Creative Brand Strategy: Task 03
WEEK 06 - WEEK 13 (09/05/2023 - 25/06/2023)
Adena Tan Sue Lynn (0345769) / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Creative Brand Strategy
Task 03
DIRECTORY
This task is a continuation of Task 01(B) and Task 02.
* For the ease of seeing the progression for each submission, progress will be written according to categories. Through doing this task, I recorded my progression through a presentation deck that will be available at the end.
Quick Links Before We Start
Link to CBS Pinterest Board (For Inspiration): https://www.pinterest.com/tofukyn/sem-4/cbs/
Link to Daily by Laka Chosen Images: https://www.pinterest.com/tofukyn/daily-pics/
0. Logo & Graphical Elements
1. Logo
First, for logo, I had done some sketches to get a better idea of how I wanted the logo to look like.
After that, I decided to have my go at the logos, trying out different placements to see what would be the best for the campaign.
After I had chosen my logo, I created variations in order to test it out.
2. Graphical Elements
For my Graphical Elements, I was still fixed on making them subtle for the look of the campaign. Thus, I tried out some methods and played around.
In the end, I chose five that I found to be the best for the campaign.
Mid-Journey Note: Specifically for my Social Media, Website, Promotional Video & Brochure, I used the below spreadsheet to plan out my work. It is located here, for easy reading before seeing the rest of my work.
1. Social Media
Dark Times (Will refer to my Pre-Finding My Design Direction era)During this time, I tried to first experiment with the design direction using what I had. I experimented first with two different type of posts:
Post Dark Times
After getting myself together, I was able to do all of my social media according to plan. For the most part, I followed what was planned, except for the inclusion of the Brochure post as it wasn't encouraged. Overall, there are a total of 9 posts created for the social media feed.
2. Website
To start the website, I sketched a layout and made a blank layout of it.
Then, I filled it in with the appropriate imagery and edited it around.
Next, I proceeded with the rest of the pages.
3. Promotional Video
For my video, I wanted to make it feel as natural and comfortable as possible to watch. I knew that I couldn't scare off the viewers, and I wanted to play into the concept of the campaign being an everyday campaign better. Thus, my script and video was edited to be that way. I got my friend, Denzel, to voice the script as he has experience in voice recording and also the experience of being my closest male friend.
In the end, below was my video.
4. Campaign Posters
This was the thing to pull me out my Dark Times. I didn't really expect it, but the designing of posters really allowed me to sit down and craft the perfect way to showcase my design direction. I didn't really like my first tryout, but after slapping myself on the face, I was able to concoct something that I felt proud of. It also helped that I went to Adeline for help on how to improve my work, and her advice really helped me solidify the design direction I wanted to go for.
Below are the two posters I was most satisfied with.
5. Brochure
To be honest, this was my first time designing a brochure so I was quite nervous. However, I like to think my experience with Publishing Design really came in handy here because I was able to rethink about the type setting and how it would read for the average person. (It also taught me to stare and learn how it might be printed which helped in figuring out where the cover should go!)
6. Daily Journal
For the Daily Journal, I knew I wanted a simple design that was easy on the eyes and is something I would carry around. As someone who journals, I was able to figure out the contents that would be good for someone's daily journal and included it within the pages.
7. Beauty Special Box
For the Beauty Special Box, I planned for it to be subtle from the outside, but be completely different inside. Similar to the campaign's tone of voice where I aimed for consumers to be comfortable, thus, not revealing too much with the exterior, but have a welcoming and bright interior.
8. Gift Card
Below is my progression for the gift card. While most of it was designed during the Dark Times, I found that the back I had created still held up after I established my design direction. As for the front, I decided to incorporate imagery as it just made sense in order to provide context as to what the brand was at a quick glance. I wanted people who received this card to get a sense of what it was when looking at the front, rather than thinking it was a newspaper gift voucher.
9. Tote Bag
The tote bag was a part of the Dark Times, with my first three versions failing miserably.
After establishing my design direction, I was able to create better designs, and picked the versions on the left.
Progression Slides
Attached here is my progression slides, which is a bit more detailed as to what I did + holds my credits.
Presentation Slides
For my presentation, I decided to use PowerPoint as I wanted to utilise my campaign's typefaces into the design. Unlike previous tasks, I decided to not use a template and created my own.
FINAL SUBMISSION
Figure 2.1.1 Final Compilation Slides, Link
FEEDBACK
16/05/2023 - Week 07
There isn't much to see, but Ms Lilian noted amongst the few logos, she did like the same one as me
30/05/2023 - Week 09
For the website's landing page, the learn more should go to the resource page because it will make more sense. The website planning is good, with the landing page as it is currently, a clear way to get to know the campaign without feeling too overbearing for someone new to the campaign.
06/06/2023 - Week 10
- In terms of collaterals, it is better not to focus so deeply on it currently as there is no set design direction currently
- The current line ones are a bit too 'techy', something that can be seen often in tech conventions
- The quote one is a bit better, but it does lack character
- The final one is the best currently, but it is still a bit uncertain due to the undefined design direction.
- The same goes for the gift cards where it isn't obvious where the design direction is going. the graphical elements
- For social media, it can be improved. with the imagery, it is a bit better as it provides more context, but it is suggested to play around more with the typeface family to test out if different things work in order to tell if it could work better
- For the second post (quotes), play around with colours more to see how to better format.
13/06/2023 - Week 11
- Ms Lilian liked my preferred poster, agreeing that the incorporation of the graphical elements is better than without. My initial poster doesn't follow the look exactly due to the layout and as it is rather colour blocking rather than the more 'soft' feel it has with the latter one.
- For my website, Ms Lilian noted that my area currently is to source the imagery and fine tune them to suit the website better. She noted that it takes time to edit them down. She said that she has no concern for my type setting as it has always been good. She mentioned using more of the graphical elements around the website to incoprate them more.
- In terms of social media, Ms Lilian said it's on the way. She noted that it would be easy for me to end up doing 12 posts, but just to aim for 9 for now due to time.
- She advised to look back into my planning stage, in Task 2 since she said my planning presentation is detailed, and it would help me in this process. She said not to waste it as it highly thought out.
- Overall, she noted that she sees the overall design direction coming together a lot better now compared to previous weeks where I was just sitting on it.
20/06/2023 - Week 12
During this class, we were separated into groups (I was with Emeline & Jacklyn) in order to give each other feedback, here are the categories of each feedback:
- Poster: Emeline suggested for the two pop out visuals in my poster to be switched around for better visual flow (as the lips were at the top and the eyes were at the bottom).
- Website: Firstly, for my landing page, it was suggested that the little quote below the call to action can be a little bit too distracting for the eyes as is quite big. Ms Lilian also noticed that some of my colours differed from the original colour palette (mainly the pink as the one on there was warm).
- Social Media: When I was showing my social media, Ms Lilian asked me about my plans to fill up the rest. She suggested for another makeup inspiration to replace the brochure post as it felt a bit off to include it in the feed.
- Video: For my video, Ms Lilian noted that she did think the visuals chosen lined up with the script and that the music was subtle. Emeline also gave her input that the voice over might be too draggy at the end, with Ms Lilian and Jacklyn also agreeing.
- Tote bag: When I showed the two designs I had, Ms Lilian asked for Jacklyn & Emeline to choose. They both chose different ones which led Ms Lilian to choose the final option (as seen in final submission).
- Beauty Special Box: Ms Lilian encouraged me to edit the products with the box to showcase what comes in the box.
- Daily Journal: For my journal, Ms Lilian liked the pages & the usage of the colour palette
REFLECTION
Experience
Personally, I found this task quite challenging at the start and was questioning a lot of my life decisions as to why I chose this particular topic. I was quite in a funk as to how to start as I didn't feel like I knew how or where to start. It definitely didn't help that there wasn't really a clear place for me to reference (like Ms Lilian said in my previous task). I would say this task definitely forced me to learn what to do and how to approach creative block (and also the stress of getting your money stolen in the middle of doing work for this project </3). However, I feel with the submission, I proved to myself that I actually can do things if I really put my mind to it and sit myself down. Life can be stressful, but that doesn't mean it should stop my creative endeavours! Also, I probably couldn't have done this without Ms Lilian, my mother and Adeline as I found that getting their feedback and support helped me build this campaign despite the struggles I had.
Observations
Through this task, I found that observing still is very important. Despite being lost for a long time, I was able to find inspiration by looking around. While I found it hard to find designs that were similar to the designs I was planning to make, looking at existing designs really helped me analyse which parts I liked and thought would be suitable for the campaign. It is part of the design process, but I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I failed to realise it at first. (Now, I shall never forget...)
Findings
When creating my campaign, I mostly discovered that getting the right imagery and look is so important. I spent so many hours just editing & colour correcting images for this project. In comparison to Brand Corporate Identity last semester, I really took my time with images by doing little things that feel minuscule like changing the colour of a person's clothes only for about 5% of it to be in frame when I crop it for my desired thing. I found that imagery and how their presented plays such a huge role. Perhaps I was just lucky last semester when choosing my design direction, but this semester really had me sitting down and thinking about colours, more than I ever had before this.
FURTHER READING
For my further reading, I decided to read about some examples of well done marketing campaigns.
Through this article, I was able to read about and learn more about some famous campaigns. I even got to remember Melbourne Metro Trains' campaign that I knew from young.
It was very interesting to read the companies' approach to their campaigns and how it made them stand out amongst other brands.
