OUGD402 - Design Strategy Presentation

• Learn manual design processes such as screen printing as I had only ever worked digitally previously
• To improve at working in Indesign as this is something I have previously struggled with
• Typography
• Learn more about myself -strengths & weaknesses

• Secret 7" brief
• Edible type brief
• Writing our own brief

• Grids and the first typography brief was something I struggled with.
• Essay writing.

Strengths

• Working in Illustrator & working digitally
• Design principles book brief - I had previously struggled with layout design but was really pleased with my final layouts.

Weaknesses

• Hand rendering - Tend to start digitally rather than hand rendering ideas
• Time management
• Self confidence

• Screen printing - I made a lot of mistakes when screen printing - not all of them negative but this is something I want to improve on
• Procrastinating too much when struggling with a brief

• Improve at screen printing
• Be more self confident
• Don't go straight into working digitally - hand render ideas
• Manage my time better
• Find my design style
• Start learning dreamweaver and web design

OUGD402 - Self Branding Presentation

OUGD402 - Self Branding

I created some mock ups of how my stationary and business cards will look and am happy with my brand identity. I am going to print a variety of designs on the back of my business cards as I think this will make it more interesting. Although I do not yet have a distinctive design style I feel this represents me quite well as I like the fresh colours and modern and minimal design. I would like to develop this further and create a website to showcase my work which is something I plan to work on over the summer. I think my branding will work quite well digitally as well as in print. I would also like to produce a small booklet of some of my work so far that I could hand out to people.

OUGD402- Self Branding - Development

After having a break from my self branding as I didn't like anything I was designing I have come back to it again. I wanted to include some kind of shapes/patterns within my design as in my research I had seen many designs where they had used part of the logo to create a pattern on their stationery and I really like this idea as it works well across different mediums. 

I put my name in Futura and then adapted it slightly and used a triangle for the A as I thought I could perhaps create some patterns with triangles. After playing around with it I realised it looks a lot better with more spacing in between the letters. I am a lot happier with this logo than what I have previously came up with so am going to develop this design further. 

I started playing around using the triangle in my logo to make patterns, I started off keeping it black and white before adding some colour to it. Although I quite like it in black and white too but perhaps it looks a little harsh. 

I have started to experiment with colour within my branding, I have chosen green as this is one of my favourite colours as is grey and I think they work well together. I have also made a little phone and email icon for my business card design. 

After playing around with my business card design I also quite like just having contrasting block colours on the front and back as they look really clean and simple. I also really like this colour combination as it looks really fresh and works well together. 

I have come up with a number of different pattern variations for the back of my business card, I think when I print my business cards I may use a number of these patterns so that I have a few different business card designs as this makes it a little more interesting than them all being the same. 

OUGD402 - Self Branding - Initial Ideas

To get started with my self branding I made a mind map, one of the things I thought about was my name and that my last name is Farmer and thought about how I could perhaps use this within my logo. I thought about how a lot of people call me by my last name and nicknames that I have. One of them being Farmer Llama so I thought about using this within my branding and came up with the below design. I'm not completely happy with this as I think it may not be quite serious enough and some people may not make the connection with the llama and my name. 

Another idea I have thought about was using shapes to make up my initials and I came up with the designs below. I don't really like how these look and would prefer to use my name rather than my initials.

I then decided that rather than using an existing typeface I would create my name in illustrator using lines and shapes for my logo. I came up with the below designs but don't really like these either, I would like to design something sleeker for my logo. 

OUGD402 - Self Branding - Research

I started by looking for inspiration for my self branding on behance.

Floor Four is an online platform created to showcase personal design works, photography and illustration. I think the branding for floor four is really effective. I love the simplicity of the logo and it works really effectively across a variety of mediums as well as applied to images. 

Cocolia is a graphic design studio who develop corporate identity, graphic communication, art direction, editorial, web, illustration, and art projects.

I love their diy approach to personal branding, it is original and each business card is different and I think it looks great. I love the variety of colour combinations they have used and think the colours work really well together. 

I’m not sure how well this design would translate digitally however their website layout is very simple and minimal with a selection of images of their work which is equally as colorful and interesting as their branding so it works well for them as an identity because it effectively communicates the style of work that they produce as a graphic design studio.

I really like this brand identity designed by Gerard Marin for an interior designer and visual merchandiser. I particularly like how he has used part of the logo to create a pattern on the back of some of the stationary. I also like that he has used only one colour within his branding as it is simple yet effective. 



I really like the use of simplicity and use of colour within the identity created for art central.The design works effectively across different mediums which is something I think is important.




I really like the use of colour within the identity created for art central.The design works effectively across different mediums which is something I think is important.

I like the use of primary colours within this branding and again how they have taken part of the logo and used it as a pattern on some of the stationary, I think this is something I may experiment with within my branding.