Branding Exercises
Examples of exercises conducted during my time at university which deal specifically with branding development and practice with constructing branding manuals.
Body Wash Product Ideation
As a preliminary project for a web page design course, I was placed into a small group, where we were instructed to come up with a concept for a product commonly used by a large demographic of people that would be branded to appeal to a wide group of people of varying ages.
As a group, we decided to develop a brand of body wash which would have a tropical motif. The tropical brand would appeal to a wide demographic, offering popular oceanic and floral scent options, which gives the user the feeling of relaxation and nostalgia that they may recall during tropical vacations or can be associated vicariously for those who have never visited the tropics.
We were instructed to assemble a branding board which would encompass the general brand of the products, including typography, color, and patterns present in branding design. We were also to develop a presentation which we would justify our design choices and pitch our product idea to our professor as well as our peers. I personally spearheaded the development of the branding board, as that is a particular area in branding I am proficient in as well as thoroughly enjoy.
In terms of branding, we had split the types of body wash into two categories: ‘Tidal Wave,’ which featured many shades of blue and an underwater aesthetic, which was designed more for masculine consumers, and ‘Blooming Hibiscus,’ which had a more floral aesthetic like that of a tropical rainforest, which was intended for more feminine consumers. Each category features a prominent gradient along with an accent color as well as the primary color, and various patterns which fit the motif of the respective categories.
Branding Board First Draft
Branding Board Final Draft
Our branding board went through two phases, where the major things which changed was the choice of font between the two boards. This project was completed in 2020, and looking back on it now, I would have potentially gone a bit more bold on the font choices, selecting something fun and eye catching, rather than prioritizing readability, at least for the title font category. Otherwise, I am rather happy with this project and still look fondly on it.
Paragon Branding Manual
Paragon Crystals and Jewelry is a fictional company, the products of a project focused around the development of a custom branding manual for a layout design class. Paragon as an entity is a distributor of raw and refined crystals and gemstones along with pieces of jewelry, taking a particular interest in spirituality and the healing and beneficial properties associated with these stones. The company adapts many ideals and practices associated with the Wiccan religious movement, dealing in other items and practices of natural spirituality.
While the main deliverable of the project was a complete custom branding manual of this fictual business, this project was also used as a way to introduce different types of logo iconography, and thus there are many various iterations of logos of many different types in many different situations regarding color and design. Different types of logos are more appropriate in specific situations, and so I needed to make sure I was thorouhgly prepared for nearly any scenario that the logo of this company would need to be featured.
These logos are divided into four different categories:
Logotype
Initial Logotype
Literal Illustrative
Abstract
Each of these types of iconography are more useful in certain situations, although the creation of each of these types for every business is not necessary; rather utilizing one or two of these types for any specific business tends to be more successful and allow consumers to create parallels with these symbols and your business if they are fewer and more easily identifiable. Most of the base designs of each logo were made with Adobe Illustrator, with necessary edits and adjustments to each variation done with Adobe Photoshop.
Logotype
Initial Logotype: This form of logotype is often harvested from the Logotype of a company brand. Because of this, Logotype and Initial Logotype are often used in tandem. Although I only have a single example of Initial Logotype, it can easily be applied onto the other examples of Logotype above.
Abstract
Literal Illustrative
When constructing the branding manual, I also assembled a sample grid layout, using Adobe InDesign, for a potential document or pamphlet which would be distributed by Paragon as a piece of informative text about different crystals and gems and their spiritual and healing properties. I wanted the layout to be fairly simple to allow easy readability and to avoid overwhelming the reader. Some aspects of the layout of this document could potentially use some revisiting, especially the logo placement, however for the most part I am happy with the design I chose for this work.
Finally, I have the final product: a 36 page branding manual covering every viable usage of the Paragon brand, including everything from colors, fonts, logos, layout, accompanying imagery, and much more. This document was made using Adobe InDesign, and was written from the perspective of the superficial CEO of Paragon. I used examples of real life branding manuals to help with defining the necessary elements which need to be included in the average branding manual, with some aspects from other manuals proving unnecessary for my particular endeavor. It was also helpful with laying out the contents of the manual in a logical order, as well as including aspects which I may not have, at first, considered as necessary but ultimately help elevate this project and assist with the overall professionalism of the piece. Looking back on this project, which I finished in 2020, There are quite a few aspects I would change about the final product in terms of layout and overall design, as the manual itself turned out a bit more uninspiring than I remember, but otherwise, I am very happy with the actual contents of this piece, so some minor design touch-ups are more than acceptable.
