ECU > 1st Semester 2009 > Design > Identity > Project 1: Brand Mark.

‘In a Corporate Identity Program enough diversity must be provided to avoid sameness and
to increase attention. Identity and diversity - an essential contraposition to bring life to design.’
—Massimo Vignelli

BRAND: Mark Logo, stationery set for ‘challenger’ company [20%].

24 March 2009

You need to conceive of a company to challenge an existing brand: Maybe you hate a
certain multinational soft-drink company with a passion and would like to see every-
thing you believe they stand for removed from the market-place. Maybe you just don’t
like the taste.

Perhaps it’s time to look at alternatives to fossil fuels. How would you go about invent-
ing and branding a company to compete with the big oil companies?

N.B. Whatever you decide, your company brand must address its market competitors. Clear
indication must be given in your workbook of in-depth research and analysis of your
market niche with particular regard to communication design. This will include an audit
of the existing brand: What makes it work for its intended audience? How is it appropri-
ate? Do they use photography, illustration, colour, shapes, lines and what kind of type
and typography do they use. How do these elements work to constitute their brand?
Is it successful? Is it appropriate? Could it be improved? What elements/strategies of
their brand do you think you can improve upon for your brand? Which ones do you need
to adopt. Include sample pics with notation on: imagery, typography, colour including
number and percentages. graphic elements: what shapes and lines are employed? What
is your company’s ethos with regard to its social and environmental responsibilities?
What does it believe in? All the visual elements you employ should reinforce these be-
liefs. This is where you will begin to use your workbook to create your style guide.

Make a list which comprises all the aspects you think your company will embody. Re-
member to use words and images/shapes/colours in your list. You are aiming at defining
a new identity with a clear difference from the company chosen at 1.

When you think you’ve exhausted all ideas, talk to others in your class and talk to your
tutor. Ask them for constructive suggestions or thoughts on what you may have missed.

At last you can work on a name for this venture and, finally, move into visual design
mode. This process will show itself in your workbook as no less than 10 pages of thumb-
nail sketches to visualise different ideas about your company and its field. During this
process it is important to include all ideas however obvious, boring or tangential they
may seem.

Then you will make repeated attempts at capturing the best idea in different visuals.
This is the vital editing stage and this part of the process will take up at least 5 pages of
thumbnail sketches. Only when you have done this much work is it time to transfer you
ideas into the electronic realm. Be very sure of your final design. It is the logo you will
be stuck with for the rest of semester 1.

The finished stationery set will comprise:

• a business card [86mm x 54mm or smaller] in portrait or landscape, with folds/die-
cuts if you want, whichever is more appropriate to your design
• a letterhead [A4]
• a ‘with compliments’ slip [your sizing. Standard is DL (210 x 100mm) or smaller]
Finish the set by presenting it on mount board in an appropriate way. Hand in with your
workbook.