BRANDING PROJECT | RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND FINAL OUTCOME

To resolve the brief of this project we were asked to realize a brand for a product, an activity or an event.

I chose to work with my classmate Pedro and to brand his 3D object, as he was working on a 3D design project. The piece I was going to brand was a box-holder for USB keys made of recycled materials such as cardboard and foam board.

I started working on my research on studios and designers who did brand identities and I found some interesting examples, such as the one did for 'Miss Ko' restaurant from GBH Studio. I really liked how prestigious and smart it looked and what it communicates me is beauty of forms and nature put together. This work helped me a lot for the realisation of mine.

Miss Ko identity by GBH (left). WCS identity by Pentagram Studio (right). Author's own.

Along with the part of the research I had to come up with the actual name for the brand and the product. As myself and Pedro were working together I decided to combine this word (together) with 'box'.

TogBOX is the name I chose. As the first part I decided to realize was the logo, I started its development making some drawings using colours or black only.

Logo development. Author's own.

The product was going to be made of recycled materials so I decided to apply this concept for the design of the logo as well. The color I chose symbolizes the green 'soul' of the box and of the brand.

To show the logo on the box we decided to engrave it on cardboard using the laser cutter at uni. After different experiments and failures with the machine, we got a really nice and neat result.

Logo development. Author's own.

With the logo ready I only had to finalize the part of the brand identity and assets.
However the friendly aspect of the brand, I wanted the identity to look quite serious and corporate.
I chose to use dark tones of grey and a landscape layout.

togBOX brand identity. Author's own.

Other than images and colour variations of the logo, I decided to add where the name 'togBOX' comes from, a short description of the brand, a colour palette, the typefaces adopted, the pattern I extracted from the design of the cardboard, packaging and some examples of advertising.
The whole look is how I wanted it to be and it briefly show the product and the message of the brand.

This was one of the projects I liked the most so far. The collaboration with my classmate helped me to create this brand and resolve the brief a lot. I hope I will have the opportunity to work more in group or pairs soon!

TATE MODERN | ABRAHAM CRUZVILLEGAS: EMPTY LOT

Last weekend I went to Tate Modern to visit an exhibition of Abraham Cruzvillegas called Empty Lot. The whole piece was fitting the Turbine Hall on the ground floor of the space.
The work consisted on two stepped platform with triangular shape, created with scaffolding which support a grid of triangular wooden plant pots. The whole appearance was impressing and creates really nice patterns and shapes.

Pattern created. Author's own.

This first photo I took from above shows the triangular pots filled with a mixture of compost and soil collected on gardens and parks around London. I think that other than the interesting layout and composition of the planters, what is growing talks about London's and our history to me.
Although nothing has been planted, with regular watering some plants, weeds and mushrooms are growing.
In my opinion this process shows how powerful the Earth is and how quickly can give life even if we are not expecting this.

From above. Author's own.

This installation might not help or inspire my current project (Branding and Typography), however it is really strong how I had some feeling of hope and expectation from it.

TYPOGRAPHY | TERMINOLOGY

Serif typeface

A Serif is a small line attached at the end of letters or symbols in typography.

In my opinion something written in Serif seems dated and difficult to read if exaggerated.

It is mostly found in books pages and on the internet.

An example of Serif type is Times New Roman. Here is an image.

Times New Roman

Sans Serif typeface

Sans Serif (without Serif) is when the little lines at the end of letters are absent.
The typeface results more modern and clean and more appropriate for brand names in my opinion.
An example of Sans Serif type is Helvetica. Here is an image.

Poster for 'Helvetica' documentary. Helvetica typeface.

Tracking

The tracking is the spacing between letters.

Loose tracking is when that space is bigger. A  B  C

Tight tracking is when the space is smaller. ABC

Loose tracking and tight tracking.

Kerning

Not to confuse with the tracking, the kerning is a manual adjustment to the letter-spacing based on a design choice. 

PORTFOLIO PRESENTATION

For our portfolio presentation we had a group crit in which each of us had to show their work and talk about it. We were asked some questions about our inspirations and last exhibitions visited.

Considering that I chose to study Digital Advertising and Design the work I included in my portfolio is strongly related to this field and it has been made both on the Access to HE course and on previous courses.
I firstly presented the whole portfolio briefly, then I have been asked some question about some pieces and my choices of design, colour and layout.

I explained my ideas behind my projects and what I wanted to communicate 

As I did not know what kind of questions to expect from this interview, I was a little concerned at the beginning. Especially about how I was going to express myself.

Although, I believe I did quite well. Both my work and my presentation were good in my opinion and I received a positive feedback from my tutor and colleagues. A part I would like to be better at is my speaking.  

Feeling positive, I will then produce a digital portfolio including the next projects we will make.

Here some images of my portfolio: 

Graphic Design project. Development and final piece (photo). Author's own.

Pieces of Typography. Visual representation of words. Author's own.

Climate Change campaign (left). Fruit is fun campaign (right). Author's own.

DAVID CARSON | PORTFOLIO

David Carson is an American graphic designer and art director best known for it use of experimental typography. I have chosen to look at his portfolio (website) for inspiration because I really appreciate how structured and well presented his work is. The interaction with the page is horizontal and scrolling to the left or right made me think of browsing a book.

David Carson's website. Homepage. Author's own.

David Carson is a surfer as well and the majority of his work is highly related to this sport. Not only design of surf boards and magazines are shown but a really fresh and modern style is used through his pieces. What I like the most in his work is the use of typography and the general layout. The use of overlaying and 'grunge typography' gives in fact a sense of movement, action and sometimes confusion which are balanced by calm and "empty" spaces over the rest of the work. This blend of techniques really inspired me in past work and will continue to inspire me.

dc back cover, spine + front cover design for C R A F T magazine, from so. Korea.

On the website all his work (typography, branding and advertising) is presented together and without a specific order. Some writing such as history, quotes, advertising and photos of him are included as well but in smaller amount. Nevertheless I am not intentioned to include any part of writing in my portfolio so far as I will focus more on the visual. I can really really feel attracted to his work and I would like to blend this style with mine for my portfolio.

Advertising campaign for Audi.