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Project 5 - Content Creation
Project 5 is about content creation and why it is important in the world we live in. In this project, we were going to learn about market research and brand development and why they are important in graphic design and media.
Task 5.1 - Research And Analysis
The first task might sound boring, but I believe that it is the most important aspect that we need before creating any design.
The first task for me was to do research, look at the target audience, and analyse the demographics, which would give me a clear understanding of what and who I was working towards. I did this by using my primary and secondary research to collect data that I could use to help me design a drink brand called "AMPED.".
I have produced a questionnaire that would help me easily collect easy-to-use data, which would help me. However, I wanted to also participate in a podcast, which was also really crucial. I believe that gathering data through communication is the best, as you are able to get opinions and thoughts on specific topics.
With my secondary research, I have researched other brands and what they all have in common. And I found out that they all have bold typography and really bright colours. Which helped me understand what these brands do to attract a younger audience of 16–24 years old. Let's take PRIME as an example. Prime uses bold typography to make the drink stand out from its competitors. It is important to note that I am designing a brand that is competing with other energy drink companies such as Prime, Red Bull, Monster, and Body Fuel. So instead of doing everything from scratch, I wanted to use some of the designs from all of these brands and make them different.
After, collecting my data from using primary and secondary research, I went on to creating my mood board, which would help me get ideas for the design. I used Pinterest to create my mood board, and that is it a very easy tool to use. Not many designers create mood boards as they don't value it as much. However, mood boards are really beneficial especially finding ideas, in which you can use towards your final design.
Within my research, I was investigating codes and conventions to help me with the design and see what other competitors were doing to sell more to the audience.
PRIME is a great example of what energy drinks usually look like. The codes and conventions for most energy drinks are bright and bold colours, which can help make the drink pop out for a younger audience. It is not just colours; however, colour is a good example of what people expect from an energy drink brand; however, that can vary depending on the target audience age. For this brand, I am targeting –24. Also, with my investigation of codes and conventions, I was able to find out that most flavours for energy drinks are usually sweet and not bland. So I made sure to include popular flavours like blueberry, tropical, and strawberry cotton candy flavours.
Overall, my research went really well, and I also needed to go back to research even while designing to find more ideas that I could use in my design. I believe that research was so important, and without it, I wouldn't have designed anything that was good or that suited the brief or the target audience.
Task 5.2 - Brand Devlopment
With this task, we were going to use our research to finally start creating ideas and concepts with the help of the podcast that we have hosted. We also learned what a brand is, how a brand is designed and promoted, and what the difference between a logo and a brand is. When designing this, I made sure to make it appropriate for the target audience and that they could recognise what it was. While coming up with basic ideas, I was able to first come up with a few design ideas, but I kept on working on different ones.
This was my first initial idea; however, I just didn't like it, and I believe that this could be improved. I tried everything, from changing the typography to the colours and so much more, but nothing worked. So I decided to start from scratch and go through research again to find different ideas. It shows how important research is, that designing is not a step-by-step process, that it is also good to go back and do research, and that in the long run, it helps you get better ideas, which leads you to making better designs.
After going through research for the second time, I was able to come up with this logo and colour scheme. I used my knowledge of what energy drink brands use and used it towards my second and final design. However, I made sure to experiment with different colours and different designs.
Here are some more designs that I have created:
Now, let's get onto the typography that I have used and changed to make it fit my design. I have done my research on other brands, what type of typography they use, and why they use it. Also, this leads back to my primary and secondary research, which helped me understand that bold typography is best for an energy drink that is targeted at a younger audience. It is important to experiment with different typographies and see what works and doesn't; that's the beauty and the most exciting process in design.
Here is my typography that i was used and modified:
Here are the name for these fonts and the sites in which i was able to access them:
1. Beast Energy
2. Integral CF Extra Bold Oblique
3. Akira Expanded
4. Doctor Glitch
5. Quick Silver
There's so much more to say about typography and the importance of it; however, I would like to move on to talk about the colour choice that I have made, which is bright and vibrant. It is important to note that the colour names were picked out by a tool, and I haven't named them myself.
I used these colours for a reason: I wanted to create three flavours of drinks that could be liked by people. That's why I chose these colours. I feel like the colour choice wasn't hard, especially because I made sure to do my research before picking out my colours, which I could use.
Let me now get on to, talking about my drink designs, and how i was able to visualize them, and show how they can be used, in the real world, then on a screen.
Here are my can designs:
My goal for this design was to create a vibrant can with simple but effective typography that could help this brand stand out from other energy brands. I did this by using a glitch font and adding different appearance settings, which helped this design stand out from the crowd. I have saturated the colours to make them pop even more; however, they still use the same colour scheme, which I chose early on in my design process.
It shows how important product visualisation really is, especially when you want to present them to a client or see what they would look like in the real world, not on a screen. Overall, this design stands out and looks better, as it doesn't feel bland or boring.
After creating the design and product visualisation, I went on to plan and research how advertisements work and look. I found that most have bright colours and bold typography, so I went on to use a few of the fonts I had chosen last time.
I worked on my first draft, and here it is:
At first, I thought that this was great, and I was done with this step. However, I got feedback from my tutor, who helped me understand what colours I should use and the alignment of graphics.
So i went on to creating a second variation, with the feedback that i have been given.
Here it is:
As we can see here, I have made sure to use the feedback to create an advertisement that looks like a professional advertisement with alignment and meaning. I made sure to use a pattern in the background to fill it up and make it look pleasing. I have also made sure to spread everything out and not make it centered. Overall, this was a fun experience.
However, this was personally not enough for me; I wanted to do something else, but I didn't know specifically what I wanted to do, so I went on to research various advertisements and stumbled upon a motion graphic, which has hooked my attention. I have then analysed the market and found that, in our age, it is important to be different and have things move, as the younger audience really likes looking at something that is moving.
So i decided to create a motion graphic, which was animated in after effects.
Creating these motion graphics was really important, as I learned that there are a lot of these motion graphic advertisements out there in the real world.
After creating my designs, I went on to create my brand proposal. As we know, I have gone through my journey with my designs, so I have made a video showcasing what I have been working on throughout this week.
Overall, this project was really enjoyable, and I have learned a lot through doing it. I hope to do this kind of project again. Also, to note, I was never into graphic design and more on the video production side; however, this has been really fun and changed my mind about graphic design. I will make sure to use the skills that I have used to create better things in the future.
Task 5.2 - Feedback
"Upon looking at your brand proposal I have made some observations. The first observation I have seen that looks really good and attractive is the typography use which is easy to ready and stands out. A second observation is that you used bright colours that stand out and grabs people's attention along with the codes and conventions used to give people the thought of the berries through the colour blue/turquoise. A third observation is that the background of the posters have a certain typography and colour in contrast to the can colour which fit well and makes the cans stand out both in the posters and the adverts. A fourth observation is that the can design and colour chosen doesn't really fit the codes and conventions of tropical fruits with the sugar bomb can. A fifth observation is the adverts which look really good but the movement looks a bit robotic and not smooth enough. A final observation is the brand proposal video which is really good displaying everything as in the adverts, cans and posters made and the colours used displayed but the "lets's go" at the start of the video seems informal for a brand proposal in my opinion. " - Andrei Branila
Thanks to one of my peer members in my focus group, I was able to take this feedback and learn from the things that I have done right and wrong. I have learned that I should use a little bit more codes and conventions in my work, as for some of the flavours that I have made up, there are not many codes and conventions in them. For example, the flavour "Tropical Mix" has the colour pink as the colour of this can. For this flavour, it would be better to use tropical colours such as orange, yellow, and even green. Next time, I will make sure to use my codes and conventions more effectively.
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