3 Identities - Clarification of Audience

So after yesterdays crit I found it is necessary to give a bit of clarification as to the audience/tone of voice of each identity that I'm working on - both for myself and anyone trying to understand what I'm doing!
It's just something that I never got round to formally stating so - here we go.

ZODIAC THEATRE.
Tone of voice

• Sophisticated
• Cultured
• Art Nouveau
• Has heritage / historic
• A little gothic / has an air of mystery

Audience

• 30+
• People with an interest in history and heritage
• Cultured
• Intelligent
• Eccentric

DECLINE RECORDS.
Tone of voice

• Aggressive
• Immature
• Hand-rendered
• Viral
• Cheap Production

Audience

• 15 - 30 male dominated
• Punk/skate culture
• Reasonably intelligent
• Teenagers with no jobs and no money

M&B FASHION HOUSE.
Tone of voice

• Slightly alternative
• Ready-to-wear (mid range pricing)
• Made to last 
• Classic items with a twist

Audience

• 18 - 30 females
• Not concerened with changing fashions 
• Has own individual style already
• Confident 
• Opportunist

Feedback

 Got some really helpful feedback today, despite previous concerns about not being at a stage where feedback was appropriate. The overall feeling was that I needed to exploit the potential a lot more - which is fine because I'm well aware that I haven't yet - and that is of course the point of this brief.
Feedback on the logos was all very helpful as well, and the areas of confusion only highlighted aspects of this brief that I haven't yet addressed - things like audience and tone of voice have all obviously been considered but not stated anywhere.

Where now?

• Define audience, target market and tone of voice for all 3 identities contained in the brief
• Makes it easier for other people to understand
• Gives me more clarity
•  Rework all logos based on feedback and then move on - not going to touch them again after this
• Starts to speed things up
• Allows me to progress on to the things of real importance
• Get context blog up to date
• Consider formats and print finishes to take stationary forward - start to consider individual merchandising.

5 Identities - BRIEF REWORKED

So I've decided to cut back the 5 identities to 3. Reason for this being I think things are beinging to get a bit stale, and 5 of essentially the same thing seems a little directionless now I've got this far.
Just about the resolve the 3rd logo, and from this - instead of simply applying the logo to stationary - I'm going to investigate the application of the brand onto various forms of appropriate merchanise. This is will be far more interesting, and indeed helpful as the results of each resolution will be very different.

Proposal - REFINED.

5 Identities

Brief 1 
The first brief of this module is split 5 ways. I want 5 quick turn around branding exercises - both to build my decision making skills and to kick start the year - it's been a bit slow since we got back.

So, I started by deciding on 5 companies - all within the creative industries and all completely made up. I spent last Friday coming up with names and starting points for all 5 - see below.


GAMES DEVELOPER

FASHION HOUSE

THEATRE

FILM PRODUCTION

RECORD LABEL

Want dictates need.

Today's workshop summary.

Individual list

Group lists

Lists for tomorrows workshops detailing what I want from next year, what I definitely do not want - and why?

10 Briefs and Statement of Intent

DESIGN STRATEGIES

Statement of Intent

Rationale 

Throughout the 3^rd year I intent to focus on branding and identity. The reasons for this lie within the difficulties I was having towards the end of the 2^nd year – struggling to find a vehicle for the many areas of graphic design I found interesting. I have since decided that this vehicle is branding, and that the areas of specialisation can be applied to this and work along side it. This decision has been born out of collaboration with Will Asken, one that we plan to continue throughout and beyond 3^rd year.

There are things that we must both address before the end of this year, and to give ourselves the best chance of success we have to discover what our strengths are and what we need to improve upon. After much discussion, we have both decided to respond individually to the 10 briefs, and though everything we do will be discussed to some level, we agree only to collaborate on live briefs and competitions – when we feel there is a real need for it.

The areas I want to address in my individual practice include:

- Type layout and experimentation

- General working attitude and professionalism

- My personal ‘style’ – Do I have one? Do I need one? Do I even want one?

- A huge amount of time working on general branding skills, push the boundaries of what a brand actually is, and become comfortable working for a quick turnaround.

- Portfolio building

Statement of Intent 

The vast majority of the briefs I have outlined for the coming year are branding based, and from the surface it may seems as though I aim to produce 10 very similar resolutions. Though the basis for each is fairly similar, I actually intent to respond to each brief as individually as possible.

There are two briefs to address packaging, two small scale branding exercises for individuals, a corporate I.D, two huge exercises to allow experimentation into distribution, a digitally based project and two based around the idea of product branding. All these areas can be expanded on, and allow for other specialisms to become interwoven – for example, the Christmas brief could become heavily focussed on illustration, or the Carpe Diem brand become heavily influenced by motion graphics. This addresses the issue I was having last year, as I was trying to focus on a specialism that had no real substance on it’s own, it needed something to support it – and everything has to be branded to some degree.

On top of all this I was to really challenge my type and layout skills. I have shied away from this for too long and it’s time to decide if it’s a practice worth pursuing, or dropping to make room for other areas, this is especially with regard to my plans for collaboration in the future.

I have drawn up two outlines for self-directed type exercises, with a focus on research and information gathering. I have done this because I need to, to further my own practices, and not for any other reason.