OUGD505 - Study Task 4: Uplifting

For this study task we were split up into groups of three and given a profession. I was put in a group with Ant and Jake, and we were given the profession of an Elevator Maintenance.

The first thing we did was do a quick brainstorm into the direction we wanted to go in and the different kinds of jobs/services we could potentially do, as well as our brand values and tone of voice.

What we have decided on is to take a very professional approach to it. Repairing elevators/other mechanical travel aids must be done quite quality and with maximum safety guaranteed, so this must be reflected in our branding. Because of this direction our tone of voice is informative, professional and reassuring.

We also decided that to reflect this, our price range would reflect the quality of our work, and we would be working for mainly large commercial or public buildings, such as large office buildings or hotels, however we would also offer our services to smaller buildings such as schools or cinema complexes etc.

We then started working on an idea for a name. We wanted something that was reflective of the elevator, but was also positive.

There were quite a lot of names that we came up with, however not all of them fit in with the tone of voice and kind of business we were aiming to be. We decided on 'Uplifting', as this is positive, has the word 'lift' in.
After that we did a third brainstorm into the kind of design collateral that we could design for.

We then started on designing a logo. Ant had an idea of incorporating an old-style elevator dial somehow as this is quite recognisable.

Individually we took about half an hour to do a few logo ideas which we could then compare and possibly combine to get a defined logo.

I had a couple of ideas, mainly which incorporated the elevator more than the other mechanics like an escalator. Keeping in with the professional idea of everything, I went with a very simple clear design with the use of just one colour and trying to make something that would be easily seen at smaller sizes.

The first idea was to simply do a elevator.

The second was building on what Ant's idea was, but using the style that I used above.

The third was using the elevator buttons to have a more abstract logo.

The fourth is incorporating the

I wanted the typeface to be sans serif as this is contemporary and professional. Using a serif font is very traditional and being in the mechanical business we wanted the feel that we were completely up to date with all the goings on in this industry.

I tried out a few different typefaces.

I then tried combining these with the previous design ideas to see what worked best. I also started incorporating colour options.

At this point we had a look at what each other had.
I think my logo designs were pretty successful, a couple more than others, and clearly represented what our business is about.
Jake and Ant both agreed that the logo above that I had designed was the one to go for, and in the blue. We found it was quite a professional colour, which represents a calm approach, which is exactly what we wanted to put across to clients.
We made a few changes to it, making the lines a bit thinner and adding 'Elevator repairs' underneath as a sub-heading. At this point we were very happy on how the logo was looking.
We then started discussing the use of colour in the logo and throughout the branding. Our initial idea was to use a mid to dark grey to go with the blue and reflect the professionalism of the brand.
After a chat with both tutors, it was brought up that we shouldn't use a colour just for the sake of using a colour, there needs to be a reason behind it in the concept of the branding. Because of this discussion we decided on getting rid of the blue and going with black, white and a mid-tone grey.

Logo:

Colour Variations:

Logo Variations:

Exclusion Zone:

After deciding on these, we chose a typeface to use throughout. We agreed that using one typeface throughout with different weightings would be the most professional look. We decided on Ant's suggestion of Source Sans Pro, using 'bold' for headings, 'regular' for body copy and 'italics' for indexing when necessary.

We then started looking through a couple of the brand guidelines that had been provided for us to get a general idea of what we needed to include. We compiled a list of everything we thought was appropriate for branding our business and split it up between the three of us.

The tasks I took was to create the majority of the presentation and work on the guides for: Our Brand, Our Values, Our Jobs, Logo Design & Stationary Kit. This included creating all the artwork and written content.

Ant worked on the logo placement & sizing for different formats & sizes, as well as creating a mock up of a website and the Employee ID card.

Jake worked on the colour palette and typography pages for the presentation, as well as the uniforms, transport and advertisement for the business.

While I created the presentation, I created the stationary set. In this there will be a letterhead, business card, envelope, pad and pens.

Stationary Kit:

Presentation:

Brand Guidelines:

Body of Work:

I found that this task was a good challenge. Working in a group makes a larger amount of work easier to do and had three different points of views and angles to take at the brief given. Working in a group wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and took the pressure off trying to get a large amount of work done myself, even though I do feel that I still did a large amount of work. This brief showed me that even if I get given a profession that isn't such a standard one, there is still a lot that can be done to create a strong and interesting concept, based on the audience and the overall tone of voice. Creating brand guidelines is something that is new to me, but I found it quite an enjoyable task overall in which I think I responded with a good outcome.