'Branding a Friend'

In conjunction with our personal branding, the opportunity arose to brand a good friend, Thea. As this was only a day brief the finish quality is not as detailed as I would prefer it to be, but for the study task criteria mock up form seems appropriate. 

The brief from Thea was to create a small publication that shows off her current skills and her as a person. She said "My current idea is to have the front cover as a representation of me, the inside as where I am now and the last page to include my details etc to insinuate my next step". Essentially she want this 'journey' idea to come across without being "too cringey" and "to make it effortless!". Thea is currently exploring bookbinding, stencils, cutouts and photography and image- a good starting point when considering content for the book.

Initial ideas and mind mapping //

From Thea's brief, I intend to conduct the small book with a narrative flow of how her work has progressed over the years. This will include examples of all the criteria she wanted to include (photography etc), alongside skills she has learnt along the way- including the creative cloud and traditional processes.

Initial digital mock ups //

As Thea wants the front cover to resemble her, I took an illustrative spin to this whilst considering her digital style and personality. As Thea generally wears a lot of stripes (to the point it has become a running joke), I thought it appropriate to include this on both the front and back cover, segmenting them away from the interior content. This could be taken to the next level and printed on a hard back/fabric cover to further highlight her personality. I intend to keep the colour scheme fairly minimal, reflective of Thea's personality. I feel black and red are the most appropriate, partly as they are her favourite colours but to highlight a feisty tom-boy side, which is still strong and feminine.

The front cover (top image) is a abstract representation of Thea herself. The stripes act as a striking background to grab the viewers attention, with the black jeans/docs a staple in Thea's wardrobe and identity. I have removed her torso and head to create an ambiguous illustration, with the 'arms' shown in a fluid way to also possibly look like long eyelashes, complemented by the flicks. The white circle on the left is to highlight the 'arms', as without it the red severely overpowered the black. If you see eyelashes instead of arms, the white circle brings a humorous tone acting as a monocle, suggesting that Thea investigates every aspect of design and is critical of her own work.

Ransom note inspired type presented in a softer, intriguing way. If I had longer I would have selected a more appropriate typeface, yet due to the collage aspect of her work I felt a unlined composition was the most important factor to include.

On the image pages, there is a subtle outline in the style of the gig tickets. This reflects Thea's interest and passion in the music genre, whilst making the viewer seem VIP for receiving a invite.

Finished booklet in digital format //

All images are of Thea's work sourced from her and from her blog...

Overall for a day brief I am fairly happy with the outcome, which if produced properly would be printed onto a recycled stock and hand stitched. If time was no constraint I would explore the most appropriate type choices to represent Thea, alongside possibly experimenting with laser cut/stencils further reflecting her interests.