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PPP Brief Title

The Brief

Solution

Evaluation

Self-promotion

Show what and who you are as a designer in order to stand-out in a crowded graduate market.

After being told by a wise-old wizard that I show the work ethic of a Buddhist Monk and the patience and selflessness of a Viking Warrior. I took the insult on the chin and adapted it to become a compliment. Changing the line to read, ‘the work ethic of a Viking Warrior combined with the patience and selflessness of a Buddhist Monk’.

For a task I found impossible during second year, selfbranding, I have done a sublime job with it in third year. I am happy as I didn’t resort to merely using a jazzed up version of my initials and claim it represents me in any way.

Brief Type Studio Brief

Collaborators N/A

Background I should know more about myself than anybody else. I know my likes/dislike and my ambitions as a designer, the selfbranding just needs to reflect that.

This line, however embarrassing has helped me when contacting professionals. It is something they aren’t used to seeing, they are typically bombarded with emails exclaiming ‘creative thinker’ and talking about the ability to use InDesign to industry standard. With this as competition it is easy to make an impression on industry professionals.

The logotype is a play on having the work ethic of a Viking Warrior and patience/selflessness of a Buddhist Monk.

Wanting to add a gentle stroke of humour to my promotional material and more importantly a sense of memorability, resulting in people keeping hold of the business card and contacting me.

Considerations

I went through many stages of development and purchased several domain names before I reached the outcome. I am happy with this as self-branding can often become an afterthought in such a high-intensity work environment.

I took the the brief as an opportunity to develop a lot of new skills during the brief - who I am, where I want to be and realising that I am able to entertain, amuse and talk with successful people in industry. I know what I need to do to achieve my ambitions, the future isn’t cloudy anymore.

The branding is very reduced, only requiring a business card and website. This is all I need to become a part of the industry.

What do I want to do, where do I want to be and how can I get there.

David M Gaskell

OUGD602

Self-branding

1/5

Previous identities

David M Gaskell

What I did

Why I did it

Why they were rejected

The first attempts at a personality were down the boring, and predicatable avenue of a typographic mark based around my name/initials. With no real direction I was left attempting to polish a turd using visual tricks and gimmicks.

I wasn’t sure who I was or what I wanted to do. This left me with a set of identities which had no meaning, no ambition, no voice. With every logo that failed I was able to learn about the things I wanted and didn’t want to do.

I am embarrassed when I look back at these attempts at an identity. It shows how little I had engaged with myself as a designer, and that I put very little thought into the audience or meaning of what I was producing.

I experimented with a variety of styles, but that is all it was, a style with no idea backing it up.

The main reason these ideas were rejected was the boredom factor,. I don’t want to be mediocre so why do the same as everybody else. This was highlighted to me during an interview with a designer I admire. He told me how boring the logo on the business card was (bottom right of the page) and how the work I make is interesting, with a lot of thought behind each decision I made yet my logo was ‘as boring as a dog watching Emmerdale’. I took his advice, going back to the drawing and working on a logo that represents me as a person, my skills and abilities, rather than typesetting my name.

OUGD602

Self-branding

2/5

I’m David, a designer and maker who works with people, to produce effective design solutions which communicate with the largest audience possible. I have the work ethic of a Viking Warrior, combined with the patience and selflessness of a Buddhist Monk.

Current identity

Visual

Copywriting

The Message

There was an opportunity for me to make the logo engaging, amusing and make people remember when they have met me or seen my work. The visual is a play on me having the patience and selflessness of a Buddhist Monk, combined with the work ethic of a Viking Warrior.

I want to show my copywriting ability across my branding. It is my belief that words are the best way to connect people, a lovely print finish is lost if somebody spells professional wrong next to it. The copy I used to describe myself;

I am a hard worker who can work in a team. This is all my identity means, just worded in an amusing way. I have written it in such a manner as I am not applying for an office admin job, for this reason I have to show I can entertain people.

I’m David, a designer and maker who works with people, to produce effective design solutions which communicate with the largest audience possible. I have the work ethic of a Viking Warrior, combined with the patience and selflessness of a Buddhist Monk.

I am happy with the message, the logo and body copy describe me. I am very hard-working, patient and selfless to the point of self harm.

The illustrative logo, combined with the body copy shows that I can communicate a message using both image and type. A skill studios I admire all have.

Informative, charming and witty - not a whiff of desparation.

David M Gaskell

OUGD602

Self-branding

3/5

Print

David M Gaskell

Business Card & CV

Usability

What it says about me

I took a different direction with the business card. I know it is typical for a business card to maybe have a job description, or specialism, either way there is typically a small amount of copy. I question why this is. Why would anybody take notice of a business card that say ‘creative thinker’ like a thousand other business cards? It didn’t make sense to me, that people try to stand-out by fitting in, for this reason I took a different approach and put my CV on my business card. That way people know who I am, what I stand for and what I can offer as a human and professionalism.

The way I have made the business card reflects the focus on communication. I want to give the recipient a thorough understanding of me, make me stand out from the thousands of other graphic designers.

I care about people, I work hard, I am understanding. I am not in the design industry to feed my own ego and I have a variety of skills whilst keeping a specific focus. I am somebody you want to work with.

OUGD602

Self-branding

Combining a business card with my CV forces me to keep the CV concise, no space for GCSE’s, cos nobody cares about them. No room for hobbies and interests either, for the same reason. What does this leave me with, the bare essentials, what I am and what I can offer to them. In short, it’s a recipe for a long a successful relationship.

4/5

Online

David M Gaskell

Domain name

Functionality

I have owned three domain names in the past year. The domain I am using at the moment is vikingmonk.com. This domain is much more memorable than davidmgaskell.com.

I kept the design reduced, with the focus on the work. There is a landing page, which included information about me and contact details. This page features a thumbnail image of every project. Laptop and desktop versions have a two-column layout, and mobile devices use a one-column layout.

OUGD602

Self-branding

VikingMonk.com

5 /5