IXD103 – Final Submission

My Portfolio Link – https://www.caragreene.design

My Brand guidelines – brandguidelines

 

Short Reflection

My wishes fro my brand were that I wanted a brand that came across as a fun, energetic and creative environment for all who love design. I wanted to create a trustworthy, reliable brand that is always positive. Throughout this brand journey I feel like I have accomplished these goals and fulfilled my brand wishes. This is how I created my monogram, by wanting a fun and creative logo that represented my brand, I pushed myself to create a unique monogram that was crafted using circles. My monogram is my favourite part of my whole brand and feel like it encompasses all aspects of it, even though it took a while to craft I feel like because of it, it led me in a unique direction with the rest of my brand and infused all areas.

The imagery in my brand was another big part of it, I wished that I could have a set of images that I could use for my business card or any element of my brand were images was needed, that were fun, creative and outside of the box. I feel I accomplished this from a lot of trial and error but in the end got a range of images that were made from small, multicoloured objects that can be found around the house. I wanted this imagery idea to send a message to all that come across my brand – that creativity is everywhere, in everything, even in a box of paperclips. I think that creativity and fun really comes across in this aspect of my brand and I am really happy with how my imagery turned out in the end.

Overall I had wished a lot at the start of the semester for my brand and hoped that I would be able to create everything I had imagined and I think I did. I understand that my brand could change in time as I grow and learn as a designer but for now I believe I have crafted a fun, creative and very energetic brand that is eager to grow.

 

IXD103 – Reflection on the Semester

To finish the semester I thought it would be a good idea to reflect on it a little bit. So I got out my pen and paper and made some spider diagrams, spilling out my thoughts on what I have enjoyed and what I had found challenging. The images are below.

 

The main thing for me that I really enjoyed was seeing how far I have come from the start of the semester, when I did not know really anything about branding, I just thought a brand was mainly a logo and a name. I wasn’t very wrong. I feel like I have really transformed through these past few months and feel like the journey, watching my brand keep changing and developing was really fun. Learning how to improve each part of my brand from help from Daniel and feedback from my class really helped me progress and I think that was my favourite thing about the past few months.

I also feel like I learned a lot of things that I never knew or heard of before, this made me a designer, thinker and doer. I also feel like I learned a lot of change and accepting that i can always make things better and I don’t have to stick with the same idea, I can change my mind and grow as a thinker and designer. I learned a lot of skills this semester that will be very beneficial to me, for example, lots of group feedback. This was good because I got to practise giving other people my thoughts, which sometimes can be hard if my thoughts are on the critical side, but I learned that this is a part of the design environment – everyone has their own taste and opinions. Hearing others opinions has made me a more open and considerate person I feel, and learning to talk criticism and seeing it as helpful advice is another skill I ahem learned along the way.

I have had some challenges too, as seen above. One of my most prolific ones was tryiing to narrow down everything, finalise it and really get everything perfect. It took me a long time to do this with parts of my brand for example my colour, guidelines and imagery. All of these had me debating and trying out various options for weeks but I finally got there in the end. This Branding module has taught me that I should improve my decision skills and be more brutal when it comes to picking what I like or don’t like, finalising things and narrowing down what is needed and what isn’t. But I feel my challenges were overcame and feel like in the end I have succeeded in making the brand I wanted – a fun, creative modern brand. I have enjoyed so much of this module, from crafting my very one monogram to building my own website that is now functional. My progress and journey through this semester is what I am most proud of and how much I grew and changed as a designer, so I can’t wait to see what I create next semester.

IXD103 – Making my Portfolio

I started my portfolio journey with making my wireframes, and digital prototypes, this came is very handy when designing my website. It gave me a good guide and helped me stay consistent throughout. When I thought about making my portfolio I debated wether to use my old portfolio from first semester or to try something new. Daniel said that we could add to our first portfolio attempts to try and make them better but I don’t feel Github is for me. So, I wanted to try something new.

I bought my domain name – caragreene.design and with it I decided to use the WordPress website builder. Why did I chose this one over sites like Webflow, or just code my own? I chose WordPress for the following reasons:

  •  Wordpress is considered one of the best for website building right now, the reviews were amazing. It was recommended by so many designers.
  • It is an easy platform to work from, giving me all the tools I need for information input, widgets, interactive elements and so much more. I found it very easy to get the hang of and found it really fun to build a website.
  • It looks great, the end result was really professional looking and I was able to achieve what I wanted to – a slick, modern website that portrays my creative work.
  • My coding skills are pretty basic, therefore I would have not been able to make such a high quality functional website that I want clients to see or use .

 

Below are some snapshots of how my portfolio is looking.

Home page

 

I went for my design that I planned for in my portfolio digital prototype. A plain white background with red accents throughout.  I went for red navigation that changes a slightly darker tone of red on hover once it’s selected and also underlines. I made my monogram slightly bigger. In my discussion with Daniel about this, he advised that I made my monogrm bigger and take the yellow out of the navigation so that is what I did.

I added an animation and it plays when the play button is selected. I still feel I want to adjust this and make it so that the animation bar does not come up but I am still working on that.

I also added a short sentence to the homepage opposite my logo animation to welcome the audience but not blabber on because I want to get straight to the work. The image below is the bottom half of the home page, this part displays sneak peaks of my projects.  I chose a few favourite elements from each project I had worked on this semester and set them up on an image carousel. I thought this was a fun feature and makes my homepage that little bit more interactive.

I also included a set of icons that links to all of my social media and in the bottom right hand corner I have set up a chat box, this is interactive with anyone who comes to my website and they can ask a question. I am unsure if I am going to keep this feature, since I have a contact me page but I though it was a nice touch, even though I think I would like to change the colour from blue to something more fitting with my website.

 

 

 

About Me Page

This page was simple to make because all I had to do was import an image of myself and write a small paragraph about myself, my work and my aims for this portfolio. I think it looks nice with the black text, the font is Comfortaa and is easily read. The only thing I think I may change is the placement of this page, I think I might put they page after my projects page but I am still unsure.

 

Projects Page

 

The image above is the top of the projects page, I included a banner across the top of a part of my travel app that I liked and thought I could include as another insight into my work. This needs altering because I would like to try to get it go the whole way across the scree, it also looks slightly tilted in parts so I need to look into that aswell. I then get straight into the projects, I think this is better than including to much tech because people just want to see the work

The images below is my project section, I split it into four because those are the four projects I worked on this semester and for area I want to talk about. I then linked each project to a new page, this page then will have all the information and process on the project itself. I kept all four boxes the same size and the images inside of them too, this made for a consistent table almost and one that clients can naviaged through easily.

 

 

Each project page

Travel App

 

 

Infographic

 

My Brand

 

 

Icons

 

As you can see in the snapshots above, I have set up a page for each project and then went though the entire process, I tried keeping my words to a minimum for now because I don’t want to fill the page with text. This portfolio is to display my work, however I feel like I could have wrote more for certain things but I can fix that over time. I am happy with the progress so far and will continue to work on placement and sizing etc.

 

Contact Me Page

 

The final part of my portfolio is the contact me page, I have set up this contact form so it is easy for clients to ask me something or send in an inquiry etc. I thought the red button was a nice touch and really goes with the feel of the website. I also think that the boxes are set up in a nice and legible way and is easy for anyone to follow. I like the contact sentence I wrote to the left just informing people what this page is. I also used icons to represent the information beside it for example my location, number etc.

I think there isn’t anything to fix on this page because it is just a standard contact page with all the information someone needs to contact me.

Thoughts

  • I really enjoyed making this portfolio and feel like this website builder was a great way of letting me make the best website I could. I think there are still things to fix and make better but that can come with time and it is something for me to continue working on through my designing career.
  • The main thing I want to work on is placement of titles and text, I think that I could find a more fitting position for both to make my project pages more exciting and easier to read.
  • I am really happy with how my progress through this journey of making my portfolio, from sketches to wireframes and the final product. I am really proud of myself that I was able to make a website at standard like this and can’t wait to see what else I add to it.

IXD103 – Logo Animation

I wanted to create an animated feature for my website, this is because I found lots of animated logos that I like and I wanted to try some out for myself. I envisioned that my animated logo would be on my home screen and her quite prominent, the first thing that people would see and or click on.

What did I want my logo to do?

I had a few initial ideas,

  • Spin around or rotate 90 degrees
  • Zoom in and out
  • Include a ball and have it follow the curve of the ‘g’
  • A ball bouncing on my wordmark

Why include a ball?

I wanted to try adding a ball to the animation because I used lots of circles to create all of my elements within my brand. For example my Icon set is made with circles and my monogram. So I thought this would be a nice foreshadowing affect for clients to see this as soon as they go onto my website.

The Process

  1. I saved my Adobe Illustrator file of my monogram and wordmark and making sure both elements were in layers
  2. Then taking it over to After Effects
  3. Work with the composition and play around with Positioning/ Scaling/Rotation etc. For animating the ball I had to create a path for it to follow. This meant there were lots of frames but this is something I am working on how to fix.
  4. Render to Media Encoder
  5. Then save as a mp4 file

What were the challenges?

I faced a few challenges with animating my ideas. First of all I wasn’t familiar with either softwares so it take me some time to figure my way around them. I found positioning very challenging, because this all depended on the frames. I found it hard to create one line for the ball to follow, so I just created lots of frames. I plan on trying to figure out how to do this soon and learn new and easier ways to do things on adobe effects. I also found a challenge in exporting, but I then realised I had to use media encoder. This software was new to me aswell but it was easy once I knew how.

Trying out some ideas

Scale and rotation

I firstly tried adjusting the scale so my logo gets bigger and then turns around at 90 degrees. This was my first colour scheme with the red and yellow. I do like the quick speed of this animation but it’s. not the look I am going for.

Why doesn’t this work?

  • The colour is wrong
  • The logo disappears at the start – this is a problem because I want my logo to be front and centre in my portfolio, hard for people to see and know to click it
  • Its pretty basic – not that fun

Ball

I then tried my idea of a ball, it reminds me of a game or gumball machine, this highlights that fun factor I am looking for. This sample was made with the old colour scheme also, so it does not really relate to my current brand moving forward.

Why doesn’t this work?

  • The ball is an odd shape – too oval
  • Wrong colour scheme
  • The speed is off – some areas are faster than others and it looks too jumpy because of this

 

Final Outcome

 

 

The video above is my final animation. I am really happy with how it turned out, it was my first time designing and making an animation, so I found it tricky at first. I like the speed of the ball as it flows down the ‘g’, I also like the effect of how the ball bounces across my name. I think think this is a fun addition.

Why does this work?

  • This version has the correct colour scheme – which makes it look even better
  • The motion is fun and creative
  • Nice speed in most areas – not too fast or too slow
  • logo is big and clear to see on portfolio home screen

What could be worked on:

  • The quality of the bounces – they could be more impactful and really jump up for more effect.
  • The ending – The ball just kind of stops mid air, maybe I could have it flying off the page completely.

Overall I think this project turned out well and I am glad I kept going with it, I think I wanted to keep going and trying different versions because I knew it could look really fun in the end. I thought it was great to experience and try out Adobe Effects and Adobe Media Encoder. These were new softwares for me and its nice to now have some awareness on how to use them and I hope to keep practising these skills and learning more about animating.

IXD103 – Business Cards

Daniel got us to design our business cards during a lecture and this was when I hadn’t changed the colour of my brand, so I have re done my business cards to a higher standard and more suitable colour choice.

What message did I want my business cards to send out?
Similar to my ‘beyond the brand’ outcome for example the mug and pens, I wanted clients or the public to hold my work at a high standard, so therefore, this means my gestures/gifts I give out must be of a high standard as well. Daniel informed us that sometimes business cards are the first time a person will experience your brand, so I want everyones experience to be a fun and memorable one.

How do I make this a reality?

I first had to analyse what is it that I think make my brand fun, exciting, memorable and interesting. I thought and came up with the idea that my colour and imagery plays a big roll in it. The colour red is exciting and passion and my multicolour imagery of fun items like sweets stirs up feelings of youth and fun. Considering these elements I knew that I had to design a business card that reflects these parts of my brand and use both aspects – colour and imagery.

The first business card drafts

I started to experiment with colour and positioning, here is what I came up with and played around with,

Why don’t these work?

  • Too boring – not fun enough
  • Positioning is off and the space between in formation needs altered
  • My logo is repeated too many times
  • The front of the card is slightly bland

 

I then replaced my logo on the front of the business card with my brand imagery of m&m’s because I knew something was missing.

Does this work?

In my opinion this works much better, it is a different approach and one that makes my brand appear very fun, exciting and full of possibilities. I think adding this bright image to the front of the business card makes my brand unique. I also think the colour goes well with the white and red on the back, it really brightens up the business card. My logo is easily read and understood on the front thanks to the sweets but I also put it on the back so everyone knows that’s what it is – my logo.

Getting another opinion

During the group critque I showed Daniel this new business card and he liked the idea of using the m&m image because he thought it was my best imagery but he showed my how to rearrange my information at the back more successfully. He felt that I did not need my logo on the back as well as the front. Even though we have discussed removing the yellow from my brand he said that I could leave the icons yellow if I wanted because it brings out the yellow in the m&m’s. He also suggested that I should try using the other images I had taken too because I should make lots with different items to give out. This will make each customers experience different.

Adding other imagery images

The image above is an assortment of the multicoloured imagery Daniel told me he liked the best. I agree, I think that the imagery has to be somewhat multicoloured because otherwise it may contrast with the colour red on the back and appear too blocky. I think these work well but I think still need to work on a few images.

Final Business card

What changes did I make?

  • I positioned the information the way Daniel told me
  • I took away my logo from the back of the card
  • I change the colour of the icons back to white so it keeps in theme with my brand
  • I made my monogram a little bit smaller to it wasn’t as over powering

My thoughts

I think that the end result is really nice, I think it ties in all aspects and values of my brand. I would be quite happy for this to be the first thing people experience when it comes to my brand because I think it gives out a positive, fun and creative message about my and my work. I can’t wait to hopefully get these printed because I think the colours would really pop and look very bright and fun. I also like how I got to include the icons I made – I think this is a nice touch because the public get a small sneak peak of my work. Overall I enjoyed this task and the journey my brand has been on through colour changes and adding imagery, I think it all paid off in the end because I got these fun business cards out of it.

 

 

IXD103 – Week 12 – Final Class

Today was the last class we had with Daniel for the semester. He went over a few things about submission and what we need to have completed. It was a short class and it was good to get a refresher on what we did over the last few months. He also said that this class was a sort of final group discussion and and an open floor incase we had any questions that we needed to ask.

He went through the submission for blackboard and campus press and I am now aware and sure on what I have to upload for the deadline day. Some people asked questions and then Daniel asked us a question, he asked our opinions this semester, how we think we have done, what did we like or find challenging. A lot of people said that they liked the semester and enjoyed learning about branding and some even said that it is something they would like to continue doing or specialising in. I myself said that I thought it was fun and it is something I have never done before. This is true because I have never had to look at myself and my own values so much before. It is crucial that your own brand is a representation of yourself and who you are, what you stand for and I think one of the hardest things this year was realising what that is for me.

I have lots of thoughts on this year and plan to do a complete summary on my thoughts and feelings about this module in a separate blog post. But it was nice to see what everyone else thought of it too.

I noted down a few things Daniel said toward the end of the class today because I thought they were important messages. He talked about his own experiences in work and said that learning the lessons is more important than marks. He said that no matter what we got in our marks that its all about what we learn. He also added that you want to be the asset to a company, you should become your own experience and talent and be someone who is an asset to any work place.

Overall it was nice to hear Daniels thoughts on marks and that little motivational talk at the end. I am going to think more about the self reflection has asked us to do because I have a lot to say on the subject. All I have to do now is finish up on a few projects and get ready for submission.

IXD103 – Developing my Brand Imagery

Since I have decided to include fun imagery into my brand somehow I had to start by choosing what that imagery is going to be. I have already decided this by using mind maps and spider diagrams, this blog post on starting to think about my brand imagery can be found here.

I then sketched on paper the rough ideas of what these images could possibly look like before I began taking pictures of them/ arranging them. I chose a few to focus on and that I thought would be successful for example: I felt the ‘m&m’s’ would work really well because of the circles and their size. These are the rough sketches I made of the possible imagery objects:

 

I organised each object into one of three categories – Fun, Art or Productivity. I am unsure if I am going to use these categories in my portfolio but I thought it made sense to use them in development to make it easier to understand my reason for picking theses items. I then found all of the objects and items I needed and began photographing them. These are what the initial photos looked like.

It is clear to see that some of these work well and others not so well, but I still needed to edit them on photoshop to see how I could improve them all. I enjoyed this process of cutting up sweets, arranging them together in the pattern of my monogram. I made two paint logos, two office supply logos and four types of sweet logos. The one that stands out to me the most is the m&m one so far. I chose a few of my favourites and took them over to photoshop, The images below are the finished results.

On photoshop I lightened the background and make them white, this made each logo stand out more and become more visible. I then raised the contrast on each image and increased the brightness. It took me a while to used to photoshop because I haven’t had much experience with it but I then got the hang of it. I still think some of these work better than others, in my opinion I think the left side ( the multicolour) side words better, they may be because of the bright colours but also because the left side contains the logos made with many objects.

Using Photoshop 

I had never really used photoshop all that much, so I found it hard to get use to at the start but I got the hang of it. This was the process:

  1. Resize image
  2. Adjust the levels of the image – Increase white levels
  3. Increase brightness
  4. Adjust contrast
  5. Save as a pdf

What challenges did I face?

The main challenge I faced was ensuring that I got all image backgrounds completely white. I had to make sure that there were no grey areas or extreme shadows showing. This would make the image look not vey professional and messy. It also took me a while to figure out how to create a good balance between the levels. Sometimes I increased the white too much which made other areas go dark, this took me a while to master but in the end I did it. Another challenge I faced was making sure the actual logo stayed a good quality, increasing the contrast made each item more clearer and brighter in colour – this helped.

Overall I really enjoyed getting to explore photoshop and all of it’s challenges because I feel like I overcame them and am now a better thinker and feel more ready for any project I may need it for.

Refining images

What works?

Why do these work? –

  • They resemble my monogamy the best
  • Easy to follow the shapes
  • Colourful – looks more appealing
  • The range of colour will bring life to my brand

What does not work?

Why don’t these work? –

  • The paint logos look messy
  • The strawberry pencils had to be cut and altered – does not look natural
  • Block colours don’t work – looks to plain
  • Don’t feel right

 

Using this imagery 

I needed to start thinking about how I could use this imagery, the image above shows my thought process on how I came up with some ideas. I wanted to use my imagery in some way because I think the images that are successful could add a lot to my brand. After considering my spider diagram and thinking about what could work best, I settled with adding the images to business cards.

Business Cards

I tried business cards in the most successful images. I still feel like the m&m one works the best. I am still finalising my business cards but this has made me start to think about placement and colour. i just needed a rough example of to place next to the images.

Why do I like this?

  • I think the multicolour images bring a fun and creative element to the brand and this is seen on the business card that clients will receive. Letting them know immediately what my brand is about.
  • I like the double sides – This allows the imagery to shine on its own without being surrounded my text etc.
  • I think these objects really highlight my monogram nicely and are easy to read for all due to the size of them.

What do I need to work on?

  • Finalising my business card to make the imagery look better, I don’t think I need my logo on the reverse side, the imagery does enough for it.
  • Think about colour on my business card – I am unsure if I need the yellow icons or if I should keep them white.
  • Trying different colours in the most successful image – The M&M version – I could try using all yellow m&m’s or all green etc. Since this is the most successful one I should try different colours.
  • Try to fix up the last image. – The pin version – I can see a small shadow in the bottom left of the logo and I could try and fix that in photoshop for a more professional finish.

Final thoughts on my brand imagery 

Overall I really enjoyed this different approach to adding imagery to my brand. The research I have done on this really helped me because it made me realise brand imagery can be anything. I enjoyed the process – from sketching to photography. I have never dabbled in photography much before but I was very proud with how far I had come with my images. They needed work and I am glad I got to experiment with photoshop and the whole process of making them look good enough to use. I think that I will show off the process in my portfolio website and hopefully the fun and creative images will inspire clients who come to my website to see that anything can be used to make art/logos/anything creative.

 

IXD103 – Portfolio Wireframes

To being my portfolio designing process I have to start on paper, all wireframes should being on paper because it will give me a sense of placement and is a great way to get out all of my initial ideas. Daniel suggested that we should do a quick activity before we start designing the actual wireframes. The task was to get an a4 sheet of paper and divide it up into 20 boxes and then try and create as many ideas for a portfolio home page as possible. I done this and this show mines turned out.

 

I liked this task because it got my brain into wireframe mode and made me continue to come up with ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of.

I then began creating some paper wireframes, I tried three different designs/ ideas, this is how they turned out.

Sketched Wireframes Options

Image first

 

Text and image first

Circles

To me, these wireframes are still pretty rough, it was just development from the first 20 portfolio page task. The design that was catching my eye the most was circles and the original text first portfolio.  I tried to keep these designs as simple as possible so it would be easy for my to follow to try and create these digitally. I thought it would be a good idea to try and design digital prototypes of my favour sketches because I still am unsure which one I am going to chose. This way will give me more of an actual idea on how it will look. I will make a final sketch when I have chosen the perfect layout.

Digital Prototypes Options

Circle design

Image first design

 

Combination of text and image first

I think I like the last design the best, the combination of text and image first, that way when people go onto my website they see an image and also an introduction into who I am and what I do. I still want to tweak my design though and create more versions of this prototype to get the best and widest range of ideas for my portfolio. All of these options have given me a realisation of what I want my portfolio to look like, I am now ready to create a final wireframe/prototype both paper and digital.

Final wireframes and adding colour

 

I decided to add colour to the final layout wireframes, this is what I want for my portfolio – simple yet effective. The slight hints of red throughout add brightness and tie in my brand but I have made great use of the white space which I think is important. I displayed these wireframes on a grey background so each wireframes can be easily seen. For my final design I stuck with  simple layout with varied text and image placement. I added a few small boxes under images for explanation or link purposes for example ‘Click here to see more’. I also designed a header that will hopefully hover a red box over the selected menu. I want a red footer and in that footer I would like to place some of my icons in white, this will make them pop and tie in the red and white colour scheme I want.

Main Elements

  • Image carousel on the main menu
  • Multiple Pages
  • Icons on footer
  • Video animation on home screen
  • Simple layout for projects page to show the layout of each project

A more detailed wireframe

I added my own work and images to this wireframe to give me an idea of what it would look like. I am happy with the result and believe that I can make this myself. I want my website to be clean, modern and all about the work that is why on the home page I go straight into a sneak peak of my projects because to me, a portfolio should be all about the projects.

What do I like about my digital prototype?

  • I like the simplistic use of colour
  • I like how my logo sits at the top left
  • I like the hover design over the menu
  • I like the addition of an animation on the home page
  • I like how it is easy to navigate through

What do I ned to do now?
– Now I need to start to make my portfolio and put in all of my work, process and information about me and my projects. I am looking forward to see it come together and design my own actual working website.

 

IXD103 – Making my Icons

Since I have sketched out my icons, now I must begin actually making them digitally. I started on illustrator, this first thing I had to do was create the base shapes – like I did in my monogram, below is a refresher of what that looks like. This is the exact method I followed:

The image above shows that the first step I took was creating circles and putting them together, as you can see the circles are hollow and I just worked from the outline of them. This was perfect for my monogram but icons are different. So instead of using an unfilled circle, I used full circles. I started in black because I wasn’t too sure on the colour yet. Below is an example of of of the sketches I followed and the link to my development blogpost can be found here.

The method 

The result 

Overall I think they turned out really well and I was happy with the result. I ensured all the lines were the same length and that I followed the method for each one. I think this image shows clearly how I made them and how the circle played such a big part. The starting image shows the the circles placed in a formal structure, which I got from the book ‘Visual Grammar’. Then the dotted line shows the shape I will take from the circles to form the actual icon itself. There were some details added with line at the end to ensure that people know which icon is which and can easily understand.

Adding colour

Since my colour for my brand is red and yellow, I was unsure which to select but after seeing them in black I knew that red would be the main colour I would go for.

Red

 

I think this works, as oppose to having them all black because the red ties in my colour scheme. I think I want to include this image in my website to show the process, as this is an important part of my creation of the icons. Therefore, showing clients or my audience the method clearly is a necessity.

Displaying them

White on Red without the method

I think the image above would work well with my website, I think it could be a good image to put in an image carousel or else a sneak peak collage to show my icons. I like the way I positioned the icons randomly in a zig zag motion along a red background, I think it really works. This is something I have to think about because I want my icons to be displayed in the best way possible.

Neat grouping

This option is clean and I like the way the red pops off the white background but I think my icons look small and unimportant this way, I think if I had more icons then this would be a nice method. Perhaps if I make more then this would be a nice way to display them on my website.

Showing the method

I am definitely using this image in my portfolio, I want this to be the main image displaying my icons because it shows how I made them. I may need to combiner’s this mage with another neat grouping image so people can see my icons together. But this image will defiantly work in my portfolio because the circles seen will make the page pop and I think its interesting to see how I made them because there was a very specific method to it.

Overall I think the creation of my icons worked out really well and I am very happy with how they look, I think they method laid out looks nice on screen and is easy to follow. I can’t wait to include them in my website and see how I will display them for the public to see. I think the lines look even and are the same width, so there won’t be issue with resizing them to suit needs. I think they look clean and crisp but still look usable and professional in a way.

What do I need to work on:

  • Even though I feel these icons are done I still would like to make some more.
  • Explore icon options, make some that are more illustrative but in the same style.
  • Explore some more colour for other projects to include them in.( yellow for my business card).

 

IXD103 – Brand Guidelines

These are my updated and final brand guidelines. Creating brand guidelines for was tricky because I felt like my brand kept changing and adapting. This then led to me having to change some my guidelines. Overall I feel these turned out nicely and I stuff to Daniel’s advise on just keeping them simple and legible.

The link to my brand guidelines is here –brandguidelines

I took a few snapshots from this pdf and they are below.

I went for plain pages, to make use of the white background, red titles to match the colour scheme and just simple short paragraphs describing what each element was. My favourite part of this brand guidelines book was the first page, where I included my monogram, wordmark and the title of the book ‘brand guidelines’ but I changed the colours. I like the opposite affect it had.

What did I find challenging?

  • The placement of text and titles, I found it hard on illustrator to make sure all text boxes and titles were equal and aligned but I think I got there in the end.
  • I also found it hard to know how much information to put in each section. The brands I researched varied in the amount of information they included so I feel like I went with something in the middle, not to long but not too short.
  • I also struggled with designing my brand guidelines, I originally had yellow banners going across the top of the pages but then when I decide to change the colour of my brand to just red and white, the yellow had to go. So I spent a long time battling with myself on wether or not to include extra detailing or to just leave it.

What did I like about doing this?

  • I liked gathering all elements of my brand and putting them together to see the end result.
  • I liked making the do’s and don’ts for my monogram, I enjoyed doing crazy things to my logo.
  • I liked choosing the order to each page and creating a book almost, this was a fun concept to me.