As I've said before, I was quite excited about doing branding and identity for the first time, working to create the kind of identities I see and think 'ooh thats good, why don't I do that'. I'd always been a bit wary of using type or doing anything that wasn't drawing/collage but starting this brief I wasn't worried at all, mainly because I know my client well and I knew what he wanted would be something I would like too. To prepare myself for working with type I looked at lots of logos etc and talked to Tom about what he wanted his brand to say about him and his work. I thought about using some of this illustration work within the identity/logo but decided that because of the nature of his work there wasn't a single piece that could nessecarily define him as an illustrator. We decided on type only for his identity, this acts as a direction to his work instead of distracting away from it. I hope that makes sense...
Creating the brand was quite simple, I probably didn't challenge myself enough but the overall design looks good and both me and Tom are really pleased with how it turned out. I kept thinking of ways to teak and change it, sometimes scrapping the whole design and starting again. Nothing worked as well as the original idea. Because of the nature of the design, the type only 'logo' etc it was quite easy to translate this into a running brand across his website...
In terms of my skill development, I know the type isn't perfect. I do wish I has pulled it together and talked to Graham about it. My overall crit feedback was really positive and in a rush to move on to the next brief, that idea got pushed to the side. It has given me much more confidence to work with type, and learning how to put type and image together. I now feel much happier working with type, which is what I wanted to get out of this.
One thing I did want to develop through this brief was my print skills. However because of the low budget for re-producing business cards etc. Tom felt it would be pointless as these finishes would never be fully re produced. I do agree, it doesn't make sense to use spot varnish on the protoype knowing full well that this isn't within the client's budget, however I could have experimented just for personal skill development.
Part two; The website.
When it came to designing the web presence my client knew exactly what he wanted. this was great in a way because I could just get on with it but bad in another because I felt I didn't have much of a creative input. Having said that there were a few things I did have a say on so I wasn't completley at a loss.
Although I never intended to add web design to my CV, I did love doing it. I don't think it will become a main feature in my practice as a designer but it's really good to know I have that little bit of knowledge and I am capable of doing it if I want to.
The work involved was quite tedious, especially because of my client's huge back catalogue of work which needed to be included in the website. It's a very simple design, easy to navigate and view images which is exactly what he wanted. I did really enjoy the coding and making sure every little detail was perfect.
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