Creating a Brand Identity: A Guide for Designers: (Graphic Design Books, Logo Design, Marketing)

by Catharine Slade-Brooking

Student exercises The following are some examples of the kind of exercises you may be given as a student. For each brief an understanding of the design process will inform a successful outcome. Exercise 1: Mimicking the structure of an industry team Groups of five students or more are set the challenge of working together on a single brand creation. Each student is given a job title that reflects the roles within an agency team: creative director, senior designer, designer and two junior designers. A member of staff then acts as the client, attending briefings and presentations. The step-by-step design process is therefore used to structure the project, both creatively and practically. Exercise 2: Concept creation using the ‘mild to wild’ or ‘evolution to revolution’ method This exercise involves taking an existing brand and redesigning it for a new market. After researching the brand and its current consumers, students must identity the drive needed to make it appropriate to its new market. This will involve firstly creating a range of ideas that would move the brand a small way from its current position, followed by other concepts that would take it on a more revolutionary journey. Students can then explore their concepts further by calculating their perception of the amount of change reflected in their ‘refreshed’ brand. Exercise 3: Using blogs to document the design process Blogs can be a very useful way for students to document their design process. However, clear rul...