.

Over the next 12 months, I hope to experience more as a freelancer while I seek a position as a designer in a studio. I also plan to travel to different places in Europe this summer, so that I can be inspired to try new things and gather research for more of my own personal practice. One thing that is likely to develop in my practice over the next few months is my interest in UX design, as I would like to explore functionality of digital application.

OUGD603 - Personal Branding Initial Ideas 2 (Typography & Colour)

As the concept for the project involved taking elements from previous work to use for the inspiration, I started to gather potential fonts and at different weights. This way, there would be a variety of styles throughout the identity, but also there would be a chance to apply fonts to different formats more appropriately. For example, when designing a portfolio to add online, Helvetica Bold will work best for headers, while Helvetica Light could accompany the header with smaller body text. Another font that was chosen was Avenir, as it had proved to be a stylish font in a previous brief and reflected a contemporary and sophisticated style. This was ideal for the identity, as I wanted it to be as commercially appealing as possible and to show elegance.

In terms of the colour scheme, I knew that I wanted the identity to include personal preference but also allow for the colours to work with the layouts. Therefore, I picked several shades of blue that were closely related to one another and in addition, picked shades of orange and grey that would be used as contrasting backup colours. Primarily, the personal branding identity would use 4 main colours including blue and orange, while the secondary colours were limited to grey and orange.

OUGD603 - Personal Branding - Initial Ideas (Logo design)

Having previously started a design for a website, I felt that some of these elements could be used in a more up to date version of my self branding. However, as my practice has significantly changed in its direction and types of work it would also be important to reinvent a new idea for the personal branding. This way, the identity can reflect my most recent work and who I am as a designer at this point in time.

Starting out with a personal logo design, the idea was to use a font that had been used frequently throughout other briefs and one that would be able to work both in physical promotional material, as well as online digital formats. One of my favourite fonts to use is Helvetica in Bold, as it is iconic to the commercial design sector, is found universally in various different formats and creates a bold impression on its viewer. I felt that this font would work best for updating the logo design I had initially started at the beginning of the year.

This logo shown to the left, was the original design used for the promotion of my website. However, I didn't like how the colours looked in this version.

After revisiting the idea again, I started by dividing the letter 'A'. This was used to reflect the first letter of my name and to add personality to the logo. Focusing on the counter space and open counter space at the bottom of the letter, the finalised logo used a more subtle light blue that could be used on a white background. I found this version to be more appealing as it had less contrasting colours and could be used in a variety of ways. Choosing to focus of the counter space within the letter, gave the viewer a vague idea of what the letter was, and therefore became more subtle.

In addition to the logo design, I decided to experiment by combining elements of a previous brief. This was the personal typographic logo brief, which was created with the intention of adding personal touch to my emails. However, after further thought on the idea it was decided that the signature would act as a logo type design.

OUGD602 - Uniform Agency Reference

After working with Neil Sheakey for a week at Uniform studios, I contacted him again recently to get a reference from my time working there.

OUGD603 - Personal Branding - Visual research

 

Before the design stage for the personal branding could begin, it was important to first understand what inspirations could be taken and used for the style of the identity and the way in which to lay it out. During my time working with Uniform agency, I was given insight into the portfolios that agencies look for when applying at graduate level. I was shown examples of the graphic designers' websites and their own work, including the ways in which they layout their projects. I think this was a great way to tailor my own portfolio online and create it in a way that would appeal to studios of this type.

Another way that I was able to find inspiration was through Behance, as it provided several examples of existing online portfolios and personal branding projects. Studying the ways that designers layout the concept and explain it, made it easier for me to design a layout of my own that would eventually be useful for an online portfolio. Looking at how existing studios used certain typeface choices and colour schemes made me think about the sorts of fonts and colours found in my own work. As they would use them to reflect the type of business they are, in the same way I could include frequently used fonts and colours as a way to reflect my practice.

By also looking at the websites of the studios I am interested in, I can get a feel for how they prefer to present their own work. This might as a result, give me an advantage when it comes to applying for positions at these studios or similar places, as they will likely take interest in the projects similar to their own. One website I found particularly useful was Fifteen Studio in Liverpool, as this was one of researched agencies that I had considered applying for after graduation.

OUGD603 - Quickfire: Logo and Website Homepage - Evaluation

After finishing this brief, I felt that I had designed something that could potentially be used for inspiration of another project in the near future. As I enjoy designing commercially driven projects, with public audiences in mind, this project was ideal for my portfolio and my practice. Similarly to the signature brief found on BriefBox, this brief was limiting in its time frame and made the design process more demanding as a result. I think that the overall aim of this was to improve my ability to work quickly and under a time constraint, as I would be required to design quickly if I were working as a freelance designer or at a design agency.

One thing that I particularly found useful from this brief, was the visual research before the design process began. Seeing other interpretations of a challenge such as this gave me the chance to consider how other people might interpret a design. This then led me to consider the audience the project might be designing for, and how contemporary graphic design would play a part in communicating key ideas in an appropriate manner. As a result, I can now add another logo/website brief to my portfolio and refer back to the concept, as well as the process in the future.