During the ‘Beyond the Brand’ lecture from Daniel I wanted to put my logo onto different merchandise or other brand products that could be given out as gifts or tokens or gratitude etc.

The first one I made was a mug. I wanted to put my logo on a mug because I think thought I could colour the inside the same colour as my logo and create a subtle reflection of my brand colours – Red and White without being too in your face. This was how it turned out.

Mug

Thoughts

• I think the colours work well together, the white mug makes my logo stand out in a subtle way
• I like the crisp and clean feel to it
• I think this looks like a mug that could actually be made and used, my logo looks fun and I think it was a good idea to only use my logo and not my wordmark aswell.
• The red inside works well, it adds another layer of detail.
• Overall I think this is a successful mug mockup for my brand.

 

I then wanted to try something else but I wanted it to involve stationary of some kind. I then thought of a pen holder, I thought this was a good idea because it would give me a good wide space for my logo on he base of the holder. I also think pen holder is suitable for my line of work because I always start of in sketchbooks so I will always need pens.

Penholder

 

Thoughts

• I think the white and red is really working but I wish the red came out darker in the pens because they look a little more pink.
• I like how my logo stand out against the white – it is similar to the mug so I think it is again very successful.
• I like the different colour combinations in the pens. I like how some are more red than others. Range is nice.
• I feel I could have rented y logo differently, to me the logo is too much one to the right.

 

I then created bag merchandise, I thought this could be a nice gesture to include in packaging for a gift etc. I think a bag like this is a staple because they can be reused or recycled. I just wanted to see what my logo could look like on a bag. I tried a few different positions for this one. I also tried making red the main colour of the bag.

Bag 

Thoughts

• I like how all of these look but especially the white on red this time. I think it makes the bag more interesting because white looks a bit plain.
• The red on white looks like a brighter red so if I was actually making this I would have to make sure all reds are the same and match.
• My favourite is the logo in the bottom right corner, I think its small but I like it small.
• Overall I also think this beyond the brand object was successful and looks like something I could actually produce for my brand.

To sum up I think this task was a good idea for me to do, it has made me realise that my brand defiantly works with red and white colours. I think seeing products being designed makes me realise that these colours make my brand look professional, clean yet the red makes it fun and energetic in a way. I think my logo works really well on the objects and hopefully one day I will be making products like these and giving them out to clients.

This weeks lecture was called ‘Beyond the Brand’ and it was all about ways to make a successful one. To encourage us to be passionate and believe in our own brands because if we don’t then why should anyone else.

Daniel started with a quote ‘The word brand is overused, sterile and unimaginative’ by Michael Eisner from Disney. Now, Daniel stated that he didn’t particularly agree with statement but argued that it is ok to be critical of other designers opinions. He reminded us that we do not have to agree with everything. This quote could be true however, because brands are everywhere and as a society we are saturated with brands. This got me thinking about that if brands are so common and so many people are coming up and creating new brands everyday then what makes certain brands stick out? What makes certain brands become memorable?

Daniel then proceeded to talk about values. He stated that emotional connection with your audience is so important. He says that we need to believe in our brands. This was eye-opening because even though I have made my brand values and am aware of what my brands stands for, I never thought about how I am going to show the audience, how will I show everyone my values?

The books he recommended for a good representation of brands and their emotional connection to the world was called ‘Loyalty beyond reason’ and ‘lovemarks’. The books talk about high love and high respect. This means that if I brand doesn’t have both then it can’t become really successful. This made a lot of sense when Daniel explained it and he game some good examples of brands we use everyday, for example coffee, cheap coffee has low respect and low love and the more expensive and luxurious coffee has high love and respect. People are going to opt for the brand or company that they have high love and respect for, over a brand that offers low in each of these categories.

He then talked about the BXP – Value proposition  map:

 

The image above is the value proposition map and it shows nicely the three areas that make up a brand. I was shocked to see that the actual product itself was number 3, the least important when it comes to values. All aspects meet in the middle and this is known as value proposition. I am now aware that the actual experience of my brand is even more important than the products I am producing, because if I don’t offer a good experience for people then they won’t come back or recommend me to other people. These are all things that are essential for a successful brand.

How do we manage this?

Daniel reminded us not to worry because brands take time to build but the areas we should focus on are:

• Consistency – quality/ tone of voice
• Attention to detail – consider everything
• Emotion –  tell a good story
• Experience – ways people ‘feel’ your brand
• Reward loyalty with gestures and tokens

All of these were good tips and good advice. Hearing that to ensure a successful brand means that I have to start to think about the emotional connection with my audience, made me worry but Daniels list to focus on has helped me out and I will start to consider.

Class task 

Daniel set a task for us to complete for the end of the day. This is what it was:

Brief  for ‘One step beyond’ – Design one additional touchpoint for your brand, design something desirable. Daniel showed us some examples of what we could create, this was to get our brains thinking about what we could possibly put our brand onto, for example, pencils, keychains, totebags etc. All of these items create a tangible relationship with the customer, therefore, enhancing that emotional connection that was the theme of these weeks lecture.

What I came up with:

Animated logo.(the image below is a snapshot of my animation, I was still working on it when we had to present them at the end of the day)

 

 

I chose this idea because I wanted a touchpoint that I could include into my portfolio. An animated logo achieved this for me, I really liked the idea of having an interactive aspect to my website. I like the idea of surprising my audience when they visit my page and become pleased with what they find. I started of by asking myself what sort of animation I wanted. I knew I wanted to animate my logo because my monogram has an interesting motion to it.

I then thought what could I add to show the motion through my monogram? I considered:

• Balls
• Light
• A letter
• An icon
• A figure

I ended up going with the ball idea because I thought that it was a nice idea to include another circle gesture. I then thought the ball should start at the top of the ‘g’ and follow the curves all the way to the end, flick out and bounce on my wordmark. This was quite an ambitious for me because I had never animated before. So it took my a while to learn how to use After Effects.

What did I think was successful:

• The overall idea
• I liked how I was about to get the ball to roll off the ‘g’
• The bouncy quality

What I found difficult:

• Making my animation slower, I found it hard to slow down the movement, some parts moved too fast
• Getting the hand of frames, I used too many
• Getting the ball to appear as if it is actually bouncing and not just lifting up

Overall this lecture along with the class task really urged me to keep pushing through and to try and become more unique with my brands outcome. I learned a lot about how to make my brand more successful and to create that relationship with the consumer. This lecture also pushed me to try new things for example, the animated logo, I didn’t think of making gone until today, so it was great to tackle that for the first time and experience new software. I have to finish animating and cleaning it up and also I am going to put my brand or logo onto tangible things to see what it would look like.