Constructing a Profile: Business Logo/Card Design/Website Design/Logo Research
Business Card And Logo Design
When I first started my conceptual idea for my logo/business card design, I didn't just want to go with a box-standard normalized text bar and writing with simplistic symbols and accessories etc. I wanted to make something that was unique, bold and hyper-stylized which could stand out and separate me from the rest of the heard of photographers/videographers who where delving/tipping their toe in to the same exact work field as I am. I also wanted to make & design a logo that not only best represented me (meaning my personality, art style and characteristic flare) but also a design that would replicate my 'actual' workpieces, meaning my client photographs and additional media products that I am continually involved with. Logically my first step was to analyze and research other people's co-existing business cards and logo designs etc. This meant I could have a better grasp of what my competitors where up too and what sort of marketing practices and techniques that they where using in their 'said' products to generate audience interest. Business cards date back to the 17th century, though they have changed a lot during the past 400 years they have been around. At first they where mainly used as billboard advertisements, additionally handed out in pocket-sized form in popular public squares and company markets, they where called "trade cards" at the time however there purposes of business transgressions and networking practices where mostly the same as to what they are now. They helped fellow businessmen and the general public find a particular workplace at a time when street corners where not numbered. In the 19th century, private entrepreneurs started to hand out 'business' cards which where always handed out during exhibitions, presentations, and whenever personal information needed to be exchanged. In present day Business cards are almost if not a nessciacity when it comes down to media establishing businesses and marketing identity. They have become just as important as an online social media presence and franchising, they're like a digital personal profile, only in real life and on paper/card etc.
Simple yet so, very effective. The branding of the Aegis Education group takes a clean and very minimalistic approach to it's card designs that has such a big impact on all their other stationery print products. These business cards despite being very simple and plain, hold lots of complimentary colours of the dark, greyish-blue background and the red, orange, and yellow gradient are what take it to the next level. The background is so unusually striking that it generally makes the card really stand out. The entire is look stylish, professional and respectable.
Example-2 (Unfourntaly could not find a true reference to his/her's work however I did find this)
These risograph-printed business cards by Marina Cardosa really emphasize the handmade aesthetic. The design isn't clean and perfect. But it's not meant to be. Another notable detail is that the overprint creates a stamp-like quality that is very whimsical and playful.
Example-3 https://www.wedzicka.com/
Example-4 https://huestudio.com.au/
Example-5 http://nordicblacktheatre.no/
Designed by Nordic Black Theatre who use handmade typography as their main visual in all of their branding materials. Some may think that it's a boring and simplistic design choice just to use letters for their business card design. However, they make up for it in the colour department and the overall composition. They even used folded business cards to up their game. Folded business cards are a great alternative if you have a lot of information to share but regular cards do not seem to meet the high demanded information that is critical to your company . The manufacturing of these types of cards in particular can come in either Landscape or portrait (According to personal taste or general aesthetic preference.)
Example-6
Example-7
Example-8
Logo analysis/research
The McDonald's logo is symbolic of the golden arches that were the substance of the newely-constructerd architecture of the first franchised restaurant in 1952. After Ray Kroc took over the business in 1961, he incorpaterd the two arches to form the new McDonald's logo that looked like the letter 'M'. The greatest aspect of the iconic 'M' of McDonalds is it's fantastic use/approach of 'the minimalist design' which often refers to a very clean aesthetic that takes the "less is more" approach. It is essentiality a very simple, yet very effect creative recipe that removes any from of fancy looking embellishments for example; colour, tone, picture profile, text and fonts. Using the power of 2 primary colours for maximum punch/contrast within a media logo. This has illustrated to me the importance of simplicity and the power of the 'less is more' kind of approach. I have used this similar concept to good effect within my own designs and has inspired the overall reprensation of my work in both my business card and website.
A logo that needs no introduction!
The famous 'Walt Disney' logo was created as reflection of a magical castle. And although the oringal 'Fairy Castle' has a real prototype, later the company actually got rid of the analogy with the actual ancient castle. The logo has went though quite a number of changes over the years however the same general idea of the concept was still very much front and centre. This font, which spells out Walt Disney's recognizable signature is an important part of the Disney brand in it's own right. The perfect use of layouts and masterheads within the central z-line of the image. In conclusion I have learned the importance of having a strong viewline within my designs and the element of simplicity that is once again showing/proving the fact that 'less is more' and is distinctly more powerful towards the viewer.
Production Diary: 2021-2022 present
As you might not already know by all of the images below this paragraph. I have a lot of different inspirations in regarding my photography and film/videowork. (See AC-1 for further details) A sector of photography that really resonates with me and gets me the most excited at doing photo shots is 'long exposure photography' spefically night time as my chosen hour of the day. 'Long exposure', time-exposure or slow exposure (whatever you want to call it) involves using a long-duration shutter speed to sharply capture the stationary elements of an image while blurring, smearing or obscuring the moving elements. The paths of bright moving objects become clearly visible, vehicle lights draw bright sparks, stars leave trails in the sky, and water waves appear smooth. There's such a transcended fell to night/long exposure styles of photography, you can get so creative and experimental with the genre that you can't really do with other forms of photography. To me it's like an alternative to painting on an oil canvas of some sort you completely treat the condition of the image so much more uniquely than what you normally do. The camera settings are also just as much fun to play around with as-well, there no wrong way or right to correctly expose this style of photography, and to me that feels totally outrageous and unordinary and I love subjects of art that do that.
Experimentation/Testing Stage
In order for my business card idea to work I needed to first practice and learn how I was going to achieve the effect that I personally wanted. Which as you can see from down below didn't start off quite as well as incepted, trying to draw your name with only your phone's flashlight in pitch black darkness proved to quite a challenge from the start of the production. Since I had no real, current access to proper glow sticks, and flares where an impossibility due to the health and safety restrictions within the college and what was allowed and not allowed in the media studio, I had to get creative and dedicate some practice into getting it right. I also made additional photo shots of swirls and twirls and other strange shapes of lighting with the intention of trying to layer some of them in post-production. As you can see I managed to finally get an excellent result with the last two samples in the picture college below.
The Weird/Rejected Experiments
Once I gathered my resources that I captured and processed through photo shop I began experimenting and tweaking with the textures, composition and colours to see what I could come up within the software. I started to really intensely layer my photos on top of each other that I did the studio, I really was pushing the experimentation phase very hard, maybe a little to much as you can see. As I layered them i came up with a cool idea of having them all have different overlay types for example, Colour Burn, Dissolve, Hue, Multiply, Saturation, Colour Dodge etc. The reason to why I did this was I wanted to really push the boundaries of my creativity to the aboustlete extreme and to go all out on something that even though might not really make it to the final product line, is a highly valuable stage of the creating process. I purposely set out by myself to create a logo/business card that no one had ever really seen, or done before on the market, and would really make my product stand out amongst the crowd of my competitors. I intentionally made both my business card and logo design the exact same to keep things coherent and consistent with my brand identify, this means that pointial audiences and clients that come to for my creative skills know exactly what to expect from me, and they won't get confused with what I do and don't do as work. It is also intentionally designed to show the client the exact, particular work that I do personally, you take one glance at the card and you know just from a look that you instantly know what I'm doing content wise. Which also helps the client come to an easier and more simpler decision wither or not the work that I produce is for them and suits their needs or not.
Alternative colours, tints and highlights that I did...
Survey Feedback
Here is where I conducted a survey to find out about what other people thought of my Designs and the results that I got back where interesting...
Conclusively I completely agree with the responses that I got from my survey. The most common critique of my older designs was frequently stated as being 'to hard to read', 'to messy and busy', 'initials are hard to read' and 'a bit to in your face' I took these viewpoints onboard and got rid of all of the unnecessary lines, overlays and squiggles from my two previous designs and really simplified the overall look of the 'long exposure style' circle that made up the background. Secondly complaints of it being to 'over-designed' and 'too intuitive' was seemingly negatively affecting the marketable attraction of my product therefore I changed my leading lines and both my backfont and center font to make my signature appreance more noticeable/readable. I also added an extra sub-heading to reading-line, so to avoid any forms of confusion with my brand and name. One of the other criticism of my work was my contact details and company name (where very out of the way) so to speak, so I made a simplistic white looking text benath my design to connect with the rest of my logo. I decided the best way to represent this was big and bold and simplstic as what i learned in regards to my 'existing products research' the element of less is more is far more effective creating a highly engaging piece of a product.
See my final design below...
The Final Design
Website
What Is A Showreel?
Also known as a 'demo reel' or sizzle reel' is a short video that formally showcases a person's talent and previous work used by many kinds of people particular in filmmaking, which entails the rest of media industry as a whole aswell. This could include any kind of potential job role the person has, whether that being an actor, animator, lighting designers, editors, camera operators, colourists and even fashion/beauty models. Typically, showreels only tend to last between 2 to 3 minutes maximum in length and usually consists of footage from their projects either past or present depending on relevancy. A voice actor may create an audio-only Showreel, which is often referred to as a 'voice reel' for the same exact purpose. Outside of the entrainment industry, companies use showreels for brand management and other forms of marketable, public relations which in that case is called a 'cooperate Showreel'.
Existing examples of showreels
Brave Bison
Is a digital agency with offices in London and Singapore. They're well known when it comes to influencer marketing, social media marketing, content marketing and video production. The brands they work with include The Hook, Mutha, Canvas Art and Cooking Wild. Their agency showreel, of course, includes the work they have created for these brands and more. Brave Bison ha their high-sized logo 'BB' on their masthead and they display their showreel video through this logo.
Frank Digital
Is an Australian digital agency located in Melbourne and Sydney. They can support businesses with a wide range of services: branding, content marketing, e-mail marketing, mobile app development, SEO, web design. Their showreel starts with a light box from their office saying "We Are Frank". A pun is always a nice way to attract potential customers. Besides that, this pun also gives people the idea that they are honest and realiable.
Pastilla
Is a full service marketing agency located in Los Angeles. The agency uses it's curiosity, agility and ideas to elevate it's chosen brands. Pastilla uses their showreel in their homepage background. The showreel demonstrates the agency's prestigious clients including Microsoft, Golden Globe awards, SAP, and how they connect their creative vision with their technical expertise. In addition, the dynamic editing and the rhythm make it one of the best agency showreels.
303 London
Is a creative- focused digital marketing agency that helps premium direct to consumer businesses to both create and amplify their brand's identity and economy. 303 have been involved in a wide range of exciting projects; from content creation for established luxury brands, to developing paid media strategies for rapidly growing direct to consumer business. Creativity is the core at everything that they do, with an house team of videographers, photographers, graphic designers and motion graphic experts.
9th Wonder
Showreel construction:
Watch a fully comprised (real-time) footage of me editing and piecing together my Showreel.
Link to My Completed Showreel-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q59GiOve3Y0
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