Grill Down Brand Identity Process Book

BRAND IDENTITY PROCESS BOOK DESIGNED BY

CHRISTINA POPIK & VICTORIA AMENDOLARA 1

T C E J O R P N O I T I N I F DE Choose a cause/benefit for a fundraising an event of choice and develop all promotional aspects of the event including: • A brand identity • A responsive website • A poster • A mailing card, pamphlet and/or paper promotional piece The process will include: • Choosing a cause/benefit and a fitting event format • Researching the cause and carefully editing content to reflect the area that the event is benefiting • Creating a moodboard, user personas and information architecture • Designing the new logo/identity • Clearly defining the colors, typefaces and logo usage • Comping and coding a responsive website in addition to the poster and paper promotional piece.

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CAUSE DESCRIPTION For our cause, we decided to focus on men’s mental health awareness. The goal in creating Grill Down is to “grill down” on men’s mental health by promoting facts about the issue and resources to those in need.

Men’s mental health is a topic that is too rarely discussed within our communities but affects many with over 6 million males suffering from depression in the United States each year, according to Mental Health America.

Because of social norms, reluctance to open up, and downplaying symptoms, men are much less likely than women to seek help for mental health conditions such as depression, substance abuse, stressful life events and suicidal thoughts. With this event, we aim to bring families, friends, coworkers, neighbors and other supporters together to have a good time, eat some delicious food and most importantly raise money and awareness towards helping improve men’s mental health.

After exploring a bit into the extent of the cause we want to support, we began thinking of further event details in addition to the grill off competition that will be taking place including: • Food, beer, live music and kids activities • Tickets available for both attendees and participants • All proceeds donated to Mental Health Connecticut • Merchandise for sale in which the proceeds also go towards the donations • Mental health resources given out at the event

Source: Mental Health America (www.mentalhealthamerica.net)

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H C R A E S E

R

To get a variety of research, we explored both broad and specific examples of possible inspiration for our event branding, print marketing and website. This included looking at logo design, print design and website layouts with some BBQinfluenced designs.

It is important in the brand identity to stress that this is a fun, comfortable space while also keeping that sense of importance on men’s mental health.

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S A N SO

R E P

For our personas, we developed three individuals who would be interested in attending the event, affected by men’s mental health, or both. By delving into their personalities, we were better able to develop our branding, mission, event details and web interface to best suit our target audience.

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NICK LAFFEY

Accountant trying to juggle the struggles of work and relationships AGE 35 OCCUPATION Accountant RELATIONSHIP STATUS

Married

PERSONALITY

“Success is measured by hours worked, money saved, and money made. I will not stop until I reach my goals.”

Analytical

Determined

Reserved

Serious

MOTIVATIONS Getting work done early Recognition from authority

BACKGROUND Nick is a motivated and headstrong individual who will stop at nothing to reach his goals. He is currently married to his college sweetheart but things have been on the rocks lately and he is struggling to keep his head afloat both with expectations of his wife and at work. Nick has felt that his boss has been making it harder on him to be able to move up the ladder and he needs a strong promotion in order to be able to start a family and fulfill his wife’s expectations. He is often closed off and throws himself into his work in order to be able to provide a strong income and living situation for his family.

Updated technology Quality time at home

NEEDS • Feel needed by others and be the provider of the family • Be strong and dependable at all times • Maintain a loving relationship with his wife that they had in college

FEARS • That he will lose his job • He will not be a good father to his future children • Showing weakness at any time

TECHNOLOGY-USE

65%

30%

5%

LAPTOP

iPHONE

APPLE WATCH

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SHAY RAYBURN Young teacher hoping to help others grow and thrive

AGE 26 OCCUPATION Elementary school teacher RELATIONSHIP STATUS

Widowed

PERSONALITY

“Being able to be there for those who are too young to understand or cope, is my greatest achievement.“

BACKGROUND

Generous

Kind-hearted

Romantic

Exuberant

MOTIVATIONS Students showing appreciation Being surrounded by good company

Shay is a beloved and enthusiastic individual who has known she has wanted to be a school teacher ever since she had her first job as a camp counselor. She is a sweet and empathetic woman who wants nothing more than for her young students to thrive and be independent, motivated, and excited to learn more. Shay has been known to always have a smile on her face, especially since she married young to her sweetheart who was a marine.

Unfortunately, she has suffered a tragic loss when her husband returned from war with signs of PTSD which ultimately led him to commit suicide.

Understanding others Time away from home

NEEDS • Be a role model for her students • Remain composed and put on a happy face during work • Be able to have closure and understand the loss of her husband

FEARS • Never being able to have a family again • Letting her personal life interfere with work life • That she could’ve done something to help her husband and didn’t

TECHNOLOGY-USE

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70%

30%

iPHONE

LAPTOP

CLAY HEARTH Passionate theater student trying to find his place in the world AGE 20 OCCUPATION Drama student RELATIONSHIP STATUS

Single

PERSONALITY Passionate

Sensitive

Artistic

Musically-inclined

“Through the stage, I have found my calling, my home and my passion.”

MOTIVATIONS

BACKGROUND

Feeling welcomed

Clay is a quiet but lovable individual who puts his heart into his passions on the stage. He has felt at home and welcomed into the theater since he was four and hasn’t been able to stay away since. He feels that the theater is a place where he can be himself even though he is working through an internal struggle each day of his life. He has not truly discovered himself yet and the theater has been a place where he can express his feelings about sexuality and worries of acceptance.

Oral communication

Piano playing Talented instructors

NEEDS • A strong support system of like minded individuals • To express his true self in a safe place • To feel accepted in all aspects of his life

FEARS • Judgment from others • The theater may be the only place he feels accepted • Won’t find a career he truly enjoys

TECHNOLOGY-USE

50%

45%

5%

LAPTOP

iPHONE

APPLE WATCH

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O G LO

S A E D I

After deep research into various types of styles for BBQ events, masculine elements and general logo design, sketches were the first step in beginning to develop the brand. After sketches, comps were created in order to begin to visualize the potential logo options in full color and style. After exploring various different styles of our comps, we were able to refine and eliminate designs that were not the right fit in order to be able to settle on our final branding guidelines.

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SKETCHES We explored grilling and barbecue elements, while keeping in mind the support and unity factor of the event for men.

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INITIAL LOGOS

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FINAL BRAND LOGOS

ADJACENT MULTI-COLOR

ADJACENT SINGLE-COLOR

STACKED MULTI-COLOR

STACKED SINGLE-COLOR

ADJACENT SINGLE COLOR (EVENT TITLE ONLY)

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TYPE

Futura Bold

Muli Regular 14/19 pt

Muli Light

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

Muli Regular

Muli Bold 14/19 pt

Barlow Regular

Muli Italic Muli SemiBold Muli Bold

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

Mulu ExtraBold COLOR

C: 95% M: 85% Y: 43% K: 44%

R: 27 G: 40 B: 72

C: 0% M: 40% Y: 99% K: 0%

R: 250 G: 166 B: 28

C: 14% M: 80% Y: 100% K: 3%

R: 206 G: 85 B: 40

C: 27% M: 98% Y: 100% K: 27%

R: 146 G: 32 B: 30

ICONS

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B E W G N I T KE

R A M

When developing the website for Grill Down, it was imperative that the site reflect the branding guidelines we developed, as well as provided an easy interface that connected with our audience. First, we set up a preliminary information architecture to identify the initial pages or sections we wanted on the website. The information architecture was flexible and continued to be more streamlined as we further developed our goals for the site. When we started developing wireframes, we decided that a single scroll website would be an easy format to showcase the event in an appealing way as well as be easy to use for our audience.

The wireframes provided a detailed map to begin to develop the website comps which added color, visual images and full copy development. After seeing the comps and making necessary edits after feedback, we began coding the site in HTML/CSS with bootstrap elements, making some small changes along the way.

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INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE GRILL DOWN

OUR MISSION

TICKETS & INFO

GET INVOLVED

WIREFRAMES DESKTOP

MOBILE

The wireframes outline an initial design for a single scroll responsive website. Below the fold, large photos will stand beside blocks of event information.

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WEB COMPS Desktop view & mobile view

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The website we designed has a single-scroll set up and strongly incorporates the brand identity including the logo, icons and colors.

Above the fold is the logo overlaying a photo of barbecue food along with the quick event details directly underneath for easy access.

The website has three sections: our mission, tickets & info and get involved. Our mission defines why the event is being held, tickets & info has additional details on tickets and what vendors will be in attendance and get involved has a list of donors, a link to donate and a form to contact the those running the event. You’ll notice through out the website are buttons to buy tickets for the event or donate to the event, which will link to external sites.

The navigation bar is fixed and changes from white to orange once it leaves the photo above the fold.

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FINAL WEBSITE Desktop view

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The final website, including desktop and mobile view, resembles the original comp with the exception of a change in the photo above the fold.

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FINAL WEBSITE Mobile view

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T N I R P G N I T KE

R A M

For our print materials, we created both a poster, postcard and stickers to be used as collateral with the branding for Grill Down. We made sure to stay with the same branding theme and guidelines for the print materials in order to have a cohesiveness throughout all of the materials for the event.

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STICKERS

The meat icons of the brand identity, including the steak and chicken leg, are used here for stickers. Since they are brightly colored and not your average sticker shape, they ideally are a cheap way to bring in a little extra money at the event because they stand out. Besides that, the stickers are a little reminder to keep men’s mental health in mind after the event.

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PRINT COMPS

Annual BBQ cook-off for men’s mental health awareness All proceeds go to Mental Health Connecticut

°°°

MUSIC, FOOD, BEER & MORE!

HARTFORD, CT

TICKETS: $15-30

SATURDAY,

SEPT. 14 1 P.M. – 5 P.M.

COLT PARK

(KIDS UNDER 10: FREE)

For more information, visit us at GrillDownCT.com

Something that we did on the website that I wanted to emphasis again in the poster were the photos of barbecue food to make people hungry for food (and hungry for change!) I used blocks of color and the barbecue images as a background of the event information overlaid in front of it.

Feedback: The photos overlaid with text are not as clear and harder to read. The boxiness makes it hard for hierarchy purposes since one box doesn’t necessary stand out so your eye doesn’t know where to look.

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Feedback: Similarly to the poster, the postcard lacks hierarchy so your eye struggles to find a place to look at first.

Like poster design, I stuck with color and picture blocks to hold the highlighted details of the event on the front, while the back of the card has a little more detail on the event and where to find out more.

1 P.M.

CT

HARTFORD

FINAL COMPS

MUSIC

, FO

ER & OD, BE

!

MORE

Annual BBQ cook-off for men’s mental health awareness All proceeds go to Mental Health Connecticut

SATURDAY, SEPT. 14 1 P.M. – 5 P.M. •••

COLT PARK – HARTFORD, CT

TICKETS: $15-30 (KIDS UNDER 10: FREE) For more information, visit us at GrillDownCT.com

The final poster is a photo of barbecue food overlaid with yellow to make the text more readable. The information is organized hierarchically, allowing for more emphasis on certain event details.

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The information portion of the first comp remained in the final but the front cover is more simplified than the boxy original.

The bold image and font make for a more visually appealing image on the card, and more easily communicate the event being held before you turn over to read the back for more details.

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SPRING 2019