[gb] Studio

Here’s a step-by-step review of one of our larger ground-up branding/identity efforts (time to look at pretty pictures!).

Aside: This is a new series called Design Wednesdays (or DesignWeds for short) that I’ll try to keep up with. Sometimes I’ll pontificate about something design-related that I find interesting and sometimes I’ll highlight work we’ve done. I’m also open to highlighting someone else’s project(s) too. Drop me an email.

1 / The Logo

Rivendell College is a brand new Boulder, Colorado private college. When I began our process with them, they had only their name. In meetings with the staff, they gave me their vision for the school and I took them through several “mood-board-ish” exercises (we call it a Brand Exploration) to help get a grasp on the feelings and ideas surrounding the institution.

I explored a number of different concepts centered around two themes at their request. One set reflected the location of the school in Boulder and its proximity to the mountains. The other focused on more of an “old-world” vibe that they hoped would lend some visual credibility to an otherwise un-proven organization.

We quickly honed in on a type-face, but while they liked the circular aspect of another one of the logo options, the mark didn’t have the right aesthetic. Using some old photographs of Moorish ruins I had taken in Southern Spain, I came up with the final mark we settled on.

As you’ll see later in the design of the identity package, the mark was important for its versatility. As a college, they were expecting to design many different materials and the logo and its accompanying marks gives a lot of flexibility and opportunity for variation in all of the different print pieces they’ll design over the years. Depending on the audience they can choose how to place the typography with the mark, without the mark, or use one of the secondary marks.

2 / Add Color

We had established some structure and tone around color expectations with the client in the initial Brand Exploration and learned more through the logo design process, so I had a good idea of where to go with the color palette. I offered them 3 different color palettes. They all had some requested similarities. For example, blues, and earth tones to reflect their location (at the foot of the mountains).

The palettes were essentially on a spectrum from conservative to what I would call more “youthful.” But even the youthful palette still had a fairly conservative base. We ended up combining some of the best elements of the two least conservative palettes. Again, because of the wide range of materials they expected to develop, it worked well of give them a large color palette that was really more of a color system. Depending on the audience of any give piece of communication, they can choose a subset of colors to work with. All of the subsets work together as a whole to strengthen the brand.

3 / Designing the Identity

Now for the fun part. With logo and color established, we tackled the identity package. Each client has varying needs when it comes to an ID package. Rivendell needed almost everything. Letterheard, 2nd-sheet, custom & business envelopes, business cards, note cards, note card envelopes, note pads, and mailing labels all made the list.

I won’t bore you with a lot of detail, except to say I had two goals doing the design: keep typography and layout fairly conservative, but throw in some surprises with the physical shapes of the pieces that echoed the circular nature of the logo mark.

Everything was printed on bright white, uncoated stock with no finish. Glossy is so not high-end anymore. That makes me happy.

4 / Graphic Standards

There were a few odds-n-ends like PowerPoint templates, fax cover sheets, Word doc templates, etc. And to tie it all together, we put together a graphic standards manual and full logo file package for them to use in the office and with their vendors.

It helps to empower clients with ways to manage their brand. I feel that if I’ve done my job right, the visual identity aspects of the brand fit who they are and managing it won’t be hard, but it’s always nice when there’s room in the budget to provide a full standards manual that they can refer to on a regular basis.

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