OUGD603: Brief 1- Evaluation

Overall I am extremely pleased with what I have produced for this brief. It is the first time during this university course that I have created branding which indeed does span over a few different areas of both print and digital. By researching into colour I have been able to produce pieces for this brief that I haven't done before. By looking at using RGB for screen and a neon screen printing ink this ensures that the colour is highly pigmented and I wouldn't of been able to achieve this through any other means here at the college. 

Through completing this brief I have been able to refine my illustrator skills as creating a logo using vectors ensures I have fulfilled the brief in creating something which can be seen at multiple scales and colours too. In the past I have created work which is mainly hand rendered to suit my own comfort zone, however I feel more confident in trying new techniques to ensure that the brief is fulfilled. This is especially relevant when deciding upon type as I chose to reproduce a sans serif curved/rounded custom type for the logo and use a simplistic sans serif font for body copy, these decisions were made when thinking about the target audience of parents as they want to feel comforted by what they already know and that is because baby products tend to use these soft lines, as I have used a colour which is extremely bold and different it is essential that I keep some elements similar. 

Looking at the illustration I have been able to identify the best ways of incorporating the logo and to what products, this attention to detail was seen through my choice of circular gift tags to reflect the shape of the fox and the overall minimal white colour palette to allow the green to stand out and be the main focus. The artwork I have created for this brief I believe fulfills the brief successfully as it provides a clean minimal approach to designing for a children’s company with the change of a bright neon green to show the brand a fun and unique store. The use of a sleepy fox illustration is used as an anchor for the customer to understand that the store is for children/ baby clothes even though there is the use of neon green. The large amount of white used within the branding further enhances this idea of innocent and child-like feel to the branding as this will comfort parents into what they understand as a children’s clothing store to be.

I have seen on other online portfolios that the best work is presented in context therefore through purchasing items such as packaging, baby grows and comforter blankets this brings the brand to life and shows how it would actually work in real life. Although this isn't a live brief it was found on brief box I uploaded my work to my Behance page and it has been interesting to receive positive feedback about the work I have produced. This brief took a couple of weeks worth of work to produce including research, design, production and presentation and I think the amount of effort I put into has shown. 

Here is a link to the Behance post: 

https://www.behance.net/gallery/30911823/Childrens-clothing-rebrand-tumtums

OUGD603: Brief 1- Final Images

OUGD603: Brief 1- Website & Photography

Website research: 

The website needs to take the brand into an online environment with the same simple white and neon green colour way that can be found on the packaging and digital mock ups of the store. What I want to avoid is an over crowded website with multiple adds and pop ups, when searching I found that these were a problem on cheaper baby clothing websites such as: 

These websites are for a cheaper market and therefore a different audience than tumtums. 

However when searching designer and higher end baby clothing websites, the experience was much better and easier to view the limited elements. This is something to aim for when designing for tumtums. Websites such as Dior, Ralph Lauren and pumpkin patch have really simple layouts with a large area at the top for the logo. As a layout the logo area is really important, with limited clickable links underneath. 

Websites I have previously looked at for baby clothing are incredibly complex and have a large amount of imagery, therefore with the design of this mock up website for tumtums I decided to keep the design incredibly simple and work with the white and neon green I already had for the brand. However for typography and body text I used a simple and rounded sans serif font so it would be easy to read. As a third colour I introduced a dark/mid grey which could be used on the website or on any other material as it isn't as dark as black therefore it isn't as intense for the parents who want to see something which is soft and gentle and therefore approachable and trustworthy for their baby. 

From looking at already existing well designed baby websites I sketched a few different layout ideas: 

I then followed the layout I preferred which was the bottom left and applied imagery as a mockup to show how the website would look if it was to be created. (see below)

To bring all of my printed and digital items together I used the photography studio to ensure that the screen printed packaging was photographed in the right light due to it being white. This will also help in making my work look more professional for my portfolio and isn't something I have done before. In the final imagery I will be mocking up the logo onto a shop front as well on windows as vinyl stickers could be used on the shop. As seen in the website mock up above I have also put the logo onto smaller children's accessories as this is also done in other clothing stores too and further implements the brand. In addition I will photograph the items together and present these all in one post to see a thorough and consistent implement of the branding. 

OUGD603: Brief 1- Design for screen print

For the green I have selected to stand out and be the main focus I have chosen to source all of printed items to be white. Previously I researched into luxury packaging and I noticed that the most beautiful and noticeable designs were those which were simplistic and only contained the logo. Within my crit with danny he suggested creating patterns for the packaging but I feel as though this would complicate the packaging and wouldn't appeal to a higher market. However patterns in the brands colours could be put onto the clothing within the textiles production. 

For screen printing I created designs that I could expose and print onto different surfaces. To show how the branding could work across a range of products I identified large and small pure white high GSM matte bags, this is because gloss would make the brand look cheap and canvas bags wouldn't be suitable as luxury brands tend to use high quality products to create a consistency in product quality. I have also designed the logo to be printed onto a white gift box, this is so that items such as a newborn set could be put together within this. In luxury packaging I have noticed that gift boxes are extremely popular and the use of tissue paper inside further creates references to the brands identity. In addition I have sourced some neon green ribbon which would be used alongside the gift tags for the clothing and again these will be screen printed. 

Screen printing these items took approximately two days due to the different screens needing to be stripped and exposed. The tissue paper was extremely difficult as it is delicate unlike paper which is what I am used to. The experience of printing onto different surfaces has definitely given me more confidence within traditional print as I have a further understanding on how it works. Exposing the screen twice for post hardening was worth it because I found that the bags/boxes/tissue paper didn't stick to the screen. 

From receiving feedback as well as creating a pattern of the logo I had an idea of creating fun geometric shaped patterns with the spot colour for the inside of the store. This would enhance the colourful and fun aura of the brand and create an experience for parents and children visiting the store. 

OUGD603: Brief 1- Working with colour

The colours I want to avoid using are the stereotypical pastel pink and blue as tumtums is meant to be a progressive and stylish shop, below I have experimented with a few different variations of colour. 

Pastel red, orange, green and blue:

Darker pastel versions of these colours:

Neon colour palette: 

For the tumtums logo I feel as though orange or green would be the best choices as they are gender neutral. They would take the brand away from the typical pastel colours used with baby clothing but I experimented with these colours also just to see a variation. 

When looking at the green and orange these were both neon RGB screen colours, the brightness against white when I was testing colours made them stand out and look modern. Within university the best way to achieve a bright coloured print is through screen printing. I had a look at the colours produced compared to the on screen colour versions and the orange wasn't as bright on screen as it is within the fluorescent inks. The neon green seems like the best option after speaking with a few parents they liked the idea of using a bright green as this is something they hadn't seen before. 

If the branding was to be produced outside of university with a larger budget they would be printed and designed using pantone swatches to keep a high consistency of colour, this is something I have found challenging as printers normally only print CMYK. But as the logo has been designed in black and to be incredibly simple, variations in different colours would be possible for special items or seasonal collections such as christmas. 

Brief 1- Research into packaging

As part of a brand the packaging of their products and gifts is extremely important as it carries the look and the aura of the company along with it. The branding of tumtums which I am working on currently would be seen as a higher priced range store as it is for stylish parents therefore it would be appropriate to look at how other luxury brands create their packaging.

Hermes:

Hermes is a great example of packaging because they are known for having this bright orange and black combination which spans across all their range within print and digitally too. The bright colour helps it stand out from other examples of packaging as it is rare that companies use such a bold colour such as orange as this sort of colour usually is associated with companies such as easy jet rather than luxury. 

Net A Porter:

Again this is a beautiful example of packaging for a luxury brand as with this they use different variations of monotone/ black. The darker and luxurious feel to the packaging is enhanced greatly by the way it is photographed so this is something I will consider with my own branding for tumtums- using the studio with correct lighting is all part of considerations on how a company is portrayed. If these products where showcased upon a white background they may not have the same aura to them. 

Victoria's Secret:

Victoria's Secret is well known for its garish colours and overall extremely bold and feminine approach to the design element as well as its products.  Everything they create is flamboyant and over the top including their run way shows with the use of wings and also in the shops too with the signage and decoration. This flamboyant and feminine style is also seen in their packaging which is well known when walking through the hight street due to its bold pattern. 

Gucci:

The attention to detail in the packaging and products of Gucci is representative of its brand due to the small subtle elements such as the foiled gold logo and embossed patterns on the bags and gift boxes. What I think works well for this brand is that they have an incredibly simple design which works across a range of platforms. 

The White Company: 

Many of the companies I have shown here amongst others use a large amount of colour as it is the same across their branding. However what is different about The White Company is that their products are often quite minimal and therefore the packaging is incredibly white. This simple design therefore creates more attention towards the products rather than a flamboyant or extremely complex design. 

Tiffany & Co: 

Within Jewellery Tiffany & Co are amongst one of the most popular brands, their products are incredibly popular but what works for their packaging is that they have identified a singular colour to use throughout which is something I will consider. The teal colour shown above is associated with this brand and it is put across their website, shop and packaging too. A singular use of colour along with white and black makes for a simplistic yet elegant design which is well known. For tumtums perhaps the best way to design with colour would be to select one main colour which could work with white and black- therefore the company would be known for one particular colour.