Final Photobook

The final step in my branding process was to finally print my photo book. After ordering the Naturalis paper and sending my design to the printers, I received the flat pages back. I started by folding the pages in half to create the french folds, and cut along the edges to make sure everything lined up and was the same size. The next step was to create the cover, which I chose to do using one of the textured Colorplan stocks from GF Smith in ebony. As an extra cover however, I wanted to have some sort of introduction to the book after opening it, before jumping straight into the photography, and So I printed a blank page with the secondary logo placed in the centre. I chose to use a glossy finish paper as I felt that this would help the page to stand out, and would make a nice difference to the rest of the book. I wanted to incorporate this page more into the design, and as the front cover at the moment was just plain black, I decided to cut a diamond out of it, allowing the logo on the white page to show through on the cover. I really like this as I feel that it not only makes for a more interesting and ore engaging experience, but it also gives an actual cover to the book, rather than just having it black.

Another sample that I asked for from GF Smith was this Transclear stock in Wizard White. This semi transparent stock is similar to tracing paper, and I love the soft feel and look that this paper has. Originally I wanted to print the cover logo onto this paper, but from trying to print with it I found that I couldn’t get the ink to sit on this stock without running. I wanted to still incorporate this stock into my book somehow however, and so I decided to use it as a flysheet, blank in the front of the book. I found that when pressed flat against a printout behind it, the image can actually be  seen through the Transclear paper, and so I thought it wold be an interesting addition to place this between the logo and the front cover; acting as protection for the glory paper, but also making for a more interesting design.

After finalising all of these decisions, I finally moved to binding the book. I printed a quick, cheap copy of one of the book pages so that I could fold the paper in half 4 times, as this gave me the equally spaced points on the page that I wold put the thread through to bind. I actually used a leather belt hole punch to make the holes in the book, using the printout as a template over each page to make sure that all of the pages lined up perfectly. This was successful, and the final step was to actually bind the book together, referring back to the videos I looked at, and again using red thread to contrast and stand out from the black front and back covers. Using the hole punch to make actual holes actually made the process much quicker and easier, and I quite quickly had finished binding the book, giving me the finished product.

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I am unbelievably happy with the outcome of this book; I think it is a strong example of my design skills and my creativity, and I love that it is a much more personal piece of design, where I have curated it, meticulously chosen the paper, and finally bound the book together all myself. As well as furthering my own skills, I think this is a very strong piece of branding, and is a product that represents the brand I have created in a very strong and exciting way. I love that it is an engaging and good looking piece of design, and I like that I have managed to incorporate most of the design styles and brand aesthetics that I have evolved and created throughout the project. I feel that this is a solid culmination of all of the aspects of the Coleman Customs brand, and it is a strong example of the kind of standard that my brand has. I am proud of this design and I think it successfully works to fulfil the brief, acting as a promotional item, and also a work of art to some extent, that represents the brand in an engaging, interesting, and unique way.

Dungeness Finals

For the Dungeness brief, I was given fairly free reign, and tasked to simple design some postcards using imagery from the visit; encouraging people to get outdoors and experience nature. I wanted to take this opportunity to experiment a little more with some hand drawn typography and so I started by drawing up a simple piece of type that I thought looked nice, and was simple and fun enough to inspire people to step outside a little more.

After scanning and editing the type to isolate it, so that I could place it over an image, I started to pick some of my favourite images and narrow them down until I had three that I liked best. After visiting Dungeness, we decided to drive along the coast and stop at Camber Sands, and so I decided to include one image from there as well as I felt the look of the image really helped to encourage the meaning behind the designs, and I really liked the contrast between that image and the other two from Dungeness. I really like the typography placed over the images, as I think the design works really well and the type and image compliment each other well. I would say that the designs are successful in encouraging one to go outside more, and I think that I myself definitely feel inspired to go out into nature even more than I already do.

 

Style Guide

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At this point in the project, I have created quite a strong and solid brand identity through the use of logos, shapes and colour schemes. As a way to finalise this identity, I decided it would be a good idea to create a style guide; and I thought that this would be another good way to create a deliverable for the project. Rather than creating a simple A3 sheet, I wanted to design a smaller scale booklet, as I thought this would be a more interesting and more engaging way to present it, as well as allowing me to experiment with using Japanese binding to put it together. Using Illustrator, I decided to create a square design, with an extra inch or son in the side for the binding.

The first page that I designed was all about the logos and how the two should be used, outlining that the full detail logo should be used as the primary logo and should be used for first contact with people; whilst the secondary logo is a simpler and more suggestive logo, to be used in instances where the audience are already aware of the brand, and where it is needed at a small scale.

The next page was all about typography, where I explained that the primary typeface is DIN Condensed Bold, and should used at larger scales and should be used for headings and larger areas of text. As this typeface is very thick and bold, I also introduced a thinner typeface; Minion Pro, that is much more suited to smaller text and body copy areas. Minion Pro is a subtle serif typeface that I think sits very well against DIN Condensed, and I personally really like as a body copy typeface. On this page of the style guide I have outlined how the different weights of the type should be used and in what instances.

On the final page I split the layout in two; filling each half with an image, one busy and one not; and placed each of the logos on each. This is to refer back to the first page, as it portrays how the logos should be used against different backgrounds and in different instances. I like the full page of colour on this side, and I think it is a nice contrast to the previous white pages, and a strong way to end the style guide.

After finalising and printing the booklet, my next step was to bind it. I chose to use a glossy paper as I thought this would be a strong way to present the brand, and would be a nice contrast to the non glossy, uncoated paper on the photo book. Using the Japanese binding method that I researched, I decided to use a red thread as I liked the way that it contrasted to the black cover of the style guide. Binding the booklet was a fairly straightforward and fun process, and I am really happy with the way that it turned out. Using this as an example for my photo book, I think this is a strong indicator that it will look good when bound, and it will certainly represent my brand in a strong way and in exactly the way that I want it to.

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Final Matchboxes

To make my custom matchboxes I decided to simply make the net for the sleeve myself, but use the tray and matches from an existing box, To do this I started by ordering a bulk order of small matchboxes and removing the sleeve. I wanted my matchboxes to be functional and the audience to be able actually strike a match, so I used a craft knife to cut out the strike paper so that I could stick it to my new boxes.

Before cutting up the old matchboxes, I measured out the dimensions of each side of the sleeve so that I could redesign my own at the exact same size. After doing so I moved to create my design, and I wanted to make it as simple and bold as possible, so made the net white and put each logo on either side of the box. Keeping to the colour scheme and the design theme of my brand I printed my design and I think it looks strong and definitely fits with my brand style. Rather than simply having a white piece of card, I wanted to make the design slightly more interesting and so I kept my net flat and stuck it to a black piece of paper of the same size. This meant that the inside of the boxes would be black, contrasting to the white outside and matching the black of the logos.

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I really like the way these have turned out, and I think they represent the brand in a strong and interesting way. Being what could be considered quite a rugged little item, the matchboxes fit really well with the brand and are a really fun little promotional item to represent the brand in a unique and interesting way. I am happy with these and I love that it is a functional item, as well as being quirky and different to most brands. Whilst they may not look quite as professional or slick as if I had had them printed professionally, I like the handmade look and I think they have a bit more meaning being handmade, which certainly links to my brand and the idea of building custom motorcycles.

Final Style Guide

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After finalising my logo design, I moved on to creating my style guide. I wanted to look for some inspiration for the guide before jumping into a design, and I came across this example for a brand called Bosphorus. I really like the simplicity of the design, and while this example is much more in depth than the one that I need to create; I feel very inspired by it and I want to try and create something with this kind of simplicity and this much impact. The style guide is a piece of design in itself and so I think that almost as much thought needs to be put into it as with the logo itself, which is very clear to see with this example.

http://identitydesigned.com/bosphorus/

The specification for the style guide was to create one A3 sheet with all of the information included, and so I began by placing the logos into the guide. As well as the main logo, I also decided to include a secondary, simplified logo in the form of just the block of colour, widened out into a square. The idea behind this was that it could be used as a simple little icon for the brand, used at a small scale for things such as letterheads or website icons perhaps. I placed these into the design at quite a large scale, as I wanted to emphasise the strength and power behind the logos. Next, on the other side of the page, I introduced some more information detailing the colour scheme details, and examples of how the logo should be used on white backgrounds compared with dark backgrounds.

So far I had kept this design quite minimal, with very little text included, however I felt that I needed to include more of an explanation behind my design and how I came to the decisions that I did. As a way to include this, and also a way to make the style guide a little more interesting and more immersive, I designed a small panel with all of the detailed information written on. This panel is scaled to the exact same size as the white area on the full page, with the idea being that it would be stuck to the front, covering the white and acting almost as a front page that is turned over to reveal the logos. I think this is an interesting little addition to the guide, and as well as a way to include important information behind the look of the brand, I feel like it is an innovative way to solve a problem and a way to make a more engaging experience, which is a strong way to represent the ideals and values of the Kent Sales Academy brand.

Website Layouts

Now that I had some imagery to play with, my next step was to start building some website pages. As I already had quite a lot of deliverables for the project, I didn’t want to build an entire, working website, but rather I wanted to design static mock ups using Illustrator. I felt that this would still allow me to show how a site would work and what it would include, but where I don’t need to worry too much about making it work, it would allow me to spend more time getting the appearance of the site right. The main thing that I found with all of the existing shops’ sites that worked was that the actual design was very simple and minimal, to keep the main focus of the design on the imagery and on the bikes themselves. This is something I kept in mind when starting working on my designs, and I wanted to make sure that the main focus was always the bikes and the images.

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Another popular trend with websites that I really like and I think works really well is the use of anchor points to allow the viewer to jump to different areas of the home page. Similarly, I like the idea of having a long, stacked home page with lots of sections on, and so that is the kind of style I began to design.

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With the very front of the homepage, I wanted to use a full page image of the bike and the branding, and so I thought that a slider would work perfectly here, allowing a roll of images to cycle through slowly and allow the viewer to immediately get a feel for the brand and what it does. As for the menu, I didn’t want to distract from the imagery and so I simply placed the full logo in the top corner of the page (linking to the letterhead and comp slip designs) which would act as a button to bring down a drop down menu. I feel that this doesn’t distract from the imagery at all, but is still a strong enough design to work and fit with the rest of the brand. I really like the way that this looks and I think it is successful, and so the next logically step was to add the next section in. This next section I decided to add was about then “story” of the brand, where I added in an image of my Grandad’s, adding some history to the brand.

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When moving between the sections, on the site, the movement would be animated and the page would scroll fully from one section to another, and so in that space I didn’t want the line to be a simple flat line. Taking some influence from the design of my diamond comp slip, I decided to make the line between sections into an angular, diamond-esque shape. When looking at the entire site stacked up this creates an almost chevron style layout, which I really like and which relates to the theme of motorcycles, where the chevrons are reminiscent of tyres and concrete road markings. I continued to add in sections underneath, including a section for the motorcycles and for the shop itself, each with a slider in the same shape featuring my images from the photoshoot.

When it came to adding in text to the sections, I again didn’t want to distract too much from the images, and so instead of completely blacking out a section and adding text into the block, I made the block slightly transparent and grey; allowing the image to still be seen through the block, but knocking it back enough the the text can be read easily and clearly.

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Finally when it came to designing the footer for the webpage, I wanted to keep that same chevron shape through the design and onto the black bar for the footer, which I think looks really cool. When adding in the information, I wanted to obviously include all of the most important aspects such as the address, phone number and social links. I had to go through a few different iterations when it came to getting the layout and the spacing right but overall I think the final layout is strong and works well. Keeping that same theme as with the letterhead and the comp slip, I included the small diamond logo in the centre of the black bar with a white border, as I still think that this makes for a strong, bold design that works and is a successful way to represent the brand.

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Overall, I think this whole web layout is strong in representing the brand in the way that I want to, keeping that same strong and bold design theme that I have been working with throughout all of the assets, and keeping the design elements as minimal and simple as possible so as not to distract from the imagery and the motorcycles as the main focus. I think this design does well to keep to the themes and styles that I have developed for the brand, and I think that it is certainly a strong design, representing the brand in the way that I want to.

T-shirts

Taking inspiration from the clothing by brands like Deus and P&Co, I wanted to create a t-shirt design for my own brand, not only to have as a brand item, but also to use in photographs that I will take, helping to tailor them specifically to the brand. Rather than having a huge run of hundreds of t-shirts printed, as I personally didn’t need to spend that much money on a few shirts, I managed to find a friend who could screen print them for me. As I only needed a few shirts for examples and to use for photography, I decided to mock up a few different examples of designs to print.

As with most of Deus’ and P&Co’s designs, I wanted to include a large back print to be seen when riding and as I personally really like them. As the main logo is the most detailed and would look good at a larger size, I decided to put that on the back. I also really liked the shape, and I thought it would look cool running across the shoulders on the back of a shirt. Rather than just having a back print, I wanted to include something on the front of the shirts as well; however rather than simply placed the full logo on the front as a small breast print as well, I wanted to do something different. For this I decided to experiment with an alternative version of my full logo, taking one of my experiments that was black type on white, without the black badge around it. Whilst I decided against using this as a logo for the brand, I actually really like the way that it works on a t-shirt. I think removing the badge helps it to work on a smaller scale, and I like the contrast of black text on white, compared with the white text on the back of the shirt.

I wanted to make a couple of different designs, and so with the next design I kept the back piece, but I wanted to utilise the diamond logo. I thought that this would look cool as the shape would work well in that space, and alkso because the lesser amount of detail in that design allows it to work on a smaller scale.

After getting the designs printed, I am really happy with how they have turned out. I love the detail and the quality of the print is spot on. I think the logo designs look really good printed onto t-shirts, and I think they sit well in the places I have put the too. I think the both t-shirt designs look strong and are very successful in representing the brand in a new way. I think they will look really good in photographs as well, and are a clear indication that more t-shirt designs would work really well and are a definitew posssibility for the brand.

Compliment Slip

With my compliment slip, I again wanted to mirror some of the same styles and design techniques that I used in my business cards and my letterhead, allowing the brand to be recognised in the same way all throughout the different brand resources I design. I started with a very similar design to my letterhead, placing the logo in the top corner and utilising a black bar with the logo isolated in the centre, running along the bottom of the design. As I had experimented with this design before I knew that the layout and the style was strong and worked well with the logo.

Following the same process as with my letterhead, my next step with this process was to extend the top part of the logo to the top of the page, allowing it to run off the edge and making for a stronger design, where the top and the bottom black areas are related and brought closer together.

I really like the previous design that I had created, and I think much like the letterhead, it is string and it works well as a successful, balanced piece of design. I wanted however to experiment with a slightly different kind of design as well, taking influence from one of my business cards with the black background and the strong white border around the logo. I still really like this design and I love how the diamonds create a strong and bold look; and this was something I wanted to try and implement into my comp slip design. Rather than placing the logo centrally in the design, as I needed to include much more information to the same side of the design, I moved it over to the left keeping the black background confined to that side and allowing it to run off the edge. I really like this design and I think it is successful and balanced, keeping that strong bold design from the business card, whilst still being light and spacious enough to let the information sit in it comfortably.

I really like both designs of the comp slip, and I think both are just as successful, for different reasons. As the two designs both feature different logos on each, I am going to use both designs as final versions; using the full logo version for instances where the recipient may be new to the brand, and using the diamond design in instances where the customer may be more familiar to the brand, or where an introduction to the brand may not be necessary.

Letterhead

The next step after creating my business cards my next step was to continue creating brand resources, starting with a letterhead. I always find this a fairly simple process, as a letterhead should really be as simple as possible. I decided to include the primary logo at the top of the page, opposite to the address. This is because a letter is often an important document, and is often sent as a first point of contact, and so the full logo is more appropriate here, to introduce new audiences to the brand. I wanted to keep some styles running throughout all aspects of my brand and so I included the simpler logo at the bottom of the page, to help decorate the footer, and to keep the theme running throughout. This works here because it can sit at a smaller scale and still have the same impact, and it also allows for a black band to run along the bottom with the white outline around the logo, which keeps that strong theme running from my business card designs.

I wanted to tweak a few things just to make the design a bit stringer, and to bring the whole thing together. I started by pulling the top part of the main logo up so that it runs off the page, which I think makes the design more interesting. I think that running the design off the page helps bring it together, matching it with the footer at the bottom. I like this design, and I think it works well as a letterhead. Without the actual copy, I have kept the design fairly simple so as to not distract the recipient from reading the letter, but not so bland that they ignore the brand altogether. I think the design works and successfully reflects the brand and the styles I have been developing.