Coming into the second semester beginning the branding module, I was very excited to start designing. I had already learned so much in the short time before Christmas and wanted to put some of this new knowledge into practice. One of the biggest challenges for me this year was becoming familiar with the programs I was using such as Adobe Illustrator. As the course has went on I have become more competent in the program and I feel like this is very much reflected in the design aspects of the commercial brand when compared to the personal brand.

For me, the commercial brand began with so many ideas at the sketching stage and even when I brought it into screen. One of my main driving forces behind the choice of brand name was the idea of being able to make a word morph with it but I never got the chance to do so. This is something I would like to revisit. Some aspects of the branding like the gradients look slightly beginner when looking at my work as a whole. I am happy with my logo and font choices and the app in particular I was very proud of when I created it.

The personal brand did not start off in the same foot the commercial brand did. I found it very hard to come up with ideas to even begin sketching them and any I did have I wasn’t really happy with. When I finally landed on an idea I was happy with it because it did have meaning to me. However, most designers self branding, especially when they’re juniors, consist of initials or some sort of wordmark composed of their name. I’m not sure whether my choice was the right one or not but none the less I am very pleased with how my logo turned out. I love how the brand name with the cat logo fits together into one form and the colour choices make it feel luxurious and simple. I am happier with how the brand guidelines for this turned out more so than the commercial as I feel that its just a lot slicker and concise and the simple design of black, gold and white makes for a really nice spread of pages. This may be due to the fact that I started getting into the swing of things by the end of the year.

The research gathering aspect for the commercial brand I found to be really interesting. From learning about how branding began and the significance of elements that I have simply looked over in the most popular brands to how colours influence perception and have a psychological effect on consumers. I enjoyed gathering first hand research in the form of a online survey as it allowed me to get my own answers directly from people rather than me using others findings as a source.

A really fun part of the unit was the brand roll out and creating PSD mockups. I used this to help decide on some design elements within my commercial brand and being able to see your creations applied to real world things, making them seem real is a really nice touch. I can see how this can be used as a designer to show customers how your ideas will look in action, as a selling point.