Jane Hansesgaard | OUGD603 | DBA Capital North | Board 1/9
Brief Outline
Deliverables
Background
Considerations
A collaborative brief set by DBA with the task of branding ‘The Northern Powerhouse’ and create awareness of its many and varied attributes to the rest of the world. The idea of the brief was brought on by the government’s strategy to develop the North of England as a second economic capital in Britain to redress the economic balance across the country. The name Capital North was given as the brand name. The four cities involved are Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Hull making up the proposed route of HS3.
Logo A Series of Four Posters, one for each key city.
On a global scale northern cities are quite small and have individual strengths but together they have the capacity to act as a global city. The concept of ‘The Northern Powerhouse’ builds on the idea that those cities are stronger together, not as a rival to London, but to be its brother in arms in the fight for Britain’s share of the global economy.
Avoid clichés and stereotypes. Consider how to attract interest and investment to a region with an ambition to create prosperity as a team with share responsibilities.
Two further applications from the list below Train livery Trans staff uniform Taxi livery Environmental A ‘What’ On’ App
Group Members Sean Connelly, James Keefe, Jordan Harrison Reader, Jamie Pudsey, Jane Hansesgaard
Jane Hansesgaard | OUGD603 | DBA Capital North | Board 2/9
Research
Research - The Four Cities
Research - Place Branding
Research - Logo
Target Audience and Tone of Voice
Research into each city was done with one city for each person and with two people sharing Manchester. I researched Manchester. Focus was looking at industry, business and culture. A common link between the cities was that it is an area with a heritage of industry, production. There is a highly skilled workforce, extensive educational opportunities, a big cultural scene and with airports in three out of the four cities it represents a gateway to The North welcoming visitors, tourists and business people everyday. Each group member presented their findings in the group.
Focus was also on how to brand an area, a place rather than a product as such. This involved looking into how this has been done to cities and countries. Mood boards were created for discussion in the group. My mood board is shown above. From this it was noted that elements such as assets, attractions, climate, infrastructure, buzz, safety and economical prosperity were being used in the place branding.
Research into different styles and designs of logos was also undertaken, An area of particular interest for myself, was looking at logos using negative space to create a message or word.
Target audience was identified as industry professionals, tourists and residents. This is to attract more investment from industry professionals, build on the cultural aspect and service industry through tourists and to create a sense of togetherness across the cities for the residents. The tone of voice is professional, friendly and approachable.
Jane Hansesgaard | OUGD603 | DBA Capital North | Board 3/9
Concept and Identity Development
CAPITAL NORTH making and creating together
Development & Concept Generation A concept of ‘growth-connectivity-potential’ had been identified and determined from our research and discussions. It was felt that this would cover business, industry, tourism and culture. For the process of creating a logo for Capital North, each group member made some sketches relating to the attributes of the city they had researched. Above from the top are some of my sketches. Discussions of this resulted in four shapes, above in the middle, created by James, These four shapes represent a city each and further development was agreed to be based around those.
Finalising the Brand Identity My take on this produced the four triangles coming together to produce a capital ‘N’ in the negative space. The ‘N’ in the negative space was taken forward to merge with other group members designs, in particular james’ design based inspired by the North Star. A process of development, discussion, and voting took place in order to establish the strongest and most appropriate identity for Capital North. James’s version was voted the strongest and most suitable for a range of applications including a gif put forward by him.
James and myself looked into colour and typeface whilst the rest of the group started looking at ideas for posters and a Capital North newspaper. Five variations of colour schemes and typefaces were presented to the group and jointly the final choice was made whilst making alterations on the computer.
Jane Hansesgaard | OUGD603 | DBA Capital North | Board 4/9
Presentation - Selected Slides from Power point put together by Jordan
Design Decisions We chose Gill Sans designed by Eric Gill as the typeface used in our logo. With Capital North being a second capital in England, we felt it important that the typeface used in our logo would be of British inheritance. Gill Sans seemed very appropriate especially as it rose to its popularity in 1929 when it was chosen as the standard typeface for London and North East Railway. It is clean, highly readable and is available in a variety of weights each with its distinctive look. The colour scheme reflects the fact that two of the cities are by the sea and the others are inland.
Jane Hansesgaard | OUGD603 | DBA Capital North | Board 5/9
Environmental Application of The Brand Identity - Development
Capital North Sculpture A sculpture made out of the logo was design and made by myself. The idea is to place the sculpture in each of the four city centres in an attempt to introduce Capital North into the daily life of the residents. It would be supported by a plaque explaining the concept of Capital North. The prototype was laser cut in acrylics and glue together using copper rods.
Jane Hansesgaard | OUGD603 | DBA Capital North | Board 6/9
Posters and Digital Adverts
Poster and Digital Advert Sean design and created a series of four posters each capturing an aspect of their city with part of the Capital North overlaid. When put together they form the design of the logo. In addition digital adverts featuring the logo coming together from across the county were made by both Sean and Jordan.
Jane Hansesgaard | OUGD603 | DBA Capital North | Board 7/9
Environmental Application of The Brand Identity - Transport
Taxi and Train Livery James applied the identity of the brand to train and taxi livery. This will spread brand awareness across a wide area and become part of the environment for services that people use everyday.
Jane Hansesgaard | OUGD603 | DBA Capital North | Board 8/9
Environmental - Mural, Sculpture and Newspaper
Environmental - Sculpture, Mural, Newspaper Jamie designed and created a Capital North newspaper. This is to bring the four cities closer together and bring news on events in business, trade, industry and culture. A ground mural and the sculpture were made by myself. Both elements which will help to remind people of the concept. The ground mural will be what greets visitors and tourist when landing in the three airports.
Jane Hansesgaard | OUGD603 | DBA Capital North | Board 9/9
Evaluation
Evaluation A solid concept with strong visual identity created from playing to strengths of each member of our group. A well organised collaboration, with plenty of opportunity to voice opinions and have constructive conversations. I believe the workload was equally distributed and all team member played an important role in pulling the concept and identity together.