As I come to the end of this module “Exploring Identity” it feels like a good time to look at what I have learned, what I have found challenging and what improvements I could make moving forward to improve my design skills and final outputs.

What I have learned

As I had never worked on a branding or identity project before I started with very little knowledge on the subject. I understood certain aspects from different projects I have completed in education and my own work. For example, I had covered colour theory as part of one of last semester’s modules as well as at college. However, this module involved taking that knowledge and using it in a different way to what I had done before. I started this module as very much a brand cynic, on a personal level I don’t buy in to branding. I would have felt that branding was very much to do with selling me products and trying to convince me that if I buy certain clothes or other consumer goods, I am saying something deeper about me as a person. I don’t believe this at all, but what I hadn’t considered is that while there definitely brands who are trying to do this, branding and having a brand identity can be just as important to not-for-profit organisations and charities as consumer businesses.

It took me a while to realise this but when I did, I realised that branding could be used for much more positive work than simply trying to sell people more stuff they don’t need. This then led to how to use colour, typography, a brand name and the vast number of elements that make up a brand identity to convey a message and tell a story. This was different to how I had looked at typography and colour before, where the emphasis was purely on suitability and usability within a product, rather than the message it conveys. I must admit considering a typeface to have character was a strange concept to get to grips with, but I feel now I understand that what that really comes down to is an extension of a typeface’s suitability for a particular design, where I had looked at readability and accessibility before I know needed to include whether the typeface gave readers the impression and feeling the brand needed to convey, such as trust. The same thing applied to colour whereas I was most interested in the contrast between colours for accessibility purposes, I know needed to consider the psychological effect colours have on people when they see them and whether that is the effect that I want to create.

The Challenges

I felt that the first couple of weeks made a lot of sense, doing user research into banking and coming up with brand values that my brand would represent, I didn’t even find coming up with a name for my banking brand that difficult. I found putting my name ideas in front of the class on a Miro board and seeing what came out on top was a great way to decide between my naming options and I would look at a similar approach in future when looking to name a brand.

However, as we moved on to choosing typography and colours, I found myself struggling more and more with the project. I think I just couldn’t see where this work would lead and with my biases towards branding, it started to feel like several disjointed tasks, rather than parts building towards a final finished project. I now realise I was also missing another key part of any brand a core thought to build the brand around, I did discover this eventually, really emphasising the forward thinking, innovative side of my brand. As well as bringing the two aspects of sustainability and accessibility to the fore. Once I had these aspects in place things started to come together and making design decisions became a much easier task. I believe this was because I now had something I could test my decisions against, where they forward thinking, innovative, sustainable and accessible. I just wish I had spent the time earlier in the project to decide on this core thought as I feel it would have saved a lot of time and effort.

This is especially true of both my colour palette and brandmark. Both of which caused me significant trouble throughout the project. In terms of my colour palette when I first picked my colours I went for safe common bank brand colours, ones that many brands have used before, blues, yellows moving towards gold. The problem was these did not match an innovative brand who wanted to do things differently and bring innovation to the banking sector to appeal to a student audience. I only really realised this at the group critique in week eight and when we are talking about a twelve-week module that is quite late to realise that I had been going down the wrong path. Thankfully it was pointed out to me and I was able to pivot towards a much more effective colour scheme which in a strange coincidence have turned out to be a primary yellow with a secondary blue, but the switch of primary and secondary colours and using much brighter shades has made all the difference and change the look from staid and ground which has been covered many times before to something much newer and fresher.

As for my brandmark, I went through so many iterations, and could never find one that worked and felt right. I think this was due to the fact that we looked at all the different types of brandmarks you could use, and I felt a need to have one of each. I was trying to force things to work and fit. In the process missing the obvious that the typeface I had chosen as my display font, was bold, fresh and futuristic looking and really didn’t need a lot more than a forward angle and the right colour choices to be what I needed. This was further proven when I put three brandmark possibilities to a survey and while the simple wordmark in different colourways took all but one vote, my more complex combination mark simply didn’t hit the mark with my target audience.

What I could improve on

I know looking in hindsight that the main challenges I faced with this project were self-inflicted. I simply didn’t understand the process of building a brand and the importance of a clear direction to a successful brand. This is what I found interesting on my recent visit to Jack Renwick’s studio in London who work predominately on branding projects. They talked us through their process, and it was abundantly clear that this was not the process I had used. I could look at things like it was difficult to create a bank brand from scratch but in truth while I believe this to be true, I know had I approached this project with the right process I would have had a much less stressful experience.

While I say this, I am still happy with the brand I produced and even though I had to throw away ninety-five percent of my brandmark ideas, I learnt a lot from that process. I just think I could have spent more time on creating great applications of my brand if I had been working on them sooner rather than struggling with the basic building blocks of the brand. In the end the brand really came together in the last four weeks of the project when I found my direction.

I think the best way for me to look at this module is as a key learning experience. I have learned the importance of having a design process that works and using it, the importance of showing ideas to my target audience throughout the project for maximum feedback and not allowing personal bias to derail a project, especially when those biases are based on incorrect assumptions.

I do take away a lot from the fact that I didn’t give up even when I was struggling and that my work ethic and willingness to keep going, has allowed me to develop a brand that to me meets the brief and has allowed me to come up with some innovative ideas. I for one wish my bank had a twenty-four-hour banking hub for all my banking needs versus their current 10am to 4pm (closed 1pm-2pm for lunch), Monday to Friday opening hours they currently have.