[W.S REBRAND] Brand guidelines development

 

I then moved on to creating the brand guidelines. I looked at different existing examples from Behance and looked at the list that I made at the start of the brief to make sure I include everything in the guidelines. 

As I am thinking of showcasing all characters of both fonts, I am still thinking of a way for to typeset it. 

For the colour scheme page, I am choosing between centering the coloured circles, and spreading them not he page randomly. The first one definitely fits the whole branding style of clean and minimal, however it might look a bit dull as elements are centred right at the middle of all pages. The second option would look more interesting with and less boring? Also, keeping the white background visible helps maintain the consistency of the clean aesthetic. 

[W.S REBRAND] Packaging, business cards, tote design

Also made these products going along with the brand guidelines as the deliverables. As Jenna mentioned that she would like to make totes, I created a tote design for her. I kept all designs as simple as possible to go align with the brand image. 

[W.S REBRAND] IG Presentation + festive patterns

Using the final pattern, a instagram feed presentation page is being made. I used dark grey for the first draft, it turned out looking too dark and distracting. I made a lighter version with a light beige colour with the iPhone being filled with colour to make the patterns look more like a background and less distracting. 

Festive versions 

I tried out different colour combinations and made 4 different coloured versions of the pattern as visual representations of 4 big festivals in Hong Kong. I am really proud of the colour scheme as I used to be bad at matching colours and sensing colour tones, this definitely is a good exercise for me to train my colour sense. 

1. christmas 

2. valentines 

3. mid- autumn 

4. Chinese new year 

[W.S REBRAND] Patterns development

 I took inspiration from the planned new collection's name "star" and created a new set of pattern. It is made of speakings and stars, which could also used to describe white.studio's products, being sparkly and shimmering. Different variations are made based on the shimmering idea and how patterns are made in big brands. The method of interlocking is used. 

As analysed from big brands' patterns, I also thought of adding the elements fo the logotype into the pattern to make the visuals look more consistent and relevant. The final pattern is created with a small dot of the "!" from the logotype places under each interlocking star. This creates a low key ! among the shapes. The dots also helped elevate the set of pattern to look more refined and professional. 

[W.S REBRAND] Product images manipulation

 I tried manipulating the product photos Jenna sent me through google drive. The untouched pictures actually looked as if they were edited into the same tone already a there is a light tuning function in Jenna's camera. However I feel like the consistency is bit loose. 

After looking at jenna's pics, I realised that many of her products look like planets. Instead of naming her next collection "star" I think that "planet"/ "galaxy"/"universe" would better suit as some products look like the sun and different planets, they gave me a feeling of the galaxy.  As the pictures are a bit messy and unorganised, I tried categorising them into "blossom", "star" and "planets". 

galaxy/ universe

- dark 

- sparkling 

- mysterious 

Based on the vocabularies that I could relate from the word planet and universe, I tried manipulating the images. As some images are a bit blurry, I tried pushing up the texture and clarity a bit to make the products look clearer. 

1st attempt 

I tried placing them into squares like an instagram feed, looking at the tone and brightness of the edited images in a full picture. Some of them looked too dark and some are over-edited. I tried modify them to make the product pop out more. I think it is essential to make the product look clear and easy to look at by only looking at the feed without pressing into each picture. This would be more convenient for customers to shop and create a better shopping experience. 

1st attempt's modified version 

The outcome turned out to create a slight vintage aesthetic. It might be due to the vignette effect. The outcome looks not bad to be but not the best I would like to see. I decided to re-edit them using different settings to make them look less vintage. 

2nd attempt 

I compared it with the originals and the 1st edited ones, it looked less consistent with a looser colour scheme. I decided to take a balance between the 1st and the 2nd attempt. 

3rd attempt 

I took out the vignette effect to lessen the vintage aesthetic. The pics turned out really good with a solid consistency. I edited each pics individually to make each product more detailed looking and prevent over-editings. 

[W.S REBRAND] Typography and feedback from Jenna

 

I then moved on to the typography part of the branding. As this is my first official branding project, I did research online and looked at what would be needed in a branding guideline. Typography is needed to make a brand complete. I tried matching different fonts with the type I used. for t he logotype which is sans serif. I found out that serif and sans serif do not work well with each other, not cursive or script. I tried using other serif fonts. Davis Sans and Alegreya SansSC went well with the white.studio font (Objektiv MK1). 

Although Alegreya SansSC has all letters in caps, I think it goes best with Objektiv MK1. The all caps did not affect the legibility of words and gave the brand a professional and clean aesthetic. 

Jenna's feedback 

I then sent Jenna my progress and the logotype that I chose as the final outcome. I asked for feedback and she loved the aesthetic of the things I made so far. They are exactly what she wants for her brand to be like which looks simple and neat. She also agreed with the final logotype that I chose. I asked her for some unedited product pics. I will be editing and tuning the colours of the pics to make them look more consistent. I also asked her about her upcoming plans for future collections. At the moment, she is launching the "blossom" collection and she is planning to make "star" as the theme of her next launch. As she has already developed a bunch of images for the current "blossom" collection. She also mentioned that she would like to make some totes for her brand as packaging for her products. 

[W.S REBRAND] Product drawings and colour scheme

 I also took a few hot selling products and drew them out using simple lines and circles. The drawings turned out looking not bad and I quite like how the filled circles contrasted with the thin lines. All lines are not over 1pt which makes the whole aesthetic look simple and clean. 

I then tried out different layout methods to place the drawings. These could be used for the Instagram feed as well as the final branding guidelines layout. 

But where can I use these drawings? Where can I apply them? 

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Colours 

For the colour scheme, I used Coloukuler.com to generate the main colours used from white.studio. The palette does has a vibe of elegance. I think this can already be the final colour palette of the branding. 

Final palette 

I added a pinkish peach and a lighter grey onto the final scheme to make it more diverse. 

[W.S REBRAND] logo development + patterns

More variations are made using the concept of curves and circles. This idea is taken from one of the item white.studio made.

However, the weight of the logo does not looks balanced. Also, I do not think the O matches the shop's style of being elegant and graceful. 

I also tried out another idea by connecting the "h" from white and the "d" from studio. It kind of created an illusion of the word being elongated. I think this idea has the potential of being further developed into the final one as I really like the elongated feeling which matches with the shop's dangling products. Kernings will have have to be amended to balance the logo. 

The logotype is further developed into a simplified logo. It is a logo with straight lines connected with curves and a dot. The outcome turns out to be good, but I am wondering if it fits the band's image. I think the lines might be too thick and the design might be too bold and does not give an elegant vibe. 

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I picked 3 logotypes and chose the middle one as the final outcome. I showed friends the 3 options and asked them what did they see at first sight. In the end, I chose the middle one with the dangling "I". 

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Patterns 

I also tried developing the patterns using the main 3 elements (curves, straight lines, circles) , they didn't turn out looking good. They all look really complicated which I do not think suits the brand image of white.studio. 

PPP TASK1 presentation