Jordan A. Kauffman
15 March 2011
Contents
Assignment Description
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Step One
: Brainstorming
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Step Two
: The Right Typeface
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Illustrator Studies
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Step Three : Adding Color
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Step Four
14
: Stationery
First Attempt
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Second Attempt
17
Third Attempt
19
Step Five
: The Patterns
23
Step Six
: Self-promotionals
25
Step Seven : Website Design
29
Designer Quotes
35
5
Assignment
Design identity and self-promotion
Purpose
1.2 Stationery / letterhead
To help students develop selfpromotional design materials; to help students learn how to extend their design identities beyond a logo and in a consistent and comprehensive way.
Once the logo design is finalized, create a letter-head system that includes the following elements: : Business card : Envelope : Letterhead (cover sheet)
Procedure
Rather than copying and pasting your logo into different applications, consider how type and the addition of other design elements, such as color, die-cuts, etc., can be used to help extend the identity.
After creating a logo, students will further develop the identity system to include stationery, web, and self-promotional design pieces.
1.1 Logo Develop a logo that reflects you and your work. Begin by creating thumbnail sketches, then develop two or three of the best ideas. You will then narrow your two or three ideas down to one.
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Step One Creative Brief What is JK Designs and what services does it supply? A graphic design firm that specializes in branding & print design that also handles clients photography needs. Who is your prime audience? People or businesses that are in need of a graphic designer & photographer. Value of JK Designs products or services to its prime audience? A local graphic design & photography studio that offers creative & big ideas. Word or phrase JK Designs can own? A local graphic design & photography studio that offers creative & big ideas. What is JK Designs’ corporate identity attributes (look & feel)? : Creative : Intelligent : Modern : Innovative : Personal : Energetic : Clean
Brainstorming
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Step Two
The Right Typeface
Bank Gothic Medium After I had some of my ideas sketched out, I scanned them into the computer so I could begin rendering them digitally. The first thing I did on the computer was look for interesting typefaces that communicate who I am. The main characteristics I wanted to communicate through a given typeface were the same attributes I laid out in my creative brief: creative, intelligent, modern, innovative, personal, energetic and clean. When I first sketched out my ideas, I had Bank Gothic Medium in my head as the possible typeface I was going to use. Once I began working on the computer, however, I realized that Bank Gothic didn’t quite work. Consequently, I went back to the list of typefaces I started with and tried a few different options.
Modifications of Bank Gothic Medium capitalized J & K.
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Step Two
Down to Four There were four typefaces that I decided to experiment with: Futura, Rockwell, Glypha, and Public Gothic Circular. I also experimented with lower and uppercase relationships for each typeface.
Futura
Rockwell
Glypha
Public Gothic Circular
Public Gothic Circular After the type experiments, I chose to use Public Gothic Circular in the logo for two reasons: : Straight edges on top and bottom. : The J and the K easily combine to form an interesting positive and negative shape relationship.
The Right Typeface
Illustrator Studies Once I had decided on Public Gothic Circular I began to experiment with editing the J and K in an attempt to simplify the letter forms.
Combined J & K using Public Gothic Circular
After finessing the letter forms I experimented with enclosing them in geometric shapes. By enclosing the letter forms in a rectangular shape the positive and negative shape relations were bolder and more pronounced.
Final Logo After a great deal of trial and error, I was able to come up with a logo that effectively communicates who I am as a designer: creative, intelligent, modern, innovative, personal, energetic, and clean.
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Color options one
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Step Three
Adding Color
All Color Options The next step in developing my identity was to determine a good color scheme. As shown in the figure to the left, I went through numerous color studies before arriving at cyan, black, & white. After numerous critiques from my peers, professors, and others I realized that the cyan, black, and white did not effectively communicate who I am as a designer. I went back to the original color studies to find the color scheme that would best communicate who I am as a designer.
Color options two
Color options three
Final Color Scheme This combination of light green, navy blue, and white is the color scheme that always stuck out in the color studies. The light green and navy blue compliment each other nicely and the white adds emphasis when needed. Final color scheme
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Pattern on business card
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Step Four
Stationery
First Attempt Below are variations of business card, letterhead, and envelope designs using the original cyan, black & white color scheme.
First Attempt : Business Cards
Front & back : version one
Front & back : version two
Front & back : version three
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Step Four
First Attempt : Letterhead I wanted to create a unique letterhead that contained visual elements directly from the logo. The swoop on the left hand side of the footer comes from the small triangular shape in the bottom left of the logo. Instead of using dots or lines for breaks between text in the footer there is the negative shape that is in the top left corner of the logo. JORDAN KAUFFMAN
GRAPHIC DESIGN PHOTOGRAPHY KAUFFMAN.JORDAN@GMAIL.COM (574)536-9602 JK-designs.com
February 4, 2010
Dear John Doe, Mauris, et gilvus, abico odio esse similis nunc enim, iriure nutus volutpat imputo ut enim. Pagus nibh ullamcorper, consequat adsum indoles te scisco, vel demoveo macto. Blandit ludus quadrum wisi cui, ea eum, sudo nisl. Immitto volutpat lenis, incassum, bene sudo laoreet scisco duis. Regula voco indoles, ea sed augue. Minim illum eum immitto duis delenit torqueo. Delenit defui eum metuo roto ingenium qui pertineo. Cui premo commodo consectetuer uxor, elit occuro nostrud letatio haero delenit mauris luptatum. Melior praesent ex caecus veniam adipiscing opto minim vulputate, multo odio camur illum gravis cogo. Hendrerit vel rusticus, autem vicis odio proprius causa nulla letatio hendrerit volutpat si vereor duis. Ibidem, occuro, tum sino iustum sed. Modo dignissim consequat regula scisco vulputate gemino ut nulla praesent. Odio esse duis, euismod ut loquor sed. Ad dolus facilisi feugait conventio in regula vel laoreet loquor, multo. Ad ex hendrerit appellatio in, tego volutpat ea vulpes abbas volutpat luptatum incassum paulatim ne. Immitto luptatum vel proprius gravis proprius quibus vulputate blandit velit nisl suscipere meus at. Illum nostrud, brevitas duis virtus quidem metuo nulla humo. Jus, facilisis ea vel demoveo delenit vel, magna. Odio vel praesent facilisis ut esse illum refero, nostrud et. Sit acsi delenit paratus eligo capio suscipere macto facilisis. Cogo imputo veniam duis saepius, adipiscing humo conventio. Velit gilvus dolore macto ad, at tum acsi, haero nulla. Aptent foras laoreet secundum camur hos iriure, camur quadrum sudo, ea luptatum duis verto conventio. At, facilisi uxor letatio persto occuro vicis commoveo hendrerit tation appellatio autem. Capto, praemitto eu qui luptatum typicus vicis amet feugiat qui transverbero adsum jus vindico multo. Similis exputo fere et pecus ludus praesent accumsan huic fere iaceo acsi typicus. Sincerly,
Jordan A. Kauffman CEO, Art Director
GRAPHIC DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
: kauffman.jordan@gmail.com jk-designs.com P# : (574)536-9602
First Attempt : Envelope The idea for a square envelope instead of a standard size came from the JK Designs logo. The envelope’s connection to the logo was to strengthen the brand identity. The pattern from the business cards is printed on the inside of the envelope. Outside & inside
Stationery
Second Attempt When my color scheme changed to light green and navy blue, I redesigned the stationery to make it look more professional as well as address some of the problems I encountered with the original designs.
Second Attempt : Business Cards I decided to go with a vertical business card after experimenting with both horizontal and vertical formats. Because the logo and accompanying information worked better together as a vertical unit.
JORDAN KAUFFMAN
JORDAN KAUFFMAN
P: (574) 536-9602
P: (574) 536-9602
E: kauffman.jordan@gmaIl.com
E: kauffman.jordan@gmaIl.com
W: www.JK_DESIGNS.com
W: www.JK_DESIGNS.com
Front & back : version one
Front & back : version two
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Step Four
Second Attempt : Letterhead For the letterhead I wanted to continue the vertical framing of the logo and information from the new business cards.
February 4, 2010 Dear John Doe, Mauris, et gilvus, abico odio esse similis nunc enim, iriure nutus volutpat imputo ut enim. Pagus nibh ullamcorper, consequat adsum indoles te scisco, vel demoveo macto. Blandit ludus quadrum wisi cui, ea eum, sudo nisl. Immitto volutpat lenis, incassum, bene sudo laoreet scisco duis. Regula voco indoles, ea sed augue. Minim illum eum immitto duis delenit torqueo. Delenit defui eum metuo roto ingenium qui pertineo. Cui premo commodo consectetuer uxor, elit occuro nostrud letatio haero delenit mauris luptatum. Melior praesent ex caecus veniam adipiscing opto minim vulputate, multo odio camur illum gravis cogo. Hendrerit vel rusticus, autem vicis odio proprius causa nulla letatio hendrerit volutpat si vereor duis. Ibidem, occuro, tum sino iustum sed. Modo dignissim consequat regula scisco vulputate gemino ut nulla praesent. Odio esse duis, euismod ut loquor sed. Ad dolus facilisi feugait conventio in regula vel laoreet loquor, multo. Ad ex hendrerit appellatio in, tego volutpat ea vulpes abbas volutpat luptatum incassum paulatim ne. Immitto luptatum vel proprius gravis proprius quibus vulputate blandit velit nisl suscipere meus at. Illum nostrud, brevitas duis virtus quidem metuo nulla humo. Jus, facilisis ea vel demoveo delenit vel, magna. Odio vel praesent facilisis ut esse illum refero, nostrud et. Sit acsi delenit paratus eligo capio suscipere macto facilisis. Cogo imputo veniam duis saepius, adipiscing humo conventio. Velit gilvus dolore macto ad, at tum acsi, haero nulla. Aptent foras laoreet secundum camur hos iriure, camur quadrum sudo, ea luptatum duis verto conventio. At, facilisi uxor letatio persto occuro vicis commoveo hendrerit tation appellatio autem. Capto, praemitto eu qui luptatum typicus vicis amet feugiat qui transverbero adsum jus vindico multo. Similis exputo fere et pecus ludus praesent accumsan huic fere iaceo acsi typicus. Sincerly,
Jordan A. Kauffman CEO, Art Director
P: (574) 536-9602 W: www.JK_DESIGNS.com E: kauffman.jordan@gmaIl.com
Second Attempt : Envelope I decided to change the envelope to a standard size because the square envelope was not practical for a company. On the inside of the envelope the pattern is printed, similar to the first envelope. The pattern on the inside continues the brand identity, brightens up the envelope as a whole, and strengthens security.
Outside
Inside
Stationery
Third & Final Attempt I left this project sit for about six months before I came back to it. By putting my energy into other projects, my skills continued to develop and I came back to it with a new perspective.
Final Attempt : Business Cards I returned back to the very first business card designs and modified them to get the final versions. The navy blue text holds up well against a white background and the light green letter indicators work as well. Front
Back
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Step Four
Final Attempt : Letterhead Looking back I realized that I was trying too hard to be unique and edgy in my design that my overall design didn’t work. So I went back to the drawing board and tried to be very simplistic and not too crazy.
I kept the back of the letterhead green with the light green diagonal j pattern because it is unique and vibrant. It continues to provide a consistent visual identity that unifies the entire system.
Stationery
Final Attempt : Envelope The design of the envelope didn’t change from the second to the final attempt. The navy blue logo with the address to the right and the light green pattern printed on the inside of the envelope are the same. All envelopes would have hand written name and address as to convey the focus on personal relationships that is a key of JK Designs.
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Diagonal blue pattern
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Step Five Overview of Patterns I have been interested in patterns and how they can add something extra to an identity system but I had never gotten the opportunity to use them. I decided to try designing some patterns for this project and believe the final variations heighten the overall visual identity. The patterns are used in many different applications, from print media to apparel. These patterns remind me of the high end designer patterns found on luggage and other merchandise from designers like Louis Vuitton.
The Patterns
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Step Six
Self-promotionals
Promoting Me The self-promotional pieces of this assignment were hard for me because I wanted to come up with creative pieces that would make me stand out in a competitive job market.
T-shirt I have experience working for a design firm that focused on apparel and I feel comfortable designing t-shirts and different apparel. Clients find it very frustrating that there are not many options for sustainable t-shirt materials and finished t-shirts. This led me to the idea of designing sustainable t-shirt fabric that would have the diagonal pattern and the JK Designs logo on the top left side of the shirt.
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Step Six
First Attempt : Thank You Cards 1700 S.MAIN ST. Goshen, IN 46526
P : (574) 536-9602
W: www.JK_DESIGNS.COM
E: Kauffman.Jordan@gMAIL.com
Version one 1700 S.MAIN ST. Goshen, IN 46526
Version two
E: Kauffman.Jordan@gMAIL.com
The second project I did as a selfpromotional was not as creative as I would have liked but after seeing what other students in my class had designed for thank you cards I decided to experiment with what a JK Designs thank you card would look like. I designed two different versions of the same card, one with a picture (photography is one of my many passions), and one without. These thank you cards would be sent to clients after project completion and to potential clients.
P : (574) 536-9602
W: www.JK_DESIGNS.COM
E: Kauffman.Jordan@gMAIL.com
1700 S.MAIN ST. Goshen, IN 46526
P : (574) 536-9602
W: www.JK_DESIGNS.COM
E: Kauffman.Jordan@gMAIL.com
Self-promotionals
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Second Attempt : Thank You Cards Stepping away from this project again allowed me to come at it with new perspectives and ideas. This came through the most in my thank you cards. Instead of having a traditional horizontally folded card I decided on the two-sided post card. I decided to not feature a photograph on this version of the card. Front of the card
Back of the card
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Home page on screen preview
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Step Seven
Web Design
Translating Print into Web I had very little web design experience or knowledge at this point and had to do a lot of reading and research before I could even come up with some ideas. It took me a few different tries before I came up with an idea that had the same visual cues that my print pieces do. This shows in these final designs.
Site Navigation Since this is a portfolio site it needed to have a clean design and simple navigation set up in order to match with the company identity. The site consists of four main pages: home page, portfolio page, about page, and contact page. When the portfolio, about, or contact pages are selected the name of that page is in white text with a blue line underneath it.
navigation bar when on home page
navigation bar when on portfolio page
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Step Seven
Home Page The home page showcases the presentation ideas that I wanted to come across throughout the entire website design. Those three things were clean lines, simple design, and lots of quality images of the work that I do. The page is divided up into four distinct areas: latest project box (all the way on the left), recent project column that shows four small images of different work (the middle), the quote box (all the way on the right), and the navigation bar.
Home page design
Web Design
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Portfolio Page The portfolio page is set up to showcase the images of the work more than written text about the work. Navigation of the portfolio section is very simple and easy, much like the overall site navigation. On the left is a list of projects and selecting one brings up that section of the portfolio. On the right underneath the navigation bar are numbers that correspond to the individual images of each project.
Portfolio page design
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Step Seven
About Page The about page contains a short description of what JK Designs is and our business philosophies. There is also a list of clients that I have done work for in the past.
About page design
Web Design
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Contact Page The Contact Page shows my email address, street address and location, and my phone number.
Contact page design
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Inspiration “ There is no design without discipline. There is no discipline without intelligence.”
– Massimo Vignelli
“ Design is as much an act of spacing as an act of marking.” – Ellen Lupton
“ If there were a prerequisite
for the future successful digital creative, it would be the passion for discovery.” – John Maeda
“ To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.” – Milton Glaser
Designer Quotes
“The real issue is not talent as an independent element, but talent in relationship to will, desire, and persistence. Talent without these things vanishes and even modest talent with those characteristics grows.”
Phone : (574) 536–9602
- Milton Glaser
E–mail : kauffman.jordan@gmail.com