23/09/2024- 07/10/2023 (Week 1-Week 3)
Lizzie Tanaka (0362065)
Brand Corporate Identity | BDCM | Taylor's University
Task 1: Breaking Brand
LECTURE
Week 1 - BCI_1_Introduction
This week's lecture introduces us to the BCI module and an overview of what we are going to learn and produce in this semester.
Brand corporate identity is an integral part of graphic design where it focuses on the integrity of a brand. Symbols are marks, signs, words that essentially indicate, signifies or understood as representing an idea, object or relationship.
Branding is an important role in society, especially in the business area. It can be in the form of marks, ideographs, logos, etc.
The lecture encouraged us to manage our time well during this semester and to focus more on the feedback and utilizing it to produce the best works instead of only focusing on the grades.
Week 2 - BCI_2_Brand
Brand - derived from an Old Norse word 'brandr' meaning 'to burn.' In this context, it was used to brand livestock, to show ownership, ensuring it isn't stolen. In the present days, branding is still about taking ownership of your business, owning what your company values and represents, earning consumer trust and loyalty through your stories and actions.
Brand: A person's gut feeling about a product, a service, or a company. A company can communicate to their audience the qualities that differentiate them from their competitors. When enough people have the same gut feeling, it is considered a brand. A brand is what they say it is, not what we say it is. It's a mental construct about a product or service. A strong brand example is Apple Inc. where they successfully takes ownership of a generic word, 'apple.'
Brand Identity
> A collection of all elements that a company creates to portray the right image to its consumers. It's not the same as brand image or branding, despite being used interchangeably. Brand identity comprises of the gut feeling and a visual identity that manages the message.
Branding
> Process of giving a meaning to specific organizations, products, services, company, even a person by actively creating and shaping a brand in the mind of the consumers. It's essentially a strategy designed so that people can easily identify a brand in a saturated market.
In the examples of Diesel and Benetton campaigns, branding is hijacking and shaping an image of the brand in the consumer's mind, creating a distinct mark and association.
Branding is achieved through a few methods:
1. Brand definition: purpose, values, promise
2. Brand positioning statement: what the brand does, target audience, benefits of the brand, a concise statement
3. Brand identity: name, tone of voice, visual identity (logo design, color scheme, typography)
4. Advertising and communication: TV, radio, magazines, websites, applications, outdoor advertisements
5. Product design
6. Sponsors and partnerships
7. In-store experience
8. Workspace experience and management style
9. Customer service
10. Pricing strategy
Benefits of branding:
1. Helps stand out in saturated market
2. Adds credibility to the brand
3. Brands can charge their worth
4. Customer loyalty
5. Returning customers and referrals
6. Branding = Consistency
7. Attract the ideal brands
8. Save money and time: Avoid the brand straying from their brand image
9. Confidence in the business
10. Established branding > easy to introduce new products
11. Clear strategy for moving forward
Role of designers in branding:
> We have a crucial role but we are a part of a bigger team that contributes.
> Despite that, there is no brand without the skillsets a designer can bring to the table
> Visual identity is essentially the face of the brand
> We give form to the content, strategy and message through thorough research on the history of the business and the needs of the company, as well as developing a trademark.
> Designers ensure consistency through design programme that makes sure the visual identity is coherent and cohesive in its application on various medias.
> Design programme is important in large and medium enterprises for the branding to be done effectively
> Our role is to create a distinct, memorable, consistent, value and profit-based, visual identity that gives confidence, increase market share, wins trust and loyalty through good research and understanding.
Companies used to be stuck in a circle of RnD, initial market successes, competitive pressures and price cutting. But branding brings a different cycle that starts from differentiation, collaboration, innovation, validation and cultivation. This cycle keeps going upwards to the main goal of marketing; sustainable competitive advertising.
Week 3 - BCI_3_Types of Marks
There is a confusion on the exact definition of logos, logotypes, symbols, signatures, monograms, etc.
Logo: short for logotype.
It's trademark from a custom lettered word. The word 'logos' come from Greek, meaning 'word.' It's commonly used because it sounded cool but it is commonly misunderstood. Logo is a symbol from text and images that represent a business/service/person/product. It generally refers to all marks that represent a brand.
Logotype: Centered around a company name or initials (also known as wordmark).
e.g. Coca Cola
Logomark: Centered around symbolic image or icon
e.g. Apple
Signature (combination mark): Combines both a company name and an icon
e.g. Pepsi
Monogram: overlap of two or more letters/other graphemes (letter representing a sound in a word). It combines initials of an individual or a company. One of the earliest ones is the VOC logo.
e.g. Chanel, HnM, New York Yankees
Heraldry
> broad term that consists of design, display, study of armoury, study of ceremonies, rank and pedigree with a more European origin. Terms such as crest, coat of arms, insignia are derived from this.
Fig 1.1 Heraldry
- Crest: represents a family/corporate body that is placed above the shield of a coat of arms or separately produced.
- Coat of arms: heraldic bearings or a shield of a person/family/corporation/country
- Insignia: emblem of military ranks/offices/memberships of organization
Marks
> Generally means an impression made on something that signifies ownership and identification.
> Represents the quality and ability of the creator
Trademarks
> Known in the law and branding contexts. However, in law the trademark symbol is more significant
> Symbol, word, or words legally registered by use to represent a person or a corporation. It's identification that also takes place in design programme to control the visual identity.
> The TM symbol is legal protection against property theft. The SM or servicemark used in the US and a few other countries is specifically to protect services.
> The TM and SM symbols signify that the term is not officially registered yet, as it is still temporary until the registered symbol, R in a circle, is applied.
INSTRUCTIONS
For our task 1, we were instructed to conduct a research on a selected brand with our groups, the research collected will then be compiled into a PowerPoint individually.
Process
Our group consisted of 4 members:
- Lizzie
- Aisya
- Sheryne
- Tyra
To start the project, we selected a brand; Pepsi. We made a Google docs file that we shared amongst the team and divided the parts. Our data would all be compiled in this one shared file.
Fig 1.2 Research File in PDF
After the research is completed, I started making the PowerPoint slides. The slides have to resemble the theme of the brand we chose so I began with finding the color palette I wanted to use and a suitable typeface.
I chose to do Pepsi's color palette which was black, blue, red. I added a gray in the color palette as a neutral choice. For the typeface, I chose 'Chillax' as I thought it had a bit of a retro tone to it. I use this typeface for title slides. As for the main content, I used Futura in different styles as it is more readable. I made sure to use this color and typeface consistently throughout the slides.
I decided to make the PowerPoint in Adobe Illustrator. I started by dividing the powerpoint to a few sections where I put the main heading. I estimated the amount of information that I could summarize into a few slides. I summarize the points and paraphrased the research documents and designed the powerpoint simultaneously. Here's my workspace.
Fig 1.4 Workspace
Final Result
Fig 1.5 Research File in PDF
Fig 1.6 Final PowerPoint Slides in PDF
FEEDBACKS
General group feedback:
- Offer framework: Good that it includes a wide range of brands by Pepsi but the angle should be seen from what the selected brand offers.
- Collaborations would be better under brands' communication strategy
- Room for improvement: understanding the benefits framework (what the brand provides as benefits to its consumers)
- Brand value (retailer's perspectives) is a misinterpretation of framework. Should be about the values projected by the brand itself.
- Current version of pepsi logo is not included.
Specific feedback
- Stilll relies on the research, making certain sections inaccurate (brand value) even with analysis of information and summarizing.
- Visual examples needed on the last framework (BCM)
REFLECTIONS:
Experience:
Task 1 gave me the opportunity to experience some teamwork even just a little bit. Overall, I gained a lot of insights on how a brand works behind the scenes because of the analysis and research I did. I've also learned more on deeply analyzing information I read and understanding the main ideas to be included. I think this is an experience that built a foundation of my understanding on branding.
Observations:
I observed that while I did summarize and understand the main points, I should have put more individual research into the slides instead of just immediately assuming every information is aligned to the framework. There are mistakes I did that could be minimalized if I was more careful and attentive.
Findings:
I find that being attentive to details and analysing my information carefully is important so I will take this into account on the next projects. I should pay more attention to the details of the information I'm dealing with and should do a more extensive research as well.
FURTHER READING
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