2018 - 2019 CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION DESIGN
STRATEGY & IDENTITY
PART ONE: NAIL YOUR COLOURS TO THE MAST!
Design and produce a flag to represent and promote a movement or cause you believe in
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UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
ABOUT MY PROJECT PROJECT OVERVIEW STATEMENT
Above: This image shows my initial thoughts and ideas about 100 Flag Design Proposals
I designed my process book with the aim of showing my learning process, project development and individual viewpoint. The overall design problem is to explore the methodologies in Strategy & Identity field and find out an appropriate medium and design solution for each task. The first task is about designing a flag that can represent and promote a movement I believe. I have chosen "Buy Local Movement" as my theme.
Throughout my project, I considered new directions. I experimented with different possibilities, iterated with both conventional and digital fabrication methods, attempted new materials and failed many times. I am still learning how to be a better communicator by admitting criticism, expressing my design intention, improving myself, listening and accepting suggestions.
UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS READING MATERIALS | WORKSHOPS | VISUAL LANGUAGES
Above: Reading material: A technique of producing ideas by James Webb Young Right: Reading material: Visual literacy by Judith Wilde & Richard Wilde
“A technique of producing ideas” is about how to bring old elements into new combinations and generate new ideas. The book suggested five-step process, including gathering material, intensely working over the material in my mind, stepping away from the problem, allowing the idea to come back to me naturally, testing my idea and adjusting it based on feedback. I tried the mental digestive process, and it helped me generating ideas.
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UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
Workshop: Black Square Solution During the workshop, I created a series of graphic images to express the meaning of order, increase, bold, tension, playful and congested by using four squares. I discover different possibilities of visual expression. By overlapping, rotating, scaling and positioning, I tested with the interrelationships of forms. That might help my future development in the graphic sense.
Workshop: Road Signs Excercise Road signs workshop is a vehicle for simplicity and personalization. I was thinking about how to express the words by using universal and understandable symbols. In my opinion, the language of signs needs to be simple and easy to understand, because the function of signs is to inform people about the important information within a few seconds. It is a good exercise that questioning me about how to deliver a message in an effective way.
Workshop: A line is a dot that went for a walk We were asked to create a series of lines that can express and represent a set of adjectives, such as happy, angry, musical, distracted and gentle. At first, I considered about different forms of lines, including straight, curve and wave. After that, I thought about the weight of the lines. Perhaps we can use different colours to strengthen the emotions. We did twice and we knew this exercise is related to the 12 Archetypes.
Good Flag, Bad Flag. by Ted Kaye "Good Flag, Bad Flag." is about how to read a flag and what makes a good flag. This book suggested five principles. Including keep it simple, use meaningful symbolism, two to three basic colours, no lettering or seals and be distinctive or be related. From my perspective, The challenge of designing a flag is about reducing and keeping the essentials. It requires thorough preparation and design rationale. I want to find a significant symbol to represent "Buy Local Movement" in my project. UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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IDEAS DEVELOPMENT MINDMAP | STUDIES | DRAFTS | FEEDBACK | REFINE IDEAS
Above: “Buy Local Movement” mindmap and ideas developments Right: “Buy Local Movement” overview and initial thoughts
Speaking of movement, the first thing that comes to mind is buy local movement. In the rapid cities like London, many small local businesses closed down because of the competition. Online shops and chain stores monopolised the retail industry by offering a lower price and considerate service like delivery. We are losing diversities and local connections. Hence, my objective is to increase awareness of the local business.
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UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
Buy Local or Bye Local?
Above: The images above show my ideas developments, manifesto and feedbacks of my project
Imagine England without the small businesses in the high streets and markets. These enterprises are the beating heart of our communities, but they’re being driven out of the capital by the chain store. Chain stores monopolised the retail and catering industry caused many local small business closed down in recent years. These local small shops have many important cultural values and meaning to us. Slow down, we are moving too fast, we missed something important.
Every time we spend money, we are casting a vote for the kind of the world we want. Of course, Chain store made us feel convenient, fast and affordable, but is that what we really want? We are the one who have power to shape our cities. Don’t let your local business become a thing of the past, show your support. Choose a pair of handmade shoes and walk slowely, it will remind you the human warmth of your community.
UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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EXPERIMENTATION 100 FLAG DESIGN APPROACH | WORKING PROCESS
100 Flag Design Proposals At the beginning of the project, I tried to work out 100 flag design approaches. I started to generate and developed my ideas from different adjectives and tone of voice like what we did in the previous workshop. I considered about different target audiences, such as local community, blind people and children. After that, I drew with the fundamental elements of art and design including line, shape, space, colour and texture. I thought about the motto and key message too. 07
UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
I found it was pretty hard to create 100 flag design proposals at the beginning because I was running out of ideas. However, I found it works. It is amazing to see other students' works too. Their creativity inspired me a lot.
Example of Working Development The images from the right-hand side demonstrate the working process of the flag phototype. Firstly, I made three stencils with a laser cutting machine. Secondly, I painted the sackcloth with white spray and dried it. Thirdly, I sprayed three green colours with different layers one by one and made the graphic.
UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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PROTOTYPES
EXPLORING MATERIALS | PRODUCTION METHODOS
Left: These images below display the prototypes of my flag design proposals.
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UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
Right: These images below demonstrate the small details of the prototypes
UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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OUTCOME
FLAG DESIGN FOR BUY LOCAL MOVEMENT | MANIFESTO
Flag Design for Buy Local Movement The message is to arouse the public awareness of supporting local small shops and time-honoured brands. Black represents mourning, death, and sadness. Chain stores monopolised the retail and catering industry cause many local small businesses closed down in recent decades. Black manifested we are losing the diversities and possibilities. Black on black dash-line made the handmade stitching shoes invisible and hard to see. It associates with the idea of disappearing, we usually discover the values of local shops or traditional crafts lately when we almost lose it. I was thinking about how should I deliver the message in an unusual way and guide people question about it. Thus, I selected and challenged with an unusual one. 11
UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
Size: 840 mm x 500 mm Medium: Stencil Print on Fabric Skills Application: Adobe Illustrator, Digital Fabrication
Above: These images show the final flag design approach and details of the stitching shoes
Materials Testing
Reflection
In this project, I explored and experimented with different materials. The first category is normal fabrics, I sewed two flags with different shapes and colours.
To sum up, I learnt more about visual languages and how to produce ideas. I am interested in digital fabrication because there are many possibilities, and I would like to equip that in my future design practice.
The second category is textured fabrics, like leather, sackcloth and denim. I experiment with the stencil, stitching, laser engraving and acrylic painting. The third category is paper, like the paper bag, kraft paper and textured paper, I tested with digital print.
During my project, I found monitoring my progress and making decisions are difficult, I struggled on choosing suitable design approaches and art directions. I felt confused and lost when I am not able to simplify my thought and appropriately express my ideas. UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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PART TWO: ACQUISITION AND REPOSITION Identify a failing brand with promise, ripe for aquisition. Strategically reposition this brand for future success.
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UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
ABOUT MY PROJECT PROJECT OVERVIEW STATEMENT
Above: This image shows a series of poster design for New Balance campaign
In the second part of the brief, we were assigned to a group of three. Bobbie Galvin and Jikun Lee are my groupmates, and we worked as a team. My role in the group is the information coordinator and graphic designer. My duty was to research, analyse and organise the information. I was responsible for preparing materials, designing graphics and producing mockups. We selected New Balance as our client.
Throughout our project, we worked closely with each other. We had a regular meeting every week. Therefore, our progress is satisfying. The main challenge for our group was to select a suitable archetype and direction. We found it's hard to explain our concept and keep a clear mind because we had many materials and we were distracted.
UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
12 ARCHETYPES | BRAND STUDIES | MARKETING RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
Above: The image above shows the 12 archetypes chart and a list of brand archetypes Right: This image shows the qualities of 12 archetypes and brand management
12 Archetypes Study I understood better about 12 archetypes after studying the characteristics, qualities, examples and archetype chart. Knowing the brand archetype can help to understand brand values, develop a branding strategy and select an appropriation tone of voice. From what our research of the brand has told us is that New Balance is a down to earth brand, that understands the true and realistic view of its needs as well as position within society. For example “Our goal is to help you achieve yours�. Their original archetype is everyman and caregiver who provide structure and connect with others. 15
UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
Above: These images above show the research and analysis of New Balance marketing strategy.
New Balance Research & Analysis We looked into the vintage printed advertisements, the former campaigns and current TV commercial. It helped us to understand to initial thought and brand values of New Balance. We also analysed the positioning of the brand, its competitors as well as the hero journey.
UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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IDEAS DEVELOPMENT
MINDMAP | POSITIONING | ARCHETYPE | HERO JOURNEY | FEEDBACK
Working Development After the group activities and discussion in class, our group received feedbacks from the tutors and our classmates. The archetype that we chose is the Magician. This archetype shows intelligence, consideration for the needs of other people, it has great care as well as attention, and most importantly the Magician is transformative or can bring transformation to others around them.
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UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTIT Y
The magician is acts as the problem the solver to all. However, what the magician is best known for is the ritual elder, transforming the young/ uneducated into the mature as well as flourish into the future. Above: The image above shows the mindmap, brand analysis and competitors research Top Right: This image shows the group activities in class Bottom Right: This image shows the feedback from our classmate and our discussion notes
UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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EXPERIMENTATION
LAYOUT TESTING | PROTOTYPES | PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
Working Development The visual elements of new balance keep changing which make us feel confusing. Thus, our group decided to use a strong visual element that no one owns it, like Nike using a tick, Adidas using three stokes. And we suggest using the speedy pattern as the key elements of our campaign. It helps to differentiate the uniqueness of the brand image and its character, which demonstrates the movement of transformation.
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UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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PRESENTATION CLIENT PRESENTATION SLIDES
Creative Marketing Plan Our objective is to maintain the consistency by centralizing the target group, we want to make it more distinctive and memorable, our goal is to evoke the idea of “you are more than just one ideal”. You have the power to transform yourself into two or more identities.
And for the brand character, we decided to be mature, practical and smart. Therefore, we are going to approach with understanding, welcoming, realistic, intellectual and optimistic tone of voice, which complements the image of being “down to earth”.
We are targeting on the adult who age is between 25 and 40 in the UK. They are the middle class, educated and employed. They know themselves and what they individual stand for. They have a clear direction
About the communication strategy, we are thinking about O2O. We will provide information in both online and offline platforms in order to reach our audience.
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UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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FINAL OUTCOME POSITION: IMAGE IS EVERYTHING
Believe in Your Own Transformation Medium: Poster, Printed Ads, Billboard, Website Skills Application: Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
We have taken two opposing environments like running in the outdoors and created a transition into a more casual social environment. By icorboating the element of the logo we have been able to reflect an almost magical ambience. This is because the pattern looks as if it is casting a spell and changing the environment as a result. We have also carried this out simply using the products to be more direct. But again match the different shoe to the environment where in which the person can wear it . In relation to our archetype transforming the person into their different personalities.
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UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
Summary It is a pleasant experience to work as a group. I learnt a lot by discussing and explaining our ideas. Groupmates used different perspectives to work on the same task. Therefore, we discovered new angles and possibilities.
UNIT 5: EXPLORING PRACTICE 1 | STRATEGY & IDENTITY
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Design & printed by Wing Lor (Roberta), Central Saint Martins, 2018