OUGD504: Brief 2 Evaluation

I have enjoyed this brief as it has helped me further understand how Graphic Design impacts on real life companies and live briefs. The project I chose is definitely a brief I would also love to work on when leaving LCA in two years time as I love the creative freedom with smaller businesses. I haven't done much branding before and this brief has helped me realise how important it is to consider simple logos as clever and efficient design. I didn't understand much about logo design nor branding so therefore the ability to be able to research in books about these issues has been invaluable. 

I'm impressed with myself that I have managed to push myself into creating hand rendered type for the logo of Love Craft as hand rendered type is something which I have been quite nervous in using within the class. I have also found that this brief has been much easier to show to other people for their feedback by showing not only class members but friends not connected to graphic design as I think it is important to see how someone out of my own mindset would see the brand. 

I have gained some really positive feedback about the work I produced for this brief and one in particular which stated "the logo is bursting with character but not in a way that it was overbearing" which I definitely felt was amazing critique to hear about my own design as I spent quite a long time figuring out the tone of voice I wanted to portray in the logo. Due to a lack of time I spent the majority of my time working on my logo which left a small amount of time to work on the mock ups and with more time I would of loved to see what the products would look like actually printed such as beer mats and pint glasses. However even with the lack of time I enjoyed experimenting with visuals for a real company which actually exist as it makes my work seem more realistic in how I could be designing in the future. I think my logo design does combat the ethos of the company in terms of their craft as I have chosen to spend time of creating something personal for them, the bold and curvy lines of the type also reflect their quirky and friendly aura which would then project into the overall brand experience especially within the social clubs they speak of making and the tap/tasting room. 

Improvements I would make to my design if I had more time would be to create hand rendered type to create a stronger brand identity for the beer bottles themselves and promotional posters to go alongside them which would of been fantastic to produce either digitally or screen printed to show the vibrant colours chosen for the beer bottles. From gaining feedback some people had said that the bright blue colour would make them look at the bottle in the supermarket and most bottles are of a similar colour. With further briefs I really want to try and incorporate more experimental techniques because I really enjoyed trying hand rendered type again within this one I have also been given advice that certain papers are good to work with for creating equal widths in letterforms which will be interesting to see in future briefs. 

On a commercial scale I think the beer mats could be printed in small runs with individual colours along with the small batches of beers produced which runs along with the ethos of being a part of something and having a special product to treasure. However I think because the designs are quite simple they could be really put onto any medium or context for design for print or digital. With more time I wish I could of shown how each of their 5 drinks could work within a design with their own colour but due to the short nature of the brief I only had time to complete one. 

Feedback from kickstarted project:

Even though they are quite set on their branding ideas it was wonderful to hear that they liked my design work and great to hear feedback from the project themselves as well as feedback from the class/tutors as it makes the brief seem more realistic.