Friday 15 May 2015

PPP: PERSONAL BRANDING PRODUCTION

Today I have decided to craft all of my personal branded items that I have created. My crafting is something I have struggled with in the past, but with lack of funds at this stage this is something I have to consider for this project and try to utilise to the best of my ability.


Print Based Deliverables
  • Vinyl
  • Business cards
  • Letterhead
  • Invoice
  • Poster tube
  • Note books
  • Publication portfolio
  • Digital portfolio
  • Bag
  • Stationary

Vinyl

A way for me to transfer my brand was to cut my logo out on vinyl and apply it to my everyday designing essentials. 








Above are a few examples of my logo being transferred onto my pencil case and computer, this is an easy way for me to transfer my branded images across all different type of physical media.


Letter Head + Invoice

In my research I reflected a lot on letterhead and invoice designs, although I have future plans of working for a studio, I have had a lot of client work this year and I think it's imperative that I have an established identity for my audience to relate to that would reflect my professional attitude.





I kept the layout consistent for both designs and printed them on my proposed off white stock for my branding.


Business Cards

An imperative part of networking is through business cards so when designing mine I wanted to make them stand out and being different from the exceeding amount that people have. From my development I decided to have my design portrait as I felt it best suited the typographic arrangement of my logo and also it links to interest in editorial design which is predomintaley set out in a portrait format.










For my business cards I decided to hand craft them through a triplex process by print the front and back separately and applying black card in the centre to go with my initial branded colours. I experimented initially with using double sided sticky tape. But this was a really tedious and ineffective crafting decision and the business cards looked really inconsistent.

I also started to feel unsure about the colour of the stock I had chosen so I then decided to try another option using some matte white stock and going with the same concept but using spray mount to attach the layers.






This proved more successful so I decided to continue this process with my original stock and completed another set of business cards.








However reflecting on these set of business cards I felt that the black stock in the centre made it look like the design had black print guidelines around it.


I then thought I would experiment with another stock in the centre, and used a off white mount board. Although this stock it quite thick I thought it would be prefect for when I am travelling over the summer and that the cards would be with stand all conditions and overall would be durable.



From this experiment I felt the business cards where much more effective and looked a lot more proffesional and were the right weight for my future plans and overall aesthetic.




I then finally decided to create a juxtaposing design of the cards to utilise the colour codes I had decided upon and followed the same process.





On reflection, I think my business cards will be something I will come back and rectify, in the process of printing my other design the ink didn't sit well with the stock. With some pre-book print slots I will look into rectifying these problems. However with the cards I have made, I will photograph them and test out editing them in photoshop to save time.



Note Books

A feature I wanted to include in my stationary was a set of note books, I am always  taking notes, writing lists and going to events and live talks, so I thought have my own personalised note books for my branding would be perfect for my practice.





I printed out a selection of plain, lined, grid and dotted papers to experiment with for my notes books so I had a selection for writing, drawing out ideas and keeping lists.






After applying vinyl to my notebooks I felt my branding was being overly saturated with my logo and decided to keep the note books plain and let the colours speak for themselves.




Stock Considerations

Through the production of my project I have found it quite difficult to decided on the colours to use within my branding. So I brought a selection of different stocks to experiment with. I decided to choose muted stock choices throughout my branding as I didn't want it to distract from my portfolio.



I decided to take some image variations of the potential ways I could incorporate the stocks into my presence 



(nude and white)


(black, white and grey)


(nude and black)

From my images I decided to choose nude and black as I felt these where colours that where sophisticated and worked in a crisp and clean format. I have used a lot of black and white in some of my projects so I also didn't want my work to blend in with my branding. This subtle tonal difference I think will definitely benefit the overall look of my branding.



Digital Portfolio CD

Aside from my printed portfolio I thought another imperative feature for my personal branding would be to create a branded digital portfolio case through the use of a CD. 







 


I incorporated a black branded disc, my logo and my cv of the back of the cd holder. This feature directly links to my interests in the music sector and flows consistently with my branding.


I also incorporated a black pouch for the CD to stay in for durability when on the move, again this was considered in regards to my plans of travelling in the summer.


Tote Bag



I decided to create a little tote bag with some vinyl I had left over with my branded logo, this would act as apart of my branded stationary and is something I would use for everyday use to carry projects or artwork to clients or meetings. I used a neutral tote bag to fit in with my overall branded aesthetic.


Postcards

Due to my plans of travelling for a few months in the summer, I thought another way for me to contact potential clients of employees was with postcards that showcase snippets of my best work. This will be a nice insentive to show my audience what i'm about and would be convenient when I am on the move. 




I test print my designs on black and white and then I cut out the colour versions applying them to black card for extra thickness. I also chose black as it's a staple colour in my branding. 





These postcards will be all hand written when they are sent, to add a personal tone of voice as well with my contact details and web presence information on them. The postcards will be sent in water proof black envelopes to ensure they don't get damaged in transit. 


Portfolio

A printed portfolio of my work, is another item I will include in my personal branding for meetings with clients or potential job interviews as an alternative incentive to give to my audience to leave them with some information about myself.

The cover is printed on true grain to allow me to attach it to any colour stock or background depending on what colour I want to choose for my branding. My creative CV is  also detailed on the back of the publication which is alphabetised, highlighting my experience, achievements and additional information about me as a designer.


 Final




Overview

The production of my personal branding has been a bit of challenge in regards to stock and colour choice, this is something I have found quite hard, but I decided to make the decision to keep it simple so the decorative logo would be lost in an abundance of colour. 

I am pleased with the deliverables as I think I have covered a lot of the essentials I will need for my practice. However I think the downfall is the overall crafting of the outcomes. This is something I have always struggled with and I will have to go back and rectify printing errors at a later stage. The black hasn't taken to my choice of stock so this will also be something I will have to look into changing. However I will try and rectify this through photoshop.

I think for the future I will have to consider outsourcing the production of my personal branding specifically for the end of year show!  Overall I think my personal identity translates who I am and has a subtle tone of music and fashion within it's aesthetic and has been my favourite piece of branding from the past 3 years.

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