Context

Formally known as the DMT-DRSG (Dog Meat Trade Dachshund Rescue & Support Group, The Long Road Foundation is a Scottish-based charity who rescue dachshunds from kill shelters in South Korea and China, bringing them to the UK to be adopted. They wish to re-position themselves to appeal to more donors and need a new identity which will resonate with their current supporters and new corporate and high-net value donors.

Restated brief

Aim of the project

The aim of the project is to create a fresh, new brand image to broaden the network of donors whilst maintaining the relationship with current trustees. The clients want a brand manual to communicate their values, showing urgency but not guilt. The range of deliverables will give the charity an approachable and profound feel.

Objectives

To take the next step to appeal to a wider range of supporters
Very important to not isolate current supporters and keep the human and dog element to the brand at the forefront
Communicate their promise to transport the dachshunds ‘from harm to home’
Create a sense of urgency to communicate opportunity instead of guilt
Enforce a sense of calm but in a firm way by using colour psychology
Their creative vision is: Directional. Grounded. Enduring. Human
Needs to be durable and visuals need to reflect passage and continuity
A quieter brand which does not need to shout

Deliverables

A design toolkit including:

Logo (static and maybe dynamic)
Colour palette
Typography
Illustrative elements
Usage rules
Examples for different applications (social media, printed mater, merch, event materials)

Roles and responsibilities

Designers: Designing all deliverables, taking on the client’s feedback and refining accordingly, creating a cohesive set of deliverables, work within agreed time frames

Mya: Keeping in contact with project supervisor

Jemima: Keeping In contact with client.

Client: Work within agreed time frames, provide feedback at each phase of the project

Qualities of deliverables

Deliverables in detail:

Focusing on human-to-human connection and the space between harm and home
Create a sense of urgency to communicate opportunity instead of guilt
Enforce a sense of calm but in a firm way by using colour psychology
Presenting a range of different approaches such as illustrative, typographic and iconographic

Notes from initial client meeting:

The core idea is that the brand is the journey, expressed as the space between harm and home
The tagline: “from harm to home” is a direction of travel, not a slogan
Our Promise to Dachshunds. If you are in harm and we can reach you, we will come. And we will bring you safely home
Emotional Posture: When harm is present, inaction is still a decision. The path can stop or continue. We choose to carry it forward
Tone and Character: Directional, grounded, enduring, and human. Calm, credible, and built for distance

Research

Right from the beginning the clients provided a clear vision of what they wanted the brand to be, with a clear backstory presented, vision for the future regarding visuals and tone of voice, and 5 separate sets of image references to work with as a base. These were colourful, playful illustrations and visual styles which had quite a retro feel.

The 5 concepts they presented to us included: human-to-dog connection, the space between harm and home, roads and roads with dachshunds. We created mood boards ourselves and found that our ideas aligned with the clients.

Stakeholders

Regarding the stakeholders of the charity, their donors are currently regular people who donate and adopt, and with this rebrand they want to appeal to higher net-worth stakeholders. This means that they want a brand which would appeal to a more serious audience, which is why they have identified quite simplistic illustration styles and general imagery which we continued to develop in the design phase.

Comparators

When conducting research, we found that most of the animal or dog charities we looked at utilised animal imagery within their logos, normally explicit illustrations (figure 1).

The common themes found in these brands were block colours, bright and energetic colour palettes, simple imagery and illustrations of dogs within the logos. The typography appears to often be sans-serif, taking on a more modern feel to appeal to a wide range of stakeholders. It is clear that despite the normally sad backgrounds of the charities, almost all of them presented a positive demeanour and shifted focus onto happier animal imagery and illustrations.

Figure 1: The Long Road Foundation comparators (other dog/animal charities)

Moodboards

The mood boards we created worked off the initial ones we were provided, leaning into more playful imagery and illustration styles which are less constructed, and more flowing (figure 2). For the illustration styles, we liked block colours with overlayed thin lined, or textured illustrations which felt more tangible and human. We also began to look at typography, and how type could become the logo itself, such as through the ‘paws’ image.

Figure 2: The Long Road Foundation moodboard

Challenges

We faced challenges during research when we presented our research/initial ideas. Feedback claimed our ideas were too playful and we should lean to something more corporate in order to reach the high net-worth clients. However, we felt as though this contradicted the initial mood board we received. They wanted to suggest movement and the road, as well as dachshunds, whilst representing the space between harm and home, the human-to-dog connection, and symbolising home. This felt like a lot to consider, which meant that we had a a great deal of ideation to complete before reaching the right result.

Initial Logo sketches

Our initial sketches explored typography and illustration concepts (figure 3). We had logotype reminiscent of road illustrations, portraying long continuous roads which end with the foundation. We also had a logotype using the letters ‘LRF’ which represents the long road to safety and dachshunds in one, and spiral dog also represents the long journey to safety.

Our illustration sketches consisted of emblems representing dachshunds, road logotype for journey, paw prints representing harm-to-home and imagery of dachshunds in different forms.

Logo refinement

Concept 1

For the first set of designs, we explored long, winding illustrations of dachshund dogs, to represent the ‘long road’ (figure 4–5). We also experimented with colour and gradient, looking at a red/warm toned dog to represent harm, and a blue/cool toned arm to represent being safe at home (figure 5). Our first set of concepts did not the use of type, as we wanted to focus on the illustration aspect of the logo at this stage, but we still loosely explored typography (figure 6).

Figure 5: Initial digital illustrator logos

Figure 6: Initial selection of typography

The feedback we received from these concepts were that they were too ‘playful’, but the colour psychology was thoughtful. The client also wanted us to be more conceptual and less literal, with a less cartoonish style. We were advised to illustrate with shaper rather than softer lines. We were also suggested to try a more muted, refined colour palette whilst still retaining the existing colour logic.

Concept 2

Our second set of concepts stripped back the playful, cartoonish style and explored a more geometric, conceptual approach (figure 7). We developed the dog head in hands concept with round shapes, geometric triangular shapes and a more delicate style with accurate features. We also started to incorporate typography, looking at circular typography and type under the illustration. There was also another head in hand concept we developed by muting the bright colours and looking at illustration styles.

From feedback for these concepts, the clients explained that these were now a little too clinical with just a navy and black colour palette. On a positive note, this helped the client clarify where they would like to go in terms of playfulness and simplicity. We were advised to develop the head in hand lined drawing but not to be “overly playful or cutesy”. With the colour palette, the navy blue was too ‘vet-like’ so we should revisit the pink, orange and yellow pastel hues.

Concept 3

For our next set of concepts, we created a few variations of the line drawing, using a single line to communicate the continuous road and connection between the dog and their new home (figure 8). Steering away from the head in hands concept as this was too similar to another charity. So, we looked at the dog walking on a ‘long road’ and a line illustration with a pastel threshold background which takes form as a subtle abstract gradient shape.

Feedback from this concept was to include a house drawing to represent the dog coming home. The dog also needs to have dachshund features, as this charity only focuses on this breed of dog.

Concept 4

For our most updated concept designs, we developed a singular line drawing of a dog (figure 9). Looking at different backgrounds and different ways to illustrate the roof of a home, developing the house overhang in the line illustration. The typography and spacing have been made more purposeful, allowing more breathing room. The addition of the dog’s foot was to imply the dog walking, pushing the concept of the ‘long road’. We continued to develop the pastel colour palette of blue and yellow to represent hope and calmness. There are minimal adjustments to be done before the logo is finalised (figure 10).

Figure 9: Final round of logo concepts before refinement

Figure 10: Logo to be refined further

Continuation

To finalise this real job, we plan on creating a set of brand guidelines for the client which will include the logo, colour palette, typography, illustrative elements, and usage rules.

We will also create templates for different applications such as social media posts and content.

Reflection

This project has been an interesting challenge due to the feedback we received requiring us to begin ideation again with completely new ideas after each round of concept development. It has been rewarding in that the initial brief served as an interesting challenge, and all the rounds of ideation has led us to a logo, which we believe reflects the values of the brand and all the elements the client wanted.

If we were to do this project again, we would make sure that our communication is effective and ensure that we are meeting our timeline, as we struggled to stay on schedule due to the number of ideation rounds and the time taken to receive feedback and implement it.

This project relied heavily on collaboration and being able to share ideas and develop each others illustrations and concepts, in doing this we were able to work effectively with each new design challenge, assigning work based off our strengths. We are excited to continue this project, developing the brand guidelines and social media further to a well-rounded identity which resonates with the donors, volunteers and anyone who wants to connect with The Long Road Foundation.

Design ideas and design process

I have always found illustrator to be one of the areas of design that is most difficult. This is not only because I find the tools quite complicated to use sometimes, but also because I am not very confident in my drawing skills. This is why I want to focus more on my illustrator task and talk about how I have been able to improve my skills over this task.

Design 1

Figure 1: My original final first design, balloon inspired

When beginning this task, my original approach was to use the inflate tool to create a metallic balloon like logo (figure 1). Which I ultimately ended up scrapping because I could not figure out how to not have the effect be pixelated. This was a positive though as I then took a step back and made the design less complicated, I took a more vintage style approach to the design through the extreme curves and the smooth style of the typeface.

First of all, I found an appropriate balloon-like font on adobe fonts, which was Ziclets, and selected the type tool to place my initials onto the page. I then used this tutorial to outline the letters to make them editable (figure 2), this brings up anchor points which we will use to extent the letters. Afterwards this tutorial helped me figure out how to use the pencil tool to alter my type. This was done through selecting the pencil tool, clicking on the anchor point where I wanted to start the extension and then dragging it to the anchor point to where it should end (figure 3). I lowered the F down slightly so there was space on the right side of the J at the top and at the bottom of the F. Consequently, I used the pencil tool again to extend the ends of each letter so they are slightly wrapped around each other, and to make it more aesthetically pleasing I changed the colour to green, duplicated the layer and changed the colour to a lighter green on top to make a shadow effect (figure 4).

Figure 2: Outlined text to make letters editable

Figure 3: Extended letters using pencil tool

Figure 4: Final first design

Design 2

Figure 5: Highlighted grid and pathfinder tool used to connect boxes

For the second design, I followed this tutorial on making an initial logo using a grid and the pathfinder tool. I first drew a vertical line on the page, used the option key (⌥) and dragged to the right, then I pressed command ⌘ and D to duplicate the line across the page. I highlighted the lines used the option key (⌥) and dragged again, rotating until it made a diamond pattern, making sure that it is not rotated too far that the logo will appear too slanted in the end. Afterwards, I selected the pathfinder tool, and dragged across the boxes I wanted to use to make my letters (figure 5), adjusting the letterform and extending the grid wherever I need to (figure 6). Finally, I selected the extra lines outside of the filled boxes and deleted them leaving the logo, and to separate the letters, I found the line dividing the letters and changes the fill colour on each side to different colours.

Figure 7: Final second design

The software tutorials were the most important part here because I would not have known that using the pathfinder tool on a grid was a technique that I could use. The inspiration behind this design was sports logos, specifically adidas and the way that the logo is slanted towards one side which can be seen here, which is what I wanted to imitate in my design. I am not sure why I assumed that logos like this were done without a grid, but it makes much more sense after watching the tutorial. The final design is shown above (figure 7).

Design 3

For my final design, which is the one I feel is most effective, I went for a traditional calligraphic style logo where the serifs were altered and connected. Firstly I looked at my original sketches and found the one that I thought would be interesting to execute on illustrator.

We start off with the letters being placed on the page, and here I used the typeface Rizado Script. Next, the text needed to be outlined which was done the same way it was in the first design, this is by selecting the text and right-clicking to bring up the menu, then selecting create outlines to make the text editable (figure 8). I then connected lines using the pen tool (figure 9), and used other letters from the typeface, applying the rubber tool to create the parts which I would employ to help connect the lines and the serifs together to make a fluid logo. I had not thought to use other aspects of other letters to enhance my logo if it were not for this tutorial which explains how you can use that technique as a feature of the design. As a result of this, I inserted the letter O into the file and used the curves from half of an O to falsify having looped serifs (figure 10 & 11).

Figure 9: Pencil tool to connect letters

Figure 10: Connecting extension to create new shape

Figure 11: Using character O to create new serif

The linked tutorial above really helped me for this logo, it also covers parts of illustrator which was provided through multiple links on the brief just in one video. Going into this task I thought that I would be using the pen tool for everything because that is what I have always done. I surprised myself though, specifically in this final design as pretty much only used tools which I did not know existed before I started this task. The final design is shown below (figure 12).

Figure 12: Final overall design

Software tutorials

Most of the tutorials I used were ones that I found on my own through YouTube, I did review the tutorials that were recommended on the brief, but I found that lots of the YouTube tutorials covered lots of the same things. I was able to find out about approaches that I had not considered before through video tutorials, such as using a grid and connecting the sections together to fill them.

Although some of the software tutorials such as the bubble text tutorial were just consolidating skills I already had, the ones that had completely new tools I feel have increased my confidence in Illustrator by a considerable amount. The tutorials I used for my task are linked in the walkthrough for each design.

I definitely still feel like there are more skills that I need to learn and develop on this software, like most people would as software is constantly changing and developing. Something specific which I would like to learn further is using the pen tool, as although I used it extensively in this task, it took me quite a lot of time to get used to it and make my work smooth and even. There are still gaps in my knowledge which I can improve by finding more tutorials.

Design resources and articles

The first thing I did after reading he brief was create a Pinterest board and started adding logos which I found to be effective and aesthetically pleasing (figure 16). I personally like Pinterest as it shows me what is trending in my own age range.

I also did what most people probably did for this task, which was just search up ‘initial logos’ to see what comes up. Through this I managed to find some images which were useful displaying different letterforms and styles, like (figure 17). Additionally, I browsed this website which includes different logos for a range of companies, which was one of the things that I think most people would think of when they hear the word logo. I liked these ones specifically because it just shows a list of a wide range of logos from clean sharp lines to elaborate, intense designs.

Learning throughout the module

Despite my scepticism in this module being self-directed, it has allowed me to work at my own pace and solidify my knowledge in software that I (naively) thought I knew well.

I began with previous knowledge of a few pieces of software, that being Photoshop and Illustrator, but through this module I have been able to learn about InDesign and After Effects which I did not know existed! Finding out about, and learning how to use these new software’s has been what I believe to be the most important part of my year. I now know the purpose for each of these individual software’s and what part of design they are mainly used in. Such as Illustrator being for logo design and InDesign for setting out any text.

Skills that I have improved while doing this module include cutting out hair in photoshop, especially curly hair which I found to be very challenging, but most importantly I have been able to improve my time management skills. Although last term my time management skills were not too bad, I definitely improved this skill during this half of the module. I was completing each task on a set day every week which has been a highlight for me because it has relieved some stress.

Rebranding The Long Road Foundation