OUGD402: Self Branding (Second Photoshoot with Tea Bags)

OUGD402: Self Branding (Tea bag idea & the making of)

Following on from the idea of sending off to studios useful things with my branding on, I came up with the idea to make tea bags of my own that would go along with the tea coasters.

To do this I could have ordered a set of tea bags online, filled them with my own choice of tea and distributed them. But to save, not only money, but time waiting for the tea bags to be delivered I figured I would use my favourite tea bags (Yorkshire Tea) and tear these apart and reuse them in the shape I wanted, this would also mean the tea would be representative of me given it's a northern tea brand.

Yorkshire Tea Bag

Making Measurements

The idea was to remodel the current tea bag into the shape of my current branding shape which is the hexagon.

Layering on the Fabric Adhesive

Once filled back up with tea, last step was to glue the remaining side shut with an iron.

Two tea bags successfully made

OUGD402: Self Branding (Tea Coasters & Photoshoot)

I decided that rather than neglecting one of my previous business card designs I would instead turn it into something useful that I could potentially send out to studios and clients, just as a little something to promote myself and potentially assist in helping me to get an internship/studio visit etc.

That thing being a tea coaster, this is something that I think is always useful regardless of whether it's to be used for a mug or not. Given that a lot of designers work on desks, protecting your desk from tea/coffee stains or just damage from drinks in general can be annoying. Plus the coaster will be a constant reminder of me and my branding within their studio, do they decide to use it.

I chose to print on 330gsm stock simply because when doubled up would make for a solid business card and tea coaster which would retain it's shape even after abuse from a tea cup.

First Photoshoot of Branding Pieces

Tea Coaster

Tea coaster in Situ

Business Card

OUGD402: Self Branding (Business Cards)

Whilst in the process of designing my business cards I stumbled across this post from twotimeselliott on Instagram and it sparked an idea of how to word my position within my business cards.

Just having the obvious 'aspiring graphic designer' on my cards seemed not enough, I felt like it needed something more. So I began asking family and friends what they thought of me and I selected words from that to include within it.

The main and most important part of the business card is in black to contrast with the lightly coloured other adjectives that describe me. This design was something I think is different to the typical cards you would receive and kind of says a bit more about me at a glance, which is useful.

The design also shows off the playful and less serious side of me, as much as I serious and focused on my work, there is a part of me that enjoys socialising and having a laugh with the people I work with.

The only problem I had with this design though is that to be at the size of a regular business card ~(75mm x 55mm) the type on there would be barely visible and would feel too cluttered on a smaller scale.

I narrowed down the content so that everything was much more easily visible at a small scale, it also meant that it kept the content somewhat ambiguous in the hope to intrigue people into checking out my website/twitter etc.

OUGD402: Self Branding (Tea Cup Logo Development)

One of the short tasks set within this brief was to do the branding for a peer, to set a brief for each other in the hope that this would in some way help out or contribute to their current branding.

Given that up to this point I only had logo, I briefed someone within the studio do their own interpretation of my branding that incorporates the concept of the two letter t's. But rather than a to create a visual that I already had, do a typography based one that could accompany my current logo.

The slogan above '*Because one t just isn't enough' was the result of the task, and I think it worked perfectly with what I already have. It wasn't too overwhelming that it would take away from the logo but noticeable enough to compliment the logo.

I asked for people's thoughts on the combination of the logo and typography and thankfully people understood and appreciated the logo. But one comment was to possibly add colour to the cups as it appeared too much as a frame and not so much a solid tea cup. Hence the addition of the white to allow for the mugs to stand prominent against any background rather than having a transparent logo.

The next thing I wanted to focus on was the shape of the potential business cards etc. I didn't want to go for the conventional square or rectangle shape, instead I wanted to have the shape relevant to me.

Reflecting back upon my previous ideas of self branding, there was a few shapes I'd considered to use already. The middle shape links back to the tech geek side of me by incorporating the diagonal that is often seen within circuit boards. Whereas the hexagon shape on the left is representative of me in the sense that I'm adaptable, given that the shape is much more adaptable than your typical square or rectangle.

So ultimately I ended up going for the hexagon shape as I felt the content of my branding, the logo & type fit much better within there leaving not too much empty space like some of the other shapes did.

OUGD402: Self Branding (New Idea)

After discussions with several people about my current branding ideas and plans, an idea came about to focus my branding entirely around the two t's within my name rather than the name as a whole.

This sparked an idea to focus my branding around a cup of tea, but not just one cup, two to represent the two t's within my name. This also links in with my obsession with drinking tea on a regular basis.

First thoughts, design wise, were to have two tea cups with saucers and other little bits such as a tea bag and heat to make the visual of a cup of tea more obvious.

Straight away I chose colours to fit with the theme of tea since it wouldn't make sense to use other bright and abstract colours. The softer black/grey colour that I used was chosen simply to go with the soft colour theme already prominent with the two light brown and cream colours, as a solid black was too harsh against these colours.

Testing out a combination of these colours and the proposed logo made me realise how clustered it felt and especially considering this would need to be versatile enough to be visible at a range of sizes, it was way too over complicated.

Ultimately after taking out the extra bits on the mugs and leaving just the recognisable essentials, it developed into something that is more representative of me visually. Playing around with the arrangement meant that the shape of my glasses could also be incorporated into the logo, giving it more of an underlying concept.

OUGD402: Screen Print Induction

Although we've had a general overview of how screen printing works before, up until now we'd never had a full induction. Screen printing is something I've been waiting to do for a long time especially considering I've never had the opportunity to do it in the past.

Being able to screen print will come in handy for several of my current on going briefs, mainly for the license to print one where I will likely be printing onto several sheets of acetate. But also for my CoP practical piece where I will be maybe printing a branding piece, that could potentially involve screen printing metallic paint to create a feel for a luxury brand.

Process Pictures