Branding Ideas — OUGD501

For the practical side of this module, branding a product in a 'real-world' fashion that abides by various design trends will allow the comparison of which trend is successful and what isn't.

Naming the brand:

Phase — 'A distinct period or stage in a process of change or forming part of something's development.'

As you can see, the name of the product that will be used reflects that of the project itself, a play on words if you will.

The product:

'Modular Headphones' — The product was a completely random choice and was chosen due to it being quite a specific thing to focus on, yet giving the brand visual elements that can be adhered to throughout the comparison process.

Trends in Context — AURA — 'Gradient' — OUGD501

"A modern and refined identity with accompanying launch materials for AURA, a new range of high end products from global door sealing system manufacturer Lorient. The look and feel has been crafted for architects and specifiers to reflect the quality of the products themselves, encapsulated in a new positioning statement – ‘The Design Edge’.

In addition to the identity, we created a launch brochure that uses holographic foil and tactile materials to stunning effect. We also developed an ingenious sample pack that magnetically closes into itself, as well as product photography and a launch advertising campaign. AURA was successfully launched at the Big 5 construction show in Dubai."

— Believe in

The sheer unusualness of the product means that creativity can run free in terms of design choices. However, the gradient created by the holographic foil of this logo and packaging resembles that of a 'tactile' product. The metallic representing the metals used within the product and the colours crated by the foil also represent the word very well.

Trends in Context — The Mistake Room — 'Strikethrough' — OUGD501

"The Mistake Room is an international non-profit and independent art program. It is founded on a profound commitment towards creativity and creation, focusing on a constant promotion of artistic concepts and ideas. Based in Los Angeles, and led by César García, TMR composes exhibitions, publications and projects around diverse topics, working as a platform for artists from around the world in search of showcasing their work in LA, where they would normally have a more limited access, and they see more traditional galleries as a constraint towards their artistic vision.

TMR’s identity is a graphic representation of the deep respect that the project holds toward experimentation, seeing it as a fundamental stage within any creative process. Mistakes are part of the evolution – trial and error – and it is precisely because of them that new and unique solutions are found. The brand’s applications take into account any independent artist’s priorities, offering an attractive and flexible monochromatic graphic language that, combined with functional and utilitarian formats, becomes truly effective as opposed to being another obstacle and expense to both the artist and the organisation. In a subtle manner, the design heightens and conserves the independent character that defines the project."

— Savvy Studio

It is clear that Savvy Studio is heavily influenced by trend. The huge block strikethrough is something you have never seen before, yet it communicates its meaning more affectively than if it was't there. The empty space of the outlined text (another trend) gives the impression of tip-ex and incompleteness.

Trends in Context — Mandarin Natural Chocolate — 'Empty' — OUGD501

"Mandarin natural Chocolate makes 'bean to bar' chocolates, employing chocolatiers consistently working on the entire manufacturing process from the roasting of cacao beans to the finished chocolate bar. We offer 60, 80 and 100% cacao chocolate bars only made with organic cacao and cane sugar. 

We are idealists who pursue quality and believe in 'improving the quality of people's lives'. This modernistic brand expresses itself through stunning white, an understated elegance and modernistic graphic design.

Our distinct identity, borne of our obsessive refusal to compromise, integrates a minimalistic elegance with a contemporary impression thus bringing the experience of a lovely, new brand to you."

— Yuta Takahashi

The way Takahashi has represented this chocolate is extremely representative of the product. By using 'Empty' a design trent listed upon Trend List, 'minimalistic elegance' is achieved and it puts further emphasis on the ethos of the company; keeping it simple from start to finish.

Trends in Context — PLAY by Fable — 'Randomised' — OUGD501

"PLAY @ OMTJ is centered on the concept of interconnectedness across time and space. Despite predominantly being a feature on recreational spaces in Taman Jurong and its heritage, the timeless theme of PLAY and recreation help bridge both the past and present. The cascading alphabets in the PLAY visual are inspired by DNA strands, the fundamental building blocks of life and common threads between each and every individual.

An accompaniment visual concept revolves around a Chinese idiom: ‘前人种树, 后人乘凉’. The alphabet ‘Y’ is utilized to form the Chinese character 人 (‘man’, or ‘people’). It is also used to represent casuarina trees, a natural feature unique to Taman Jurong.

When put together, both form the motif of a man resting under the shade of a tree, an ode to the idiom, which encourages people to appreciate their predecessors’ efforts in providing for the comforts they enjoy today.

The book contains inserts of random yet nostalgic old and archived photographs that were collected from elderly residents. Each segment is also separated by a unique paper stock that represented each heritage site by its special texture."

— Fable

It is clear that Fable have utilised a well known design trend in order to create a well informed piece of design. The 'playfulness' of the randomised letters allows to visually represent the word PLAY by not only using the letters, but to rearrange those letters and create something that looks much more fun that just having the word 'PLAY' in bold helvetica.

Trend List Generator — OUGD501

The Trend List Generator is an algorithmic app that will make any text into a 'trendy' design. It's Nice That puts it more appropriately with "Instantly become a graphic designer with Trend List's Design Generator" (http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/trend-list-generator)

This is clearly a very pastiche way of looking at trends within design. So much so that at the end of the article INT states;

'Only kidding. Graphic design is a hideously complex beast, as we’re all fully aware, but we’ve got to hand it to Trend List for creating a fun piece of web genius that reminds us all not to take ourselves too seriously.'

Yet, people will take this seriously and honestly think that an app made for novelty, is for creating work that can replace the designer and simulate what they might think to be an appropriate response to their issue. This app is somewhat a dangerous move when the design industry is concerned, in order to be taken seriously, those who are ill-informed and not so aware of the purpose for this app will assume design is as easy as clicking 'generate' within an app on their mobile.

Trendlist — OUGD501

Trendlist is a blog style design catalogue that categorises various designs into different sections. Artists can submit their work or the admin, Michal Sloboda, can seek out the work and add it to the blog under the correct 'section' of the site.

Trendiest takes the design out of context and focuses on it purely from a visual aesthetic point of view. This can often cause conflicts within the design industry as people disagree with this 'culture' and believe that taking the design out of context creates confusion and then enables other designers to use these visual elements within their own work for the sake of it. Design for design's sake if you will, however trendlist's purpose could not be further from that, in the about section, Michal states that the sole purpose is to get an idea of when a visual trend within design is being used the most;

"Graphic design, like fashion or music, is influenced by contemporary tendencies. This is intensified in a world where digital information is transmitted at speed of light. Trend List’s task is to search, name and sorts these graphic design tendencies. Trend List tries to spot where and when they rise, which countries they’re popular in and how they evolve over time.

Trend List showcases posters, books, catalogs, magazines, album covers, and invitations for the cultural sphere. This work is often the space of experiments and the “most current” graphic design.

It is interesting to observe how many of today’s “professional” designers create “conceptual” design, custom­made for client, that values content over formal appearance (which nowadays seems quite unimportant). However they use recurring graphic languages and motifs, and these can be characterized as a trend.

Trend List explores graphic design from an opposing angle. It ignores the content of the work and analyzes just its appearance. Based on the formal attributes of the site, it then sorts and catalogs the work.

But is it possible to separate the content from the visual? Is it possible to present graphic design without further explanation?

It seems so. It happens at every exhibition of graphic design, where the works are taken out of context and the audience is often unable to go under the surface of the work. They do not examine the content. They perceive design only visually.

Trend List is not a criticism of contemporary graphic design. It just points to the fact that graphic design (like everything else) is affected by certain trends, and today is no exception. But a lot of designers do not agree and still insist on the originality of their work that is based on pure concept."