Branding Gambit

Gambit is a new business providing cyber security for small/medium size companies. They are forecast to take off come September 2016, and have asked me to design a small, simple corporate identity for them. Based in Blackburn and ran between two people, they are aiming to provide their service locally, then grow when word spreads as they feel this is the best form of promotion.

Being sole-trader lead, it is essential the company oozes professionalism, thus illuminating any distrust on behalf of the prospective clients. Adam, the main owner, is very clear he wants a Serif typeface from his personal preference, yet has left the rest of the brief vastly open. When we met to discuss the brief we made some rough ideas and mind maps as a starting point. 

My personal intention for this brief is to create a solid identity, reflecting the companies values and down to earth service intention, in the most sophisticated manor possible for the technology genre. Gambit essentially means "an act or remark that is calculated to gain an advantage, especially at the outset of a situation", alongside being a Super hero prominent in American comic books. I could perhaps utilise the actual definition and incorporate connotations of success (e.g.: use our cyber security and your business will become more successful) through future design decisions.

Investigating who they are, what they will be doing and how they will be executing daily working life. It is notable that initial communication with prospective clients will be made the old fashioned way, visiting businesses and sending letters- meaning letter heads/ templates need to be produced.

After producing some initial sketches, I met with the client again to discuss what is tangibly needed, so I can tailor the design styles and decisions towards the requirements. We came up with a range of ideas, yet narrowed down the main criteria:
// Logo
// Unique Pattern or Letterform
// Business Cards
// Lanyards and I.D Badges
// Welcome Pack and contents... Pen/ Booklet/Post-it-notes etc
// Mock up website and Web Icon (?)
// Letter heads and over envelope stickers

Playing on the molecule idea, suggesting a contemporary and scientific approach, I traced 'Gambit' in the clients ideal typeface, Cochin. The effect the dots created are naturally clustered in places, and when they eye is relaxed the word Gambit is still slightly visible. To alter this I can increase spaces between some clustered dots, aiding composition and creating a sporadic ascetic, relating to the fast pace of the industry. In the previous meeting, I was also advised that a deep, dark shade of purple along with a Serif typeface would be favourable. We decided on Pantone 98-16 C, providing a subtle difference from black.

Experimenting with a range of compositions inspired by the circle, using the selected Pantone. In this sense, the circle represents a sole trader out on his own, with connotations to wholeness/trust/family, suggesting a positive emotional message. This is backed up by many theories, most interestingly put in 'The Psychology of Logo Shapes' - http://www.creativebloq.com/logo-design/psychology-logo-shapes-8133918.

Exploring typefaces, kerning and leading. The leading in No.14 is far too loose between the bottom two lines, with the intention of a justified alignment throughout. Exploring the use of uppercase vs lower case with regards to professionalism and compositional ascetic. It was clear that for this project a capital G is essential, due to the strong professional message a capital implies. It also suggests a higher education, as the unknowing viewer could simply assume this was a mistake, not a design consideration- something I wish to avoid through Gambits branding.

Possible resolution concluded to be unsuccessful. The lower case G/C/S does not connote Gambits intentions, therefore unfit for purpose. However, the justified alignment is a success, and praised by the client. 

// Possible Pattern Ideas

Inspired by the circular trace of Gambit, I adjusted the compositional factors by manipulating the condensed sections, therefore creating a elongated placement print. 

Possible repeat option. Far too clustered with obtuse areas of negative space. Further manipulation would be needed if I carried this further, yet I feel I could create something more unique and bespoke to Gambit.

Further experimentation from the previous repeat pattern. Reduction in scale and repeated further, possibly for a lanyard design/ the reverse side of a business card. With a relaxed eye a naturist ascetic is created, as from some perspectives each section looks quite leafy. Again, this is not relevant to Gambit, nor the branding intentions to add an environmental spin, therefore will also not be considered.

Experimenting with a San-Serif bold G. This was initially just a brain storm for ideas generation, yet proved to be insightful and justified. I started with a San Serif, 'The Bold Font' to suggest power, modernity and the strong place Gambit aims to achieve within the local technology market. Again, the psychological relevance of a circle seemed the most appropriate way to experiment with monochromatic positive/negative space. By placing a white G on the edges/ rotated, a range of interesting spherical shapes have been created, especially where the G's right angle looks slightly like an arrow. By rotating No.3 90 degrees counter clockwise a Lock icon has been created, suggesting security...

Extending the result of No.3, I vectorised the lock symbol as a whole in two ways, experimenting with scale, yet keeping in B&W for now. When asking peers for feedback, they said it resembled a door/gateway, so I added the small circle representing a door handle. The door is now representing a way to achieve excellent service, with the white negative space connoting brightness and subsequently subconscious positivity. Despite this, I personally don't feel this is the most relevant way to project Gambit.

Compositional exploration using the previous logo. Despite not having an intention to continue with the door reference, the unusual shape seemed appropriate to use when experimenting with further type compositions to consider versatility. No.10 is by far the least successful due to my attempt at making the capital G the same X-Height as the rest of the standard letter forms. This has created a ransom note style through inconstancy, both width and stroke. (Note, no 9 was deleted and placed on a different slide).

Inspired by the dot trace of Gambit, I overlaid rectangles to cover the width/hight of each individual letter, intended to create a graph like ascetic. Unfortunately, this did not work out as well as planned and looks more like a broken skyline than justified logo design. I explored a vertical composition to see if this amended the problem, yet after attaining more feedback it was clear it did not.

Below is another possible outcome created with one of the initial circular compositions. The white G has been rotated and placed on its side to create an subtle and ambiguous representation. I modified the Gambit to typeface Marion, a stronger alternative to Cochin with the similar serif elongations and historically cemented ascetic.  

Experimentation repeat pattern for Lanyards

Rockabilly Brief

This all started by receiving an email through university about a 'needed Graphic Designer'.
The description in the email said 'rockabilly graphics', illustrations and american rock styles for a Leeds College of Music event. As this is a huge personal area of interest for me within design, I only felt it best to respond.

Work in progress// 

After sending these back to Ryan for feedback, I modified the selected designs in accordance with the new requirements he's asked.

Overall I am fairly happy with these images, yet I feel I could have created a better avenue to pursue if I wasn't under limited time constraints. If I was to redo the brief, I would start with hand drawn experimentation- hopefully to generate more ideas other than the sugar skull/pin up girl motifs. This has been a good learning experience with regards to dealing with clients, alongside proactively responding to a brief sent through the college email.

Album Cover Design

Created over time for friend and musician Michael Webster. He has a very specific style, throughout his look and his Bob Dylan sound. As he is in awe of Courtney Barnett's album/ EP covers, the style he tasked me of replicating is simple, yet slightly quirky in some way. 

E.P Cover I created a few months back for the track Internal Monologue. The etched, glitched heart is emphasising the broken hearted sombre tone. The use of a human heart rather than a childish 'fantasy' heart adds a human emotive quality, alongside suggesting a subtle gory tone as the heart is being pulled apart, emphasising torment.

 The most recent brief, Jan 2016, for new track 'Ground Zero'. Despite being digitally rendered the loose illustrative style is simple and almost hand drawn. These qualities represent Michaels sound, alongside his ethical stance. The use of a retro TV with pixilation is to suggest that time has stopped, people and technology have regressed and we have entered a new age called 'Ground Zero'. The mainly monotone approach emphasises this, colour is stripped until all that is left is the music and self inflicted destruction, further linking to the lyrics.

Here are a few examples of work in progress...

After further brain storms, Michael said he was inspired and really liked the look of Kanye West, Dark Twisted Fantasy. With this in mind, I thought of ways to incorporate this modern, heavy negative space approach, with his nostalgic sound. I felt combining both clinical white space and grainy lomography/film photographs would create a nice juxtaposition between the two worlds of inspiration, whilst adding an ambiguity for the viewer. After shifting through dozens of old family photo's, Michael and I agreed that it would be best without a human figure in the image to 1) avoid confusion and 2) perpetuate a further ambiguity.

Resolved outcome exploring both analogue photography and intense negative space. The black borer was added to intersect the white space and create a postmodern ascetic, despite not serving a real purpose (other than possibly framing the image?). However, I did feel that this is quite typical from the music industry at the minuet, and could easily represent a range of artists and different styles.

To make this more personal, incorporating hand rendered type to generate a childish/playful type will be added.

The artists own writing

Simple single row of type added, negative space still very prominent and composition quite generic and modernist. Definitely needs making slightly more quirky to reflect the tone of music and the artists individual self.

Adding further type - again in the artists hand writing. This time the two track titles as the EP cover will now cover both tracks.

Experimenting with a slightly postmodern approach to typesetting, offsetting and rotating the artists name to further break up the white space. The eye is now drawn to the type, due to its unconventional lay out- rather than focusing on the central mark of colour. 

Experimenting with a fully black and white album cover, not generally seen in the mainstream music scene. Again a slightly unconventional type arrangement, yet much more refined and contained compared to the previous composition. 

Final EP Cover for ground zero/ youth decay //

Final EP cover and type composition. Type all created through the artists hand writing, with a modern vs nostalgic twist communicated. Overall I am happy with this album cover, yet regret not investigating analogue photography sooner as it now screams the most obvious response to the brief. In the future I will try and keep a consistent style going throughout all EP's for Michael, creating a subtle narrative.

Talk with Peter & Paul

Peter and Paul are an all male design collective, based in Leeds, specialising in large space graphics, yet turning their hand at whatever the brief requires. Their collective style is quite bold and sleek, highly digitalised image, encouraging a playful but serious style to their work. The premise of the talk was that all ideas at the centre of design.

It is notable that Peter and Paul have never done work with another design studio. They focus on mainly artists/ photographers, not fellow designers.

Their Philosophy //

Content Rich- Design Light
Content Light- Design Rich
"Too many cooks spoil the turkey", leading to their designated roles.

Past Work //

3D Environmental briefs

Headrow House pattern design

Exhibition for Kid Acne-  Sheffield based artist. They split the exhibition space into 'light' aka Known, and 'dark', aka Unknown, and filled it subsequently with the most appropriate work.
They brought their own inspiration in to contrast the general gallery being very white. Often dressing the space to fit the work.

Designed the graphics in the hallway and vectored the Graphic Design dept at Leeds College of Art. Idea is all based on the mosaic.. blown up pixels and informed colours.

All about mock ups when presenting to the directors, so come to know the space really well. They commented that the directors "have to have vision and leeway to let you do what" -within reason.
8/10 ideas presented were shot down.

Advice Given //

Who you know is 50/50

People sometimes hate what you do, go home and make it better