25/11/24 - 13/12/24 / Week 10 - Week 12
Sheren Princessa Davon / 0362134
Brand Corporate Identity / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Task 4: Brand Guideline
In this task, we are required to create an E-brand guideline for our already established brand.
Initial layouts & inspiration
First, I looked up some inspirations of brand guidelines to get an idea of what I would like to design for my own brand. I ended up creating a
Pinterest board for it, I thought this would be most efficient as I was deciding to use Pinterest as the main source for my images later on.
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| Fig 1.1 Visual References |
I wanted a more minimalist, soft-toned brand guideline with lots of white space to reflect the softness and delicate nature of my brand. I then started creating some grid structures and creating some layouts of the table of contents to figure out which grid system and layouts I liked best.
Fig 1.2 Grid Exploration
Fig 1.3 Grid & Layout Exploration (without visible grids)
After the tutorial session on Week 10, I started rethinking about the lines dividing the sections and whether it truly reflected my brand or not. I decided to brainstorm some more layouts, where I tried color blocking instead of using lines to separate each sections but I felt like it was a bit too much, especially since later I'd be incorporating images.
Fig 1.3 Layout Exploration (with colors)
I also started figuring out where and how I wanted to structure my navigation. My two main options were either at the top or on the left side. At the end, I ended up with a 5 column x 5 row grid with my navigation on the left side:
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| Fig 1.4 Margins and columns settings |
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| Fig 1.5 Layout overview |
I kept the side margins smaller than the top and bottom ones to give a more landscape feel. I would also change the color from pink to green depending on each chapters. I started formatting all the necessary information and adding images, all that jazz. All the images I used can be found
here (in the visuals section).
I also started to work on my navigation buttons, adding the actions and linking the different pages.
Fig 1.6 First draft of brand guideline - PDF. Week 12
After receiving feedback from Ms. Lilian, I did the changes, added some body text to chapter 2, finalized my layouts and fixed up some of my navigation as I realized that I had been using the "Go to Page" action instead of "Go to Destination" which was why some of my buttons weren't working. So I created bookmarks for all the pages and fixed all my buttons, which was honestly quite time consuming...
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Fig 1.7 Making buttons & bookmarks on InDesign
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Upon creating the title pages for the Applications chapter, I stumbled across a giftbox mockup that I thought was fitting for the title cover image. I went ahead and mocked it up and realized that it could also work as another collateral so I just added it in to my Collaterals. I also changed some of the mockups from Task 3 to better fit my brand guideline.
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| Fig 1.8 Giftbox Mockup |
Fig 1.9 Draft #2 Brand Guideline - PDF. Week 12
Since this task is also a collaboration with the module Publishing Design, I also received some feedback from Mr. Hijjaz to align my bottom navigation text and switch up some of the images due to hierarchy. I made the final changes and I was finished with my layout.
Fig 1.10 Final Thumbnails - PDF. Week 12 (13/12/24)
FINAL SUBMISSION
Fig 1.19 Final Brand Guideline - Interactive PDF. Week 12 (13/12/24)
Week 11
General Feedback:
We had a group tutorial for Task 4 initial layout & grids.
Using the lines to overlap the actual grids look visually pleasing but does it reflect my brand?
Instead of using lines maybe can try color blocking / find the middle ground of using lines so that it’s not too confined yet still looks neat & represents my brand accurately
Using smaller margins for the left & right with the page helps center the layout
Week 12
We had individual tutorial and I showed Ms. Lilian my (almost) final brand guideline, it’s still missing a few things but overall it’s quite consistent
Navigation, typo, pictures, layout are good already, already consistent
Chapter 1 can add more full bleed pictures, maybe include some quotes/put navigation immediately on the pics without the background. Can also try reverse colors but try it out, it might be too much
Chapter 2 & 3 looks a bit boring cus its very technical, so can add body text to break up the repetitiveness
Through this task, I learned the importance of the visual representation of a brand and how consistent we should be especially when creating a brand guideline. It is essential for us to understand the brand and make sure that the visuals are accurate enough to put out the message of the brand. From the visuals, to the colors as well as typefaces chosen, it plays a part in maintaining a visual identity of a brand. At first, I chose visuals that were more direct, but after a while I realized that my brand would be better suited with more abstract and dreamy-like/floaty images, of flower petals of course to match my brand.
I also learned the importance of finding that line between experimenting and cohesion. At first I struggled to ensure my layout and brand guideline was consistent without making it too boring and repetitive. But with the correct guidance, I was able to create somewhat of a flow through my brand guideline, whether it with the help of some body text in the technical aspects of chapter 2 or including full bleed pictures to break up the monotonous/repetitive feel. Overall, I'm proud to have found the perfect style for Floragems and created a (somewhat) cohesive brand guideline.
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