02 VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE
WEI-HSIN(ANNIE) LO NATURE OF IDENTITY 2017 FALL
Vol. 2 Visual Development Guide
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER
01
THE CONCEPT
02
LOGO DEVELOPMENT
03
FINALIZATION
Brand Overview
06
The Old Mark
08
The Key Concept
10
Initial Sketches
16
Secondary Sketches
30
DIgital Refinements
34
Final Mark
40
Typeface Exploratin
42
Color Exploration
46
Final Logo
50
Similar Logo Research
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01 THE CONCEPT 1-1
Brand Overview
1-2
The Old Mark
1-3
The Key Concept
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
1-1
Brand Overview
Founded in 1860, Milton Bradley Company is the oldest game manufacturer in the United States. Their borad game were created not only just for entertainment but also for education.
Over the years, Milton Bradley has marketed such classics as The Game of Life, Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Twister and Yahtzee. Bradley was also an education advocator. He produced many games aimed promarily at children. he sold a wide line of school supplies and optical toys in addition to educational games for youngsters and their families. After some time, Milton Bradley fell behind in adapting to the new era and began to lose its appeal. As a result, MIlton Bradley went for a full restart. They can go beyond inventing fun games. Based on their core value, Milton Bradley will promote collaboration and contribution which are essential to build a better community. Collaborating with other people sparks innovation and knowledge. It benefits not only induviduals but also huge companies and even the whole world.
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
1-2
The Old Mark
Previous Logo
What will be changed?
It’s time to move forward to create a new
Although it chose a clean and simple
identity. By looking at our logo in the past,
approach, the overall identity loses its
we can understand more about what was
personality and the core value behind it. It is
previously working successfully and bring it
important to create a revolutionary brand-
into our the new direction.
ing to enter the market strongly and stand
The previous logo had envolved since 1941. The logo was merely combined the capital letter”M”and “B” to represent Milton Bradley
out from our competitors. We will create a new identity that reflect our values, ambitions and characteristics.
Company. The bright red, light blue and the bold logotype work nicely, giving a sense of happiness, fun and friendliness.
1941–1943
Milton Bradley, which was established in 1860, did not adopt a logo until 1941.
1943–1964, 2002–2008
Milton Bradley’s first version of their classic logo was adopted in 1943 and was used as their primary logo until 1963. It was still used in the “Key to Fun” logo until 1964. It could also be found on Operation money until 2008.
1962–1963
This variant appeared on some of MB’s “Big Ben” puzzles from 1962 to 1963.
1963-1978
1978–1997
1997–present
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Previous Logo
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
1-3
The Key Concept
To create a meaningful logo with our brand’s soul, we need to extract the essence which direclty shows the brand what it is. There are three main ideas which highlight our future direction and help to explore new visual system that fit our soul and mission.
Our mission is to motivate people to develop and learn collaboration, and encourage them build a better community. Based on the mission standpoint, we came out with three keywords, they are teamwork, growth, and community. Each keyword provides different angles of approach. They also carries unique meaning and visual elements that help us create a meaningful and provoking mark.
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01
02
03
KEYWORD
CONCEPT
ELEMENTS
Teamwork
Drawing people together in one of the
Multiple circle
core values of Milton Bradley. People work
Shape of people
together toward a common and big-
Cross element
picture goal. Collaboration can make
Star
a better result.
Hand
Milton Bradley is very educational and inspi-
Upward line
rational. From innocent children to professional
Triangle
manager, we aim to help people of all ages
Steps
grow and change in many ways.
Stair
Communities can come in different scales,
Inward curve
industries, background or interest. It is a
Solid square
physical form of a group of people.
Connected dot
Growth
Community
Union set
“COLLABORATION IS
THE GLUE WHICH KEEPS A TEAM TOGETHER, A BOND WHICH PROMOTES STRENGTH, UNITY, RELIABILITY AND SUPPORT.
— Ken Blanchard, an author and management expert
”
02 LOGO DEVELOPMENT 2-1
Initial Sketches
2-2
Secondary Sketches
2-3
Digital Refinements
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
2-1
Initial Sketches
The initial sketches is based on our three keywords. We
turned them into three phrases, which are more specific and help visualize the logo. We later on develop our new identity by sketching them into three separate camps, they are symbolic marks, graphic marks, wordmarks. During the sketch procress, variety is key when we tried to explore as many solutions as possible.
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Keyword
Key Phrase
Teamwork
Collaborate with others
Growth
Increase and change
Community
People come together
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
01
Teamwork: Collaborate with others
Is it “MB” or “BM”? The combination of letter M and B may mislead readers to recognize the brand.
This symbol is too cliché
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It is not proper use a letter “M”or “B” to form the logo because the brand should use its whole name “Milton Bradley” instead of M or B.
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
01
Teamwork: Collaborate with others
It has some potential to develop.
The cross circles may stand for danger. Be aware of some of the forms.
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
02
Growth: Increase and change
Flower shape is not proper for this brand.
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This shape has a feeling of going up and transformation. Is there other way to interpret with?
It looks like a cosmetic brand logo.
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
02
Growth: Increase and change
The swirling shape conveys growth and change.
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
03
Community: People come together
We believe a strong community is like a solid foundation. We use squares or rectangles to represent the logo.
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This shape can reflect the value of a strong community that is formed through people come together and do something toward a certain goal.
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
03
Community: People come together
“COMING TOGETHER
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IS A BEGINNING; KEEPING TOGETHER IS PROGRESS; WORKING TOGETHER IS SUCCESS.
”
— Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
2-2
Secondary Sketches
Later on, we continued to refine our initial sketches. We realized that teamwork and community can be combined into one word, “collaboration”; and growth can be described in a better word, “motivation”. Collaboration and motivation literally reflect our core values and are more visually descriptive that guide our new identity. In this stage, we will have more triangle shapes, rays of light that toward center, stars and circular shapes.
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Keyword
New Keyword
Teamwork +
Collaboration
Community
Growth
Motivation
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Milton Bradley
Comb ine co ncept
Collaboration+ Motivation
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Visual Development Guide
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Pentagon is a good shape for forming the logo because it embeds a star and triangles.
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
2-3
Digital Refinements At this stage, we had explored as many possible solutions as we can and continued to narrow it down to a specific concept. We will take the meaning of collaboration and motivation as our logo inspiration. A radiant star, triangles, and the curved planes are appropriate shapes to form our new mark.
This shape is widely used in many other logos. Our new identity should be more distinctive from others.
It is like a flower and has a feminine feeling which is not quite suitable for this brand.
Potential mark
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The circles are too big and unbalance the overall shape.
WE BELIEVE WE CAN DO BETTER WITH OUR TEAM THAN WE CAN DO ALONE.
03 FINALIZATION
3-1
Final Mark
3-2
Typeface Exploratin
3-3
Color Exploration
3-4
Final Logo
3-5
Similar Logo Research
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
3-1
FINAL MARK
This is the final stage for the chosen direction. We refined, combined and finalized the logo for future use. We picked the logo concept from the previous process that had a potential for further refinement. Our new logo is base on a pentagon and is formed with five group of triangles, which shape a star radiating from the center. The final version can appropriately reflect our core values and can be applied to our future expansion.
Our new identity symbolize diversity, potential, collaboration, motivation and harmony. All of which are essential to building a better community, that is also our ultimate vision.
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The negative space appears a star shape, which stands for potential, growth and motivation.
Five groups of triangles toward the center, standing for strength, collaboration and
Triangles have a good
strong community.
association with direction and goals.
Our new mark
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
3-2
TYPEFACE EXPLORATION
After we finalized our iconographic logo, we decided to choose Gilroy as our logotype foundation. This geometric font has a neutral and clean look. To keep consistency with our mark, we later on modified it into a rounded font, aiming to create a friendly and unique look.
The triangle doesn’t work well with overall type.
Those changes are too subtle to be seen and it will lose its legibility when it is used in small-scale version.
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
Gilroy Bold
Scaling down the thickness stroke to 90%
Round the corners
Remove the crossbar to keep consistency with the mark.
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Final Logotype This is our original font. With The logo type can be stant alone as a logo or combine the mark as well.
Our new logotype
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
3-3
COLOR EXPLORATION
Color palettes are very important to define an identity. Each color has its own charactristic. Even a same color may convey different meaning when it is combined with other colors. Our color palette for our logo is vibrant, positive and captures trustworthiness. We tried several combinations and finally narrowed down on a set of colors that closely represents our brand vision.
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
Final Color Palette The new version of color palette reflect the brand’s goal and values. The bright blue represents support and collaboration; the light teal stands for confidence and trust; the neutral grey gives the feeling of strength that represents a strong community.
Bright blue
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Light teal
Neutral grey
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
3-4
FINAL LOGO
Signature formats
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Signature formats : reverse
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
Secondary logo
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Secondary logo
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
3-5
SIMILAR LOGO RESEARCH
There are so many good logos to get inspired by. Even though every concept behind the logos is distinct, it’s inevitable that our logo may be similar to others. Comparing them with ours is necessary and helps us to avoid similarity.
We investigated many logos that have star shape, circle, triangles, nagetive space and pentagon.
Inertia
Piperlime
Inertia is an independent record company based in Sydney, Australia. Their mission is to empower artists to thrive independently, with honesty, creative thinking and passion.
Piperlime was an online retail company based in San Francisco. Founded in 2006 as a spin-off by Gap Inc., Piperlime offered a selection of footwear and handbags for women, men and children.
Jay Peak
SNOW
Jay Peak is a four season resort in Northern Vermont, close to Canada and Burlington. Featuring a yearround indoor waterpark, ice arena, brand new rec center, championship golf course.
SNOW is the first free-to-play winter sports game. People can explore a massive mountain on snowboard, skis, or snowmobile and compete in events.
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Lifehouse
Snowboard Magazine
It is an integrated and focused centre of excellence, offering everything a cancer patient needs in one place, including advanced onco-surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, clinical trials, research, education, and complementary therapies.
Started in 1987, it is the most-read magazine in snowboarding, delivering more photos and content than any other shred mag. Every issue is jam-packed with hundreds of images of the sport’s top riders and interviews with the sickest pros.
Mas Kaos A hybrid of Kaos Pizzeria and Uno Mas Taqueria located in a landmark brick warehouse with inside/outside bar and patio seating.
The Canadian Conference of the Arts The Canadian Conference of the Arts was an not-for-proďŹ t, member-driven organization that represented the interests of over 400,000 artists, cultural workers.
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Milton Bradley
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Visual Development Guide
Arlberg Marketing GmbH
Ciaran OFlynn
Social meeting point and famous tourist region, fascinating and legendary. It is regarded as the birthplace and most coveted domicile of international ski sport.
We have a wide and varied selection of gold, silver and diamond jewellery. Fully qualified watchmaker and jeweller on our premises, all repairs and design carried out on the premises to a high standard.
Argonaut
Emeryville
The Argonaut build process is designed to deliver a perfect bike. At the core is the Argonaut frame, tailored to customers’ physiology and riding style.
Emeryville is a small city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It is located in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, extending to the shore of San Francisco Bay.
bni
National & Commercial Banking Group
bni is Bahrain’s leading insurance company with nearly 40 years of experience in handling insurance for medium to large industrial and commercial insurances.
As the 12th largest retail bank in the United States, we deliver a broad range of financial services to over five million individuals, companies, not for profits, and institutions.
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MorseLife Health System
Star Alliance
It is a nationally recognized provider of health care, housing and support services for seniors and their families in Palm Beach County.
The Star Alliance logo represent the five founding airlines. Timeless classic simple design. The Star Alliance is the world’s largest global airline alliance founded on 1997.
Stadt Wulfen
GoldCore
Die Neue Stadt Wulfen (Barkenberg) is a planned in the 1960s and 1970s and partially built urban development project in Wulfen , which is now a district of Dorsten .
GoldCore are respected international bullion brokers who have provided precious metal bullion delivery and storage to U.S. clients since 2003. GoldCore are experts in the execution and logistics of the highly specialised precious metals market.
Chrysler
Heyerdahl
It is the American subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., an Italian controlled automobile manufacturer registered in the Netherlands with headquarters in London, U.K., for tax purposes.
Heyerdahl is seen as an innovator within the jewelry sector. It aims to develop a retail identity that would reflect Heyerdahl’s contemporary outlook.
“
UNITY IS STRENGTH. WHEN THERE IS TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION, WONDERFUL THINGS CAN BE ACHIEVED. — Mattie Stepanek, bestseller and motivational speaker
”
Book Vol.2 our process of how we developed our new logo. We distilled the meaning of the brand values, looking into the possibilities in multiple aspects and building our new identity. It was a fundamental and meaningful process.
Next following book is the book Vol.3, Visual Standards Guide. We will introduce our new identity with more detail and information. Also, introducing our potential for the future extension.
VOL . 2 VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE
DESIGNER Wei-Hsin(Annie) Lo INSTRUCTOR Hunter Wimmer GR604_Nature of Identity 2017 Fall Academy of Art University
This book is a non-commercial project for educationalpurposes and in not intended to represent the Milton Bradley company.
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