#06
Name_ Ross Francis Student ID_ 102181 Level_ 06 Module Code_ OUG603
Brief Title Type Of Brief Skills Collaborators Nature of Collaboration
Elmwood
Brief
Competition, Concept pitch/proposal
Produce a presentation and proposal for the branding of a Dog Kennel, to be submitted to Elmwood for the brief ‘Brand Boring’.
Concept Generation, Copy Writing, Branding and Identity, Layout Joel Burden Joel and I entered the ‘Brand Boring’ competition together. We conducted our own independent research and explored our own design direction. We followed the concept named ‘Staaay’ that I had mentioned in passing, and we determined a design direction together. After the pitch, we revisited the brief independently from the feedback we had gained.
Background
Considerations
Dog Kennels are where dog’s stay when their owners are on holiday. The branding of the run of the mill dog kennel is usually shrouded in the same superficial branding. Many dog kennel’s dub them as dog hotels, or dog resorts, making a holiday for the dog, instead of focussing on the basic care and requirements of the dog. All dog kennels try to offer something different, and in result, end up offering the same superficial and (usually) superfluous services. What are all dog kennels doing? What can be done differently? Will this make our submission stand out? Are there any factors that should be avoided?
Solution
To oppose the range of ‘doggy hotels’ that are capitalising on the dog as human fad, the response that is proposed seeks a more human tone. From humans to humans. The solution is to create a budget dog hotel that appeals to the family that want to save the money for their holiday, and not the comfort of their dog. The concept opens possibilities for a humorous tone at the dog’s expense, and applies witty copy as a brand identifier.
Evaluation
This brief has been another exercise in applying copy to a brand. I think I have fully exercised and nurtured my interest in copy here and improved the ability to apply appropriate copy and within promotion that compliment a brand tone and aesthetic. Presenting the brief at Elmwood was a great experience, especially as I thoroughly believed in the material I was presenting. The presentation went really well with Chris, the design director at Elmwood, saying that the brief had the potential to be award winning. This was particularly nice to hear, and I think it was down to the simplicity of the idea and relationship of each of the brand elements that helped it be so strong. A part of the crit Chris gave concerned a couple of visual elements that did not quite work overall. The presentation won a chance for a placement at Elmwood, which I will be engaging with after I leave university. After the crit, I returned to the brief to tighten the visual appearance of the brand and expand some of the deliverables that I had not had time to execute before the presentation at Elmwood. The context of this brief in my overall design practice is an interesting conflict of interests. While I have no intention in pursuing the industry of dog kennels, or indeed anything to do with animal hospitality, I had to rise to this challenge in order to have the opportunity of presenting my work and myself infront of a design agency. Through working on the brief I have refined a set of skills that focus on the appropriate application of my design practice. The design itself will not win any awards, however, I have understood that the effectiveness of a brand and more generally a concept can not rely on the design itself, but the overarching relationship between content and design direction, and a will to step back from being a designy designer. As I move forward from this brief and into the wider world, I will focus what I have learnt from this brief toward a setting of more geared toward the cultural sector.