Brief 3 - Pitt Rivers Research

Just trying to get my head round the Pitt Rivers brief -
I want to try and stay away from the standard process of coming up with a logo and applying it to a range. My aim here is to see if there is a better way of coming up with a brand, or if approaching it from a different angle will have a more interesting or original result.

So, I'm starting with the development of a calendar - the calendar will have 3 one off events throught the year, design to attract 3 new target audiences - as well as a range of recurring monthly events.

The 3 events will need to have their own identity as they are so different - but they will also need to reflect the overarching brand of the museum.

This seemed like a massively daunting task at first - but looking around it's really quite easy to maintain the 'feeling' of a brand that promotes very different events.

This magazine produced by ICON is a great example of this. The magazine promotes and guides you through a spectrum of different design styles and art work - but you are reminded of its brand through the simple use of colour. The use of photography means that everything has a similar feel throughout - combined with the appearence of the yellow balloon and random intervals keep the brand in tact, whilst allowing for a huge amount of flexibility with regards to content.

See the whole thing here: http://www.media-ten.com/3dissue/icon/designtrail/2010/

Mike Reed

Was just finally sorting my Behance account out - and I had a quick trawl through the branding section, there's some great stuff on there - but I thought I'd repost this just because it made me laugh! 'Bout time someone took the piss out of this trend eh?
You can see the rest of the project here.

Idealismo

A2 Design

These guys did the rounds on the blogs last year, but I've dug them out again - I remembered the pattern on the back and wanted to see exactly how they made it to help me come up with a pattern for Steve's stationary.
It seems they've used A-formats as a basis for an ever expanding design based on lines and crosses, obviously a play on the name of the company - but relatively effective.

The variations I've tried so far are just a little aimless, so I'm going to try a pattern based on the grid of each piece of stationery.

Brief 4 - Final Letterhead

These are the finals for Steve's letterhead - and I intend to use all the elements here throughout the stationery (should be relatively quick) to tie it all together. I have been corresponding with Steve this week and will have content ready for the publication in the next few days - so this brief will be tied up by the end of the week, according to my action plan!

Development
Spent ages trying different symbols, in the end I used my own variations constructed from print symbols, like registration marks and crop marks - mixed with architectural symbols like arrows and measurements.

Finals
Might include a patterned reverse for an extra bit of interest if it's appropriate later.

Specs

Colour - Grey - 80%K / Turquoise - 75C, 0M, 31Y
Stock - Bulky Newsprint, Double sided (Print on textured side)

Brief 4 - Research

Symbols

Following my last post, I've gathered imagery of symbols and technical drawings used in many different areas - print, interior/architecture, mapping, electronics, plumbing etc. I've taken some inspiration from all areas and developed my own set of symbols that I feel are appropriate for marking out the technical aspects of typography and layout within Steve's stationery.

Adaptations
Column markers

 Directional

 Grid intersection marks

 Standard crop marks

 Column marker with directional element

I'd also like to create a geometric pattern based on these drawing for the reverse side of the stationary, and for use throughout the publication.