Branding Book by Ellie Robinson

Festival colour Pallets

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:36:25 UTC

Looking at vibrant festival colour to suit the destination of travel for some of the clientele

Eco Colour Palette

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:37:30 UTC

Looking at earthy tones to suit the brand value of being an ecologically friendly travel alternative.

Festival Colours

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:38:47 UTC

The mix of green earth tones with the vibrant pink/orange/blue to appeal more to the younger audience

Mix of festival and eco

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:39:36 UTC

These colours sit well together bringing the festival and eco pallet together

Eco pallet

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:40:34 UTC

I really like that there are a lot of green colours in here but there is also the brighter orange to appeal to the younger audience too

Illustration research Linda Baritski

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:44:39 UTC

I like that her illustrations are very vibrant but it is clear what the brand is that she is looking at. The colour palette that she uses is very simplistic and I feel would be more captivating for the younger audience. I also like that the illustrators are simple line drawings which are quite bold and iconic to the Kiehl’s branding. I would like to try something similar for whip that can incorporate travel and the eco nature of the brand too.

Photography vs Illustrations

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:47:28 UTC

I feel that the Karen Mullen advert feels more high end in comparison to the Ed Sheeran music advertising. A lot of photography appears to be more higher range budget in my opinion unless it is created in a very free, “fly on the wall” situation. I feel that this would be hard to capture this time of the year due to there being no festivals and that being one of the key elements of my brand audience.

Adverts/Type

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:48:49 UTC

These adverts contain minimalist illustrations and colour pallets but still are able to captivate a passing audience or become eye catching for the viewer.

Initial Sketches

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:50:34 UTC

Some quick sketches for logo ideas. I posted out to friends/family to gather there thought on favourites to be able to select the three shortlisted. I will work on these further digitally.

Clientele

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:51:38 UTC

Thinking about the type of people that would be using the Whip service

Initial thoughts

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:53:08 UTC

Brand Book Research

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:53:42 UTC

Leon Branding

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:55:15 UTC

Primary research trip looking at the Leon brand themselves how it is presented to me when purchased and further looking into the brand themselves thinking about how their packaging, colour palette and advertising campaigns further promote the brand ethos

Vans Branding

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:57:05 UTC

Primary research - shop visit and looking at items I own myself to think about how their colour pallet, packaging, advertising and products suit the brand and further promote the brand enabling them to be around for a long period of time and keep appealing to the new generations too.

Initial storytelling research

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:57:58 UTC

Whip Storytelling

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 13:58:58 UTC

Thinking about what Whip is about as a company, the competitors, challenges and what the company hopes to offer its customers to remain great at what they do

Whip Competition

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 14:00:17 UTC

Research looking into those who offer a similar service and trying to discover ways that Whip might offer something different and go above and beyond what the other companies offer at the moment.

Thumbnail Layout

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 14:07:45 UTC

Quick sketches of how the book colour be and the order of which I would put things on the pages. I need to further look at grid structure in order to get a true reflection of how the book might look once on InDesign

Illustration style

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 14:10:48 UTC

I feel like these illustrations appeal to a younger audience and like the work of Baritski like the line drawings with the colour not fitting into the lines themselves. I feel this is another method that I will play around with but it maybe best off on the logo design rather than the brand illustrations.

Artist unknown

Paper Samples

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 14:14:59 UTC

Having looked at many of the paper samples when GF.Smith came into visit, I ordered some examples from them so that I could get a better idea of what paper I would like my final brand book to be printed onto. I decided it would be a good idea for it to be on economic paper that has either been made out of waste or something that is highly biodegradable and come from responsible sources in order to better back up the brand values. I also like the idea of the front/back cover being transparent so that it is a little more eye catching.

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 14:17:07 UTC

Potential choice for front/back cover but will depend on how the book is printed and if the page layouts allow

Eco paper

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 14:19:09 UTC

Both papers have been made using ware materials which I feel represents the brand. It also has a slight natural coloured flick within the paper (both sides) which I feel would further add to the brand book itself and be representative of the fact that Whip offerers the service even in rural areas

Whip Logo Final

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 14:24:55 UTC

Having worked on the Whip design in the comfortaa type, I decided that this type itself would be better suited to any type that the brand uses due to its clear presentation. The logo incorporates a tree above the “i” rather than it being the drop pin as suggested during critique discussions. I added the circles around the outside to tie in the circles in the Comfortaa typeface, and also the wheels of a car. I also feel that it looks like a festival hand stamp/travel stamp which I will try to create and use as part of the illustration process.
The typeface itself is called “wheel” but I adapted it using adobe illustrator, moving the letters closer together in places, adjusting rh height of the “i” and also removing some of the h and p sections so that it looked less of a script type and better in fitting with the rest of the brand.

Logo alterations

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 14:26:15 UTC

Playing with the logo on Adobe Fresco to see how it might look in different colours and being placed on different background colour choices

Logo Alterations

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 14:26:43 UTC

Playing with the logo on Adobe Fresco to see how it might look in different colours and being placed on different background colour choices

Illustration development

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 14:29:31 UTC

Using adobe fresco and photography that i had taken of family members cars, i traced around to create simple line illustrations that i will fill with colour digitally to create something suitable for the whip brand, thinking about colour palettes and the clientele that I would like the brand to appeal to.

Illustration template

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 14:30:42 UTC

I will create three car choices for the brand from different angles that i can then. Ok our digitally for the final designs in keeping with the colour palette and the brand target audience.

Illustration template

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 14:31:11 UTC

I will create three car choices for the brand from different angles that i can then. Ok our digitally for the final designs in keeping with the colour palette and the brand target audience.

Using the logo

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 15:57:43 UTC

I thought about how communication/stationary might look and how i wanted it to remain informal and “young”. I decided to layer the logo so it appeared as a stamp with the watercolour wash in the background like i have used on the other logo alternatives

Photography

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 16:00:24 UTC

Primary images taken to use within brand book/illustration process

Photography

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 16:00:52 UTC

Primary images taken to use within brand book/illustration process

Photography

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-10 16:01:13 UTC

Primary images taken to use within brand book/illustration process

Printers Communication

erobinson0220231 — 2024-01-12 12:05:22 UTC

erobinson0220231 — 2024-01-19 11:24:06 UTC

Re-arranging pages. Spoke with Sarah who stated that I could have an outside cover as additional due to it being transparent and see through. Advised using illustrations of the cars within an app design to fill space if needed which I have done. The blank pages allow for the transparent paper cover with logo on.

Illustration style

erobinson0220231 — 2024-01-19 11:25:48 UTC

The simple illustrations have been saved as png so that they hold the transparent background and can be placed on top on the water colour wash backgrounds. I added the whip logo to the sides of the cars to keep consistency of the brand throughout.

erobinson0220231 — 2024-01-19 11:35:04 UTC

Logo designs overlapping the colour choices and illustration style for the brand

Stationary

erobinson0220231 — 2024-01-19 11:36:27 UTC

Updates version for stationary that would be more subtle and can have a watermark effect rather than the harsh colours from previous

Top brand books research

erobinson0220231 — 2024-01-19 11:37:20 UTC

Looking at other brand book examples to better help layout my own

Manifesto research

erobinson0220231 — 2024-01-19 11:38:41 UTC

I had a look at what other companies use within their manifest thinking about the audience that I wish to capture and the language that I would use within my own in order to suit and engage my target audience/clientele.

Colour palette in use

erobinson0220231 — 2024-01-19 11:39:48 UTC

Water colour wash using the colour palette, keeping the festival bright colours but also feeling earthy to fit in with the economically friendly brand ethics

Printing FV REPRO Dartford

erobinson0220231 — 2024-01-19 11:43:47 UTC

Took paper the the printers to ensure that it would gro through their printers and be ok. Guy advised that I would need my paper to be bigger than A3 to allow the bleed. Also stated that my bleed will only need to be 3mm. I would also need an allowance so the side/edge of the pages do not fan out and they can have a clean finish. Hadn’t thought about that part. Also worried that the paper that I ordered is a3 so won’t be suitable. Need to check.
I also need to export the document as a PDF before sending it to him and it will need to be on saved as individual pages. Will need to practice this in advance as this was not how I completed the test print.

Paper sizing

erobinson0220231 — 2024-01-19 11:45:16 UTC

After conversation with the printers I checked the paper sizing and it is ok to be printed on and will have plenty of room for cut size, just need to reduce my bleed to 3mm on my current in design document and get somebody to proof read for me before exporting for the printers.

InDesign PDF Brand Book

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-22 22:30:06 UTC

Brand book final design that has been sent to print.

Confortaa Typeface

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-22 22:43:47 UTC

This typeface I found suitable for my brand due to the circles that appear within the lettering that I feel looks like the wheels of a car. I started to use the Comfortaa typeface when creating my logo, however I was not able to use google fonts when using illustrator on my iPad. For this reason I had to find something else that would be ok to use. I decided to keep the Comfortaa for the main body copy however as it is a clean to look at typeface and I feel is suitable for the younger target audience that I want my brand to attract. I believe that this decision has worked out for the best as it is easy to read when there are larger amounts of text and it is different to the typeface that I went onto use in the logo design

Wheel type face

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-22 22:49:50 UTC

I really liked the loops within the "wheel" typeface and though that it would work better with the tree deign that would go above the 'i' in Whip. I was unable to use the original typeface on iPad, however, I feel that with the use of illustrator this worked out to be a better typeface for the logo given the alterations that I made to make it clearer but also give the logo its own identity. I was able to alter the letter spacing to move some closer together and some further apart which again I believe works well in order for an audience to see the letters clearly.

Wheel for wordmark

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-22 22:56:48 UTC

I used the Wheel typeface for the word mark as it felt like it would fit in with my eco theme and worked better with the tree replacing the dot on the 'i' in comparison to the Comfortaa typeface that I originally had intended to use. I was able to alter some of the letter spacing to make them closer together and further apart in places which allows it to be better seen. I also removed some of the lines in the letters so that it was individual and like nothing else. Having completed the letters themselves, I added solid triangle shapes to build up a simple tree design above the 'i' and played around with where this would sit, thinking about if the i should become the trunk of the tree. This did not work as it all felt a little too cramped. I then tried to continue some of the letters to make them feel more joined to the wordmark and further continue the individuality. I then put the circle around the idea to see how this would look and if it would help form a wheel type illustration. Although I do feel this is slightly picked up, I liked the thought of this being like a stamp for travel and kept it in, removing some parts of the circle in order to keep the design clean and feel more representative of that brand that I am trying to get across to the target audience.

Word Mark digital experiments

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 13:33:16 UTC

Using the Comfortaa typeface and turning the physical sketches into digital designs. I experimented with weight of the typeface and also capital and lowercase letters to see what worked best. Katy had suggested getting the 'H' to be like road markings similar to the sketches created. These were the ones shortlisted by friends/family votes and tutor suggestions. This was hard to do on a laptop (using photoshop) however, I will move forward with the pin drop as I feel that this worked out best.

Colour Palette logo

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 13:46:03 UTC

I used the festival colours and mixed them with the wordmark to see how they might look as a branding option. I tried to make the colours contrasting so that the wordmark was more eye catching and in-fitting with the vibrant festival feeling that I want from the branding. I spoke with Sarah about these and she has suggested that I use Illustrator as this will allow me to alter the designs easily and I will be able to save it for further alterations that you are unable to do in photoshop. I am a little nervous about this as illustrator is not a software that I am used to using, however I feel that once I have my iPad it will make the digital drawing process a lot easier and I will be able to change these things easier. Sarah has also suggested that I try to work in a tree to represent the rural manifesto pledge, within the pin drop, again this is something that I would like to try and experiment with further as although I am happy with these designs and the colour way I feel that I need to explore the options further before settling on a final logo/typeface.

Persona’s illustration

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 13:55:08 UTC

Using the colour ways for the brand to create avatars for the brand book to go alongside the persona’s created. I feel that these work well as they are not gender based.

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 13:58:15 UTC

When inputting the coloured versions into the brand book they didn't look right. I have used these to keep with illustration within the boo, however, I feel that they persona's would have felt more personable if I had have used actual photographs of people.

Colour Palette

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 14:16:19 UTC

I would like my branding to be based around festival travel. I like how vibrant these colours are and also the contrasting and complimentary elements from them. I will experiment with these colours within my project, although I am advised that I need to cut the palette down to 4 colours. I will also need to think about the other elements on the manifesto, for example the eco friendly part of the brand and that I would like advertise that the car share will collect from rural areas too.

Illustration experiments

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 14:18:55 UTC

Much like the wordmark/logo, I wanted to experiments with adding colour to the illustrations that I created using the colours that I have picked out. I feel that this could work well as backgrounds for advertising/app designs etc.

Illustrations in use

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 14:22:47 UTC

The illustrations with the coloured backgrounds work well and set into a screen background. I will further experiment and try and turn this into an advert that could go into the brand book should there be any pages.

App design/advert

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 14:24:55 UTC

I added items that might appear on the app screen and used the "stationary" background that I had previously created to come up with an advert too. I feel this works really well, in-keeping with the green rural colour palette, yet it also feels uncluttered, clean and eye catching too.

Research trip

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 20:47:54 UTC

Personal trip to the illustration fair to seek inspiration for the brand book. I found a few things that were of interest, in particular some single line illustrations that I want to try within my work. There was quite a lot of colour within the fair and it was a good way to be able to see what is more eye catching and suitable for a younger audience. Most of the illustrations were created using hand rendered technique which I feel I am really missing from this project as I am a more hands on designer/artist and would like to try and get more of this within my work. I am thinking about attempting the logo/wordmark as a Lino print as I feel that this maybe a different look to what can be created online. I will also look into booking in for trials in the workshops to complete some letter press printing that maybe able to be used in my work too.

CoMo UK

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 20:50:45 UTC

Bla Bla Car

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 20:51:50 UTC

Lift Share

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 20:53:11 UTC

Uber X Share

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 20:54:02 UTC

Form & Function

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 20:58:54 UTC

Looking out for how different books are bound and what looks/works best for the actually book/design. I found this to be great due to the solid colour, the long, rounded pieces and the ability to twist it around to access the other pages. I also like how the usual menu style has been changed and it feels like the establishment itself is more high end because it’s not a standard book menu.
I do not feel that the eyelet design would work for my own book but it has forced me to think about I might make my own outcome indifferent. It’s also made me think about how I will use the colour scheme within my brandbook.

GF Smith book binding

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 21:03:52 UTC

When GF Smith visited I took a special interest in this type of book binding as there was no staple or another material needed in order to secure the book pages. When trying it myself I liked the outcome, however, I do not know how it would work with me wanting the transparent front cover and I would need to make the front cover longer in order to have enough paper to feed into the book itself. I need to think about alternative binding that would still tie in with my eco friendly pledge for the brand.

GF Smith Visit

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 21:09:41 UTC

I found the visit from GF Smith very inspiring, not just for the amount of papers that they have on offer but how they are able to advise which papers should be used for which project depending on what you are using it for, printing, painting, letter press, embossing etc. The company had many samples about how the papers have been used for other brands which was great to see as it made me think about my own brand book for the first time and the type of paper that I might use. The company have many eco friendly papers available to order and they also offer 10 free sheets for students. I will look at the paper book that they supply and use this to order papers that I feel might be suitable for my brand book and proceed with the right options once I have spoken to the printers.

Printing

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 21:12:55 UTC

BIG DILEMMA!!! Worrying about the printers still being able to print on the paper that I sourced for my book. The printers have said that they can print the same day and I have instructed them to print onto their own stocked eco paper as I do not feel that the order would arrive on time now.

Printing

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 21:13:58 UTC

I am hoping that the paper will be here and need my book printed by tomorrow evening so that I have time to professionally photograph the book and upload the images before submission on Friday.

Final Evaluation

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 21:14:23 UTC

This project has been difficult for a number of reasons but I feel that I have learned a lot along the way and that this is the main objective to choosing to attend university.
Throughout the project I have learned a lot in terms of the building of a brand. I have always been interested in the logo, packaging and “Branding” in terms of a physical appearance but I have never really paid much thought about what happens behind the scenes in terms of building up a brand manifesto, targeting a particular audience and how you would be a stand out company compared the the many competitor brands that are around.
I hoped that there would be more hand rendered techniques involved during the project, but I wonder if I wanted this as this is where I feel most comfortable working. I have not previously used InDesign or illustrator so was thrown into a digital world that felt quite alien and I felt that I was very far behind my peers in terms of my ability to use the adobe software platform. I have only really used photoshop before so I had to teach myself a lot of new skills, I have taken advice from others, watched YouTube tutorials and generally have just taken the time to just play around and see how I can best achieve the results that I had envisioned. Towards the end of the project I got an iPad that has allowed me to experiment much further with the adobe suite and have been able to create my illustrations, logo and backgrounds with it which I feel I wouldn’t have otherwise done if I was still using desktop versions.
During a critical time of the project, I had a very close family bereavement which through me off of the project completely and I was not able to attend lectures let alone think about the work that I had to do in order to keep up with the fast approaching deadline. I took some time off and gave myself my own personal deadlines so that I knew I could challenge myself and felt better knowing that I was not as far behind as I thought I would be too. When returning to lessons, I set myself a strict rota and was able to stick to it quite well in order to get myself ready for the deadline after Christmas.
Having access to better digital resources over Christmas allowed me to make late alterations to the logo design and I was able to try out much more in a short space of time until I came up with the design that I have used in the final.
I found that a lot of my work to get up to date was about uploading items to Padlet, which I think has been a whole lot easier since having the Padlet app on my phone and iPad as I was able to take photos of the research that I had previously completed in my sketchbook and upload them to Padlet too. I was also able to add a lot of the links that I had used for research purposes which helped me to recall the information at a later time when it came to drafting the manifesto, story, persona’s etc.
A highlight has been the team from G F Smith coming in as I found it really interesting to hear about the various papers and the ability to print onto it, seeing examples of publications that had been printed using the G F Smith products. I was particularly interested in the eco options that the company had as this was something that I had already drafted into my brand manifesto. When I used the book of papers to make a selections, I went through and ordered samples of many of the eco papers that they had but settled on the “Bier” as I liked the coloured flick that it had within the sheet and also liked the story behind the paper itself, being made of old husks/hops.

My biggest problems that I have encountered was the printing process itself. I spoke to Sarah about the book itself and using the translucent paper for the cover and she suggested adding in more pages as I would need many pages blank and without anything on them otherwise the items that were essential for my book would be squashed. I came up with additional pages and the printers tested my sample piece to make sure it would print. I then ordered the bigger paper for my actual brand book. The printers explained that they would need a PDF version of my book sent to them, complete with the bleed lines. I was able to do this (having had 2 people proof read) and sent it to the printers. The printers contacted me and asked me for additional paper, despite supplying them with double the amount that was needed. This made me close to deadline day when I still needed to photograph. When I collected the book, there are a few faults which I have learned even more from and will be able to know moving forward onto future projects.
Firstly the pages that I added in were two and I would have needed 4 pages in order to keep the back of the translucent “blank” and the colour wash behind the logo. This would have been cleared up if I managed to get the test print completed before the final print (unable due to the printing/paper dilemma). Due to the lack of pages in the book, it means that the book runs without the double page spreads like I had created on InDesign. Some of the imagery on the pages appears to be slightly pixelated, I am unsure why and this did not show up greatly when looking at the digital PDF version, again this could have maybe been rectified with a test print and more time. My last problem was that I had originally thought about stretching the pages together with twine to in-keep with the economically friendly brand values and with the colour palette/rural nature of the brand identity too, however, I am unable to do this as on some of the pages the text is too close to the gutter of the page and it would cover up some of the wording or make it harder to close the pages together. When I spoke to the printers about the extra pages, they also said that the PDF that I had sent them was exactly A5 and without the bleed/gutter allowance that I had created on the InDesign file. They explained that this was probably cut out when completing the saving process and I would need to take a look at this again in order to prevent this from happening with future prints.

Over all I am very happy that I have been able to navigate my way through the Adobe software and create a publication for a brand that I have built. I have learned a lot of lessons throughout this project, mainly on the final printing process and these are definitely lessons that I will be able to take forward with me for future outcomes in order to come as close to perfection as I can get. I would like to learn more about logo designing as I feel that although I am happy with he Whip logo, there is much more that i could potentially do to come up with something that would better reflect the company objective as I feel that although I see the logo as a travel stamp, this wouldn’t necessarily be obvious. I would like to explore re-branding of companies so that I could again push my boundaries, get out of my comfort zone and learn further.
I have really enjoyed the project, despite the many obstacles that I have encountered and am looking forward to the next block of year 1 and trying to insert my own artistic skills so that it blends with the design process too.

Story Board

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-23 21:14:43 UTC

For the story board I thought about the prospect of having the logo spilling so that it represented a wheel on a car, however I though that this was a bit boring and any circle object has the ability to roll. I then thought about wanting to incorporate my car illustrations so was thinking about making the car move so that the GIF would show that a car is in motion and it would be more representative of the brand.
For the story board I have used the colours of the brand in the wash style and created the car moving forward but seemingly driving into a merging circle and therefore finishing with the Whip brand logo.
I thought about the use of colours in the background and how they too could merge into the logo itself. If I was to create this GIF I would want the illustrations to some how become part of the lettering of the brand which I feel would need to be achieved over more frames for a story board.
I really like how I have managed to get the colour scheme for the brand combined in the final logo as I feel it feels fun and more attractive to the younger audience that I would like the brand to target.

Story telling research

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-25 18:57:57 UTC

I found some really good examples on this blog that assisted me in writing my own brand story for whip. It helped me to see other examples and think about what I might write for my own whilst considering the brand values that I had already been thinking about.

Storytelling Research

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-25 18:58:31 UTC

Final Outcome

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-25 22:03:53 UTC

Photography studio

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-26 11:47:36 UTC

I used a photography studio and a prop bench in order to professionally photograph my brand book. I chose to keep the lighting to one side to create the shadow on the pages, however, I made sure that all the wording could be viewed and that it would not stop the visibility of the brand book itself.

Assignment Cover Sheet

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-26 11:49:12 UTC

Whip Brand Book Photo's

erobinson0220231_1 — 2024-01-26 11:52:33 UTC

I professionally photographed the book using a photography prop table and lighting within a studio space. I feel that the photo's are well lit but also offer the shadow to show the 3d elements of the book itself.