ISTD Rebrand Brief by Andrew Nangpi

International Society Of Typographic Designers

Andrew Nangpi ISTD ‘Putting on a Fresh Face’ Brief Graphic Product Innovation

Brief The brief is to refresh the Visual Identity of the Society of the International Society of typographic designers. This could incorporate the adoption of a new logo but such a fundamental change of identity would demand a strong supporting strategy articulating the benefits as well as the visual material to illustrate.

I decided to do this as my first branding brief to challenge my skills in identity and branding design. My first aims were to rebrand the logo as after looking at the logo I felt that there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really any significant meaning behind the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;love of typeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The concept is to come up with a logo that is very admired by the members of the society and also the designers it may appeal to such as students and professional designers.

What is the ISTD? The International Society of Typographic Designers, ISTD, is a professional body run by and for typographers, graphic designers and educators. As the name suggests, the Society has an international membership, all of whom share its mission to establish and maintain standards of typography and to provide a forum for debate. Recognized as the authoritative body for typography in the UK, and with growing influence internationally, the Society also keeps sight of its original purpose as described by its founder, Vincent Steer: ‘ ... to bring together in friendship and mutual help, all those with a love of the printed word’. What Steer could not foresee more than eighty years ago was the development of desktop publishing and the importance of the typeset word ‘on-screen’ – both significant challenges to the quality of typography that informs us all. But his ethos is still intact today, as the Society works closely with education and industry to deliver major projects and events that promote and sustain typographic standards.

Existing and Current Logo:

Excuse the pixels, as no one had a larger sized image.

other versions:

After analyzing their existing logo, I have come to a conclusion that the existing logo seems to be very bland and weak in terms of it appealing to the lovers of ‘type’. The type, the shape and the positioning of the letters used don’t justify why or how they are used and again how they relate to lovers of type. I feel that this is lacking deeply in the current logo and the exploration of the fundamentals of type and qualities of type needed to be undergone in order for every member in the society can relate to and anyone recognize that it is a ‘typographic society’. However, this current logo doesn’t does work in terms of a simplistic logo, very straight forward and clear. The monochromatic theme is also very simple and very effective in terms of getting the name across and being easy to understand.

My Design

International Society of Typographic Designers

This logo is more to do with the ‘appreciation’ of the forms of type and the different fonts out available today. Type design is all about the passion and the love of typography and designing. I have designed a logo where the strokes of the letters are seen against a basic ‘serif’ and ‘sans serif’ font to show how the two differ from each other. By overlapping the two stroked typefaces in the same positioning, looking back at it should create a ‘designer’ feel as if it had been ‘sketched’ to relate that the logo is aimed at designers; typographic or graphic. The colours of the logo are very similar to its previous one to keep that connection with its previous logo to give a sense of nostalgia and recognition. I didn’t hate the old logo, instead felt that it had only a few positive points of why the logo they chose was acceptable. The new logo is a refreshed, modern and improved version still keeping some of the old logo qualities. The stroke is a pt. size that is visible even when enlarged and seen at a very reduced size.

Influences

Times New Roman (regular)

The idea was first influenced by this image that I found whilst doing some research before the idea generation. The images shows the development over time of a particular type which gave me the idea to overlap different types over each other the same style as this.

Helvetica(regular)

Hence with regards to the overlapping types, I choose two successful fonts that most designers and everyone are familiar with. These two fonts different from each other as one is a serif and the other is a sans serif typeface. Overlapping them gave interesting forms of the same letters showing the serifs, the thickness and the curves of the letters.

Final merged type design for the ISTD logo.

Finally the black circle is used. This is used because it best represents ‘society’. Also the fact that the institution has ‘international’ in the name, it also represents the world from its shape. Using this shape is also at an advantage as it makes the logo look much more simplified rather than leaving it with the type on its own.

Development

The process of the logo is very interesting as during the development part of the logo, ‘kerning’ was used to enable the logo’s equal letter spacing, which isn’t conveyed through the logo. Although it is one to tell when the student or graphic designer can come to know more about the brand and the background of my design. The development of this particular idea had a few minor tweaks. As you can see it started off with 3 different overlapping typefaces and the letters weren’t aligned and equal spacing from each other. Then it developed on to having a square box, referring back to the old logo. After, it was developed with the rotating squares obtained by another style of the ISTD logo. This looked appealing however; it didn’t work in terms of the significance of the rotating squares and why it should be used in the final logo design. The final logo is much more smarter clean and tidy as well as being unique.

Please see sketchbooks for the whole design processes and experiments done.

‘Museo’

Typeface: ‘300’ (Light)

‘500’ (Regular)

‘700’ (Bold)

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@%&*()_+#

International Society of Typographic Designers

‘Museo’ is the main typography for the body of the institution. The font was influenced from its logo where the typography had to be mixed with both ‘serif and sans serif’ together. Since there were not typefaces that looked like the one on the logo, this was the closest one. On top of this the type used has a sense of modern and traditional qualities put together, simple and clear to read whether large or small, and more importantly it is much more unique and up to date. There are 3 simple weights to the Museo font that are available and assist in differentiating information such as titles, body copy and notes.

Further on from the Logo, I have designed a few of the products they might use to get a visualization of how the new redesigned logo will look on certain mediums. I used this package of identity design products, which may be beneficial when a new member of the ISTD joins the society. The different sizes of the envelopes to send letters to their address, the type of paper, business card and a concept badge that only the ISTD can send.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the logo I redesigned is very up to date and different from its previous logo. In the beginning I did aim to have a much more deeper connotation of typography in the logo, however it turned out that I designed a logo for the ISTD in which the connotation is ‘appreciating the forms of type’ for the typographic lovers who are its members. I had undergone a very long process to get to the stage of the final logo after having experimented many times with the kerning, the stroke and the colours used. The clever overlapping makes the logo unique and also very appealing when seen up close. When minimized, the merged type on the logo looks like a font of its own. The colours that are used are simple monochromatic. The reason for this is that after experimenting with many colours initially using the CYMK pallet which derived from the letterpress research, it made the logo too complicated and it gave off different ideas such as the logo looking like a ‘print’ company which I didn’t want. Leaving the Logo black and white still works and is influenced from its previous logo which still keeps that relationship and gives a sense of nostalgia that the logo looks like it had undergone not very major changes such as font, composition etc. Overall, I designed an identity that many people all over the world can accept and relate to in a sense that they immediately understand that it is a typographic institution.

End.

Visual Identity Guidelines

Introduction This guide shows the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;International society of Typographic Designersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (ISTD) visual identity break down consisting of how the logo should be used and its brand elements. The ISTD logo has been redesigned to give more of a better connotation to its members with more meaning of typography and designing whilst still having an aesthetically appealing and engaging logo that can be suited in many different environments. It is vital that the guidelines should be followed to enable a very strong and clear communication with its own identity.

Contents. 3 4 5 6 7

Fresh Face The new logo Usage How the logo should and should not be used Colour The correct colours only to be used on logo Typeface Font for web and print use Further Information Contact

Putting on a fresh new face. Here is the ISTD newly redesigned logo - A fresher appearance with a kick of aesthetic value. The logo should always be kept to a clear standard where the strokes of the letters can always be seen in its black outer shell. The strokes should also be kept white whenever this logo is used on different colour backgrounds.

Usage Do not condense.

Do not stretch in any way.

Please do not use any of the logos shown below.

Do not shrink to a size that the design is bare visable. Correct way to use the logo.

Do not use as invert.

Do not use in any letter individually Do not place the letters in its seperate shapes.

Do no rotate.

Colour Black

C=000 Y=000 M=000 K=100

R=0 G=0 B=0

White

C=000 Y=000 M=000 K=000

R=255 G=255 B=255

The logo is strictly used only in black and white. Not other funky wacky or wild colours. The Black circle and the white text are mandatory and should be kept consistent in any use on any media digital or print.

Typeface

The primary typeface of the ISTD is ‘Museo’. It is to be used across any ISTD house material whether it is print or digital. There are 3 simple weights to the Museo font that are available and assist in differentiating information such as titles, body copy and notes.

‘300’ (Light)

‘500’ (Regular)

‘700’ (Bold)

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@%&*()_+#

International Society of Typographic Designers

Further Information

If the guide doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t appear to your usage or criteria if or you have any question about anything covered please contact one of the people below.

Andrew Nangpi

John McMilian

Graphic Designer Tel: 07872598419 Email: andrewnangpi@yahoo.co.uk

Education Director of the ISTD Email: John.mcmilan@istd.org.uk