Context

Founded in 2016 and led by Jennifer Christine Stokes, Reside Dance aims to bring individuals and communities together by developing connections to places and others through dance. With a special focus on promoting and celebrating cultural diversity, Reside Dance aims to become Reading’s first dance company to bring its’ residents side by side to celebrate their individual and collective cultures within site-specific places. Drawing upon techniques and processes from dance theatre, social choreography and somatic practice, Reside Dance aims to strengthen Reading’s dance offering by creating innovative, high quality and accessible performances, workshops and programmes that widen dance audiences through its exploration of issues prevalent to Reading life.

The brief

Reside Dance were looking to establish and represent their values through consistent branding and a coherent visual identity, starting with a logo redesign as the foundation for this. They wanted branding to tie together all of their media under one visual identity, both online and printed. The overall aim of the rebrand and logo redesign was to increase awareness and promote the organisation to a larger audience in Reading, showing how they aim to become Reading’s first dance company to focus on promoting and celebrating cultural diversity, bringing residents side by side to celebrate their individual and collective cultures in a community based way.

Being my second real job project and working on my own for this project, I felt prepared for the task. I was in charge of managing myself and my own schedule rather than having to manage other people. Before the initial client meeting I carried out background research into Reside Dance, their competitors and their outlook and during the first and only face-to-face meeting we established a clear set of aims and objectives. Through a list of questions I had prepared before the meeting I was able to find out all of the information quickly and efficiently to then write up the restated brief. During the initial meeting we also decided that our main mode of contact would be via weekly emails. Meeting in person was hard as they job ran over Christmas and my client was also a full time masters student as well as running a Reside Dance. However, emails worked well and we were able to get back to each other on a weekly basis with in depth feedback as we stuck to the restated brief schedule rigorously.

Aims and Objectives

• To establish and represent the company values through strong, consistent branding and visual identity, starting with a logo redesign as the foundation for this.
• To create a coherent and clearly communicated set of brand guidelines for: typefaces, colour palette, layout, imagery
• Tie together all media through the a strong visual identity: posters, flyers, website, social media sites
• To increase awareness and promote the organisation through a strong visual identity.
• Show how they aim to become Reading’s first Charitable Incorporated Dance Organisation that focus on promoting and celebrating cultural diversity, bringing its’ residents side by side to celebrate their individual and collective cultures in a community based way.

Deliverables

1. New logo to be used on multiple applications as jpeg and png files
2. Brand guidelines document including: typographic detailing for all media, colour palette for all media, template example layouts for promotional material as a pdf file

Writing and signing off the restated brief helped me establish the guidelines and timeframes for the project and it was a very useful process to understand and confirm the terms of the contract as at first the deliverables of the project were too vague and negotiable. I ended up producing 2 restated briefs, 1 copy written for myself and 1 for the client only containing what they need to know. This was to keep the clients copy concise and relevant.

The biggest challenge I initially faced was confirming the deliverables as my client wanted brand guidelines with the logo but then asked for ‘future implementation of the brand guidelines’. However, this part of the contract was too vague as there was no timeframe and the project needed a finish date to aim for. Instead, we agreed on keeping in touch after the real job contract expired so the visual identity could be implemented in the future under a separate contract. Alternatively, another student could take on the job in the future and implement my brand guidelines to deliverables such as a leaflets and posters for future dance events.

How the project evolved

Initial stages

Once the restated brief, schedule and deliverables were confirmed I was able to look into the specific needs of the user and client and start looking for ways i could add my own ideas to the rebrand. I started by looking at similar organisations and competitors logos and branding for guidance in terms of colour schemes, typography, imagery and ethos. Here I began to think how each element could be used to promote certain brand values and characteristics.

I began by working on the logo concepts first as they would act as the foundations for the rest of the rebrand. I proposed a range of initial concepts to my client and from there the finer details would follow such as colour schemes and typefaces. After receiving feedback on the initial concepts I began to develop the logos as vectors in Illustrator and we went through multiple different ideas before narrowing it down to two concepts. The weekly email feedback made the sharing of files and timeframe manageable for both of us with busy schedules. Throughout this exploration process I was able to gain a better sense of Reside Dance’s ethos and values through the feedback my client was providing me and this would later help when writing the brand guidelines.

Initial logo concepts

The dancing figure logos are conceptually self explanatory. The concept behind the rounded shape logos was the merging together of different groups of people represented by the overlapping abstract shapes and different colours – creating readings diverse community. The concept behind the geometric, building like shapes was to give a sense of the community coming together in a range of public buildings around reading where the dance performances would be held – emphasising the word reside ‘to have ones home or be situated in a place’ (public spaces around reading). These ideas eventually combined to create the concept of a group of people holding hands from a birds eye view, forming a building like shape  – the community creating a sense of place and space through dance performance. 

– Logo concept explorations

We eventually narrowed it down to the final logo concept after exploring various other possibilities through process of elimination. The client feedback I received was extremely useful during this process as they had a clear vision for the logo and they understood what was possible and what wasn’t. Here I made the requested adjustments from weekly feedback until my client was happy with the concept that fit the overall brand ethos. Once decided on the final concept, I was able to work on finer details such as typography, composition, form and colour. I feel that the weekly feedback approach with both my client and project supervisor worked well as it gave enough time to make the amendments and to consider feedback, giving the project structure.

Final logo

The Reside Dance logo conveys its values and brand through the imagery and colours used. The imagery shows a culturally diverse circle of people holding hands and dancing around the name ‘Reside Dance’ from a birds eye view. This imagery resembles the coming together of different ethnicities to create a strong network and community through dance and movement. The dancing figures also form a shape that resembles a safe public space or building in which the community is performing. The warm colour pallet also resembles the welcoming nature of the organisation as well as cultural diversity.

– Final logo

Brand guidelines

The finished logo worked as the foundation for the brand guidelines document and after I had finalised these visual guidelines I was able to apply them to business card and leaflet mock-ups using copy provided by my client in order to show how the branding would be implemented. The brand guidelines I produced included guidelines for the brand identity and ethos, logo, colour scheme, typography, business card mock-up, leaflet mock-up, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram logo mock-ups. 

– Leaflet and business card templates to show how the brand guidelines would be implemented

Final stages

Towards the end of the project my client got ill which slowed down the project as I needed feedback and confirmation to finish the brand guidelines. This resulted in us having to push back the finish date but after some negotiation with my client and supervisor we were able to settle on a later finish date in order to get the best results for the project deliverables, rather than handing over unfinished work. Here I learnt the importance of negotiation and patience when unforeseen circumstances arise in a project.

There was regular communication between me and my supervisor during the final stages of the project as I finalised the logo and brand guidelines. Here I learnt the importance of copy editing and writing in a style that a non-designer is able to understand. I also learnt how important it is to get feedback on designs and written work from other people as I kept missing small errors throughout the brand guidelines. My client, supervisor and peers were all helpful in providing this feedback. My supervisor also helped me tidy up my logo vector file so it was ready for multiple applications at different scales. These are all important skills that I will take forward with me into the future.

How the project was received

After handing over the final deliverables to my client I received an email of thanks. It was satisfying to know that the final outcome was well received and even more so to see the logo used throughout their social media platforms and on their website. It was also reassuring to hear that my attitude was professional and organised as working with a real client was something I hadn’t had much experience with before. After we finished the project, we decided to keep in contact for future implementation of the brand guidelines and any other work Reside Dance might need in the future which further emphasised the success of the project and the relationship with my client.

Reflection

I feel that the final outcome of the project definitely achieved its initial aims, despite working on a project out of my usual comfort zone. Being a charitable organisation, it wasn’t the typical style of work I was used to but this forced me to work out of my comfort zone which was rewarding as I was constantly learning new skills. Working out of my comfort zone also boosted my confidence, making me realise how the skills I have learnt at university are transferable to all styles and areas of design. I feel that if I am able to practice and refine the skills and styles i have learnt on this project, it’s definitely an area of design that I would want to do more of in the future.

I feel that the final outcome of the final logo is a little generic, looking like many other charitable organisation logos. Despite going through a wide range of initial concepts, some with more intriguing messages and visual forms, my client picked one that I wasn’t initially sure about. However, this made me realise that ultimately, the work is being designed for the client and it is my job to provide them with the vision they have for the project. On most other university projects, the work produced would be for myself, under my own guidelines, but here I was working for a client which made me realise the importance of being able to interpret and create other peoples visions. It was also morally fulfilling knowing that the work produced was helping a charitable organisation and the wider community in Reading.

Overall, I feel that the project ran smoothly and this was thanks to having an engaged and enthusiastic client. Now that all of the deliverables are tied together under the brand guidelines document I feel they act as a strong foundation for the future of Reside Dance. The most rewarding aspect of this project was working with a real client as previously I was used to making my own design decisions, based on my own preferences. This project meant that I had to work to a tighter specification where I was designing for someone with different ideas and tastes to my own. At first I found this challenging but I have learnt lots of valuable lessons from it and I feel that I can now handle negotiations and work on feedback (even if I don’t agree with it) in a much more professional way. This is an extremely useful skill that I will take into the future with me.

Final deliverables

– Final logo

– Example spreads from the brand guidelines

Client: Richard Joyce

The brief

W. R. Joyce & Company are a small firm of solicitors based in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. The client asked for the company’s visual identity to be updated and for it to become more distinguished. In addition to this, the client  was keen to implement a consistent design across all forms of company communication and also attract a larger client base through the updated brand identity. The main deliverable for this job was the creation of a new logo for the company. In addition to this, the client asked for business cards, compliment slips and letterheads to be designed and printed using the new logo design.

Research

Before creating initial logo designs for W R Joyce & Company, I wanted to gain inspiration from the Weimar/ modernist design that the client was keen to feature in the updated visual identity of the company. This style of design is something I had not previously experimented with or used within any of my design work. Therefore I was quite interested in how my logo designs would turn out. Below are examples of some of my findings when searching the modernist style of design. I immediately noticed the interesting use of the sans serif typefaces and the alignment of the type. Also, this style of design commonly featured different shapes and bright and vibrant colours.

I also looked into the symbolic meanings behind values that would be closely associated to the work of solicitors. These included trust, loyalty, leadership and wisdom. I found that the most appropriate symbols for a logo design would be an oak tree and the Celtic symbol of a Dara knot, which are both often associated with trust. From carrying out research, I learnt that as a designer it provides you with a good starting point to base your ideas on, making them a lot more focused on the clients needs.

Transform

After my supervisor signed off the re-stated brief and I had updated the schedule from what Stephen Hickson had previously agreed with his client, I began to create logo designs. I first began creating designs using the symbols, shown below in the images. These logos were a lot more traditional in their design and did not necessarily achieve the modern and updated visual identity the client was keen to achieve.

I was also determined to experiment with creating logo designs that stuck to the weimar/ modernist style of design. This was not as daunting because of the initial research I had done on the style, I now had inspiration and ideas of what made a modernist design successful. Within each of the logo designs, I experimented with the placement of the text ‘W. R. Joyce & Co Solicitors’, colour and shapes. Below are the logos that my both my client and supervisor felt were most effective.

After feedback from my client and supervisor on my initial logo ideas, it was clear that the logos featuring the modernist style of design were to be the ones I would develop further and improve. I was extremely happy to hear from my client that they were ‘delighted with the progress so far’. My next step was to experiment with different typefaces within the logo designs. In terms of typeface choices, I wanted to stick to the typical modernist typefaces, which included Futura, Optima, Helvetica and Alte Haas Grotesk. Below I have included one of the logo designs, but in the different typeface choices, rather than including all of the different variations I had created.

I then sent these variations of typeface choices to my client to see if he had any particular preferences. However, for a few weeks my client was unable to respond to my email because of his heavy work load. In the mean time I completed three print estimation forms using the link on my trello board, for the business cards, compliment slips and the letterheads. Geoff got back to me within a few days and I was able to send these to my client as well so he had an idea of what things may cost for a few different amounts. It was important for me to do this before any designs were finalised because the client needs to always be informed of cost as the job develops.

At this stage of the real job I was very aware that the original deadline has now past and was keen for the job to move forward. I made the decision to give my client a quick call to discuss the emails I had sent him, he then replied to the email the day after which was great.  I was also able to update the schedule within the restated brief. Within this email he chose the logo below as his favourite design, which uses the typeface Alte Haas Grotesk. The logo design is shown below. I was then keen to meet with my supervisor to make sure I improved the design further, before moving forward with the job.

He also said he would prefer to use his local printers, who have previously printed all of his materials, rather than using DPS. This is understandable as he is based in Ireland and would not have to worry about getting the printed materials over to him. My client also mentioned that he would be happy to pay me to create the website for his company as a separate job. I was delighted at this offer as this will be my first job outside of the real job scheme and once finished it will be a great achievement.

I then talked to my supervisor about how to improve the chosen logo design further. He suggested that I tighten the spacing between some of the characters, knocking back ‘Solicitors’ so it is less dominant and exploring ways to solve the award space underneath ‘Joyce’. As well as making these changes, I also needed to make sure the logo worked on the printed materials (business card, letterhead and compliment slips).

My supervisor gave me helpful advise on further ways to make the logo look much more refined and dynamic. The most important change here was changing the typeface to Helvetica. This occurred because Alte Haas Grotesk looked very messy when looking at it close up. This change was not dramatic as the typefaces are practically the same. Another important change was the inclusion of different font weights within Helvetica, emphasising the hierarchy of the different elements of the logo. My client’s response to the updated logo design was ‘the suggested change is perfect – very subtle’.  I also had a discussion with my supervisor about the benefits of the company investing in creating a spot colour for the mustard yellow/ orange colour. This would allow the colour on their printed deliverables to be much more solid and vibrant. Using a spot colour will mean that there are no white spaces between the printed ink, like there is when using the four colour process. A spot colour is something I will definitely mention to my client.

In addition to the logo, I created a pattern, by creating different sized blocks of colour using the text within the logo. I felt that this was an interesting way of adding to the company’s visual identity. The pattern would be a meaningful addition to the range of deliverables I will create later on. Although, it was important for me to keep in mind that the pattern should never overpower the logo within a design, it should always be a subtle addition to a design, otherwise it loses its effectiveness.

What is next?

After the 14th, I will continue with this brief by finalising the print deliverables, which include a business card, compliment slip and letterhead. I will need to ensure that the files are ‘print ready’ for my client to send to his printers in Ireland and finalised to a professional standard. In addition to this, I aim to create a guideline document for the client, which will ensure that the consistency of the brand continues in future design outcomes, especially when used by others. Furthermore, I need to make my client aware of the regulations relating to the use of a typeface, if he would prefer to continue the use of Helvetica outside of the logo design. In addition to this, I will need to discuss with him the benefits of creating a spot colour for print deliverables. This is because the colour will then print much more solid and vibrant compared to creating the colour using the 4 colour process.

What have I learnt?

Throughout the job so far I have learnt how beneficial it is to regularly show my design work to others, especially my supervisor. This is because I am constantly able to improve my designs and learn new techniques to help a design become more effective. For example how effective different font weights of a typeface can be within a logo, to break up the text and the hierarchy. I have also been able to design a logo in a style that sits out of my normal comfort zone, as the client asked for me to create a logo in a weimar/ modernist style. This taught me that I should try not to limit my design ideas; I am able to be much more versatile in my design ideas. When I have finalised the brand guidelines, I will have been able to improve my understanding and the skills involved in creating clear and precise guidelines.

Restated brief

After we met with the client to discuss what they aimed to achieve, we sent them a restated brief, which was approved by both the client and our superviser.

We aimed to create a logo for a unique style of bag as part of a UK brand, which will be used by style conscious dog walkers. This logo needs to be able to adapt in size but also when it will be used on promotional material and different types of fabric in the future. The logo must work in a single colour both positive and reversed on a dark background, including being debossed onto leather.

The bag itself will be will be similar to a messenger bag, with different compartments for accessories such as treats and a lead for the dog. There will also be space for the dog owners own belongings (phone and house keys for example) The unique selling point for the bag will be the compartment for the poo bags as this will mask any odors. It is a bag that allows dog walkers to go from walking their dog, to socialising with friends in a cafe, with possible hashtags #WalkiesToWhine / #WalkiesToWine.

The target audience for this brand, are dog walkers who live in the countryside, rather than those who live in the city where bins are readily available. In addition to this, the unique and stylish bag is is aimed at those who are aged 30–60+, especially those who enjoy an upper-class lifestyle. The audience is likely to take their dog on a long walk, then head to their local pub for lunch afterwards, taking their dog with them. It is also for those who are environmentally aware and disagree with dog walkers who do not look after the countryside.

Transform

The client had not yet decided on their company name and were stuck between ‘Houndsley’ and ‘Hound Heritage’. When we created our first set of initial logo ideas, we created ideas using both of these names, as shown below.

After submitting these initial ideas to our supervisor, our main feedback was to place each logo idea onto 1 page each on a PDF, making it clearer for client. We also then selected our favorite logos from the set to develop, before sending to the client for their first approval. Below displays the three logos we discussed with our supervisor.

Our feedback from our client was that they did not want an illustrative logo, but rather a “clean, mainly text” one. They liked the current Chapman bags logo, which is rather a focus on typography and a small motif above, which is not too twee and obvious.

In addition to this, the client decided to go with the name ‘Houndlsey’ because it was only one word, rather than two and also because it sounded memorable. With this decision made, it allowed us to have a clearer focus on creating logos for that name only.

With this in mind, we focused more so on the typography and a small illustration above, (as shown below). We explored a range of serif and san serif typefaces. In the end we chose to explore mainly sans serif typefaces, such as Avenir, Aktiv Grotesk, Futura and Gill Sans. As well as this, we looked at a range of simple illustrations for the motif, we wanted something that was not too predictable but also represented the brand well.  As the clients wanted a primary focus to be the “English heritage/ Established” and “Made in England” style logo, we added these above and below ‘HOUNDSLEY’.

Typographic logos

The clients narrowed down their favourite typefaces to Avenir and Aktiv Grotesk. They also decided that they liked the idea of using a dog lead as the motif. From there we were able to play with the shape of the lead, rather than just having it laid in a straight line. 

After many developments and tweaking of the logo ideas, the client decided that they preferred the typeface Avenir because the stroke was very similar to that of the heart motif.

The final logos

After developing the logo numerous times, we decided that the logo would be more of a success if we had two versions of it, one that will be used for debossing, called the ‘alternative logo’, because it has a suitable amount of space within it and has a much better structure enabling it to be clearly debossed. The other version of the logo is called the ‘regular logo’, one that will be seen as the main logo for Houndsley, used in places like the website and promotional materials. However, if the client decided to do so, the ‘alternative logo’ could be used as an option, rather than just for debossing.

Alongside, the two main versions of the logo, we wanted to make sure that Clare and Becks had access to other variations of the logo, incase they were needed in the future. This included the logo with ‘England’ in bold and also a variation without ‘England’.

We feel that the logos that we have created for our client achieves the unique, refined and sophisticated logo which we aimed to produce. As well as this, the logo is very versatile as it can be carried across many platforms, with the use of the different variations. The logo we have designed, also achieves the clients wish to relate to english heritage with the classic and clean design.

Guidelines and file package

To ensure that the Houndsley logo would be used correctly in different design platforms the client chooses, we devised a set of logo guidelines. These guidelines explain the minimum size requirements for the logo itself as well as the lead motif, should that ever be used on its own. It also displays how much space must surrounded the logo when it is used.  

We also designed the logo to be placed on black or different coloured backgrounds, with the negative option for the client.

The client also mentioned as to whether there may be a coloured option, that may be used with different variations of their products. So in the guidelines explains the opportunity to add colour for the heart motif, as shown below.

The guidelines display mockups as to how the logo and motif will appear on different textures and design platforms, and debossed on leather. As the client will sell the product at trade shows, we also displayed how the logo will appear placed on a banner, as shown below.

Other mockups within the guidelines includes a tag, website and dust bag, as shown below.

Within the guidelines and also in conversation with the clients themselves, we needed to explain the importance of having the typeface license, if it was to be used in other material other than the logo. Currently, the client does not need to get the Avenir typeface license because we have converted the typeface to an outline in the logo and so the type is not ‘live’. However, they are aware that the typeface license will need to be purchased if they continue to use Avenir in future designs.

File package

When we had finalised the logo design and the logo guidelines for the client, we needed to make sure that the client received the files in a clear and structured manner as there would be many parts to the suite of files. To make this as easy as possible for them, we gave each version of the logo its own name, rather than numbering them. Along with this, we gave them a key to help guide them when looking through the files.

As well as this, we made sure that the client received PDFs and JPEGs of the logos so they were able to view them, as well as the illustrator files, which they can pass onto another designer or printer in the future. We placed each logo on its own A4 artboard, each having a width of 40mm as the height varied depending on the version of the logo. The A4 artboard enable the future designer or printer to have control over the amount of space surrounding the logo.

What did we learn?

Throughout this job, we learned that it is very important to communicate with your client and check that you are both on the same path as this allows the process to be more successful and run smoother. As well as this, we were able to learn the requirements which needed to be followed in order to create a logo which will be used in a print process such as debossing. This meant that we were able to see how two versions of the logo worked much better over different platforms.

When finalising the logos, we were able to see how important it was to make sure that the spacing of the different elements of the logo were balanced and also that the tracking of the characters were sufficient enough to be embossed onto the bag.

It was interesting to create and put together a logo guidelines as we had not yet done this before. During this, we realised how much detail and thought needed to be put into this, to make it as clear as possible for third parties to use if they took on the files. We also learned how to prepare the logo for different uses, such as placing it on different coloured backgrounds, therefore we had to ensure the logo was versatile for these platforms. Furthermore, we learned how to package the files effectively so that printers and future designers may access the files with ease.

We also learnt that it is very useful to ask others who are not part of the job to ask their opinion of the logo. This is because they are able to notice specific details that could be improved or made clearer. In conclusion, it was a very interesting learning process, to design something that will be used on a range of design platforms.

In April 2018 our client sent us photos of the finalised Houndsley bags which had been through production. As designers for the project we were so pleased to see our designs working effectively on the product, as we had always envisioned. Furthermore, the Houndsley website is now up and running with our logo as the header. It was also flattering for the client to note thank you for our design work in contribution to the Houndsley brand on their new website.

RJ00227 London International Development Centre (LIDC) rebrand

Designers: Fabio Rahmani and Orla O’Connell

This London International Development Centre Real Job project was assigned to Fabio during the Christmas break period, and began with initial back and forth emails with the client to discover what work needed to be done. It was decided that a re-brand was required which included work for the social media presence of the organisation, a re-designed website to improve the user experience and a new logo.

Initial meeting

For the initial meeting, Fabio travelled to London to the office of LIDC to meet with the managing director to get a better understanding of the requirements of the project and the direction that the new director had envisioned for the organisation to go towards. Fabio prepared multiple questions to gain a better understanding of the organisation and their budget. Budget turned out to not be a huge factor, although it was constantly considered within every stage of the design. Through this meeting, Fabio also found that the client wanted to approach the rebrand in a way which would portray a modern and approachable identity towards the clients target audience.

Logo

The design process of the logo involved analysing competitors brand identities, which allowed us to highlight that key features such as approachability and community. We showed the client 12 initial sketches and they decided on the fractured letters that spelled out LIDC, but also made some suggestions for changes that they would like to see. We then went on to make the changes, and add another set of variations of that logo to allow the client to decide on which style they preferred. Once the logo had been finalised, we went on to add the colours and created variations with the colours to show the client. Below shows the finalised logo design, as chosen by the client.

Communication

For a few weeks after the initial meeting, there was a lack of response from the clients end, and when a response was sent it was often not relevant to the question asked which made progressing a little difficult. This may have been due to the client not knowing exactly what they wanted. Due to the lack of communication in this time, Fabio began designing the new website with existing content on their current website due to not being supplied with a new site map or content for the new website. Through the lack of responses Fabio learned that he should not always rely on emails but should instead use phone calls to get an instant response when it’s needed.

Second meeting & Communication workshop

After a long period of silence, Fabio received an email stating that LIDC had hired a communication manager to truly find out what direction the organisation should head towards with the re-brand. The new communications manager invited Fabio to attend a workshop that she was hosting to get all the members of LIDC to voice their opinions about the way in which the brand should progress. Fabio also showcased the first iteration of the website whilst at the workshop, explaining the key features and explaining whether some ideas were feasible from a web development standpoint. Through this we learned the benefits of hosting a workshop when the client doesn’t know exactly what they want or need and it also allows direct face to face communication which is far more efficient than conversing via email.

Website design 

One of the main aims of the website re-design was to cut down on the content, and to create a more concise site map. The old website had a lack of colour and a very outdated theme which meant that one of our main aims was to create a modern design, that also doesn’t detract away from the information that is being displayed. We had to ensure that the design appealed to both potential research students as well as research funders. Through creating clearly labelled calls to action we aimed to allow users of any technical ability to efficiently use the website.

To make the website more friendly and approachable, the use of bright vibrant colours was used in conjunction with the use of colourful photography. We also decided to keep most the background white as it would increase the contrast of the text being set against it, allowing for increased legibility for the users of the website.

An additional Designer

After the long period of a lack of communication, LIDC requested for Fabio to create the mobile version of the website also but due to the way in which the deadline had been pushed back, this was no longer possible for Fabio so Orla was brought on to develop the mobile website following the style guidelines implemented by Fabio. We had 2 weeks to create the web designs for desktop and mobile.

Mobile design

Orla had to adjust the information and the style that Fabio had created to fit the smaller canvas size of a phone. The small size of the mobile screen meant that the information needed to be broken down into smaller sections, to enable the user to read and understand the content with ease.

 On quite a few of the pages, the information is broken up into different sections within the app, for example shown in the three green boxes below. When the box is clicked, information is revealed, making it less overwhelming for the user, rather than the user having to read all the information in the section in one go.

An important part of any design is consistency, the mobile version of the website consistency uses the visual identity of the desktop design. At the top of each mobile screen, there is an image along with the section of the app the user is in, for example ,’About us’, ‘Contact us’ or ‘Teaching’, this helps the user when navigating through the app.

Furthermore, on each of the screens there is a burger menu in the top left corner. Once clicked, this then reveals the menu. Here the user is able to go to different sections of the website.

 A second colour is introduced on some of the mobile screens, which is also quite bright and eye catching. The purple is used for buttons that lead to another page. The addition of a second colour adds differentiation to the clickable elements of the screen, the green is mainly for sections of the screen containing information, whereas the purple buttons link to a new section.

It seems that there may have been some misunderstanding that Fabio and Orla were working on the mobile and desktop version of the website separately as the client only responded to Fabio with feedback and corrections. However, Orla was still able to use the feedback given to Fabio to make improvements to her mobile screens. From this real job, Orla learnt how important communication is between designer and client, in order to make sure both parties are on the same page. In addition to this, Orla  was able to improve her skills in being able to adapt a design, to work successfully in another format.

To conclude

The new deadline was the same time as 2 other projects and our dissertation which meant that we could not pay complete attention to this project as we had hoped during the 2-week window that we were given to complete the web designs. We were still in the process of refining the designs when we received an email stating that they wanted to take what we had done already to their web developer so he could create the website for a quick launch. They said that they liked our designs and that they would be enough for the developer to create the website from. Due to this we were not able to complete the web designs to a standard that we had hoped to achieve.

In the end, we learned that if the client is not communicating at an reasonable speed, we should do more to go out of our way to get a response such as using phone calls to get the clients attention rather than an email. We also learned about the importance of thinking about the way in which web design functions between various platforms. The workshop was also a good learning experience and is something that we will utilize if we ever have a client that doesn’t quite know what they want.

If we had more time we would have continued to develop both the desktop and mobile designs to a standard we were both happy with. Furthermore, if we were able to work on the majority of the design aspect of the job during term time, instead of the Easter break, we would have made sure to utilise supervisor feedback more effectively. During the time we worked on the brief, we made sure to meet up and discuss our designs regularly, in order to help each other improve. We also made sure to show our peers the designs we were working on, in order to gain additional feedback. Also, if we were to take this project on again we would utilise Trello more effectively as we primarily communicated our designs and process vocally whilst meeting up and showing each other the work we had done, but through using Trello we would have been able to record our progress more effectively and we would be able to refer back to it to effectively back up our design decisions and reference pivotal moments within the design process.

Ellie Hewitt, Fay Biggs, Fabio Rahmani, Jack Smithers

This project was initiated due to a branding module that we undertook during our third year of studying at The University of Reading. The module consisted of rebranding Connect Reading, which is a Reading based charity. After attending a meeting with Kirsti Wilson, the Managing Director, we created a prototypes and mockups of a range of deliverables and presented our idea for a new brand identity to her.   

Client meeting
Kirsti was overwhelmed by how much work and thought we had put into the project and therefore decided she would like us to bring our designs to life. To begin the process of the real job we attended another meeting with Kirsti and Tracey Rawlings Church (one of the members of the board for Connect Reading). During this meeting, we confirmed that the final deliverables would be:

– New brand identity (logo/colour scheme/typeface)
– Website
– Promotional video
– Information pamphlets
– Annual impact report
– Business card
– Social media overlays
– Stationary items

In the meeting we were advised not to use as much of the ‘midnight blue’ colour which we had initially used throughout many of our deliverables due to cost factors. We was aware of that the charity did not have a huge financial budget however this was stressed further to us. For this reason we agreed that any items which were printed would feature less colour than those that were digital however we would ensure that all still fit the new brand identity.

We also agreed that the new promotional video that we would devise, should describe what Connect Reading broadly does rather than focusing on a specific event which we initially had.

The timeline requirement for work was discussed and Kirsti expressed that she was very flexible and would allow us to create the deadline and schedule for the project. Overall a second meeting with Kirsti was very beneficial as it allowed us to gain more of a relationship with her as well Tracey Rawlin Church.

Board meeting pitch
During the meeting with Kirsti, she asked us if we could present our previous work to the board of directors to ensure that they also were happy with the progress that we had made so far. We agreed that this would be an amazing opportunity as it allowed us to gain a further critique on our designs and would give us an opportunity to pitch them to a well-established and executive board, which we had not previously done before.

The board meeting was held at Reading Buses headquarters which meant we were unfamiliar with the IT system that was in place. Therefore, we were advised beforehand that we should put the presentation on a USB and present from the computer that was fitted within the room we would be presenting in. Unfortunately when we arrived this did not go to plan which meant we has to experiment with the projector and use one of our laptops to present. Although this was an issue it was resolved easily and efficiently as we arrived a lot earlier than the scheduled time in case an issue like this happened. This emphasised the importance in always be prepared and arriving early.

Overall, the feedback we were given was positive and one of the board members whom is a marketing director even stated that it was one of the best pitches that she had ever experienced. She also gave us more input on our deliverables, particularly the video. She mentioned that we should use language which the audience would speak themselves and not overcomplicate it. In addition, she advised us not to use sound effects as it takes away from the seriousness of the topic.

Following on from this we had a team meeting to arrange how we would split the tasks evenly. We agreed that Fay would continue to be our team leader as she had been so far and had already built up good communication with Kirsti during our previous module. From then on we took the feedback we had gained from the board of directors and implemented these into making our final deliverables.

Social Media
Fabio’s tasks within the Real Job project for Connect Reading were to develop and complete the social media post templates, to effectively communicate social media growth strategy to the client during the pitch to the board members and to transfer the design that was created for the annual impact report to a word ready template.

The Social media templates packages contain both PNG’s to overlay on top of images as well as the original files to make changes to the existing design. Fabio created a variety of templates which included variations in colour and in the written text present on the overlay. A template with no text was also created to allow the client to add their own text for new events and seasonal greetings when required. We will also be meeting with our client to effectively communicate how to use the templates, how to make changes and how to upload the imagery onto social media.

For the social media growth strategies, Fabio could introduce the idea to the board members during the pitch which took place at the Reading Busses head office. Within his section of the pitch, Fabio covered extensive research from studies and personal experience on the most effective way for Connect Reading to gain exposure through social media. Through communicating with the clients directly, allowing them to ask questions highlighted that not all clients will have similar technological experiences and may require more detailed explanation which will be an important factor to remember whenever we have to pitch ideas to clients in the future.

Annual Impact Report
The annual impact report was one key deliverables for this project as the client uses the report to sell themselves to potential clients, boasting an impressive network and equally as impressive numbers. Throughout the branding project we created a document in Adobe InDesign to display all the information within the annual impact report in an aesthetically pleasing way, but as we learned throughout the Real Job segment of this project, our client (and our future clients) will not have access to the same software as us, and won’t always want to hire a graphic designer to make a few simple changes to the written copy. For this reason, Fabio took the initial design and recreated the re-designed annual impact report in Microsoft Word which is our clients preferred software to use. Initially, the annual impact report was designed to be printed but as the project developed it became clear that the report would be sent out via email as a PDF allowing us to freely use colour without worrying about the printing costs. It also meant that Fabio had to make minor changes to the design such as changing sections of the annual impact report which contained columns of text, changing them into one longer column of text to improve the on screen reading experience.

Video
Ellie was tasked with creating the new video as she had already made the previous one. To begin the process she brainstormed the main information that needed to be included and asked Kirsti what aspects of Connect Reading she wanted to be highlighted. From this she created a story board that could be sent to Kirsti to ensure that all the information was correct before devising the video.

When speaking with our supervisor, Ellie was made aware that the storyboard would need to be more detailed in order for our client to interpret the information fully. It was agreed that to do this she would give more description on the visuals and give guidance on the timing of the video. Our supervisor also pointed out that we would need to be more conscious of the symbols which we used as some may be seen as offensive or not interpreted in the way which we anticipated. For this reason Ellie developed the story board further. It was critical to get this feedback as it gave us insight that we need to be more aware of the design ideas we are sending to our clients over email vs. how we can describe them face to face.

The second design of the storyboard was presented more professionally and clearer for our client to understand. Ellie then presented this to Kirsti, who was extremely impressed by the amount of detail it provided. Together, Kirsti and Ellie agreed on minor changes to the script. Following on from this, Ellie recorded the voiceover of Kirsti so the video would be more personal to Connect Reading and their story.

While making the video, Ellie discovered that by placing other brands logos upon the design would clash and would not be visually appealing. For this reason the white versions were used and placed on the iconic blue circles that are used throughout the video. This allowed for the design style to stay consistent throughout.

Overall, we believe the video has been structured well to stand out from competitors while telling the story of Connect Reading. It can be used successfully across all social media platforms as well as the website.  

Website
Besides being project manager, Fay was also tasked with the design and development of the website. It was stressed during the branding project as well as the client and board meetings that the website and annual impact report were integral parts of the organisation and their redesigns were a priority. The objectives we developed in our restated brief aimed to create a website that was current, structured, easy to navigate and easy to edit and maintain from the clients end.

Because of the stricter budget of our client, the website had to be developed without the use of typical online web or blog builders and hosting services such as wordpress.com or wix as Connect Reading had already paid for their annual hosting and domain subscription with another server. Therefore, Kirsti put Fay in contact with developers from an agency here in Reading that were responsible for hosting the current Connect Reading site to discuss how the website can be developed and deployed. From meeting with a developer from the agency, it was suggested that the best approach to take was a wordpress powered site developed through the wordpress.org software. This website would be self hosted during the developmental stage and then packaged to be deployed by the agency who would host it.

Fay had never developed a wordpress site using the software before so it was an opportunity to develop a new skill in learning how to set up a site, databases and SQL servers. The experience was challenging at first, but the technical knowledge gained from it would become an asset in future development of client sites. Throughout the developmental stage, constant meetings with both the client and the developers helped give constructive feedback on both the design and technical aspects of the website. The developers were able to give key advice on realistically implementing some aspects from the design, making us aware of design components that we would have to change to create a more workable and easily maintainable website. The process of consulting and working with front and back end developers also provided an introduction to future experiences in the workplace where a designer would have to collaborate with various skilled individuals on large collaborative projects.

Unfortunately, the night before this job submission, a crucial wordpress plug in update broke some formatting and javascript design elements of the site. The technical difficulty was unforeseen and reminded Fay that site backups and being flexible and prepared for technical errors as such was a crucial part of being a web developer, especially when working towards a deadline. In the next coming weeks, Fay will be fixing the last few technical aspects and meeting with the web developers to ensure the site, software, databases and widgets are all functioning to make sure the client hand off and maintenance is as efficient and easy as possible.  At the end Fay was able to implement the designs proposed during the branding module into a responsive and dynamic wordpress site which will be later deployed in time for the organisation’s 15th anniversary.

Business Card
Jacks task within the project was to redesign Connect Readings business card with the new branding. The original business cards were very plain and not eye catching. Therefore, the main objective was to ensure the new design would stand out and give a good first impression to anyone viewing it.

As already discussed, the midnight blue colour should be used minimally on printed objects. Therefore, Jack looked into different approaches that could reflect the brand without having a high use of colour. Overall we feel that the business card gives a professional reflection of the company and meets the needs of the deliverable.

Powerpoint and Letterhead templates
Jack also had the task of creating a new presentation and letterhead templates that Kirsti could easily adapt without the need of any external help. It was arranged in our meeting that these would be created in Powerpoint and Word as these were familiar to Kirsti. She would also be able to export PDF’s easily and continue to save money on printing costs.

As the letterhead had a main purpose that would be printed, it was essential that the midnight blue was used minimally whereas the Powerpoint could incorporate more as it would always be digital. This reiterated to us, that when designing for our clients we should always consider how these documents will be used. Moreover, we believe that these deliverables would be easily adaptable for Kirsti and therefore meet the objectives and fit the new branding.

Sign up form
The original sign up form boasted a corporate aesthetic, therefore, Jack had a task to redesign it with the new brand identity. As Kirsti sends this to clients via email, it was essential that it was easily accessible to all that may want to use it. Therefore, the best document type was a PDF. This would allow businesses, charities and schools to easily fill  it out online and send it back. The usability of the document was considered throughout and therefore we undertook user testing to ensure that people who had not seen it before, could easily interpret the information and fill it out. This taught us that we should alway gain insight from others as it gave a new perspective.

Conclusion
In conclusion, we believe that we have created a vast range of deliverables which reflect Connect Reading’s new brand identity. For each deliverable we considered its primary audience and its use, which influenced the design choices that we made. Therefore, we believe each deliverable meets its objectives. The restrictions we encountered allowed us to each develop new skills.

Working with a proactive, organised and helpful client ensured that the job ran as smooth as it possibly could and indicated that making connections such as the one we have developed with Kirsti would be beneficial for our future careers. To develop this project further we will continue to liaise with Kirsti and the board or director at Connect Reading and make final adjustments to the deliverables and ensure that the brand is reflected to a professional standard.

Client meeting
The aim of this job was to create 6 motifs which could be used across various sports fashion clothing items. Through our initial meeting with our client, we discovered the target market for the clothing was 16–28 year olds, with students being a large segment of this audience. Our initial aims were to experiment with different shapes, explore different ways that the brand name could be presented e.g. ‘young’, ‘y1’, and to experiment with different typefaces.

When reviewing the information with our supervisor it was questioned how these designs would be transferred onto the clothing. As we had never worked with physical fabric items before, this was something we had not thought about. However, it taught us that when designing motifs for garments, the fabrics and manufacturing can play a huge role on our designs and educated us to always ask questions about these aspects in future projects. After speaking to our client further, we were made aware that the designs could be applied through embroidery, stitching or printing. They explained that they would choose the method of application after we had sent the final designs.

Communication
In our initial meeting with our client we arranged that all contact would be made through WhatsApp and that designs would be sent over as jpegs so they were easy for them to access. However, throughout the development of our project, communication slowed down on our clients behalf which made it increasingly hard for us to develop design ideas. This was because the feedback from our client took time to receive and was often undetailed.

We were made aware by a third party that our client was out of the country for six weeks, which meant that we had a considerable time difference which was slowing down communication. We persisted to engage in conversation as much as we could, however communication stopped completely. After speaking to our supervisor, we were advised to call our client to try converse over the phone, which would allow for quicker responses. However, after leaving messages, communication still did not re-emerge. This led us to email the client with a notice that if we did not hear any response by a particular date, the job would dissolve. Finally, we received a response that they were happy to continue.

Due to having a long period with no contact, we decided it would be beneficial to meet with our client face-to-face and therefore arranged a second meeting. During this time the client apologised for the lack of communication and we agreed that the job would continue but a updated restated brief was needed as the requirements had varied dramatically from the beginning of the project.

We learnt that we needed to be clear in our brief about the terms of communication and therefore added a section about this where we detailed how further communication would happen and explained that the more feedback we were given, the quicker the process would be in developing the designs. The schedule was also updated and contained times that we would send designs over and when it was expected for them to respond. We learnt that in this situation we needed to be the leader of communication and ensure that we both parties stick to the schedule for the job to run smoothly.

After this, we found that the job ran smoother however the amount of feedback that our client gave was still minimal. To ensure that we explored many ideas we relied on feedback from our peers and supervisor.

Design process
To begin the design stage we were under the impression that our client wanted clean, modern, typography based designs therefore we experimented with this. We originally attempted to create a concept for a set of design which could be used together to create a range of clothing items. However it was made clear that the designs may not be used at the same time and they did not need to work as a series. This was similar to the issue we encountered with the meaning behind the designs. We experimented with many different ways our designs could convey a concept for example; music and the original branding. However our client expressed that he did not necessarily want that from the design. This was something that we found challenging as our experience in design so far has always encouraged us to convey meaning or have a purpose.

The problems continues as, after sending many design ideas our client asked us to use the same typeface as a well-known sports fashion brand. We saw this as a concern as it we believed it could look like the designs were ‘fake’ versions of the particular brand. We understood that saying that to our client wouldn’t have a great deal of affect. Instead we interviewed many 16­–28 years olds to ask their opinion. This information confirmed out initial thoughts and therefore we presented this to our client. This taught us that user testing is imperative in ensuring that the design meet the needs of the user. It also emphasised that it can sometimes be beneficial to challenge a client and the designs may progress and meet the requirements of the brief more.

To continue with the project our client asked us to design motifs with graphic aspects rather than typography based ones and stated that the words such as ‘young’ and ‘y1’ no longer needed to be incorporated. Therefore we experimented with further designs that featured animals, landscapes and shapes (all which they stated inspired them). After sending the updated designs to the client they then stated that they would like this information to be incorporated again. It taught us that clients can sometime become confused about what they in vision and it is important that all details discussed are featured in the restated brief to save time towards the later stages in the project.

Final designs
Overall, although the job was a challenging period, we believe that we have created designs that meet the needs of the updated restated brief. The six motifs are modern and clean and would be attractive for a 16–28 year old audience. We have ensured that each motif can be easily transferable on different clothing garments and none would be manipulated by folds or creasing that may be caused when they are worn.

After our second meeting with the client, all deadlines on the schedule were met however, we were unable to send over the final designs to the client in time for the deadline that we had agreed, as our supervisor had not signed them off. This taught us, that in future when designs need to be approved before they can be sent, we should always allow more time for them to be reviewed than what we initially anticipated. This would then give us more leeway and still ensure that we meet the deadlines.

Conclusion
This job has taught us that when clients have multiple other responsibilities they may need to be reminded to continue communication with us as designers in order for the job to be completed in a reasonable time frame. While the job took longer than expected to complete it provided us an insight into how important it is to provide a schedule and ensure it is stuck to. Largely it provided us with project management and client management skills that we would not have gained working from a hypothetical brief.

Restated brief

Two groups of students in Geography required logos and a simple brand system for their project. Each team was acting as a consultancy of their own and would pitch their reports in presentations to their year group at the end of term. The outputs required for both teams were a logo and Microsoft Powerpoint template. They were to reflect the professionalism of the group and represent their research areas accurately staying away from clichéd imagery.

The first team, Permadrain, wanted a logo that was simple and modern that would reflect the urban aspect of their research as well as promote the idea of sustainability. The second team, Barkham Brook Water Quality, wanted a brand system that was simple and modern relating to downstream water quality.

Permadrain

The design process for Permadrain saw the experimentation with the concept of the urban environment and the flow of water through the neighbourhood. I also considered different typefaces and arrangements for the logomark and type in consideration of their uses. The final logo is a leaf-water droplet with the veins of the leaf representing the pipeline of water going through the area of research.

Barkham Brook Water Quality

For Barkham Brook Water Quality, the logo is a reflection of the changing water quality as it is filtered through the purification system – the core aspect of the research focus. This is also reflected in the colour gradient that gradually lightens as it reaches the bottom. The group changed their name in the last minute, but the concept remained the same.

The slides for Barkham Brook Water Quality were much simpler than the Permadrain ones due to its “footer” quality. The graphic does not get in the way of text boxes, allowing it to remain in the same position no matter what type of slide is used.

Key takeaways

At the time of the brief, neither of the teams had names and this made it particularly difficult to create a concept or factor in the length of the name in the design. Although this was an opportunity to suggest names paired with concepts to them, the students felt that they better understood their research context and chose their own names instead.

Towards the end of the Real Job, it came to light that several groups had misunderstood the brief and the names of some groups changed last minute. This affected one of my groups, but because the logo was built on a concept based on their research (rather than relying on imagery from the original name), I was able to continue with the design process.

I also learned the difficulty of using and designing for Microsoft programmes on a Mac system. The features offered in the Windows systems were also different from the ones offered on an Apple machine. This limited my choice of typefaces and I had to consider using fonts that are readily available. Due to the rushed timeline towards the end, the Powerpoint slides I created for the groups were very basic and I did not have time to play around with the visual impact much. I also did not manage to control transitions, which might have affected the quality and coherence of the presentation (although that in itself is unknown).

As my first Real Job, and the only one I did alone, it was a good stepping-stone for future expectations working with non-designers – particularly having to keep in mind the “anything that can break will break” scenario.

 The Ethos of the Conservation Project

The department was approached by Maggie Shelton, the Community Catchment Officer of the new heritage lottery funded project named Watercress & Winterbournes. The Test and Itchen rivers from the chalk of the Hamshire downs form a unique landscape, the environments that are home to Winterbournes and chalk streams. The client defined these as rivers which rise form the chalk lands and flow within the landscape of rural fields.  These rare habitats are home to a wide diversity of wildlife and plants,however these landscapes are at risk from pollution, drought and flooding. The pressures of modern change and development threaten these habitats and therefore the Watercress & Winterbournes Conservation Project is beginning to establish. The ethos of the organisation is to restore the built heritage and addresses these environmental issues by bridging communities together for the environments to thrive, preparing them for future generations. The purpose is to fund projects for members of the community to take part in which will maintain the health of the terrain. The client wanted to brand the project, briefing the design of 3 logos per student as a 2 part project. These designs would then be presented to their board to choose from. This Real Job is a fantastic opportunity to design for a project promoting environmental awareness, such a pressing ecological issue we have provided with chance to visualise. It was really important for me to consider that the standard of design, in addition to the values it promotes will grant the conservation project further attention and advertising. The more the design was considered correctly, visualised to promote the ethos of the conservation project, the awareness of this environmental aid will be further established and convincing to its viewer.

The Clients Specifications

The meeting with the client allowed her to explain the values of the project in which she wanted the logo to encompass, as previously understood these are extremely important in logo design/branding as they formulate the correct message directly. Prior to beginning initial ideas, I ensured I defined with Maggie Shelton the complex subject of the study and directly what she wanted to reflect in the design that would be communicated to the potential audience members. She informed me about the conservation, defining the environmental terms in detail and according to my questions, which I ensured had to be grasped before creating an accurate logo concept. From my discussion, I ensured I asked what she expected from the logo and if there were any visualisations she specified. Shelton identified that the logos weren’t to be literal indications of the conservation name, as the project is defined by addressing a variety of issued based on the heritage and the landscape of the habitats. Shelton specifically identified the logos were to capture elements of water movement, as the streams and rivers are the main components of the conservation. She additionally specified that elements of the landscape such as plant species associated with the streams would also be a design expectation. These designs were to work in black and white, with additional detail in colour. Shelton identified the design was to identify with a character of style and this was worth introducing into the development in researching illustrative methods. Each logo is to be comfortably legible at a large and small scale for inclusion in reading documents, presentations signs and banners.

Visual Concepts & Initial Ideas

As I begin every project, I created inspiration boards soon after the client meeting to have a fresh idea of what they specified. I ensured I understood the conservation project and the subject matter, followed with corresponding visuals and concepts. I began with sketches of several designs which porgressed to more refined developments, working on the alliterated ‘W’ which I identified as a characteristic unique to the conservation when compared to other associates/partners of heritage funded projects, such as Portsmouth Water and  Salmon and Trout Conservation UK, the project would, therefore, be distinctly identified amongst the collection. Focusing on Shelton,s specification for the logo to capture an illustrative character, I researched illustrators and illustrative styles which practiced these characteristics, associated with visualising natural landscapes. Dawn Cooper inspired my approach, an illustrator whom I was familiar with from my Dissertation study with illustrators from Puffin Book cover designs. Coopers work is characterised by the use of texture to give the impression of rural and organic tactility almost, which I felt immediately is relevant when designing for nature conservations.

Design Development

I began working on the typographic elements, which established my modern and clean approach to the logo, which could have been done to appear as traditional with the use of a serifed typeface. I chose to work with Freight Sans using the ‘W’ to edit combining my scanned illustrations with further editing to a more established and professional logo. Developed from my drawing, I digitally manipulated the ‘W’ to have water ripples as if to be sitting half in water. The water is not visualised with wave movements but replicates the slow flowing movements of streams, this attention to detail was informed by my study of the subject matter which, as I stressed from the beginning, was important to get right as an inaccurate idea may be communicated. I then added colour which was chosen to the clients specifications of blues and greens to relate its subject of nature, therefore artificial/unnatural colours were to be avoided. I then added reflection to the ‘W’ which would be the additional detail Shelton had specified for the colour edition. Inspired by Dawn Cooper to move away from a still and static corporate logo characterised by flat colour, I added texture and which from user testing people associated with organic nature, which was the appropriate reaction intended.

Following the client’s additional specifications for the logo to encompass iconography relating to the landscape, I added illustrations of Cat Tail Reeds which I researched grow in the chalk streams of the Hampshire downs which identity as a characteristic associated with their landscape. With additional user testing at this stage, individuals were asked what they associate the illustrations within which the response specified ‘reeds that grow in streams or rivers’ which again was the exact result intended. I then added my illustrations to a single arm of the ‘W’ and then to both sides for variation, these were then sent to the client for feedback. The problem arose when composing the geometric ‘W’ with the illustrative reeds, they were separated by the use of a stroke, this was decided as when converted to black and white the shape became undefined be the grouping of both visuals.

Conclusive Proposal

My designs will continue to develop with 2 additional logo concepts for submission to the client in the following weeks. My current variations of logo work with and without the addition of the reeds and will depend upon what the client admires, however both editions can be sent to her. In my opinon the ‘W’ logo alone works and received positive feedback from viewers more so than the edition with reeds, however I feel it implies a corporate message rather than the ideals of a nature trust which is expressed through the organic design of the progressed logos with the reed illustrations. They additional conform to Shelton’s requirements of illustrative character and iconographic elements of the landscape. I plan to improve the current logo varying contrasts of colour to avoid the use of an unnecessary stroke which prevents the unification of elements crucial for logo design. My approach with logo design is to explore every concept I have in mind to the full, exhausting every option to achieve the best result. As the client required three different logos for me to design in order for them to propose, I am currently in the process of designing a ‘W’ made out of reeds, hands holding a stream sitting alongside the text and also experimenting with the use of a reflection – every logo includes and considers the clients specifications of water flow and landscape, meeting the brief in addition to Shelton’s vision.

Introduction

The brief was to create a logo and brand identity for the newly funded Natural Flood Management Reasearch Programme headed by three major universities here in the UK. The task was to create a programme logo as well as three subset project logos as well as branded deliverables such as newsletters, letterheads, powerpoint templates and blog sites in four sets corresponding to each logo. This project began during the second semester of this year and was chosen for the opportunity to continue honing my branding skills. The branding project took place the previous semester and proved to be an area of design I felt that I particularly enjoyed and excelled at. I wanted to continue improving these branding and marketing skills I had gained from the module. This job initially was for a single person but after the first client meeting, my supervisor and I agreed the job was more suited for a pair. Camara, my colleague from second year agreed to take this real job alongside myself, a deliberate decision to encourage collaboration across years and work with others inside the department.

Research 

Joanna Clark, our Reading based client here at the university wanted a brand identity and subsequent print and digital deliverables for a government funded environmental programme focused on natural flood management. Joanna was the head of the Landwise project, one of the three projects that comes under the overall programme with colleagues in other parts of the UK who headed the other two projects. With so many stakeholders in the project, from the advice of James Lloyd, we chose Joanna as our main point of contact as she was Reading based – organising contact and feedback with the other directors through Joanna.

From the first client briefing meeting, Joanna detailed the nature of the programme and projects to us. The clients field of study is based in the environmental sciences so a lot of topics and subject details were quite complex and foreign to both Camara and I which led to an extensive research phase. Joanna and the other two project leaders, Emma Shuttleworth and Nick Chappelle did give us a lot of information via resources such as project proposals, manifestos, text books and academic studies. Upon request, they also put together mood boards of their visual elements they felt represented their projects or appreciated for it’s design, giving us a better sense of what directions their visions were going in and finding a way to match and improve upon that.  We knew that to accurately capture the essence of such a large programme in our new brand identity design, a deep understanding of the topic of natural flood management would be essential.

We began the research phase looking at two areas that would influence the new brand – the technical, academic side of the programme as well as the design and branding side based on the visual styles used by partner projects, organisations and competitors. Reading into the topic of flood management, we became more aware of the geographical areas these issues take place, the ecosystems surrounding these areas, the people and places they effect and the studies taking place to help prevent such issues. We also assessed other government funded programmes, non profit organisations and environmental associations to see how they interpreted their fields of study into their branding, giving us a better idea of what visual styles were common in this sector and how we could improve on those to create something that was unique but still consistent and synonymous with the environmental sciences.

Client Meetings and Feedback 

Compared to other real job and freelance projects I have undertaken; this was the first time I have worked with a client who was a scientist by profession on a project based in the sciences. This was important to bring up as this influenced the ways in which we interacted and presented work to our clients. During our client meetings with all three project heads, we found that giving feedback and design opinions were more minimal due to this misconception that science and art or design are on two polar ends of a spectrum, that being a scientist negated their design opinions. We also realised in this project, that detailed design aspects like typeface differences and colour swatches which are noticeably different to designers or typographers were not as noticeable to clients who have never had to consider or assess such concepts before.

We decided to combat this by encouraging an atmosphere of complete comfort and honesty when expressing feedback and ideas – that no idea was too unreasonable and that the more feedback we could get, the better we could improve on our designs. Because of the variety of stakeholders based across the UK resulting in minimal face to face contact, we decided to present all work for feedback in simple pitch like slides with annotations and blurbs to explain design decisions (use of a font, colour changes, placement etc.), putting into context why we chose to do what we did for better understanding, comparison and feedback. This approach was well favoured by our clients, who felt it was easier to make design decisions on well annotated work that gave insight into a process they were not as familiar with, stating it was a very professional way to have work presented to them.

Branding 

This project posed quite a challenge as the branding task not only required one logo and brand identity, but four – requiring careful choice in form, colour and typeface to create an effective, consistent and cohesive set of visual identities and sub-brands. All brand logos and identities would not only have to meet the client requirements of being vibrant, exciting, visual and professional but would also have to work alone as separate brands and alongside each other on programme deliverables when needed. We took a look at famous brands and their sub-brands, assessing the various ways in which they create visual singularity while staying consistent with its “parent” brand.

Colour Pallette

Colour was naturally the first tool we thought could help differentiate the different project identities. A carefully selected colour palette would allow us to create a set of multi functioning swatches that work well on their own as separate sub-brand swatches and that match well with each other to create a larger multi coloured palette that was symbolic of important project aspects. This was my own interpretation of the brief, incorporating the research into a meaningful colour palette that could allow for easy sub branding.

Logo work

We wanted to stray away from the text heavy logos common in this field of science and create a visual and iconographic logo. The next course of action taken was applying the colours to its appropriate symbolic imagery. The client’s description of the “constant movement of flowing water” when describing the topic of water management inspired the use of line work and colour blocks to symbolise not only water, but crop rows on farms that are affected by flood and the waving lines of rolling hills in the moorlands (which are also the ecosystems and geographic locations where these three projects target). The clients were very receptive of this symbolic patterned line work and colour blocking, noting how impressed they were with the attention to symbolism and imagery as well as the high quality of of work. This concept of colourful line work continued to be developed, playing with shape, symmetry and form to create several sets of logos that were eventually narrowed down to a final programme logo and its corresponding sub logos. This logo was ultimately chosen for it’s ease of recognition on both print material and online sources like social media profile pictures due to its bold lines and bounding shape.

We knew the client specifically requested the use of a sans serif font so a small selection of a variety of sans serif fonts that were geometric, condensed and rounded were selected for the logos. The typefaces had to be both clean and professional looking but work well with the varying widths of wavy lines in the logo imagery. The clients collectively agreed that their preference for the classic, bold and clean Futura PT outweighed the others, taking the more corporate approach to logo’s typeface.

Templates and Stationery

Camara’s role in the project thus far was being in charge of applying the logos, brand identity and brand guidelines to the deliverables specified by the client. The newsletter, letterhead and powerpoint templates applied the colour palette and simple flowing wave design to create a clean and consistent set of templates. The logo was kept the focal point of each design with simple colourful accents to complement the clean and minimal visual approach.

Project Management 

Project manager has been a role I have been volunteered for by my partners during group projects and real jobs throughout my degree even though I struggle with maintaining a consistent time management schedule. Over the course of this degree that became more apparent in both my real jobs this year, as I was placed in a role of leadership and was expected to not only keep my group on task and in high morale while simultaneously producing quality work and being the main liason with the client. I have always enjoyed leadership roles but have always struggled with time management. Thus this role was a challenging job, but was a skill I was determined to improve on by acknowledging my struggles and trying to combat them.

Moving Forward

During the course of this job, I realised that dealing with multiple stakeholders and larger clients can be challenging as feedback can sometime take longer to receive, or video conferencing can be difficult to schedule with multiple clients. We tried to keep everything as organised and as professional as we could with scheduled feedback meetings, development presentations and minute taking to ensure we did not miss any key information or instruction. Unfortunately, branding can be a long process of trial with feedback from various levels of your client’s organisation, with many “back to the drawing board” moments. This project has been one of those moments but has given us invaluable experience for the next time around. The set of finalised logos I have shown here will be reworked in the next few weeks as part of the ongoing process of design and feedback. I hope to pursue branding in the future as my discipline, so this experience of reworking and trial and error will be something I am prepared for now and can even take steps to lessen or avoid.  However, Camara and I are continuing and determined to get this brand right for our clients as we believe so deeply in their program and have been grateful to have had this opportunity to produce work for such clients. We are already in the midst of developing the idea into new territories and are excited for how much further we can take this project. Luckily, our clients have been extraordinarily flexible with the schedule and have given us a lot of creative freedom to experiment. A revised set of logos, branding and deliverables should be completed well within the next month.

During the summer term of 2017, TypeTogether organised a poster competition for the Part 2 students of our department in order to showcase their new typeface. Lisbeth was designed by Louisa Fröhlich, a Typeface Design MA graduate from University of Reading, who started working on the typeface as part of the MA. When describing her typeface in a conversation with TypeTogether, she recalls:

“I always liked the idea of a stroke which has a subtle three-dimensional feel to it and which has the ability to somehow move more freely. Not to create a swashy diva, but rather to put this vividness and energy inside practical and efficient letter proportions.”

After seeing the typeface myself when the competition was first announced, it’s this subtle three dimensional feel of the typeface that inspired me and motivated me to take part in the competition and try experimenting with the letterforms to create a typographical poster using Lisbeth. The brief was simple: To create a 70cm x 44cm portrait poster as a digital output in order to showcase and promote the release of Lisbeth, while only using 3 spot colours. The primary audience of the poster would be graphic designers and the secondary would be other type users.

I was excited at the idea of the competition right away, since the brief gives us a lot of freedom on what we can produce and allows for a lot of experimenting with the typeface. As a first step, I looked into the TypeTogether foundry to research other similar posters that were created to promote and showcase other typefaces, eg. the Bree Typeface poster. The common features of all the posters I had found were their simplicity and focus on the letterforms, making sure that the typeface itself is the main element of the poster, with no other competing graphics on the posters.

Next, I looked into reading about the typeface, through the profile page of Lisbeth on TypeTogether, and the interview between the foundry and the designer when the typeface was being released. The unique features of Lisbeth come from its subtle three-dimensionality, its twisted letterforms, and the fact that it was an italic-only typeface.

When I first started working on the concepts of the poster, I focused on the geometry that can be created when rotating the typeface and creating a pattern out of it. While it was fitting of the brief and did a nice work in promoting the unique selling points of the typeface, I found the results to be bland and unimaginative when compared to other typeface promotional posters, in the sense that it didn’t characterise all those features that Lisbeth was described earlier. So I decided to focus on the three-dimensional feature of the typeface and try to create a graphic out of blown up characters using the display font of the type family.

I could not, nor did I wanted to, change any of the shapes of the letters in order to create a 3D graphic, so I had to find another way of really showcasing its three dimensionality. I started to experiment by using the letterforms as clipping masks in Illustrator, and fill them up with different shapes and lines, without corrupting its design, but due to the complicated and twisted characters, it was very hard to add any other elements within the type. On a second try, I started working with the idea to create a blend of a character from the typeface, in order to truly highlight its twisted shapes.

On the technical side, I had to edit the lines and anchor points of a letter, (in this case ‘M’), find all the parallel sides in the character, and try to create a blend for each part, without changing any of its shape. In order to do so, I connected 8 different parallel lines using the blend feature of Illustrator each time, and then manually had to connect each anchor point of each line, in each blend (there were about 16 inner lines for each blend), since not all the anchor points lined up exactly with each other. There are also no parallel lines on the sharp caps of the typeface, so the blend had to be made from a single anchor point, which ended up requiring a lot of editing after the blend, in order to keep the shape of the cap the same with the original letterform.

It took quite a lot of time till I had managed to create the effect out of 2 letters, “L” & “M”, chosen for no other particular reason, other than “L” was one of the easiest characters to create the effect from when trying it out, and “M” being one of the characters with the most parallel features, which really helped highlight the twisted lines of Lisbeth when blown up using this effect.

After creating the blend of “M”, I started experimenting with the positioning of the character, taking up most of the poster. It was really easy to create an aesthetically good result due to the changing twisting lines that when viewed on a screen, can seem like they are moving when viewed in smaller sizes and higher quality. After deciding on the position of the character, I added a secondary copy of it in a parallel line below it, while also making it bigger, with thinner strokes. This allowed me to create a more subtly shown blend, on top of the main one, that helped bring out the three dimensionality of the typeface.

In order to bring out the lighter lines of pink and white against the blue background, I created a grain effect behind the lines, to increase the contrast between the colours. The pink colour created a feminine character for the typeface, but was also overpowering the dark blue background and being very clear and stout, even though the lines of the blend were only at 2pts. After deciding on the rough position of the blended characters and the colours of the poster, I started adding the main text of the poster. I created a tagline using a quote from the book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as I found the characteristics of Lisbeth very similar to the protagonist of the book.

“Lisbeth. Oh, can I call you Lisbeth? I want you to help me catch a killer of women.”

The main tagline was left aligned and was positioned between the interacting arches between the two “M”, in order to make sure that the text was legible and was not hidden away behind the blended characters. Based on the grid that I created for the poster structure, I aligned the TypeTogether logo along with the various weights and styles of the typeface at the bottom of the poster.

Overall, I am quite happy with the end result, even though when I look at it now, I can see a lot of improvements that could have been made. What I really enjoyed during the competition, was not the end result, but rather the process of creating the poster and experimenting with techniques that I wouldn’t usually get to use. The Lisbeth brief for me personally, was one of the most fun and enjoyable projects I took on during my second year and left me wanting to do more similar work in the future. Although, I do understand that such briefs come rarely, I’m hoping to take more similar work in the future. Not promoting typefaces particularly, but rather design work that allows me to use my own personal style and gives me space to try new things.

While winning the competition was a reward in itself, I was more excited about seeing my work first on the TypeTogether blog, and then days later, shared by Louisa Fröhlich herself on her personal social media account. As I haven’t produced much work outside of university so far, it was rewarding seeing my design living outside of the bubble of the university and in the real world. Only thing I can hope for is more Lisbeth poster competitions in the years after graduating.