Background

Hampshire RFU covers 32 rugby clubs in Hampshire with different membership types, e.g. paid members club, representative rugby, 7’s teams, women’s rugby, a LGBT+ team as well as a large number of volunteers and coaches that look towards Hampshire RFU. The RFU want to move away from their current branding in order to communicate a modern and inclusive rebrand that differentiates themselves from the RFU governing body.

The main issue that Hampshire Rugby Football Union was facing was that users struggling to identify which part of their website housed certain pieces of information, as well as which part related to them directly. Furthermore,  it was easy to mistake the RFU for an individual club or  with the RFU governing body as a whole. The task was to fix their inconsistent branding to suit the new younger demographic and the users that would come along with it such as parents or volunteers, as well as make their online platforms easier for users to navigate and find the information they need.
In order that we could best target the younger demographic, clearer communication on various social media platforms needed to be addressed.

The following deliverables will help create solutions to their current problems :

• A list of user personas, in particular a volunteer as the club needs them to run. A parent may be useful as if you are unfamiliar with the sport it may be confusing that HRFU isn’t an individual club it houses around 40 cubs which you can be directed to from HRFU’s website.    
• A new website on sports focused CMS pitchero
• New branding including:
  – A new or refreshed logo, colour palette and typography that modernises the club but keeps long standing members satisfied and resonates with fans and sponsors.
  – A brand that can be easily reproduced and worked across their sub brands such as their referee site or their coaching and volunteering guides.
  – A set of brand guidelines that can be easily followed by non-graphic designers and future designers for both web and print.
  – A new social media and communications template and style guide
  – Letterheads for print, email signatures and social media footers

Deliverables

Our deliverables included a logo refresh, a brand application proposal with brand guidelines, visual design of a Pitchero account, and lastly a presentation pitch to the HRFU board to assess which of our ideas they wanted to implement.

Initial steps

The very first stage of the project was to contact our client in order to organise a call and fill out our initial client meeting document. We also contacted our supervisor so we could go through the information gathered at this meeting, and really understand the user needs, so we could successfully restate the brief. We began researching the other clubs, as well as the pitchero platform at an early stage. After our initial meeting with the client, we also organised a weekly meeting to catchup and feedback on our developments, as well as keeping an open line of communication via email. Frequent conversations were vital in the quick and efficient progression of the project.

User personas

Not only are user personas one of the requested deliverables for the project, they are an important part of the research process for a branding project. The process began in our initial discussion with out client, where we could brainstorm the audience types which would most regularly use, and benefit from the brand refresh. We collectively came to the conclusion that the people we needed to target were the RFU chairman,  a parent of a child playing in one of the clubs within the RFU, as well as volunteers, or potential volunteers. Once we were happy with the personas, we began developing these personas into characters, so we could target their needs and therefore inform our design with realism. A focus on the user needs meant we could create a ‘question/answer’ approach to the project. We in that way had a ‘response’ and acted on each of our users needs.

These elements were then able to be developed into a professional looking graphic that we could present as part of our deliverables to the client. Furthermore, we now had much more information so we could focus on the nuances and details that would be desired by our user, and deliver in the rest of our design work,.

Branding process (logo and other deliverables)

We started by making some sketches and brainstorming some ideas together, taking some ideas from our initial client meeting form, as well as any additional information our client gave us regarding their branding. From here, we individually began developing some digitized sketches, which we felt had some scope of development, with initial ideas starting out quite broad and abstract, such as those pictured below.

From here, we further developed our concepts. Our client suggested that the examples on the left were too detailed, and that although they were unique icons, they likely wouldn’t work as well at a range of sizes due to the level of detail. Furthermore, the client stated that they preferred that we include a crown of some sort in our logo, as they did in their previous logo. Our client did however enjoy the way we both managed to incorporate the Tudor Rose of their old logo. On this iteration, we focused on creating a simplified version of their own logo, for a fresh take on their current logo.

The client really enjoyed this approach and suggested that they most enjoyed the idea with the crown on top of the rose, with text to the right of the logo. From here, I experimented with drawing a range of different roses, with different colour emphasis, as well as different crowns with varying levels of detail. I also began to look into the typeface I could use for the accompanying text to the logo.

From here, the client was able to choose the feel of typeface they felt was right to represent their brand in a modern way, without losing the historic nature of the HRFU. They also gave us some feedback as to which icon variants they preferred.

Out of the typefaces presented to them, the client suggested that they would prefer a clean, ‘swiss style’ typeface. From here, we presented them with a range of typefaces that fit their needs, to see if any of them were suitable to be the typeface we used for the logo. Out of this selection, they chose the typeface ‘Roboto’.

Now the typeface was chosen, the icon could be balanced and placed alongside the typeface, to create an ‘extended’ version of the logo, as well as a singular icon. We consulted Sara for a meeting at this point, to get her advice, particularly when it came to striking the right balance of line weight and shade in the logo itself. At this point, we also looked into colour, deciding on using (as is tradition) the colour palette of the RFU as it already exists.

From here, the logo was refined, particularly focusing on the details of the icon, and redrawing it where necessary. The finalised logo is pictured below.

From this point onwards, the logo can be applied in a variety of different ways, including on shirts, letterheads, website branding, or any other deliverables needed. Some examples of how the new logo could now be applied are below.

Social media

In addition to applying the logo and brand colours to social media, we were tasked with creating additional elements for their platforms, across LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. This elements focused in on the needs of our previously created user personas, and meant that the brand was not only applied consistently across platforms, but it fulfilled its purpose more effectively than their previous platforms. We produced icons for their Instagram stories, so all elements of information were easily available, and directly answered the concerns of our personas by making the information needed by users accessible at a glance. Tiles such as the match day tiles above were designed in order to help users see the outcomes of matches without having to ‘dig’ for the information. Each tile was designed to work individually, as well as a set, so they looked appealing and eye catching at the profile view, as well as when users come across them whilst on their feed. The features of each platform were explored, as well as the potential uses for them, in order to reach a wide audience, and to provide a convenient location for club members and patrons to find the information they need. In order to educate our client on how they can best apply the branding, as well as use their social media in the future, we created a more specific social media guide for the client. In addition to this, we made the client Powerpoint templates as requested to make their social media posts on, to ensure that the client could replicate our design with basic office software.

Pitchero website design 

The clients were keen for us to use the sports focused CMS Pitchero platform, which can easily be edited in the future by non designers. This was particularly important to our specific client as they are a charity who release on volunteers. Prior to having access to the CMS we examined the current site and found various problems with navigation as there is so much information to find and poorly designed archives of news, latest updates and fixtures. We struggled to find how the user persona we created could differentiate between the HRF Union and the various clubs within the umbrella of the union. Putting ourselves ‘into the shoes’ of an aspiring volunteer, we found it difficult to find any vacancies or advice about how to apply for volunteering, as well as what information or checks were required to be involved. There is so much information on the current website, and lots of it is essential to include, but it is laid out in a way which is very overwhelming.  We therefore decided to focus our efforts on creating a new hierarchy to target the needs of our created user personas more directly.

This encouraged me to make a far less cluttered website, but also to take advantage of Pitchero’s carousel function which would showcase our choice of topic. We felt it was important for the average user to have updates and news at the forefront of the site so they feature on the carousel on the landing page.

After accessing the CMS we initially found difficulty with their restrictive on the homepages top bar tabs, in turn meaning we had to keep the “information” tabs contents extremely organised. Therefore, the site would be less cluttered and wouldn’t overload the user with options, meaning navigation throughout the site was much easier.

Presentation to the board 

We were given the opportunity by Mark to give a presentation to the HRFU board due to COVID-19, we had to present our work entirely over zoom. We presented our user personas which were well received and then explained our design process over the past 5 months. Starting with logos and branding, an important area to please the older generation on the board, and moving through to Rowans social media guidelines and the benefits of the new design decisions and later onto the pitchero and physical deliverables. After the presentation we asked the board for any question or suggestions and were very glad to see the design was well received by all. A board member asked whether we could include email signatures in our deliverable handover,  which we took on board and have now added to our deliverables.

We were most pleased when Mark followed up our meeting with an email response “Whilst I was expecting this outcome I’m still in slight shock that everyone on the board was 100% behind what you have suggested. “ . Thow we would have preferred to give the presentation face to face we couldn’t be more pleased with Marks reply and felt our efforts were greatly appreciated by the board.  

Key takeaways

This project was a great learning experience for both of us, with a wide range of deliverables, and diversity in the number of skills we had to show as a team. As a two person team from two different year groups, Ro (Year 3) and Jemima (Year 2) had varying ranges of experiences with real jobs and clients, and both learnt a huge amount through working together.

We believe that we split the workload fairly evenly, dependent on our existing skills, however we each discussed the progress of our research and designs regularly, to ensure that we were progressing well, as well as to offer advice and feedback. As a result of our different experiences we took a lot of time to brainstorm together, as well as reaching out to our supervisor Sara, in addition to the real job meetings for objective feedback. The opportunity for our year groups to mix in this way is very much a reflection on future design employment, and we believe that this helped us grow and develop as designers, both individually and as part of a team.

Furthermore, despite this job running a little bit longer than we initially planned, we believe that we handled the workload well. The deliverables, and number of things the client wanted us to deliver did seem to increase somewhat, and we quickly realised we would have to put a lot of accessibility elements in for our clients, such as templates, guides and icons, to make the implementation of our ideas easier. However, the client took this in stride, and due to our consistent communication, an extension to our initial deadline was agreed upon. One of the most significant hurdles in our process was our conflicting schedules of lectures and other deadlines, limiting the times in which we could work on the project together. The periods of closure at the University due to COVID, also meant that most of our meetings had to be remote. Despite these issues, we believe that we have delivered a successful project to our client, as well as learnt a lot about organising our schedules so we could both stay on track. We are very pleased with the comments that we have received from our supervisor, as well as the client, and grateful for the opportunity to work with Sam and Mark.

We both learned more specific skills whilst working on this job. With it being Jemima’s first job, she got an insight into how real jobs function, the organisation and level of communication required with the client, as well as becoming particularly proficient on the platform Pitchero. As a third year student, Ro further developed her skills on Adobe Illustrator, as well as drawing from her experiences on a chosen optional module, the Branding Project. The knowledge she developed from this project helped her approach this project in a methodical way which addressed the needs of the user effectively. 

To conclude, in the future, we may have benefitted from a more diverse initial exploration of ideas for our logo. This may have made our design more ambitious, and unique from their previous logo. Furthermore, more exploration into the successful social media platforms and their branding could have made each element fit together most efficiently, as well as being more visually interesting. We had a great experience on this project, and it was valuable to our development in the design world.

Quote from supervisor, Sara Chapman
‘Well done! Very professional. : ) S’ – Comment regarding presentation to the HRFU board

Quote from us – Jemima Hughes
‘Since seeing this real job advertised, I had been particularly keen on the user experience design aspect of the project and was delighted when I was taken on for this opportunity. I feel very lucky to have had Rowan to help me learn the ropes of the Real Jobs module as this is my first real job. Additionally, we were very lucky to have the constant guidance of Sam Winslet from IBM and to top it off the perfect client, Mark who has always been enthusiastic towards our designs and easily contactable and I’m very grateful for the time and opportunity Sam and Mark have given me.
Working as a pair is something I have really enjoyed and feel we bounced off each other well. I can look back at my initial logo designs and see how much my design skills have developed, mostly due to my guidance from my more experienced partner who encouraged a simpler and in turn more effective design. I have also most enjoyed exploring the CMS Pitchero, it has introduced me to how to approach the limitations and benefits of the CMS, something that I believe will be beneficial in my future career.’

Quote from client – Mark Castle
‘Thank you so much for presenting tonight and all your hardwork in getting this project to that point. Whilst I was expecting this outcome I’m still in slight shock that everyone on the board was 100% behind what you have suggested. They really liked the new brand, logo, social media and colour palette, only debate was if we move to Pitchero which was more of a practical discussion and was also approved. So well done, Hampshire RFU will implement all of your suggestions and I now need to put my skills into place to project manager the move from the old to new.’ – Comment regarding presentation to the HRFU board

Background

Our client Ilaria Mezzogori is involved with a Community Kitchen, a communal and social place where free community-based programmes are run so people can learn to cook, learn about their food habits and make their budget go further, all whilst breaking loneliness. Cookery classes range from basic cooking skills to mastering specialised skills, which anyone can attend. 

This community kitchen (Community Cooking & Well-being Kitchen) is ‘the child’ of two social enterprises, ‘Empower to Cook’ and ‘Khepera’. These organisations reinvest any profit into the community. “Empower to Cook’ aims to teach basic cooking skills to improve the health and well-being of the local community. ‘Khepera’ focuses on vegan and healthy food education. 

The company required a logo that reflects the idea of giving back to the community and environmental sustainability. The logo also needed to utilise the fixed colour palette of yellow and purple: a fifty fifty balance of the partnerships’ (‘Empower to Cook’ and ‘Khepera’) colours. The logo was created by Emma and Bethan.

Restating and understanding the brief

The brief was to create a logo that reflects the Community Cooking & Well-being Kitchen : giving back to the community and environmental sustainability, representing the two partnership companies (‘Empower to Cook’ and ‘Khepera’).

In the initial meeting the required outcomes were established:

• A logo
• Possibly a visual identity
• Possibly a social media presence

Within these outcomes there were certain fixed design elements: 

• Colour palette of yellow and purple (partnerships’ colours) but these colours do not have to be the same shade as the partnerships’ colours.
• Circular design to reflect community
• Whole name of the company must be included (Community Cooking & Well-being Kitchen)

Our key objectives were to produce a logo that successfully raises Community Cooking & Well-being Kitchen’s profile as a company and to effectively reflect the partnership enterprises and their objectives. 

These aims were measured by feedback from the client, regarding whether they were effectively promoting them as a company. To ensure an appropriate logo, visual mockups were utilised, using the signage size supplied by the client (2450x710mm). We would schedule regular feedback via zoom during the initial stages and then via email when finalising the logo to allow our client to share our designs with the rest of her team. Zoom meetings were also used to discuss any issues involved in the process.

Further through the process the required outcomes were changed:

• A logo
• Visual identity guidelines

Schedule

The original deadline for this project was 30th Nov, however we exceeded this deadline. This is mainly because the design process took considerably longer than we had initially planned for. Due to Covid-19, the deadline the client had originally supplied us with could be extended. Therefore, we prioritised producing a logo that fitted the client’s brief as much as possible. On reflection we could have been more efficient during certain parts of the process. The colour scheme of the logo was also a challenge which took longer to solve than we initially anticipated. However, the additional time we spent on getting this aspect of the logo right has proven beneficial. 

Research

Personas

In the initial stages of the project we produced some user personas. Carrying out this process allowed us to identify who the logo would primarily be aimed at. After producing the personas we collectively produced a list of key aims of the logo. The main aim is to create a logo that reflects the friendly and welcoming nature of the Community Kitchen. 

Partnership companies

We then researched the partnering companies to gain a wider understanding of their aims and programmes. ‘Khepera’ highlighted the high importance of wellbeing and nutritional support, as suggested by the name which translates to “transformation”. ‘Empower to Cook’ focuses on sustainability and accessibility. They target vulnerable communities to educate them about affordable but nutritious food. Therefore, we aimed to incorporate these key incentives into our logo design. We also looked at the colours used in the partnerships’ existing logos for inspiration.

Partnership social enterprises’ company logos

Existing community kitchen logos

Since neither of us had come across a Community Kitchen before, we looked at some pre-existing Community Kitchen logos. Formulating a mood board of these existing logos assisted our design process as it helped to highlight current logo design trends.

Moodboard of existing logos

There were certain trends we noticed:

• Friendly and fresh feel
• Presence of kitchen utensils 
• Joining of lines/illustrations to reflect community feel
• Illustration style providing ‘home-made’ feel

We also looked at a selection of pre-existing logos that have yellow and purple colour schemes. Initially, the colour scheme felt quite limiting, however, after viewing existing logos and gaining feedback from our supervisor we focused on using purple and yellow shades from fruits and vegetables. We found that this produced a fresh feel to the logo as well as representing both social enterprises that make up the company. 

Colour shades inspired by fruit and vegetables

Design Development

Initial concepts

Initial design ideas

In the initial stages of the process we formulated four different concepts based on our research and input from the client. Creating these various concepts allowed us to explore different solutions and discover which work best. After having a meeting with our supervisor we selected our strongest two ideas to show the client and continue to develop these further.

Design concepts shown to client

These designs presented the idea of ‘community’ the best and were two completely different approaches, therefore provided options for the client. ‘Concept 1’ utilises a chef’s hat and people connected together via a single line as we found that both of these trends were popular when conducting research. This ‘icon’ also represents the company’s objectives and name in a single image. ‘Concept 2’ uses a set of utensils that could also be representative of people, which overlap which also reflects the ‘connection’ and community feel. Our supervisor also suggested adding an element of texture to ‘Concept 2’ to reflect the wooden utensils, which we experimented with. Refining these logos to a standard which was suitable to present to the client took substantially longer than we initially had planned. Also, on reflection we should have been more efficient at communicating  with our client at this stage, explaining the process we were going through. 

Feedback from our client indicated that her and her team felt that ‘Concept 1’ represented them as a company the best. Therefore, we continued to refine and develop this logo.

Experimentation of type and image

Experimentation of type

Final typeface choice

Once we had established the logo design to take forward, we worked on refining the details. We started by finding the appropriate typeface to complement the line drawing. We aimed to select typefaces that had ‘friendly’ and ‘homely’ connotations to reflect the key objectives. We made a collective decision with the client that the fourth typeface would be best. (As displayed above)

Experimentation of image

During the design process, we experimented with the placement of icons. These included lemons and leaves, however these did not work as effectively as we had originally anticipated. Therefore, after consideration, it was concluded that the icons interrupted the company name and disrupted the fluidity of the logo. 

The style of the illustration was also experimented with, especially how the chef’s hat was drawn. The client’s preference was the fourth option with clean consistent lines.

Experimentation with colour scheme

Experimentation of colour

As we progressed through the design process, the importance of having a fifty fifty purple and yellow colour scheme was highlighted. Since the Community Kitchen is ‘the child’ of two social enterprises (‘Empower to cook’ and ‘Khepera’) these colours needed to be presented equally. Therefore, we experimented with using a gradient to ‘blend’ the two colours together.

We also trialled using a combination of thick and thin lines for the icon, which the client preferred to the original.

Experimentation of text colour

The challenge of achieving fifty fifty balanced colours remained for the text elements. As a solution we introduced a third colour of charcoal. This was selected as it compliments the shades of purple and yellow used. This was approved by the client.

We also introduced the idea of a single icon without text for uses where the text would be illegible at small sizes, which was also approved by the client.

Final Design 

For our Client 

The image below shows our final logo design for our client. With the restrictions of having the two colours, representing the two founding companies, equally shown on the branding the charcoal text was a good compromise. We have also provided a charcoal version for any instances they may have where only one colour is available. In cases of overlapping the logo onto an image or colored background we have created a white logo so legibility is not lost.

Our recommended design 

In context of the restrictions of having equal amounts of only purple and yellow, the logos below are what we believe would work best with our clients desired brand. We recommended to our client, that if possible, that if another colour could not be added perhaps making the text all purple would be better than having it charcoal or black. This maintains their brand colours and ends up being a cohesive design. Along with this positive design, we recommended a negative logo design to place on any coloured or photographic backgrounds. The negative design creates positive connotations with Instagrams branding. However these two designs were not chosen by the client due to their colour restrictions to create an equal representing logo.

Reflection 

Completing this real job took a lot longer than we both had initially anticipated. The deadline was extended partly due to COVID-19 as this meant the urgency for the completion of the logo was far less. This resulted in no ‘concrete’ deadline and on reflection we should have set our own personal deadline to be more efficient with our time. We could have also used the time between sending draft designs and receiving feedback from the client more effectively, which may have sped up the process. However, we believe that the extra time we have used for refinement purposes benefitted the logo in terms of meeting the clients brief. 

Even though the process took a lot longer than we initially anticipated, the completion of the logo has provided us both with invaluable experience. Our communication skills have improved during the process, initially we were so focused on completing high quality designs that sometimes we would not update the client as efficiently as we should have. However, further through the process we ensured to update the client as much as possible so that she did not feel disconnected from the process. 

The main challenge during the design process was ensuring that the colour scheme met the client’s brief but also produced a visually appealing logo. To find a suitable solution we had to experiment with finding alternative solutions and gain inspiration from existing logos. For example,  logos such as ‘Instagram’ utilise a gradient in their logo, which in the case of our logo, means that the two colours work effectively together, without competing with one another and provides a ‘fresh’ and modern feel to the logo. 

We believe that the logo produced has met the objectives of the ‘Community Cooking & Wellbeing Kitchen’. The integration of purple and yellow as a gradient represents the two companies but also reflects the idea of ‘Community’. Similarly, the single line forming the icon reflects the ‘community’ aspect as it provides the idea that everyone is together and connected when at their Community Kitchen. The icon could also hold connotations with the ‘sustainability’ objective since it is a continuous line drawing. We also feel that we have achieved a logo that is unique to the Community Kitchen but is also inline with all the current trends that we established during the research stage of the process.

Emma Lonsdale & Bethan Williams

Background

Founded in 2011, The Art Therapy Agency is a membership based group of art therapists. The agency was set up to raise awareness of art therapy as a creative alternative to talk therapies. They specialize in offering a reliable service from their therapists to a range of different audiences, as well as membership support through regular training and support groups. After ten years, they are now looking for a redesign to make their branding more modern.

Restated Brief 

Branding

The first part was to create a new logo and set of branding for the Agency. Like the website, the client stated that they wanted the brand to look more fresh and modern. This included redesigning the brand’s colour palette, as well as completely redesigning the logo. From the first meeting, the client said that they wanted to keep a similar colour palette to what they already had, however update the colours to look brighter. The Art Therapy Agency needed a logo which could work in a variety of different formats, including online on their website and social media, as well as physically printed onto letterheads.

Website

The second part was to redesign their website. In particular, ensure that it is more user friendly and has a modern style. The client made it clear that she wanted the website to be much easier for users to find suitable therapists for their specific needs. This would be achieved by having a search bar option, which was missing in the Agency’s original website. The client also wanted to include a feature that would allow all the therapists to be able to edit their own pages and add anything they want without having to ask an admin to do it for them.  Along with the client, we agreed that both of the deliverables should keep the same colour palette to create consistent branding.

Teamwork

To help manage the workload and to meet our deadlines, we split the work evenly. We decided to break the job down into two sections; the branding (including colours and logo) – which Ellie designed, and the website – which Kamal and Dan designed. This meant that we weren’t all working on the same thing at once and that we could each manage and organise our own sections. As well as this, we frequently discussed the project using an online team group-chat to ensure that we were all in contact and working together as a team to tackle the brief. Setting up a group-chat was also really beneficial for our team as it allowed us to give each other regular peer feedback on each other’s work.

Extension of Deadline

Between us and our client, we agreed on an extension for the deadline of the project. This was mainly because we felt like we were rushing the design of the website and we did not feel like we would be able to meet the deadline with a quality of work we were completely happy with. Our client was very lenient with the deadline because she didn’t mind when she got the redesigned logo and website as long as it fully met her demands and we were all happy with it.

Logo and Colour Design

For the logo we spent a while at the start of the project brainstorming ideas together before Ellie took on the task on her own. Doing this was helpful as it gave us a wide range of initial ideas to take to our supervisor and the client. One part of important feedback that we got from our supervisor in the early days of the job, was to ensure that we were presenting our logo ideas to the client as part of a mockup (Logo mockups). We found this feedback really helpful taking the job forward as it allowed the client to be able to visualize what the logo would look like on the website, not just on a blank document. 

The icon

The Art Therapy Agency’s original logo had no icon, it just used typography. One of the main things we wanted to improve with the logo was it’s adaptability to social media platforms – which was also an important factor in modernising it. For us, this involved creating an icon to assist the typography for the logo. To start the design, Ellie hand painted some different shapes to explore how the idea of ‘art’ could be visually portrayed to users . Using a paintbrush to create texture, the hand drawn style also indicates the work that the Agency does. We felt that this style worked really well as it looked soft and inviting and our supervisor and client also agreed. For the icon shape, after feedback from our supervisor about initial sketches (Initial sketches) we decided to brand away from stereotypical concepts such as hearts and stars and really consider the brand’s aims and missions. We wanted to create a design which promoted the caring, inclusive nature of The Art Therapy Agency and so we began to look at circles – a symbol of togetherness and inclusion (Paint experiments) (Heart paint experiments). This idea worked really well and our supervisor was happy with how the circle looked in the brush stroke style, alongside the cursive typeface ‘bree’ – which we had chosen due to it’s soft and friendly style. There was a lot of experimentation using the circular icon (Logo experimentation) and in the end, we decided to create two different logo formats to give more flexibility for the Agency to use. One logo is a longer rectangle logo, which can be used to letterheads and sections of the website with more horizontal space. The second version is a circular logo, which can be placed in social media icons and areas with more square space. Creating two versions of the logo was more challenging than Ellie initially thought, as she had to ensure that they both looked consistent with the brand, whilst having different layouts.

Overcoming problems

We thought that we had finished the logo, as both our client and supervisor were happy with the design and it worked well across both the long and round formats, however we then realized an issue. Luckily before the logo was signed off, our client contacted us with her concerns that it looked very similar to their rival agency. On our behalf, we had failed to ask the client about their main competitors at the start of the project, which then caused these problems later on in the job. Reflection upon this, this has been a learning curve as it has taught us to always consider the client’s competitors during the research process, before we start any designs. However, we quickly responded to these concerns and came up with a solution to the problem and “save the day” as our client kindly said. By exploring with brush stroke marks again, Ellie came up with the idea of half a circle (RJ00485_BrushStrokeIcon), which our client said looks like a smile when placed alongside the typography. They really liked the way we had incorporated the text and image to create this and so we chose it for our final designs (RJ00485_Long_Logo) (RJ00485_RoundLogo).

Website Design

For the website design, it was crucial to first find the right wordpress theme for the client’s website. To narrow down the wordpress theme options, it was essential to make a list of the features needed, choose a responsive theme while keeping in mind the branding and the structure of the website. After taking everything into consideration, we found a theme that met all the requirements which was also approved by the client.

After choosing the theme, it was essential to download relevant plugins for the website which bring in important functions to the website, whether it’s UI and UX design, SEO, site speed, online store.. etc Whatever we needed, was most likely covered by a plugin. It was a bit challenging at the beginning, because we weren’t familiar with certain plugins, but after doing our research, we learned how to use them. 

Once the relevant plugins were downloaded it was time for us to get familiar with the wordpress UI, which includes sections such as:

• The welcome page – The most important areas of the admin panel listed as quick shortcut links; including a step by step section on how to make your website look good.
• Posts – Where you create blog posts.
• Media – Upload images and other media files.
• Pages – Create sub-pages for the website.
• Appearance – Changing your site identity (site name, colours, logo, typography etc..)
• Plugins – Install and manage website plugins.
• Users – Manage user accounts that can access the admin panel of the website
• Settings – The main settings.

After we got the hang of it, we dived straight into the design of the main pages. We met with the client several times to discuss what the main pages should be, how they should look and the features that should be included. Due to previous experience, we suggested using a plugin called Elementor, which is a website builder that controls every aspect of the website design work-flow from one place. This was a great suggestion because it made designing the website a lot easier thanks to the simple, powerful and flexible visual design tools and a faster performance. Thanks to Elementor we were able to straightaway start with the Homepage, while adding the other main pages into a menu bar. The menu bar includes; the home page, about page, therapist page, a join us page and a contact page. These pages were designed taking into consideration the client’s requests according to her standards, the branding and the visual content approved by the client after the meetings. 

After finishing with the page designs, it was crucial to optimize the website and make sure that it was compatible with other devices such as desktops, tables and mobile phones. This was also another challenging aspect of this project, but with the help of everyone we managed to make a responsive website compatible with different devices.

Last but not least it was important to map the domain before launching the website. The domain management of the website was another important task in order to fulfill the website’s identity. The client was already paying for a domain host, so it was our job to map the domain to WordPress and launch it.

Reflection

Dan

Personally, it has been an enjoyable project, however it took much longer than any of us would’ve thought. At the beginning of the project, I did not have any experience in designing a website with full functionality. However, it was a steep learning curve and I have learnt a huge amount of experience that will benefit my career. We definitely had times where we struggled in creating a good solution, but we worked our way around any issues swiftly. The main challenge of the project was to create a website that looked great visually, but also had the functionality that would make it successful, and I believe we have achieved that. In general, we had a close relationship with our client as we met regularly to go over changes and make any new ones to suit our clients demands. To improve in future projects, I should manage my time better and ensure deadlines are met. 

Kamal 

Overall, the project went very well. I really enjoyed it even though it took a lot longer than expected. One of the main reasons why I chose this Real Job was because I had some experience in web design, however during the project we encountered a lot of unexpected challenges such as finding the right website plugins and learning how to use them which took time to learn. Nevertheless, we managed to overcome these hurdles as a team and reached the client’s expectations. I’ve learned a lot throughout this project and gained plenty of experience which will come in handy in the future.

Ellie

This project has really opened my eyes with how long rebranding jobs can take. Despite a couple hurdles, I have really enjoyed working on this job with Dan and Kamal, of whom I had not worked closely with before. I think that we worked really well as a team as we were in constant communication regarding the job and we weren’t afraid to give each other constructive criticism. I chose this job as I am interested in a career in branding and I feel that this job has taught me some valuable lessons for that – such as making sure I fully research the client’s competitors so I don’t cause any copyright issues later on in the project. As well as this, I have also learnt a great deal about the production side of creating logos, which will be beneficial for my future as a designer.

Background

The Department of Typography and Graphic Communication at the University of Reading building wayfinding needs some refinement. The department needs a distinctive sign to indicate the building upon arrival. The design of an external wall graphic needs to be impactful because the sign would need to be noticed from afar from the enterprise car park for students, delivery and prospect students coming for application day, open days etc.

Brief

The brief was to design an external wall graphic for the department that can easily be recognised and needs to represent the department and the students and tutors alike. The final deliverable would be a press-ready pdf and the ai file ready for production by the department.

In the brief we stated, the success of this project would come from the users being able to recognise the building. The building would be eye-catching in an effective and positive way. The success of the project also depends on if the graphic elements represent the building and the department. Throughout the project, we ensured that the graphic elements were a representation of the department and are relatable with the tutors and the students. We wanted to make the department as user-centric as possible this was demonstrated through the surveys taken and the frequent feedback between students to get their perspective on what the department means to them. Although the real job has yet to be finalised as we wait on the specifications of the new windows our client and our supervisors alike have stated that the current design proposals are very encouraging.

Communication

Throughout the project, we had regular meetings with our clients and supervisors as well as attending frequent real jobs meetings. We felt it was important to get a different perspective to make sure we were in the right direction through the project especially after both of us have never designed wall graphics before. We also communicated with our peers to get their perspective on what they would like to see in the wall graphic. We conducted a survey to get the perspective of both the tutors and students and collated this to get an idea of what we could do moving forward.

Schedule

The schedule for this project has been disrupted heavily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The original deadline was 20/04/2020. This has led to the project having to be stalled for a couple of months. The project is still currently progressing as we wait for the specification of the new department windows. At first, the project was progressing gradually without interruption and after the covid restrictions, we were limited to what we could do. We were able to successfully carry out the survey where we were able to make progress with making design decisions. Once we had an idea of the colour scheme and themes via the mood boards and survey, we were able to start proposing designs to our supervisors and our client. The process was mostly moving swiftly barring lockdowns in between. The designs were refined and edited during the months of feedback from our supervisors and clients.

Design Process

We attempted to start our design process with a general mood board (see Trello) showcasing different variations of wall graphics, both indoor and out. This collection of images is so we can gain inspiration from and look to gain any insights that may not have been so apparent beforehand. These general ideas would stand as a basis that may allow us to incorporate further ideas to at a later point in idea generation. During this time, however, we realised that the job at hand is very much to do with the community within the department than just the department itself. We realised that we wanted the people who reside within the building to be reflected in the graphic also; a more personal approach to the department would make more sense for this specific real job. The best way we thought we would do this is by creating a survey for all members of the department, staff and students, to take part in. The questions would be set up to try and gauge what the community thought that the building represented and what they wanted it to represent. These answers would go on to inform much of the decisions going forward and acts as a basis for us to refer back to in order to progress. Answers to do with the actual visual identity of the department are the best for these types of decisions; an example would be the colours that people came up with when they thought of the department.

From here we started on initial ideas for the graphic, and now we had a stronger basis for idea generation from the survey. Immediately we started to incorporate these findings within our work; some of which displayed the most popular answer for the colour that attributes to the department. Some of the initial designs also attempted to go the route of modern via the feedback that the departments do not represent modernity in design as much as they should, and some took the opposite route of embracing the traditional and historic look and feel of the department. We also took to approaching the graphic in multiple ways, some being with the use of type, some with the use of photography, and some with illustrations. We wanted to try out multiple solutions, and the brief in general is one that would allow us to do so. Throughout the entire project we had also been trying out different approaches to where exactly on the wall we would be designing the graphic for; the brief was left open for us to choose ourselves what the best option may be, and our client also shared this sentiment when asking him. He would often tell us that he wanted us to have more control over design decisions and that making decisions on things like where the graphic should be would detract from finding possible design solutions, and could essentially stunt creativity. This did allow for us to flex our creativity where we wished, but it did make it difficult when making decisions, and at times felt like too much freedom was given to us. The further we moved through the process the more we started to hone in on more solid concepts and ideas that would genuinely reflect the department and those insides.

Our next set of ideas incorporated the inside of the building. The interior of the department is very distinctive and has many pieces of ephemera and many old display pieces on the walls and in the hallways; we decided to take these as inspiration. Not only do they represent the inside of the building and its unique visual interior, but they also embody a large part of what is recognised from the department; its historic collections and general historic reputation. Moving from here, however, we would attempt to work in more modern elements to balance out the more traditional part of the concept; it would also allow meaning that we hit another criteria that were mentioned in the survey. This part would be to do with what was missing from how the department was being represented. This is the point where we decided to integrate the more modern use of iconographic illustrations. The icons did well to balance the traditional with the modern, especially when we started to illustrate the historical ephemera also.

At this point we had also decided on the use of multiple colours pointed out from the survey. We were also in conversations with Geoff to do with the application of the actual graphic, giving us the choice of multiple types of wall mounted panels.

At this point we had also decided on the use of multiple colours pointed out from the survey. We were also in conversations with Geoff to do with the application of the actual graphic, giving us the choice of multiple types of wall-mounted panels.

Around this time, we were given feedback from our client regarding a suggestion of placing the graphic onto the windows, and after further conversations with Geoff, we were given the green light for a whole new avenue of designs. Our proposals now included ideas that would be placed onto the windows using a one-way see-through material called Contravision.

Unfortunately, as a new door opened, new problems arose. The department is due to get new windows installed and even up until submission it has remained unclear exactly what the dimensions of the windows are to be. Instead of waiting, however, we made the decision to move forward instead of lingering for an unknown amount of time. As a result of not knowing what the specific dimensions were, we took the initiative to base our designs on the most recently installed double glazed windows in the department at the time.

At the point of submission, we have not been able to finalise our designs and achieve a press ready outcome. Due to the nature of our job it was been agreed on that we will submit what we have at the moment, and make it as close to a convincing set of proposals as we can. It is to be noted that we will also be carrying on the real job after submission, and so the concepts we are submitting are currently still in development. Both our client and us as a group, believe that the concept is such that is flexible in application and is able to be adapted effectively to a new set of window dimensions if need be; until we get the correct dimensions from the project manager, we will be continuing with the sizes we have at the moment.

Feedback

We are still yet unable to get feedback for the final product however based on the progress we have made so far it has been mostly positive from the client and the supervisor. Overall our client has been happy with the progress we have been making and has often remarked our concepts as quite strong outcomes with a good amount of potential when finally implemented. A word from our client to justify this; “you have so far made very good progress on the real job, and have found a viable, realistic and attractive design direction, which shows considerable promise. I look forward to you continuing with the project so you can bring it to a successful conclusion in the coming weeks, following your submission of work completed to date.” Our supervisor is also encouraged with our current proposition and once we have the correct window settings we believe we can create a design that represents the department in a distinctive and eye-catching way.

Thank you from the team working on RJ00412

Background

The Ure Museum

The Ure Museum can be found in the Classics Department within the Edith Morley building on the University of Reading’s Whiteknights campus. Before I started this job, I wasn’t familiar with the museum, however now I wish I had discovered it sooner as it is such an interesting asset to the campus. Before the COVID19 pandemic hit, the Ure Museum used to hand out physical exhibition guides to explain the beautiful objects in their exhibitions to vistors. However, the coronavirus pandemic has meant that this cannot happen and so, the museum have expanded their exhibition booklet to an online format. This is a really exciting step for the museum, as it is leading them into a new digital world – hopefully expanding their audience and encouraging more remote visitors from around the country.

I was assigned this real job with the task to design a digital exhibition guide for their upcoming exhibition – Troy: Beauty and Heroism, which is a spotlight loan from the British Museum, due to visit the Ure between September and December 2021. During my intial client meeting, I was told that the digital booklet would include a combination of images and text relating to each of the different objects in the exhibition. Originally the exhibition was meant to take place in February 2021 but COVID19 stopped this from happening – pushing the dates back. Upon reflection, I’m glad that this happened, as it meant that I could spend longer on the project – handing over a design at the end that I am really happy with.

Restated Brief

The main deliverable for this project was an interactive eBook , of which vistors could download remotely to read about the exhibition objects on their phones, tablets or laptops. Due to the exhibition being a spotlight loan, it was important that I incorporated in both sets of branding to create an exhibition guide with reflects the branding of both museums. As the Ure Museum and British Museum already have very strict guidelines, I had to ensure that I was considerate and consistent in my designs.

The specific objectives

Within the restated brief, my specific objectives for the job were that:

• The eBook must be easy to navigate for a reader – including the use of clear, interactive links.
• There must be clear divisions to show the three main sections of the exhibition.
• The prelims and end matter must be easy to find and read.

These three objectives gave me a clear starting point and a constant focus throughout the project, which helped me to stay motivated and on-track. Due to not having any specific software requirements to create the eBook in, I was free to chose an appropriate software, which I found really interesting as I learnt a lot about how eBooks can be made.

Changes to the brief

As the brief was very focused from the start, I didn’t encounter may changes. Although, due to the exhibition date being pushed back to a lot later in the year, it gave me some freedom and more time to get to know my client, which I really appreciated. However, at times I think that this did make the design process feel very lengthy, as I ended up working on the project for a couple months longer than originally scheduled.

Research

To start the ideation process, I began by looking at examples of other digital exhibition booklets to discover what navigational systems worked well, as well as mainly studying typeface sizes and the treatment of images and prelims/end matter. One particular example I was drawn to was the Pompei exhibition at Grand Palais (available to view at: https://www.grandpalais.fr/pdf/Guide_Visite_Pompei_GB.pdf). I liked this example as it is quite simple, yet effective, due to the large typeface, limited colour palette and straight-forward navigation system. As well as this, the clear clickable links within the guide related to the specific objectives I had been set as part of my brief, therefore, I used this resource as inspiration for starting my eBook.

I think that the guide is so easy to navigate as the different sections are clearly divided by large headings and the navigational bar is consistent on every page. This encouraged me to consider consistency during my own design process. However, the Pompei exhibition guide also urged me to think about what things didn’t work so well, or were missing, so that I could incorporate these into my own design. One thing I did find confusing with the booklet, was that the clickable links were not highlighted, so there was no immediate indication of which parts of press. This research was valuable to my designs as I knew that as a user, this is something I subciously look for online. Therefore, when designing the Troy exhibition guide, I used colour to show which links were interactive – furthering the clarify of the navigation system for the reader.

Creating the eBook

Due to my lack of experience in creating eBooks at the start of the job, I had to spend a lot of time discussing options with my supervisor. Having professional insight into the area gave me a lot more knowledge, of which I can now take forward for future projects. After researching different softwares, I finally decided to design the publication in InDesign as I had a lot of experience working with it and so I felt more comfortable. It was a really interesting process creating the eBook as I had never created an interactive pdf before – I thought it would be really time consuming but the process was very straightforward and by creating basic mockups I was able to experiment with different types of navigation.

Navigation

I started by focusing on navigation as I didn’t want to waste time creating layouts which could then be effected by changing the navigation. By the time I placed the text in, I was glad that I had this thought rationale, as I changed the original navigation system from a bar running down the left page margin, to small icons at the bottom of the page.

From using InDesign for editorial projects before, I was able to create a plan of what elements I wanted to focus on first. I started off by considering the following:

• Margins and columns
• Master pages
• Headers and footers
• Running heads and folios
• Stylesheets
• Paragraph and character styles

I chose to start the design with these page features as I wanted to create a strong foundation to place the text into.

Branding

After designing the main layout of the guide by using masterpages for different sections, I then moved onto the design stage. Having the Ure Museum’s brand guidelines was really helpful as it limited my choice of what colours and typefaces I could use. When I first met with my client, they gave me a selection of previous design jobs commissioned for the museum and these really helped me to get a feel of their branding. Looking through other examples, gave me a clearer idea of what the exhibition guide should look like in order to be consistent with other designs that had been created for the Ure Museum as they all clearly utilized the same colour schemes, graphic devices and typefaces. This job was my first experience of working on brand guidelines and I really enjoyed it as it gave me a clear direction with my designs.

Alongside the Ure Museum, working with the British Museum was a huge privilege. I was in frequent contact with their Press and Marketing Manager, who regularly assisted me along the project. Creating contacts with someone from such a respected company has been one of the most rewarding parts of this job. I received the British Museum’s brand guidelines for the Troy exhibition and had to ensure that I read them and understood them before I sent anything to my client. This process largely improved my proof reading skills as I had to read the text through many times to ensure it was all correct.

The cover

The final part of the design process, was designing the front cover for the exhibition guide. This part was where I incorporated in the British Museum’s branding – using their logo, featuring exhibition image and exhibition layout guide. As well as the booklet being consistent with the rest of the Ure publications, it also has to be consistent with the publications being produced by other museums working with the British Museum for this exhibition tour. This is why I chose the layout for the cover. I decided to change the boxes into the Ure Museum brand colours to add their touch to the British Museum’s layout. I think that the cover nicely combines the two brands together.

Originally, the whole publication was set in the Ure Museum’s blue brand colour. However, after placing in the images on the front cover, it seemed appropriate to use their orange brand colour instead – to create harmony between the text and images. Overall, the client and I agreed that this colour scheme worked a lot better than the original – which taught me that I should’ve furthered my experimental process within the brand guidelines at the start.

Reflection

I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this project with the Ure Museum, as it has improved my editorial and reader navigations skills, as well as teaching me many new skills – including how to create eBooks and how to work with brand guidelines. Being trusted to work on a project with the British Museum has also improved my confidence as a designer. Receiving such positive feedback from my client has been a huge highlight of the real jobs scheme for me and having the opportunity to create connections within the branding and marketing world has made the lengthy process of this job worth it.

Coming away from this project, I feel as if I could’ve worked more efficiently to still finish the job closer the original deadline, however having extra time allowed me to work with my client for longer, which I really enjoyed.

Background

Christian Community Action, otherwise known as CCA is a Christian charitable organisation local to the Reading and Berkshire area. CCA provides support for less fortunate individuals or families who are unable to furnish a suitable living space for themselves. They recycle furniture, clothing and household goods. However, in recent years the organisation has lost support in both staff and donations. CCA also provide employability schemes and workshop skills. The client believed that a new brand identity was required to bring back to life CCA and regain momentum so they can get back to helping Reading’s community again. This brand identity would provide a refreshed image to the public and be placed at all of CCA’s premises, transport and branded goods.

 The brief

The brief overall comprised of two components, consisting of a list of primary and secondary deliverables. These were the following:

Primary

1 x brand identity package (to be applied to all promotional materials such as merchandise, newsletters, postcards, posters, shop signs and vehicle wraps. This consisted of:

• 1 x logo
• 1 x Typekit
• 1 x colour palette

Secondary

Promotional materials templates:

• Shop face, banners, documents for both digital and print, posters and mockups of a new website.

The objectives of this project were to re-establish the organization through a new visual identity, reinstating its ideals. The re-brand would lift the organisation back into the current proceedings of Reading’s community. The new brand identity would need to be fresh and modern, distancing the previous conservative branding. This progressive step would take the organisation forward and more in touch with Reading, making it more approachable.

 Research

I began this project by reviewing CCA’s current branding and analysing competitors and existing branding from similar organisations. From the offset of this stage, it became apparent that it would be difficult to create an identity that wasn’t too ‘Christian’ whilst making it obvious and relatable to the organisation’s values.

After reviewing an extensive amount of competitors, I began to narrow down themes and ideas that I would like to draw upon and incorporate within the new branding. I deemed these factors worth consideration as an attempt to create a strong and appealing identity. These consisted of:

• Sans serif typography – to help legibility both on and off screen mediums.
• Organic or rounded shapes – conveying calmness, tranquillity, and care.
• Soft edges – to appear friendly and appealing to the wide target audience, posing a non-authoritative tone.
• Light colours – to convey sentiments of peace and love whilst also helping the brand to appear friendly and welcoming and non-corporate

The target audience for this project was really for anyone, from young adults wishing to get stuck in with helping the community or those of an older demographic. Typically it would be between the ages of 18-70. Although a large span, this range was determined upon the multiple pools of people that may interact with the brand. Namely being:

• People seeking employment or looking to immerse themselves within charitable works.
• People in need of the services that CCA provide.
• Those looking to donate to a worthwhile cause that will benefit and help the area.

 Designing and development

Starting with numerous sketches and ideas, I began experimenting with colour, typography and form. Initially, to keep true to the values of the organisation, I started producing logo iterations using key icons or imagery associated with Christianity. Naturally, these ideas incorporated the use of a Cross, combined with type and other Christian symbols. In turn, after a process of refinement I began to choose and develop which ideas were working best to present to my tutor, and then in turn upon approval, the client.

Above is the first iterations of the logo, playing off themes discussed above. I tried to incorporate CCA’s values in the most effective way, considering the use of the cross, recycling and colour. Colour was an important factor to consider after a conversation with my client. As Reading is a beautifully diverse place the client wished to try and incorporate this. The use of multiple colours throughout these designs was used to convey diversity within Reading’s community.

Upon feedback from my student peers and my attendance at the real jobs meetings, I was able to takeaway helpful feedback and therefore begin to refine and further develop my logo iterations. Within the next set of iterations I began to experiment with type and propose distancing away from using the cross, taking a favourable approach in focusing on CCA’s recycling aspect.

The logo approach I took forward from here utilised circular arrows. This was symbolic of recycling, progression and of the good charitable work CCA do. However, as I proceeded with iteration it was flagged up that it was of a likeness to a pre-existing corporation. From this moment I reverted my development and had to take a step back. This process of reviewing was essential in leading me to my next logo iterations and to get the project back on track.

From here after having a conversation with my supervisor, I looked to see if I could turn this around. I therefore delved back into my research and initial ideas and went to see what I could make of it. This led my down a path where I designed a typographic logo, using colour and type to create a typologo. I took a u-turn too in terms of colour palette. Here I refined three potential colour ways that took a friendly and welcoming approach, making a U-turn from CCA’s current branding and colour scheme that was quite conservative.

The first iterations were chosen to develop after receiving feedback on these designs. The reasoning behind their form was to still represent recycling, but also compassion and diversity with the interlinking letterforms. This represented Reading’s community and the values of CCA.

Outcomes

Outcomes of this project subsequently developed into a new logo with a logomark iteration. Having two types of logo iterations would serve CCA well as it would mean they could have an adaptive logo to brand their mediums. As a result, a branding toolkit was created. This consisted of the two logo iterations and guidance on how to use them, the respective colour scheme for the new branding and the typeface Urbane Rounded and its weight family. These elements were all decided on the basis of creating a friendly, warming and welcoming brand that had an organic feel. The use of light and bright colours was used to convey the values of CCA and the client. The decision for using rounded type forms for the logo and typography was also dictated by these factors. By using soft and rounded type it would come across as non-aggressive and authoritarian, in turn this meant that the visual identity was approachable and fresh. A Stark difference to the previous branding.

Reflection

On a whole this project was an enjoyable experience and I came away with many positive experiences. In all honesty, I can’t say I was completely prepared to take on a project like this as it was a different to a normal module. However, the takeways from it are invaluable and I am in no doubt that it has shaped me as a designer and learning to communicate effectively with a client and respond effectively to third party feedback. Due to the nature of this project, it was meant to be over relatively quickly, however with the on-goings of covid and the current climate, the time span increased tenfold. Moreover, it was almost a blessing in disguise to have a delay within the project as CCA was undergoing some changes. This therefore allowed me to get the branding as close to the clients wishes as possible. In reflection on myself, an area of improvement would be time management. By this I mean keeping on track with deadlines outlined in my restated brief.

Overall, I was pleased with the project outcomes and I believe the client was too. It was brilliant to also have such an enthusiastic client who really cared about the progression and purpose of project, this really made me feel like I was part of something that would help and change the lives of people.