For the S.W.O.T analysis I did some designs that incorporated the colour and textures used in the rest of my branding design. However, I feel these attempts don't match up well enough with the designs of the Business Card and Letter head so I will try take what I have done here and make a more cohesive design.
Today I sent DG some images of effects that I was thinking about for the Desolate lava locations. I think that a more subtle approach would be better as there is a lot going on in some very quick scene's.
I also had a look at some video tutorials for various effects and although I might not do exactly what is shown because they are very realistic, I feel I got enough information to work off.
The research images I got where to give me idea's on how to lay out the s.w.o.t analysis more so than the design as I wanted to follow the design I have been using throughout the branding. I tried to keep with simple and clear layouts because I wanted it to be easy to read.
This year I went to the annual Animation Dingle festival. The festival was set up as a way for student to meet other student and professionals within the animation industry. At the festivals, student get the chance to show their work, win prizes and get insight into the industry.
(Animation Dingle pass)
For me the festival was a chance to network with fellow animators, both student and professionals. One way I went about doing this was swapping or just handing out my business card after a brief conversation.
(some cards I received)
I also made sure to talk to some of the speakers and studios present at the festival as a way to built up a rapport while checking up on any job opportunities that might be available.
For social media I used pre-existing accounts and implemented the FreakToon branding into them by changing the names and posting current work associated with the brand. I also made some new accounts and both the domain for www.FreakToons.com.
(FreakToon Facebook page)
(FreakToon Instagram)
(FreakToon youtube)
I made sure to ask a question every time I uploaded to get feedback but also as a way to built up the level of interaction on the accounts.
Today I went over the animatic with DG and we have decided its good enough to move forward with as our Final edit. As of now I am ready to begin animating but DG is still working on the backgrounds so I have asked that he hand them off to me as he is doing them and focus on getting background that have the animation interacting with them done first if he can. This should allow me to start as early as next week which would put us a week ahead of the schedule!
For the asteroid I had to make sure there was a place for the amoeba to come out, originally I was just going to have it crack but a lot of the images I looked at displayed pore's on the asteroids. I decided having the amoeba swim out of the pores would be better and it would help define the design a bit better.
This video is from the Artist, Jake Parker. Over the years he has work for blue sky studio's, marvel and most recently a personal comic project called skyheart. Social media has played a big role in him being able to do this personal project. It gained him a following of over 250,000 that ended up funding and covering the cost of production of the comic. In this video, he talks about some of the do's and don'ts for running a social media blog and discusses how to adapt to the changes that social media platforms make.
For this character design I wanted to find some common features that both dinosaurs and chickens had as I wanted it to be very clear that it was the same character in the different stages. I also made sure to use the same colour palette for the characters and the egg to show the link between them so that the viewer knew that the egg belonged to the Dinosaur/Chicken.
For the letter head I was somewhat limited as I wanted it to match the Business card design. I tried out as many little variations as I could while keeping it as simple as possible because I still wanted any text on it to be readable. I also designed three cover pages (The designs in black)
When designing the letterhead I began by researching the different layouts and styles used. This was to get an idea of how I should go about the design.
(Various Letterhead styles)
I also wanted to create a letterhead that continued the design of the business card similar to the examples below. The reason for this is to have a cohesive "Brand" that is recognizable in the different formats which i hope to carry over to the CV too.
Once I had the design style fleshed out I began to mock up the card with different layouts. When doing this I tried to keep all the information to one side and have as little text as possible to keep it simple. I also tried to incorporated elements that would translate well when designing the letterhead.
I also attempted another design that a feel did not work out. I had tried a few things to fix it but it just never looked right. In the first image I felt that the colors where not working. In the second I got colors that I think worked better but the drawings still looked to separated from the background. To fix this I tried doing an overlay seen in image 3 but the rendered drawing became too saturated so I tried it without the overlay on the rendered drawing and it still looked off. There was some other elements of the design that I was not happy with like the Hand Drawn words and the social media badges in the banner so I moved on from this design. Despite this being a failed attempt it did help inform how I did the other designs.
I want to try to utilize these symbols to save space on the business card and I think that they would stand out to people a lot more than words. I chose to go with the black versions of the badges to stick with the overall theme.
With the logo and mascot designs worked out I began to work on the Business card. An important part of a business card is the Typography design. Typography is the art and craft of arranging letters and words. The layout, colouring and sizing are all taken into consideration and follow a theme. This art form evolved into having simple graphic art included in the design and was used to create "info-graphic" posters. These posters were used by businesses to get a message across to a customer in the most interesting but simple way possible. That it was I want to achieve with the business card.
(Do's and Don't of typography)
I then looked at colour theory. I wanted them to follow the theme of animation and me as an artist so I decided to go with Blue to represent the blue animation pencil I use for drawing. Then I picked a vibrant Pink, Green and Orange. This is because I use highlighters to add tone and lighting to my drawings which stands out to people. I also got some reference that fit more in line with the design I had in mind and put them together on an Idea board to help me visualize the design.
One I had the mascot done I started to design Logo's around him and the FreakToon name. I wanted to have something that would still be reconcilable as a silhouette. Once I had some rough designs that I liked, I began working on a finished version and tested out various design details and colours.
For the mascot, I looked at two characters that I had designed. I wanted to try and include them on a business card so I mocked up a few designs
The first idea I had was to create an illustration of the mascot in an action pose. I took two characters that I had designed and painted them in a minimal style instead of the normal cel-shading. This was so the quality looked better and more presentable.
After painting the two characters I decided to stick with the fire character as it was the main character in the first animated short I made. I drew him out in some more poses. When looking at my branding I want people to be able to recognise that I am an animator so I thought an action sheet for the character incorporated into the design would stand out and help get that message across.
After doing the action sheet I decided to also do a rough model sheet in blue pencil with a rendered action pose. I chose to do blue pencil because it helps reinforces the association with animation as it is the industry standard for drafting. I also did a version where the character gets progressively more rendered to signify the different stages in animation and helps build up on that association.
Disney is unquestionably one of the most recognized brands out there and there logo's have played a huge part in this recognition. As a brand they have created a word mark, image and mascot that is instantly identified with their brand and company. Over the years they have tried out many other styles of logo design but this trio is what stands out to me. The hand written name is the signature of the company founder Walt Disney and is a nice call back to the brands roots in hand-drawn animation. The silhouette image is based on the beloved Mascot, Mick Mouse which was the character that helped put Walt and the company into the spotlight. This is the approach I want to take for developing my brand in this project.
The most important part of building an image for a Brand is the logo. The logo is a visual that represents the promise that you as a brand are making to the consumer. Most people would think of a logo as a simple graphic but there are a lot of different interpretations and ways to go about creating and displaying a logo. In the video below Joe Posner, and Michael Bierut (designer of the Hillary Clinton logo) talk about designing for a brand. The video breaks down the different types of logo's which are, word marks, pictorial and abstract logo's. However they also talk about logo's that are adaptable but still recognizable. These allows a brand to stay current by inserting a secondary message to the logo.
(Example's of Word mark logo's)
(Examples of Pictorial logo's)
(Examples of Abstract Logo's)
(Example's of Adaptable logo)
(Joe Posner, and Michael Bierut Video)
Another one that they do not mention in the video is the brand Mascot (Interactive Logo). Many companies will use a Mascot which gives a face and a personality to the brand. One of the most know would be the Battery Bunny for the Duracell battery company. The Bunny is powered by a Duracell battery and is shown to have a better and more energetic life compared to bunnies powered by off brand batteries. This helps to reinforce a positive image for the brand while making a more personal connection with the consumer. This has been so successful for Duracell that they now have a line of toy products centered around the Battery Bunny.
