Multi-platform Delivery

Professor: Mr. Bartley Argo

Media Assets

Learning Outcomes

Connecting/Synthesizing/Transforming—

There was so much learned this month. In designing the logo for BoxPark Sushi, I revisited some of the research and study conducted earlier in the Masters journey on logo design. David Airey’s Logo Design Love provided important standards to which iconic logos must adhere (2015). I applied Airey’s rules of iconic design in narrowing down the revised logo with which to move forward. At the time, I commented “The Boxes logo is relevant because of its simplicity, appealing to a target squeamish about raw fish. It’s traditional—or rather, not untraditional. It may fail on the Airey requirements of distinct and memorable, however.… Simple, yes. Distinct and memorable—probably not.” It was decided that logo 12 was weak in the areas of distinction and memorability; and Logo 9 conjured up too many associations with nursery school to be appetizing.

9 was too closely connected to nursery school; 12 was not distinct or memorable. Final refinement of 15 below.

Problem Solving

One problem that arose with the selected logo was that the chopsticks did not work well against the “X” in the Amboy font. One possible solution was to lay the chopsticks vertically down the sides of the X without crossing them, but I felt they may not read as chopsticks that way. Therefore, I went with my second solution which was to replace the Amboy X with an X in the font, Function Display. With minor adjustments to the new X the chopsticks overlaid the letterform much more convincingly. Also, to help the logo read “Box Park” rather than Box “Park Sushi”, I put the word “sushi” in the border beneath the wordmark.

The final logo revision (far right) corrects the issue with the X and chopsticks by switching the font .

Innovative Thinking

Within the sushi and Japanese food industry, my logo is innovative in that it provides a branding solution that is less cliché. Most logos within this market rely on fish, chopsticks or Japanese calligraphy to carry the day. On the other hand, the advantage of using cliché is that such logos communicate quickly because they are so overused. By seeking to reach a non-consumer target, I was also free to use more unconventional colors—colors that don’t incorporate red or orange. Below are typical logos by comparison. (The first 3 are borrowed from Shutterstock.com).

Sushi logo designs typical in the industry from Shutterstock.com, versus mine which is more atypical.

My original logo sketches for BoxPark Sushi

Acquiring Competencies

Brand Values. Brand values are the things that a brand holds dear. “Your values are uncompromising truths and guiding principles that articulate what you stand for, and the primary driving force behind your brand, business, behaviors, and decisions” (Bourn, 2018).Occupational, conceptual

Brand Characteristics. The characteristics are adjectives that, together, define how the brand wants to be perceived. It’s how it wants to make the target market feel. Occupational, conceptual

Logos as Visual Communicators. The logo needs to “say” something—not just look nice and, more importantly, not just say about your brand what all your competitors say about theirs. Consider the voice and tone and the look and feel the brand needs to manifest in order target the market. Occupational, conceptual

Choosing a Logo Font. The main brand font should be interesting, indicative of the brand. The supporting font(s) should clearly, concisely state the benefit. Most importantly, when choosing a font for the logo, be guided by the brand’s values. Occupational, conceptual

Defining clear space. To define clear space pick an element within the logo that is a standard or base size. The selected base element is called the X indicator. Measure exactly one X indicator from the furthest vertical and horizontal parts of the logo to define the clear space. Occupational, conceptual

The importance of the creative brief. The creative brief forms a framework or foundation for the creative approach. Rather than being a hindrance to the creative process, it will inspire creative thinking. If a designer is working from an approved design brief, the client won’t reject their work because the direction has already been agreed upon. Occupational, conceptual

Running a successful post-mortem. At its heart, a post-mortem is a debriefing of a creative project. It should uncover what was done well and where the process fell short. Occupational, conceptual

Think boldly. Always give your layout a focal point. This is going to be its anchor. The focal point is generally the biggest, the boldest and the brightest image on the page.… Always think boldly.… If you have a big object, make if very big (McWade, “Have a focal point”, 2016). Occupational, conceptual

Symmetrical and Asymmetrical grids. In an asymmetrical design, an off-center object will draw the eye of the viewer and infer movement, according to Carrie Cousins of designshack.com. She goes on to say, “Asymmetry can be one of the most impactful concepts in your design toolkit. It is an attention-grabbing technique that is interesting and thought-provoking” (2015). Occupational, conceptual

References

Airey, D. (2015). Logo design love: a guide to creating iconic brand identities. Berkeley, California: New Riders.

Bigman, A. (2019, May 8). 6 principles of visual hierarchy for designers. Retrieved from https://99designs.com/blog/tips/6-principles-of-visual-hierarchy/

Bourn, J. (2018, April 12). How to identify and define your core brand values. Retrieved from https://jenniferbourn.com/brand-core-values/

Chan, S. (2019, September 3). How to create a brand style guide. Retrieved from https://99designs.com/blog/logo-branding/how-to-create-a-brand-style-guide/

Cousins, C. (2015, June 3). Asymmetrical design: creating beautiful, balanced layouts. Retrieved from https://designshack.net/articles/layouts/asymmetrical-design-creating-beautiful-balanced-layouts/

McWade, J. (2013, February 27). Learning graphic design: things every designer should know-know your story part 1. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-graphic-design-things-every-designer-should-know/know-your-story-part-1?u=50813145

McWade, J. (2016, October 21). Learning graphic design: layouts—a magazine article. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-graphic-design-layouts/a-magazine-article?u=50813145

McWade, J. (2016, October 21). Learning graphic design: layouts—have a focal point and think boldly. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-graphic-design-layouts/have-a-focal-point-and-think-boldly?u=50813145

Week 1 Live Session Notes

Brand Values. Brand values are the things that a brand holds dear. For instance, for a sushi restaurant like BoxPark, it may be sustainability, the health of the environment. Design firm founder Jennifer Bourn puts it this way: “Your values are uncompromising truths and guiding principles that articulate what you stand for, and the primary driving force behind your brand, business, behaviors, and decisions” (2018). That’s important because consumers are more likely to buy from brands whose values align with their own. Brand values are what the product/brand/company stands for (Bourn, 2018).

Brand Characteristics. Brand characteristics are the physical manifestation of the brand values. “A brand’s personality is derived from keywords that best describe your brand’s character as if your brand was a person” according to the blog “Finien” (Beyrhalter, 2015). The characteristics are adjectives that, together, define how the brand wants to be perceived. It’s how it wants to make the target market feel. One’s brand characteristics may be light-hearted and friendly or serious and earnest. The best way to define brand characteristics is to list adjectives for the brand as if the brand were a human being .

Logos as Visual Communicators. There are rules governing logo design. They need to be visual communicators that stand for the brand. David Airey says they need to be simple, relevant, traditional, distinct, memorable, work in a small size and say one thing (Airey, 2015). Therefore, the logo needs to engender the brand characteristics and values. The logo needs to “say” something—not just look nice and, more importantly, not just say about your brand what all your competitors say about theirs. Consider the voice and tone and the look and feel the brand needs to manifest in order target the market. How does the logo imply a benefit to the very people the brand has chosen as its consumers?

References

Airey, D. (2015). Logo design love: a guide to creating iconic brand identities. Berkeley, California: New Riders.

Bourn, J. (2018, April 12). How to identify and define your core brand values. Retrieved from https://jenniferbourn.com/brand-core-values/

Geyrhalter, F. (2015, June 18). How to define your brand personality [Blog post]. Finien. Retrieved from https://www.finien.com/2015/06/how-to-define-your-brand-personality/#

Week 2 Live Session Notes

Creating Design Hierarchy. Visual hierarchy is the arrangement of graphic elements in a design in order of importance. The visual weight of an element on the page tells the viewer what to focus on and in what order, according to Alex Bigman of 99designs.com (2019). Designers have come up with 6 principles to establish hierarchy. 1 Reading patterns: People tend to scan the page in an F or Z pattern to determine if they want to read it, and designers can arrange page elements accordingly. For text-heavy pages, align important info along the left margin, breaking up text with subheads (F pattern). For ads and web pages, put important elements in the corners (Z pattern). 2 Size matters: People read bigger things first, so make more pertinent elements larger. 3 Space and texture: Copy with wider leading or page elements bordered by lots of white space attract attention. Texture is the overall arrangement of text, images and white space that make up the page. 4 Typeface weight and pairing: The weight and style of fonts used is pivotal. Choose fonts that work well together. Two alternating fonts of similar weight and differing styles can make otherwise monotonous text interesting. 5 Color and tint: Bright colors attract more attention than muted ones, and dark colors carry more weight than lighter tints. 6 Direction: Because we’re used to reading left to right and top to bottom, break the grid and put text on a curve or at an angle as a creative way to establish hierarchy. Items that don’t fit the usual grid pattern attract more attention.

Choosing a Logo Font. The font a designer chooses to represent a brand is very important because it will be the look audiences associate with the brand now and for years to come. Based on the font, people will make assumptions about the product without even realizing it (Reid, 2020). Beyond serif or sans-serif, unique characteristics about the font can either make it or break it as a viable choice. Blogger Meg Reid’s advice is to look at the whole font family throughout the alphabet for elements that may make the font interesting and unique or problematic (i.e. ugly or distracting letterforms present in the brand name). Sometimes, choosing a font is more about look and feel. A designer meeting the expectations accepted by the industry in which the brand competes. Font choice would be dramatically different depending on whether one is advertising a hair salon or farm equipment. However, Reid warns not to be too expected. Look for a font that is recognizable but not overdone. It should still feel fresh. Also, don’t use more than two or three fonts in a logo composition or lockup. The brand name needs to have visual hierarchy, with the other elements being subtext. It should be in one font with the tagline or brand description in another. Find an underlying quality that unites these 2 or three fonts so that they harmonize. The main brand font should be interesting, indicative of the brand. The supporting font(s) should clearly, concisely state the benefit. Most importantly, when choosing a font for the logo, be guided by the brand’s values.

Branding me. Like the products and services they provide, business owners and entrepreneurs should have a brand that speaks of their purpose and values, benefits that they stand for and how they’re different from the competition. Blogger Anna Lundberg of 99designs.com writes that people are naturally interested in other people and their stories. So a business owner should use their brand to tell their story. Why did you start your business? What motivates you? What are your goals and dreams? It’s a great way to connect with potential customers and build relationships beyond products and services. As a freelancer, a personal brand informs people that you exist and lets them know your capabilities. Ultimately, a strong personal brand means clients come looking for you instead of the other way around. Designers need to consider Performance, Image and Exposure (P.I.E.). Performance is doing excellent work. Image is personal brand, what you project. Exposure is making sure people know who you are beyond the daily grind. (These are just some things I’m considering as the end of my Masters journey approaches, and it tied in so nicely with the branding we’re working on, I couldn’t resist this article.)

References

Bigman, A. (2019, May 8). 6 principles of visual hierarchy for designers. Retrieved from https://99designs.com/blog/tips/6-principles-of-visual-hierarchy/

Lundberg, A. (2020, January 9). 5 steps to building an outstanding personal brand. Retrieved from https://99designs.com/blog/tips/personal-branding/

Reid, M. (2020, February 13). Finding your type: 4 tips on how to choose a logo font. Retrieved from https://99designs.com/blog/tips/how-to-choose-a-logo-font/

Week 3 Live Session Notes

Defining clear space. Clear space is simply space around logos, set by the designer, in which other elements, logos, text, etc. are not to be set (The Logo Package, 2019). The purpose is to make sure that logos are given the right amount of “breathing room”. To define clear space, Labelvalue suggests that the designer pick an element within the logo that is a standard or base size. The selected base element is called the X indicator. Measure exactly one X indicator from the furthest vertical and horizontal parts of the logo to define the clear space. Clear space is important because one of the biggest problems in design is clutter, and clutter distracts the audience from the message the advertiser is trying to communicate. If a brand’s logo is presented in the midst of clutter and in a sloppy way, that will be the audience’s net takeaway of the brand: cluttered and sloppy. A clear definition of the clear space also helps designers to know in what area in the layout to logically place the logo across all media (Labelvalue, 2016).

The importance of the creative brief. The creative brief forms a framework or foundation for the creative approach. Rather than being a hindrance to the creative process, it will inspire creative thinking. A well-informed and approved creative brief helps everyone involved in the creative process, even clients and other stakeholders (Stone, 2013). It gives everyone what they need to do their jobs. If a designer is working from an approved design brief, the client won’t reject their work because the direction has already been agreed upon. The creative brief gives both the client and designer a road map to what’s next. That way, the designer won’t spend precious time going in wrong directions. Terry Lee Stone says, “Creative briefs help you plan your work and work your plan” (2013). Designer and teacher John McWade says that design begins in the same place a road trip begins. You need to know where you’re going. Know your story. Write it all down and get the client to sign off on it. Having a creative brief answers whether or not the design one presents to the client fulfills the goal (2013).

Running a successful post-mortem. At its heart, a post-mortem is a debriefing of a creative project. According to Will Fanguy of Inside Design, a good post-mortem is necessary to present and future projects because they help improve internal processes, streamline workflows, help increase productivity and likelihood of future success. It should uncover what was done well and where the process fell short. Fanguy strongly suggests sending out a pre-meeting agenda and questionnaire in order to prep participants. However, he cautions that the facilitator should know their company’s working style and go by that. (Fanguy, 2018). Kyle Eliason of Portent.com thought a questionnaire was so important that he updated his blog to add it to his ten tips to a successful post-mortem. “An agenda is extremely important, but it’ll be hard to stick to your timetable if the participants aren’t prepared themselves having thought about all the questions you plan to cover. If they haven’t already though through the questions, I guarantee you if you ask them what methods or processes worked well, you’ll get at least 10-20 seconds of blank stares.” (2019).

References

Eliason, K. (2019, January 11). 11 tips for a successful post-mortem. Retrieved from https://www.portent.com/blog/project-management/tips-for-a-successful-post-mortem.htm

Fanguy, W. (2018, May 17). Running a successful post-mortem. Inside Design Blog. Retrieved from https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/running-successful-post-mortem/

Labelvalue Team. (2016, May 31). What’s clear space? How should I use it for my business branding? Retrieved from https://www.labelvalue.com/blog/custom-label-information/whats-clear-space-how-should-i-use-it-for-my-business-branding.html

The Logo Package. (2019, May 8). How to add clear space to your logos. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0qEST7tzOE

Saltz, Ina. (2013, February 1). Graphic design foundations: typography. Linkedin Learning. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/graphic-design-foundations-typography/other-type-categories?u=50813145

Stone, T.L. (2013, September 12). Running a design business: creative briefs. Linkedin Learning. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/running-a-design-business-creative-briefs/managing-to-a-creative-brief?u=50813145

Week 4 Live Session Notes

White space in layouts. Designer and teacher John McWade describes white space as “visual silence”. He explains how employing wider margins on a page, adding kerning to words and leading to copy blocks all work together to make the layout quieter. White space gives the reader’s eyes a place to rest. On the other hand, tighter leading and letterspacing have the exact opposite effect. They make long, gray copy blocks less inviting to read and, coupled with no subheads to break up the space, readers are not likely to jump in. Anna Guerrero of Canva uses Apple as a model of clean design, deftly using lots of white space to communicate simplicity and user friendliness. She further points out that wide margins around the edges of pages make dense copy blocks much less daunting to read, even inviting. 1. Don’t be afraid to leave large areas of white space because it adds strong focus to layouts. 2. Remove borders and other unnecessary elements to open up the page. Use only what’s necessary to add value to your design. 3. Enlarge the background image to create white space for copy to be overlaid. 4. Add a solid block of background color to create lots of space around text. 5. Expand or condense letter spacing to make text appear as one cohesive element. 6. Use padding or ample space around copy elements. 7. Add a border around central elements to draw attention to it, similar to how a painting uses a matte. 8. Make one aspect of your design prominent while keeping others small.

Think boldly. “Always give your layout a focal point. This is going to be its anchor. The focal point is generally the biggest, the boldest and the brightest image on the page.… Always think boldly.… If you have a big object, make if very big. I’ll always start by putting something on the page and making it very big, and see what that says. Or very small, and see what that says. Make something very dark, like black, in contrast to something very light,” according to John McWade. By making text big and wide (a headline or word for instance), the designer is giving it force and energy. Pairing the black weight and light weight of the same type family also makes for a handsome presentation, pleasing to the eye (Learning graphic design—have a focal point, 2016). Meg Reid of 99designs.com also advises using emphasis and scale to draw the eye. “The eye generally needs a place to rest or something of interest to hold it, otherwise people will look at your design and quickly move on.… Figuring out the focal point of the design will give your eye the guide it requires to structure the composition, as well as organically build hierarchy.” Scale is a great way to establish the focal point and build emphasis.

Symmetrical and Asymmetrical grids. Text is best in grids of from 30 to 75 or 80 words per line, including spaces and punctuation. Anything longer than that is hard to read, according to John McWade in his video Learning Graphic Design: Layouts. Therefore, break wide text blocks into two or more columns. Ideal for a column is 65 words. They can be symmetrical or assymetrical. Grids are fluid and only exist to keep things aligned and spaced consistently (Learning graphic design—symmetrical, 2016). In an asymmetrical design, an off-center object will draw the eye of the viewer and infer movement, according to Carrie Cousins of designshack.com. She goes on to say, “Asymmetry can be one of the most impactful concepts in your design toolkit. It is an attention-grabbing technique that is interesting and thought-provoking.” (2015).

References

Cousins, C. (2015, June 3). Asymmetrical design: creating beautiful, balanced layouts. Retrieved from https://designshack.net/articles/layouts/asymmetrical-design-creating-beautiful-balanced-layouts/

Guerrero, A. (n.d.). How to design with white space. Canva.com. Retrieved from https://www.canva.com/learn/white-space-design/

McWade, J. (2016, October 21). Learning graphic design: layouts—a magazine article. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-graphic-design-layouts/a-magazine-article?u=50813145

McWade, J. (2016, October 21). Learning graphic design: layouts—symmetrical. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-graphic-design-layouts/symmetrical?u=50813145

Reid, M. (2018, April 27). The 5 rules of design composition and layout. Retrieved from https://99designs.com/blog/tips/design-composition-and-layout/

Learning

How To Proceed With Sketching Of Logo Design, by Henna Ray
Logo Design Love, Chapter 3, by David Airey
Logo Design: Illustrating Logo Marks, with Von Glitschka
http://char.txa.cornell.edu/
The Advertising Concept Book- Pete Barry
Ideation- Nik Mahon
Fundamentals of Typography- Ambrose and Harris
Layout- Ambrose and Harris
Essentials of Visual Communication- Bo Bergstrom
Creative Strategy and the Business of Design- Douglas Davis
Visual Conversations- David Bramston
The Art of Innovation- Tom Kelley w/ Jonathan Littman
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Media Assets

Learning Outcomes

Week 1 Live Session Notes

Week 2 Live Session Notes

Week 3 Live Session Notes

Week 4 Live Session Notes

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