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H A R I N I V E N K ATA R A M A N P H A S E I 1 // T H E V I S U A L D E V E L O P M E N T G R 6 0 4 : N AT U R E O F I D E N T I T Y SPRING 2017 SEMES T ER
This is one of the books created for the course GR 604: Nature of Identity at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA
T he v i s u a l de v e l op me n t guide
Royal Enfield
CONTENTS
CHAPTER / CONTENTS
PAGE NUMBER
IDENTIT Y RESEARCH
08
THE VISUAL CORE BR A ND INSPIR AT IONS L OGO INSPIR AT IONS
THE LOGO DEVELOPMENT INITIAL SKETCHES REFINEMENTS F IN A L IZ AT IONS FINAL LOGO
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ARCHITECTING IDENTITIES R O YA L E N F I E L D , C R E AT I N G S Y M B O L I C V I S U A L S
In the story of human evolution, the main factor is biological mutation—a genetic change that allows the surviving generation to adapt to the extreme change which is forcing or guiding the evolution. Similarly, in visual identities, a mutation is often required to tell the world, with graphical reinforcements, of the new direction a brand is adapting towards. The first and foremost visual component that will represent the maximum change is, of course, the logo. When the logo is new or different, the inherent implication amongst the consumers is that the brand, too, is renewed and different. This book explores deeply the conceptual pathways through which was contrived the new brand identity, and the reasons behind the new logomark and typemark for the brand of Royal Enfield.
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In over 2 centuries, Royal Enfield has visually changed from sewing needles to cannons, to quote a few.
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identity research
THE VISUAL CORE
10
BRAND INSPIRATIONS
14
LOGO INSPIRATIONS
40
10 11
PROCESS: A page from the process journal depicting some of the brainstorming for the key phrases
THE VISUAL CORE W H AT B R A N D F E E L I N G S L O O K L I K E
The keywords that dominate the look and feel of Royal Enfield’s brand are independence, individuality and integrity. The new identity, thus, had to be created by defining what these words means in terms of shapes, colors, forms and typefaces.
The new mission statement calls for a brand that embraced the freedom of spirit, courage and the strength of individuality. The new identity, therefore, should also reflect these values in an abstract and definitive manner.
The 3 key phrase sketches were further divided into 3 visually differenct buckets: symbolic, graphic and typographic. Each key word became each of the following key phrase:
Independence / freedom =
Unconstrained, and Autonomous The first step in sketching a new identity was more analysis on breaking down the keywords (independence, individuality, integrity) into descriptive phrases; for example, “independent” could mean either “wild and free” or “unleashed and spirited.” After defining a key phrase for each keyword, the visual representation had to be sketched, i.e., how would “wild and free” look like? How would “resilient against adversity” look like?
Individuality / unique-ness = Unrefined Minutiae
Integrity / strength = Resilience over Adversity
12 13
T H E E V O L U T I O N O F R O YA L E N F I E L D L O G O S
The previous logos of Royal Enfiled focused on the highly bold, militaristic style of its automobiles. The very first products by the Enfield Co. were bicycle seats, and eventually grew into bicycles, motoscooters, motor cycles, and war cannons among other automobiles. The logos, similarly, started with sewing needles, bicycles, canons and finally, a R with wings inside a hexagonal bolt that was more of a motobike engine symbol.
14 15
VISUAL STANDARD INSPIRATIONS
Compilation of a coherent visual standards manual is more than making a book. The visual standards are essentially, how the brand looks, feels, behaves and interacts with the audience. Based on the above criteria, the brand of Royal Enfield, while dominated by its mission statement, looks outward to other successful, potentially future competitors to understand the more succesful visual trends in the world that depict independence, individuality and integrity through colors, shapes, typography, patterns,photographic style, graphic combinations, intonation, language, anatomical descriptions, attributations, visual evolution and structural configurations. In the following pages, you will encounter the list of brands whose visual standards have influenced the creation of Royal Enfield’s Visual Standards Manual.
16 17
VMWare —
Primary Art Usage
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Stationery
—
Pattern behavior
18 19
VMware had built a decent palette of consistent color applications, and taken a chance towards ingrating their graphic elements onto other materials, like packaging, event collateral, print materials, etc.
20 21
Norway —
Typography
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Color Palette (flat, bright, calm)
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Logo Usage Guidelines
22 23
Norway explored a lot of complementary color schemes with unusual type choices and logo placements. The brand represented a friendly voice for travel, which made it a good inspiration for Royal Enfield heading towards encouraging free spirited movement towards new places.
24 25
Gap Inc. —
Typography: Historical Significance
—
Type Usage Metrics
26 27
GAP Inc. is a large conglomerate brand in that it connects with consumers commercially across different brands. The existing brand guidelines make it so that the entire brand name also works with its component brands.
28 29
Fedex —
List of Brand Attributes
—
Logomark Magnification diagram
30 31
Fedex is a great example of visually replicating into subsidiary branches of a single company by very simple color differentiation. The design is however, stictly influenced by the packaged mail industry, but they have adapted to more than just mail envelopes in a design sense.
32 33
Electrolux —
Logo Evolution Process
—
Graphic Expressions (Cropping)
34 35
Electrolux made a clean rebranding decision when it came to developing new visual standards for their redesign. With only 2 main colors and a more modern logo, they were able to capture both the legacy of the brand as well its adaptible and pristine qualities.
36 37
Seagate —
Brand Promise
—
Brand Essence
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Personality
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Brand Diagram
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Logo Size measurements
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Color palette diagrams
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Core Elements & Usage metrics
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Tone + Voice
38 39
Seagate has done an incredible job of putting together a large amount of consistent visual elements working in groups in various lock-ups and on multiple surfaces/packages/interfaces.
40 41
LOGOS FOR INSPIRATION
The logo sketches for the new brand is based on the keyphrases mentioned, but it also is inspired by the letters R, E, and the symbolism of wings, compasses and arrows. Based on this observation, the following pages contain already established logos of companies whose symbols include some characteristics mentioned above. The main similarity between these and the logo sketches they inspired was the underthread of strong, flexible and free-spirited forms, both symbolically and graphically.
Mazda
R Empire
Automobile Manufacturer
Financial Establishment
Sturdy, trust-able
Royal, regal
Cooper Mini
Riedell
Automobile Manufacturer
Skateboard manufacturer
Small, can be taken anywhere
Adventurous, movement
42 43
Raleigh
Segal
Bicycle Manufacturer
Autonomous, bold
Movement, lightweight
Wichita
Eagleridge Energy
Airport // transit station
Efficient, powerful
Place with lots of movement
These are logo inspirations taken from multiple sources and focus on key words, phrases and elements of independence, integrity and individuality.
Detroit Eagles
Electrolux
Sports Team // Athletic
Home electronic appliances
Movement, strong
Sleek, modern, efficient
Museum of the Moving Image
Quest
Museum // Motion Arts
Adventurous
Modern, digital, focused
44 45
Summit Series
Adidas
Coporate brand
Athletic wear
Reliable, moving forward
Refreshing, new, energetic
Aviator Eagle
Barclays
Optical Products Brand
British Multinational financial services
Uplifting, free, bold
Universal, reliable, strong
These are logo inspirations taken from multiple sources and focus on key words, phrases and elements of independence, integrity and individuality.
Roger Federer
Red Bird
Tennis Player // Athlete
Candy mints by Piedmont
Record Breaker, Award Winning
Loved, found everywhere
Midway Airlines
Kansas City Royals
Travel // Airline brand
Sports team // Athletic
Reliable
Champions, premium
46 47
Aquila
Caruda
Liaison Management
Photoproduction
Integrity, trust, friendly
Light, technological, overseeing
Hyper Compact
Van Halen
Game-making application
American Music Band
Technological, flexible, new-age
Hard-edged, intense, loud
These are logo inspirations taken from multiple sources and focus on key words, phrases and elements of independence, integrity and individuality.
Air Jordans
Weezer
Athletic footwear brand
American Rock Band
Lightweighted, buoyant, trustworthy
Peppy, popular, fresh
Power Reviews
Reebok
Reviewing service
Sports wear and shoes
Informational, bright, serious
Proud, energetic, moving forward
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INITIAL SKETCHES
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REFINEMENTS
56
FINALIZATIONS
60
FINAL LOGO
76
50 51
LOGO SKE TCHES: INITIAL
Contours were an idea explored with the idea od unique land forms and unconstrained formations
Compass needles were a recurring theme in the idea that independence was about moving unconstrained, as well as free to move any direction
Birds, especially eagles, were a motif of bold, independent living things; similarly wings, feathers and arrows were reminiscent of a moving/ soaring object across unrestrained spaces, like air
52 53
UNCONS TR AINED A ND AU T ONOMOUS
The elements of Independence were definitely the easiest to identify, because it was the word directly associated with movement in the system.
Instructor approved for further refinement
54 55
The logo sketches spanned across various forms and elements of the 3 key words and phrases.
56 57
UNREFINED MINU TE A E
The elements of Individuality are all about rare, unusual elements, creatures and things, including tiger stripes, endangered creatures like dragonfish, the shark ray, red panda, and mimic octupi, among other things.
Instructor approved for further refinement
58 59
The logo sketches spanned across various forms and elements of the 3 key words and phrases.
60 67
resilience agains t a dv ersit y
The elements of Integrity are about strength derived from a strong base that allows other elements to pan out in different directions, like a skeleton attached to the backbone.
62 63
LOGO SKE TCHES:REFINEMENT SKE TCHES
The first round of sketches determined that
The sketches moved from paper to computer
the strongest visual camp for a graphic sketch
roughs at this stage, and brought to light the
lay within the parameters of “Independence =
difference between logo sketches that looked
Unconstrained and Autonomous.�
better on paper versus in Adobe Illustrator. It was also a stage to eliminate the less coherent-
The elements of this camp/field were mostly
looking sketches that looked less like logos and
wings, compass needles, arrows, and other
more like icons, grafiti or seals.
symbols of free movement.
Instructor approved for further refinement
64 65
Instructor’s suggestions to move forward with this particular sketch to make it more sturdy and elegant in the next round of computer refinements.
In this first round of computerised sketches, most sturdy hand drawn sketches became bulky and ungainly on screen.
L O G O S K E T C H E S : F I N A L I Z AT I O N
FO CUS ED
The compass shape was an interesting lock-up
in the idea that it was a frame for shooting out of a regular, monotonous zone into the one we’re sure to excel in.
L O G O S K E T C H E S : F I N A L I Z AT I O N
EX PL0 RI NG
This was a relatively new idea in the line of
sketches, but a promising one in that it included the frame of a traditional compass, the curve of
a classic 19th century “R” and a more continuous flow into the strokes of “E” However, it felt more like a brand that was based on a more classicial
mission than the dynamic one of Royal Enfield’s.
L O G O S K E T C H E S : F I N A L I Z AT I O N
FL IGH TY
The bird-based R & E were the most uplifting— literally—of the logo sketches, and with the
addiion of straighter lines, the logo had a lot more sturdiness than before, and looked friendly and
strong at the same time. It was clear that this was the logo sketch to proceed with.
72 73
L O G O S K E T C H E S :T Y P O G R A P H I C R E F I N E M E N T S
ROYAL ENFIELD
royal ENFIELD
Royal Enfield
The typography of the logo was a little tricky, because of the exceptionally beautiful existing ligature in the old logo. Drawing inspiration from the ligature, the new logo explorations were focused on more linear, sturdy typeforms to complement the birdlike direction of the iconmark part of the logo.
Royal Royal enfield
Royal ENFIELD
74 75
L O G O S K E T C H E S : C O L O R E X P L O R AT I O N S
The sketch that was to be finalized was further experimented with single color and dual color variations to choose a final direction.
76 77
THE FINAL LOGO
The final logo is a graphic birdlike shape of the brand initials, R & E, topped by a Northstar-like diamond to depict the directional aspect of the free-spirited movement of a bird. The logo is reminiscent of the previous Royal Enfield logo in that it is like an R with wings, but the spaces between the wings open up and strengthens the free will of a strong, yet flexible icon of movement. The logotype is, hence, inspired by the individuality of a handwriting infused with the sturdy and trustworthy edge of a lineal typeform.
MEMORY LOOKS BACK IN ORDER TO MOVE FORWARD QUOTE BY MARTY RUBIN
VISUAL SYNTHESIS A U N I V E R S E , C R E AT E
Royal Enfield is unique, and the weeks spent testing the visual identity of it has only made that more evident throughout the process. Now that we have the identity, the next step is ameliorating it in the directions proposed by the strategy. Visualizing these strategies takes many forms, from identity development to implementation across different visual factors like photography, graphic elements, typography, colors, tones, attributes and brand tone. The Royal Enfield, Visual Strategy Guide, and Royal Enfield, Visual Standards Manual are the before and next documents in this compilation, and respectively canvas the reformation of the brand mission and audience strategy, and then bring it to life on the first few directions towards commercial, PR, educational and social usage.
RESOURCES
Adventure Jobs Worldwide http://www.backdoorjobs.com/adventureabroad.html
How Solitude Can Change Your Brain in profound ways – J. Porter https://www.fastcompany.com/3052061/lessons-learned/howsolitude-can-change-your-brain-in-profound-ways
History of “Royal Enfield”. (The Gun) http://www.motorcycleexpeditions.com/history-of-royalenfiled.php
The 500 Most Valuable Brands Around the World Forbes Magazine, Fortune 500 Companies, Year 2015
Why is Royal Enfield still popular? https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Royal-enfield-so-populardespite-having-redundant-technology-and-not-muchimprovement-since-60-years
Motorcycling America http://www.bikernet.com/pages/Motorcycling_America.aspx
IMAGERY
Brand Photography https://unsplash.com/collections/560518/ekla-cholo-rey
PHOTOGRAPHERS WHOSE WORK WAS FEATURED WITHIN DAVID ZAWILA ARTO MARTTINEN BUZZ ANDERSON ANDRES ABOGABIR SCOTT GOODWILL
Royal Enfield archival photography http://cybermotorcycle.com/gallery/royal-enfield
Adobe Stock https://stock.adobe.com
LICENSE ID
STOCK AUTHORS
#74657163
BIJOUSTARR ©
THE LIBER ATION OF SPECIFICATIONS
Royal Enfield, The Visual Development Guide was typeset in Museo Sans, Abril Text and Rift, all of those availed from Adobe’s TypeKit.
Printed on Red River Paper 32lb Matte Doublesided, through an Epson 3880 Stylus Pro Inkjet printer, and bound at Plotnet, San Francisco, CA.
Compilation, Strategy & Design Student ID Instructor Class Semester Program Institution
Harini Venkataraman 04025935 Hunter Wimmer GR 604: Nature of Identity Spring 2017 MFA Graphic Design Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA
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