The Branding & The Characters

A main part of Frog Voyage is the characters that can be customised with additional extras. I also wanted to have more than just one frog with multiple different frogs. A fitting idea would be to have a different frog for each of the different continents apart from the antarctic (where frogs cannot survive).

I researched the different frogs and picked out the 5 most popular frogs from each continent and arrange them on a sheet with a tally chart like so;

The next step was to get these animals checked by some children in my target audience, here are the sheets filled in by the students;

A total of 55 students were asked and gave their opinions in a form of a vote. The votes are interesting and seems to show no bias in gender or age in the different frogs. This will guarentee success of my characters. It is also promising to note that when the students were shown the different sheets, they were excited by seeing the different types of frogs they had never seen before, this is a clear indication of my characters being likeable.

Below are the five most popular frogs;

Corroboree (Australian)

Agalychnis callidryas (America)

Blue-spotted tree frog (Asia)

Mediterranean Tree Frog (African)

Tyrrhenian painted (Europe)

The initial sketches of the frogs turned out perfectly, with the dran frogs already looking very similar to their real life counterparts. I have added them below;

I was very happy with these inital sketches of the frogs with the only critique to the work was to add more emotion to the faces of the frogs in both the mouth and eyes. The top left one could be cheery and happy for example while the one on the top right could a grumpy frog.

From these sketches, a paid illustrator turned these skteches into vector art using illustrator. After subtle changes were made to the original frogs, the final versions looked like this;

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FROG VOYAGE; The branding – Part 2

Choosing the name was a little tricky, because I needed something that matched my project and it’s aims, was understandable for children worldwide and had a domain available that matched it. After going through lots of names that worked but had no domain available, I eventually found frog voyage which was free.

I started very simply, with center aligned text, one a different colour to the other. The font, DoubleBubble was used because it included a text border, as in my logo research, this is something I wanted to use

Next I played around with the formatting of the colour. I wanted to use green as it is the most common colour for a frog or the colour of the lily pads it sits on, blue as it represented the water that frogs can live in, and white as pychologically it represented cleanliness and saftey.

I continued working on the colours chosen with a different artrangement

Icreated a appropriate colour gradient for each colour as part of the pallette

It was at this stage that I was happy with the basic layout of the logo, I just needed to work on the sizing, layout and typeface.

Now, kind of happy with the layout, I thought it was time to sizing it in accordance with the fibonacci sequence

It was at this point I realised the typeface just wasn’t going to work, especially with the background colours of the text. Therefore I found a more fun font that didn’t include the text border so that I would be able to add my own. I continued from where I was already at, I started sizing the letters to match exactly in size, and worked to the size of the fibonacci sequence. 

At this stage I was happy with the layout of the logo so I started to add colour.

Then once I was happy with the colours of the logo, I started working on the text border to allow me to come up with the following logo;

Next was to add the crown which gives the effect that the frogs can be customised. Maybe they could work up to getting a crown, if they get a certain amount of points, and if they get a crown they get a free pack sent to them and their school. There could also be different crowns for different crowns

It also relates to the princess who kissed the frog. This is perfect because it also helps the parent relate as they all know this story. Deeper pyschology meaning that they are still young, and that they can transform themselves into someone much better with the knowledge of culture and languages that the site will provide.

Next I asked some designers their opinion of my logo their opinion of my logo, this was the feedback I recieved;

Conner: “Overall, I like it. The main thing that is bothering me is the stroke weight on “Voyage.” Your outline is a good opportunity to ground separate pieces of a logo together. Since “Frog” and “Voyage” are different sizes and colors, using a consistent, even outline can help to show that they are part of the same object”.

I’m not sure if this will work in practice, or match what you were trying to accomplish, but it might be fun to play around with the crown being an object in 3D space. You’ve got some extra lighting on there, but how does it physically sit on the logo? Does it cast a shadow? Things like that may give it some depth, but be careful to not let that unbalance the logo.”.

Joshua: “Overall I like it, but… the black outline follows the letters to close, especially at the bottom, I feel like it would work better if it wasnt so jagged up and down, but smoother. The crown seems tacked on, either flatten the crown by removing the highlights, or add highlights to the words to make them 3D”.

Ian: “The ‘E’ at the end is kinda bothering me, the middle ‘prong’ seems to be bigger in the middle than it is where it joins the vertical line, which looks a bit odd. Maybe make it a bit more rounded?. The crown would be nicer if it was simpler. Apart from that, great job!”.

This was all great feedback that i wanted to implement into my logo to make it as good as possible. The first step was approach to turn the crown from a 3d looking object to a 2d object, I did this by removing the reflections and changing the colour palette. I also added a subtle shadowcast from light to indicate it an object placed on the logo, much like the customisation of the characters;

The next  step was to tackle Connor’s point of having an even outline, I tried used shapes;

But felt like this wasn’t in keeping with my initial research and feel of the branding, so I switched to a more aligned outline.

Next was to make the crown feel more at home on the logo. I did this by making it scentral, rather than having it off balance and making it look like it could fall from the top of the logo. I also played with the size of the crown and it’s angle using the fibonacci sequence. You can see this here;This gave me an almost complete logo;

At this point I had attempted to remedy my commenters feedback and decidedI was happy with the logo in shape and layout, there was just a slight issue that I felt like I needed to remedy. Colour and Lighting. If the crown was casting a shadow then it meant that there should be lighting from the top left that would effect the colour of the logo too. Therefore I felt it was appropriate to update the colour palette and shading on the logo to reflect the effects of the lighting. With updates, I was finally happy with my logo,  this is the final version of my logo;

Kids Logo Analysis

The Angry Birds logo

This logo is simple and has links with the game. The typeface itself looks like the wooden blocks within the game that the birds are fired at. So while the logo are simply words, the typeface represents the game, a very fitting logo given the target audience is very broad ranging from the very young to the middle ages and can be understood very easily.

Cut the Rope logo

This logo is quite complex in the sense that it has the words of the game then the rope, sweet and scissors. The logo breaks the rule of working  in black and white, and being simplistic, but it’s aimed a younger audience so it is fun and playful. The silver of the letters is meant to represent sharp edges used to cut the rope.

Temple Run logo

The temple run logo is simply it’s icon. Since the app is based on mobile devices only, and it started with this design, It is most recognisable by it’s icon. This would work for very few organisations but this is one of the few exceptions.

The lego logo

Lego is “assemble” in latin it uses a simple rounded font with with a black and yellow border for contrast. Colour in kids logos is quite important. You can see that the logos below feature bright colours with soft edges;

Nickelodeon logo

Barbie Logo

Toys “R” Us

 

Oreos

This logo was rated as the best logo by kids (http://www.rankingthebrands.com/PDF/Kids%20Top%2050%20Most%20Loved%20Brands%202015,%20Smartypants.pdf). It’s interesting because again it uses a rounded font with a border around the text.

M&M’s logo

The M&M’s logo is simple and straightforward yet it uses some of the features noticed in the other logos above. They are smooth edges and border, which seems to be a running theme throughout most kids logos. You see a collection of logos with the same style below;

THINGS I HAVE LEARNT;

The logos don’t include the main character. I should have the logo but let the character to be more recognisable than the logo.

Logos tend to have rounded typefaces unless their logo represents an element of their product.. Soft round edged and a bubbly style typeface is perfect.

 

The branding – Part 1

The website is for the target audience of 6-12 year olds. Therefore the characters need to be interesting.

Something I learnt from my trip to hamleys was that I should have more than one character to allow for further commercialisation in the future.

The characters should be designed in a cartoon style, just like the angry birds.

They should be as simple as possible with a whole body, without long arms or legs, you can see an example below;

Noting that the eyes would have to be designed further down their body so that users could add hats to the creatures during the customisation stage and not cover the eyes. Next would be the different styles. Therefore, there should be a frog for each continent other than the antarctic, this goes to connect the different countries in the branding alone.

The next step is to choose the branding, so the top five frogs have been chosen from each continent and attached to a quiz. This quiz will be given to children to allow them to decide what their favourite frog is. In turn I can create my frog team from the results of this quiz.

Redesigning the Coachella logo

The Coachella logo is well in need of a redesign it has remained the same since 1999. It was vital to remain key to it’s demographic and still keep its meaning while updating it with new branding. This describes how I have done it!!

 

Finished Letter Envelope – Signed, Sealed, Delivered

After creating the letter, I thought I would also design the envelope it would be sent in due to its’s unusual shape. I started with miniature versions due to it’s normal size being so large and created the different iterations, then I printed it out large scale. I have written the numbers 1-5 on the actual versions I have handed in so you are aware of which order they were made.

Firstly I created the initial mockup out of paper creating the envelope and insert to go with it. I later decided this is the format I wanted the letter to be in because of it’s shape compared to what I then considered to be the actual marketing piece. I was reasonably happy with this step but was then somewhat forced to make some slight changes to the sizes due to decisions I had made when creating the letter design itself. This meant I now had a longer and slightly thinner envelope.
Mockup number two was when I digitalised my designs and got the basic map of the envelope (I learnt this was required when creating envelopes from my trip to Wyke printers). I made sure that I had purple as the primary colour, the logo, address and stamp area.
When creating mockup number three, I noticed the fact that the letter would be upside down because it would be coming from the left rather than the right so I changed this. I moved the semi circle to the correct position to allow the client to easily take out the contents of the letter. Then I flipped the colour side with the logo, I created a white box for the address area so that the font could stay purple then I added the stamp area. I also inverted the colours of my logo and reduced the opacity so you can faintly see my logo under the stamp.
The fourth mockup I made was simply to add colour to the flaps as then I had given them some bleed.
The fifth mockup was after I realised I had added the wrong tone of purple to the design and it didn’t match the other material I had produced, I also changed the stamp area size to match the specific measurements of a stamp. I also added a line of colour to the top and the bottom of this version as then it felt like it blended with the back colour better. You can see all the different mockups below and also the final version.

I am very happy with my overall product as it looks professional but like my promotional pack, I think if I had the opportunity to do this again I would print it on card rather than gloss as i feel the texture takes away from the experience. I would also add the full logo with words aswell as I don’t think it works without it.

Finished Self-Promotion Pack

Now I had completed and printed my final versions for my self promotion pack it was time to create the packaging that would be used to send the material out to the client I decided to save paper and time to make mockups but instead of printing real sized versions I would print them to fit on an a4 piece of paper. I had already created a mockup with paper glued together to give me an idea of what it would look like.

Next was to create a digital version of this, something I had learnt from my trip to Wyke Printers was that if I were too create my designs professionally I would create a map for my printouts this would mean there are less visible edge and creates a better user experience. The first mockup can be seen below.

I have got the overall grid sizing correct and have lines for the necessary folds in the relevant places. This version allowed me to understand any required changes before creating the final version.

In my final version I have created, I have resized the address on the back, added a darker purple to the front then also created a cutout area on the front so it is easier for the user to access the stuff inside.

Below are all the different versions I have created oldest to newest from left to right.

Having printed out a real version of the design, gluing it together, in turn allowing me to put the marketing pieces inside, I have realised a couple of flaws that I would probably change if I had the opportunity to do it again. Firstly I dislike the texture of the glossy paper, I think it feels cheap and not as ‘luxurious’ as the card option I could have chosen, also I think it would have been better to include my full branding on the front with the words “AKB Design” along with the logo. I printed it without the words because I believe it would simpler and fit in with the ‘less is more’ approach to design but I have since changed my mind and I would add the wording in now. The final mockup to look at in person looks a little rough around the edges, I believe this is because of the lack of equipment when putting the final piece together. I have left marks where I have tried to score on the outside, the way round this would be to print on the other side and score that side instead. Also, one of the inserts was slightly too big for the packaging so I had create a different fold for the ‘lid’, you will see now that there is a white section on the back because of this mistake. Other than these reasonably small issues, I am very pleased with my final mockup as it fits in with the general over theme, has a maximum of three colours throughout and only used two fonts. Finally if I was to create this properly I would adjust these small issues and then use a professional press to apply the cuts and scores for me so I had a cleaner finish, i would research into better methods of joining them together so they would lay flat.

Compliment Slips

I also had to create a compliments slip, which is basically a slip of paper which has all the important information about the company from the letterhead. This was an important part of the promotion pack. I wanted to again stay in line with the rest of my marketing so I used the same primary colours. This time though I tried something I hadn’t on my previoos mockups, on this version I put the logo on top of the putple section of the card. I purposely hasnt been printed out for the pure reason that I wanted the colour to be flat and the logo to be reflective, this was something that is not easily achievable with the methods of printing I had used. I have maximised the font use at only 2 which are exactly the same as the ones used in the logo. My compliment slip is a slightly unusual shape, but the reason for this is because of the shape of the envelope so I made it the correct size to fit within the envelope. I initially tried to create a vertical letter, but I found out the type didn’t work too sell therefore I turned it horizontal and created it that way instead. You can see the initial vertical version and the final horizontal version.

Logo Evaluation

For my logo design I knew it was important to hit certain criteria, a lot of which I was not aware of when I first started the course, therefore I knew it was important to research before I even designed any logos whatsoever. While I was designing the logo for myself, this was excellent because I know the needs of the client (myself) better than anyone else. For me, the most important part was to advertise myself as a luxury design brand, this would have significant impact of the way clients considered me and my work, it would also impact how much I could charge. I learnt by researching colour and current luxury brands certain things I needed to do create a luxury style branding. Once I had completed my initial mockups, I created computer versions and removed the ones I thought that were not appropriate, I made sure that my logo worked in black and white as I had learnt this was very important in design, next I added colour to the logos and decided between the remaining two which meant I was left with my final design which had meaning behind it. Next I added specific details to further enhance the meaning of the logo, I used the fibonacci sequence which I had researched to make smaller adjustments to the layout of the logo, and finally changed the font to create the logo I was finally happy with.

For me the most important aspect of my design was the research stage, not only did it allow me to form a meaning for the logo but also allowed me to be certain my logo was following the correct stages to get to the perfect end result. At the time I thought that colour was the most important element to the logo and I chose purple because it represented luxury, I didn’t realise at the time I was making a choice not only for the logo but for all future branding I produced. Equally, this is probably because I was focusing on the end result of creating a logo rather than the overall branding of my image.

For me, a useful idea came from my research about luxury branding and how by mixing serif and sans-serif fonts enabled me to appear to be a much higher quality designer. Initially I felt uncertainty as to whether it would work in my logo but once I started to play around with the design in Illustrator I started get a much better feel for it. By using this font scheme I have significantly changed the appearance of my logo and it now targets the audience.

I have learnt that that research and initial design design stages are the most important to the logo to ensure it has the appeal you desire. Colour and fonts are second most important, and I believe you can’t go too far wrong if you spend a lot of time on these stages. If I was to do this again though, I would try to re-imagine the the two lower sections within the logo that represent my competition because when printed, they are not as visible as it is on the screen.

Revisiting Logo – Typeface

I decided, having redesigned my logo with previous research of the fibonacci sequence to redesign my logo with previous research of fonts, to make sure I have the perfectly executed logo. I currently had Helvetica Neue as the font for the logo because from my research it was versatile and seemed to look appropriate in all my mockups. I looked at my research at the luxury branding post found here (https://akbrodie.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/researching-luxury-brands/) and noticed that there was a clever mixture of serif and san-serif fonts, I believe this is something that is common across a lot of brands and thought this is something that I should implement in my logo design. Again I want tho give my brand luxurious quality service type of feel, therefore I deuced to find a serif font for the word “AKB” and a sans-serif for the word “design.

I scoured the web for appropriate fonts for my logo, I found two typefaces that fit my logo design perfectly so I tested them to make sure they worked and then went through the process of spacing out the letters of design to match the bars and then also space them out again using the Fibonacci Sequence spiral (FSS), you can see the steps below;

First I made sure the letters of the word “design” were central to the six bars of the chart, I changed the colour of the lettering so I could see the letters better.

Next I used the FSS to make sure the chart was sized correctly, I then changed the line height of the lettering to make sure thy fit within the FSS parameters.

Next, I did the same with the word “design”, again changing the colour so I could see better.

Once the words were sized correctly, I made sure that they were spaced out equally again using the same FSS

The only job left was then to fix the colours of the words to match the logo and you can see the old and the new here:

OLD:

NEW: