GR604 Student Project // Erector Rebranding // Visual Strategy Guilde

VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE

01 1

The core of Erector has always been to encourage creativity and ingenuity.

Therefore, our brand will continue to explore and evolve new mission based on this core.

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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE

01 3

CONTENTS

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ABOUT ERECTOR

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10

Brand Overview

12

Brand Timeline

02

03

16

Our New Mission

34

Current Competitors

17

Keywords

36

Adjacent Competitors

18

Persona

48

Aspirational Competitors

28

Brand Grid Current

40

Brand Attributes

30

Brand Grid Future

BRAND REVIVAL

OUR COMPETITORS

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A. C. Gilbert posing with various Erector Set models. —Gilbert Family Collection

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

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01 ABOUT ERECTOR

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Brand Overview

12

Brand Timeline

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

Brand Overview

The Erector Set is a popular construction toy

While a passenger on a train bound from New

that taught as well as amused youngsters for

Haven, Connecticut, to New York City, he

most of the twentieth century. The primary

observed workmen positioning steal beams.

components of Erector Sets are nuts, bolts, and

This event inspired him to create a child’s con-

hole-filled metal girders of varying sizes. Other

struction kit that he called the “Mysto Erector

materials include wheels, pulleys, gears, and

Structural Steel Builder”; the product eventually

electric motors. Following instructions that

became commonly known as the Erector Set.

come in each Erector Set box, children use the

Gilbert was aware of similar construction toys

nuts and bolts to attach the girders, resulting

already available in the marketplace, such as

in the construction of elaborate miniature

the English Meccano. However, his sets were an

buildings, airplanes, trucks, cars, bridges, ships,

improvement over the competition, because he

clocks, houses—and even robots.

included square girders and pieces that could

The toy was first produced in 1913 by the Mysto Magic Company, which sold magic-trick components. It was the creation of A. C. Gilbert (1884–1961), the company founder. Gilbert was a man of varied interests and many talents.

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bend to a ninety-degree angle. Gilbert’s goal was to create a toy that was fun to play with but also allowed the user to gain an increased understanding of science and technology. He believed that “playing is essential to learning.”

BRAND HISTORY • OVERVIEW

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

Timeline

by the 1950s all set boxes

Erector quickly became the most popular

In 1924, more changes

construction toy in the

occurred. Erector was

Erector was first

United States. The Toy

now called "The New

envisioned by Alfred

That Resembles Structural

Erector, The World’s

Steel.

Greatest Toy".

1914

1924

Carlton Gilbert.

1911

were painted red. As the

1933 the sets would be

company grew, the area

sold in colorful boxes

around the Gilbert factory

made of painted steel

became known as "Erector Square".

1950

1933

1913

1916

1932

1949

The United States Patent

In 1916, the company was

Through 1932, Erector was

In 1949, an Erector set

Office issued a patent

reorganized and became

sold in wooden boxes

was used to build the

to Alfred C. Gilbert of

the A.C. Gilbert Company.

precursor to the modern

New Haven for his “Toy

The product was renamed

artificial heart by William

Construction-Blocks.”

"Gilbert Erector, The Toy

Sewell and Dr. William

Like Structural Steel".

Glenn of the Yale School of Medicine.

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BRAND INTRODUCTION • TIMELINE

Sales were slow, and by

About 1999 Irwin decided

In 2002, a movie based on

the 1980s the trademark

to stop importing Meccano-

A.C. Gilbert's life called The

the company went

Erector was acquired by

Erector into the US except

Man Who Saved Christmas

into decline, filing for

Ideal Toys and then Tyco

for the plastic Erector Junior.

was made for television.

bankruptcy in 1967.

Toys.

1967

1980

1999

2002

1961

1970

1990

2000

A.C. Gilbert died in 1961.

In the 1970s, information

In the late 1990s, engineer

In 2000, Meccano bought the

theory pioneer Claude

Mark Sumner used Erector

Erector brand and unified its

Shannon constructed a

to create a working model

presence on all continents.

bounce-juggling machine

for "Soarin’”, an attraction

The two brands are now sold

from an Erector set.

at Disney’s California

under the Meccano brand

Adventure in Anaheim,

name, with the Erector Set

California and Walt Disney

being marketed as "Erector

World's Epcot near

by Meccano".

Rebranding ERECTOR with our new mission and approach

2020

Orlando, Florida.

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

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02 BRAND REVIVAL

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Our New Mission

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Keywords

18

Persona

28

Brand Grid Current

30

Brand Grid Future

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TheNature Nature Identity // Spring The of of Identity // Spring 2020 2020

Mission Statement

Improving people’s creativity through cooperation to benefit our environment

Brand Soul

Creating fine tomorrow together 16

BRAND REVIVAL

Keywords

Benefit Support people to believe in their creativity to benefit the environment.

Creativity Inspire people’s ingenuity through collaborative building.

Cooperation People need to communicate and cooperate to inspire and encourage each other.

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

Personas

By studying and observing the characters, we can find potential audiences belonging to our brand. Through research and analysis of their characteristics, we can attract consumers in a more targeted way, and at the same time improve the brand’s competitiveness in the market.

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PERSONAS

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

BUSY FATHER

Name: George Lincoln Age: 51 years old Location: Chicago Occupation: Company executive Income: 600000$ / Year Education: Master of Finance

1. He has a 12-year-old son, because he is usually busy at work and has no time to accompany him.

2. He wants to know his child’s preferences, because he wants to prepare his son’s birthday present next month.

3. He wants to cultivate the same hobbies as his children, because it is more conducive to communication between them.

4. Because he spends most of his time at work, he wants to spend more time with his family.

5. He sometimes accompanies his family to barbecue outdoors on weekends because he needs time with his family.

6. He will learn about the growth of the children from his wife, because he has no time to spend time with the children.

7. He works very hard, because he thinks this can provide a better living environment for his family.

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PERSONAS

HOPEFUL CHILD

Name: John William Age: 7 years old Location: West Wood, UT Interests: Drawing

1. He had to rely on a wheelchair to move around because he was disabled due to an accidental fall a year ago.

2. He likes to paint alone because he likes to record his observations.

3. He cannot go to school because his body has not yet fully recovered.

4. He hopes he can play games with his friends, because he is always alone.

5. He thinks his parents are very hard, because while taking care of themselves, they also do some part-time jobs to ensure family expenses.

6. He hopes to tell the story to other children because he believes that health and safety are very important.

7. He wants new toys, because he wants rich boring time.

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

CARING YOUNG TEACHER

Name: Ning Wang Age: 25 years old Location: Shanghai, China Occupation: Primary school teachers Interests: Keep pets, photography Income: 4800$ / Year

1. At work, she likes to motivate students and let them find answers in practice. Because it will make the knowledge learned more impressive.

2. She likes to explore new places, record her experiences and share them with others. Therefore, she can get other people’s suggestions according to her choice.

3. She likes to live according to her own lifestyle because it can make herself more relaxed.

4. She likes to meet friends who have the same interests, because they can have a common topic.

5. She believes that cooperation is a good learning tool, so she encourages students to discuss and share experiences freely.

6. She is very concerned about the education of rural children, so she taught in rural areas for two years to understand children’s learning and life.

7. She has a one-year-old cat because she likes small animals very much.

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PERSONAS

CONTRADICTORY YOUNG MAN

Name: Samuel Dylan Age: 27 years old Location: New York City Occupation: Restaurant waiter Interests: American football

1. He recently resigned because his mother advised him to prepare for the university entrance exam.

2. He feels that he is not good at reading because he wants to practice football instead of going to college.

3. He hopes to continue working because he thinks it is very hard for his mother to work alone.

4. He likes to chat with friends and play games because it reduces stress.

5. He didn’t know how to convince his mother, because he knew this was his mother’s wish to go to college.

6. He felt that school life was not suitable for him because he did not like to be bound by rules.

7. He is a person who loves extracurricular activities because he finds it more interesting than reading.

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

NEW MOTHER

Name: Evelyn Carly Age: 38 years old Location: Berkeley, California Occupation: Employee of an insurance company Income: 120000$ / Year

1. She has just become a mother because she and her husband have only had children after four years of marriage.

2. Because she is very busy at work, she is considering whether to quit her job and take the children.

3. She want to be a full-time mother because she wants to spend more time with her children to explore new things together.

4. She likes to accompany her children to play some games, because this can cultivate her children’s ingenuity.

5. She wants to spend more time with her children so that she can pass on her experience to her children.

6. She is very worried about whether she can be a good mother, because she does not know whether her method is correct.

7. She hopes that children can be more exposed to external things, because she feels that children need to grow up in practice.

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PERSONAS

CHILD’S GUARDIAN

Name: Sophia Audrey Age: 35 years old Location: Los Angeles Occupation: Pediatrician

1. She needs to understand the children’s psychology, because this is the need of her job.

2. She thinks that having a common topic with the child can help her in the treatment, because the child will be more willing to communicate with her.

3. She believes that the reason many children are unwilling to learn is that they have difficulty concentrating because they are not interested.

4. She believes that parents need to have common interests and hobbies with their children in daily life so that they can better accompany their children.

5. In her spare time, she often pays attention to information related to children and hopes to know the latest information, because it is beneficial to her work.

6. She has no children of her own because she has too much work.

7. She and her husband lack communication in daily life, because they have fewer and fewer topics in common.

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

STRUGGLING GRADUATE

Name: Jake Lee Age: 29 years old Location: San Francisco Occupation: Architect Assistant Income: 65000$ / Year

1. He had just graduated from university and worked alone in a big city. Because he doesn’t like the laid-back lifestyle of his hometown.

2. He was under great pressure because he rented an apartment in the city, and the rent was a big expense for him when he started working.

3. He have not made good friends here because he has very little time to participate in social activities.

4. On weekends, he will work part-time because it can increase his income.

5. He will often call and chat with his parents because he does not want to worry about his parents.

6. He occasionally plays some games alone during breaks, because it can help him pass the boring time.

7. He likes to learn about his friends’ lives through social media and share his life with them, because this can encourage him not to feel lonely.

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PERSONAS

RETIRED IMMIGRANTS

Name: Christian Hu Age: 68 years old Location: San Francisco Occupation: Retired

1. After retirement, he immigrated to the United States because he wanted to live with his son.

2. He usually takes care of his grandson because his son has just divorced and is very busy at work.

3. He wants to know more about his children because he wants to know the interests of his grandson.

4. Because of language problems, he cannot read TV programs.

5. He became good friends with his neighbors because they often visit each other.

6. Because he has very little communication with his son, he hopes that they will have the opportunity to travel together.

7. He wants to play some interesting games with his grandson because he wants to teach him some knowledge through playing.

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

Brand Grid Current

Our brand used to focus on encouraging and inspiring intelligence through playing with this construction toy. It mainly faces children and can train scientists or engineers.

So the main feeling of this brand is boyish, real, mechanical and practical.

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BRAND GRID

ERECTOR

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

Brand Grid Future

The redesigned Erecter brand will become diversified.

First of all, it will be geared towards a more appropriate audience, of all ages, genders, and cultural backgrounds.

The new brand will encourage and inspire more people to work together through cooperation, while creating a positive social environment.

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BRAND GRID

ERECTOR

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

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03 OUR COMPETITORS

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Current Competitors

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Adjacent Competitors

48

Aspirational Competitors

40

Brand Attributes

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

Current Competitors

Erector’s current competitors are other educational construction toy companies. The difference is that while focusing on science, technology, and engineering, Erector retains its metal parts and complex structure. It provides children and adults with a real architectural experience through building with real tools, which can bring players a sophisticated experience, thereby enhancing players’ understanding of engineering, and at the same time cultivating their creativity and ingenuity.

K’Nex K’Nex is a construction toy system created by Joel Glickman. It is designed for older builders (5-12 years old). All K’Nex buildings are educational, and the company also offers a series of products for classroom use.

This is a great help to stimulate children’s imagination.

Lincoln Logs Lincoln Logs are an American children’s toy. Much like real logs used in a log cabin, Lincoln Logs are notched so that logs may be laid at right angles to each other to form rectangles resembling buildings. The final work has a realistic appearance, which is helpful for children to better understand the structure of the real house.

Tonka Founded in 1946, Mound Metalcraft originally intended to manufacture garden implements, but had acquired several toy patents through the purchase of their first factory.

Over the years, Tonka created many other products such as Star Fairy Dolls, Keypers, Gobots, Pound Puppies, My Little Pony, Magic the Gathering and even barbecue grills, but the iconic Tonka Truck is the companies unforgettable contribution to this list.

Tinkertoy The Tinkertoy Construction Set is a toy construction set for children. One of Tinkertoy’s distinctive features is the toy’s packaging. To assist consumers in differentiating between the various offerings, sets were placed in mail tube packages of different sizes and also delineated with a number (e.g.: 116, 136) and a name (e.g.: major, prep, big boy, junior, grad).

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COMPETITION

Best-Lock Best-Lock Construction Toys is a brand of plastic building bricks that are compatible with Lego. Best-Lock offers different sized blocks including standard blocks, Junior Blocks, and Baby Blocks. It provides building block toys suitable for children of different ages.

Mega Mega is a Canadian children’s toy company currently owned by Mattel.

Mega Bloks, a line of construction set toys, is its most popular product.

The company distributes a wide range of construction toys, puzzles, and craft-based products. It helps parents to nuture children’s creativity while playing together.

Lego The Lego Group is a Danish toy production company based in Billund. It is best known for the manufacture of Lego-brand toys, consisting mostly of interlocking plastic bricks. The history of Lego spans nearly 100 years, beginning with the creation of small wooden playthings during the early 20th century. It can help children release their potential through both hands and improve their hands-on ability.

KEVA Planks KEVA Planks are cuboid wooden block toys for children and adults. They only use one piece and no connectors in glue, in contrast to other building sets that often have specific instructions and require sorting. It has developed into a teaching tool used in classrooms and enjoyed in homes.

It can stimulate people’s ability to cooperate by building together.

Kapla Kapla is a construction set for children and adults. The sets consists only of identical wood planks and requires no glue, screws or clips to fix the planks. It is intended for children to safely build, create and experiment by using their imagination. This can encourage children to use geometry, physics and technology, while exposing them to the world of art, form and volume.

Matchbox Matchbox is a popular toy brand. Making big things small is a time-honored tradition of the toy industry, all but perfected by Matchbox. The brand grew to encompass a broad range of toys, while Matchbox brand toys aren’t exclusively construction themed, many of their best vehicles and sets follow a construction theme. Most of their toys are 1 : 64 scale, this helps children understand the real vehicle and environment.

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

Adjacent Competitors

Erector’s Adjacent Competitors are mainly brands that encourage creativity, intelligence and practical ability. They are mainly aimed at families who want to cultivate their children’s interest in science and engineering, and they also focus on adults who like to develop practical skills through practical operations.

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate with toy, board game, and media assets, headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of Kenner, Parker Brothers, and Milton Bradley, among others.

CodyCross CodyCross is an addictive game developed by Fanatee. Each world has more than 20 groups with 5 puzzles each. Some of the worlds are: Planet Earth, Under The Sea, Inventions, Seasons, Circus, Transports and Culinary Arts.

UKCW The UK’s largest built environment event, UK Construction Week (UKCW), is consists of nine shows: Timber Expo, Build Show, Civils Expo, Plant & Machinery Live, Energy 2019, Building Tech Live, Surface & Materials Show and HVAC 2019. Through this exhibition, people can learn more about construction.

Construction Tech Review Construction Tech Review is a one of a kind knowledge platform that brings to its audience insider information from the construction industry.

The platform brings together senior decision makers from leading organizations and their peers in their fields so that they can share their wisdom, knowledge and technical expertise among peers.

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COMPETITION

Science Channel Best-Lock Construction Toys is a brand of plastic building bricks that are compatible with Lego. Best-Lock offers different sized blocks including standard blocks, Junior Blocks, and Baby Blocks. It provides building block toys suitable for children of different ages.

DETAIL DETAIL is the international professional journal for architecture and construction details produced by Detail publishers. Up-to-date examples are selected from schemes around the world, and these are illustrated with plans and details drawn to a consistent scale as well as with photographs. This is of great help to the target groups who want to become architects and engineers.

Lowe’s Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States, and Canada. It can provide people with comprehensive home decoration equipment.

The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc. is the largest home improvement retailer in the United States, supplying tools, construction products, and services. He provides one-stop shopping service for people who need home improvement.

Bay Area Discovery Museum The Bay Area Discovery Museum is designed to transform research into early learning experiences that inspire creative problem solving. Every curated detail of this exhibits brings creative thinking to life for all stages of childhood. Navigate winding tunnels to develop physical and intellectual risk-taking skills. This can stimulate and promote the creative thinking of all children.

Habitot Children’s Museum Habitot Children’s Museum is a hands-on play and learning exhibits especially for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Little Town Grocery Story and Cafe, Waterworks, Wind Tunnel, and more, plus a drop-in Art Studio with creative open-ended art activities everyday. This can provide an environment for children to explore art and culture.

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

Aspirational Competitors

Erector’s Aspirational Competitors are some brands that compete with our brand after rebranding. These brands can share knowledge for people and provide a platform for people to cooperate and communicate, allowing them to discover their potential in cooperation and sharing, and then make changes and innovations, so that every participant can benefit from it.

Quora Quora is an American question-and-answer website where questions are asked, answered, followed, and edited by Internet users, either factually or in the form of opinions. Users can collaborate by editing questions and suggesting edits to answers that have been submitted by other users.

This helps people collaborate and solve problems together.

Maker Faire Maker Faire is an event created by Make magazine to “celebrate arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset”. This activity can provide an environment for people to communicate and cooperate together.

Skillshare Skillshare is one of the most popular online learning platforms. It has a massive collection of over 20,000 classes. Skillshare believes in a project-based approach to learning that allows students to expand creativity and apply new skills in life.

Tumblr Tumblr is an American microblogging and social networking website. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog. Users can follow other users’ blogs. Bloggers can also make their blogs private. This provides a platform for everyone to share their ideas.

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COMPETITION

College for Creative Studies College for Creative Studies is a private college in Detroit, Michigan, USA. It enrolls more than 1,400 students and focuses on arts education.

This can provide children with art education and a place to collaborate.

CEF The Creative Education Foundation (CEF) is a nonprofit that sparks personal and professional transformation by empowering people with the skill set, tool set, and mind set of deliberate creativity. It can teach everyone to use creative problem solutions to develop new ideas, solve problems and implement solutions.

SHARED SHARED is a co-working maker space for creative people to work and collaborate together. It is based in the belief that together we can create greater things than we could individually or in isolation. It provides people with a working environment for co-creation and cooperation.

Werqwise Werqwise is a California based collaborative workspace provider enabling businesses and professionals to work smarter by leveraging our thoughtful partner resources, flexible workspaces, events, and community. This can enhance people’s workplaces and provide a better working environment.

Bloomfire Bloomfire is a knowledge sharing and insights platform that helps leading companies centralize and democratize information from across their organization. He can integrate and share knowledge in different fields with all users.

PopTech PopTech is a global community of experts, entrepreneurs, and so-called “thought leaders” with the goal of sharing information beyond industry lines. The goal is to help spur innovation by bringing people together with different backgrounds to share ideas and walk away inspired.

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

Brand Attributes

In order to know more about my competitors, we identified 20 brand attributes and divided them into four categories: Neutral, Positive, Bankrupt and the Attributes for my brand.

The New ERECTOR

Experiential Innovation Cooperating Benefit Community

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BRAND ATTRIBUTES

For Our Competitors

NEUTRAL

RELEVANT/GOOD/POSITIVE

BANKRUPT/STALE/NEGATIVE

Building

Possible

Interesting

Technology

Challenging

Educational

Feature

Ingenious

Dated

Mechanical

Innovative

Delicate

Engineering

Unique

Hard

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

Sources

http://www.girdersandgears.com/erector-1914-1.html http://www.girdersandgears.com/erector-1959-10042.html https://www.amazon.com/Meccano-Erector-Construction-BuildingEducation/dp/B01F8UG67M https://advancedinjurycareclinic.wordpress.com/ https://medium.com/@tommieh/cocoon-844cc34c4928 https://kidengage.com/blog/2019/12/poignant-childrens-booksdisabilities/ https://mondotalento.com/2019/03/26/the-secret-to-how-toinfluence-others-and-build-trust-developing-your-talent-for-publicspeaking-talento-human-hablar-en-publico/ https://www.mmc.com/insights/publications/2020/november/ deep-dive--what-half-a-decade-of-data-tells-us-about-the-rising-. html https://blog.textnow.com/blog/2020/04/07/distance-learninghow-textnow-is-helping-teachers-stay-connected/

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The Nature of Identity // Spring 2020

Index

This is a student project created for academic purposes.

This rebrand concept is a fictional piece of work made as part of a branding class’s assignment.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, and other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Some images and text have been used exclusively for inspiration and educational purpose only.

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