Studio Brief 2 - Design Collateral

To have an overall banding strategy, it was important to applying the new logo and branding to a number of collateral. To give an overall feel and to bring the brand to life, It's important to create a flawless aesthetic that will ensure the target audience interactivity and connection with the brand, which you're only going to get that by having a good brand strategy and a consistent user experience. 

I had to think carefully about what I wanted to apply Hardshell Labs branding & logo on. There isn't no point in applying it to things that isn't relevant to the company, for example I wouldn't apply the branding to a tote bag or onto a bottle or cup as that isn't what the company uses or advertise. 

Below are the different types of collateral I applied the Hardshell brand onto.

Website

This is the current website for Hardshell Labs. As you can see it's laughable, what user can go on this site and easily enjoy the experience that makes them return again and again. However, the user experience is non existent. Outdated design. Designed without any thought or care.

This is the new design. As you can see, I totally changed the look and feel, bringing the current site out of the 90's and into a modern and contemporary design age with an attractive and visually appealing user experience. I wanted to design a website that reflected the current target market and vision. I wanted a modern aesthetic that still Incorporated the branding and also makes good use of the logo. The target audience I'm trying to aim at is the technology side of the business, as this market could potentially bring in the most interest and investment. However I still wanted to have a link to the nature side.

Sticking to the brand guidelines, i kept with four colour limitation, black, green, grey and red. All these colours play a specific role in the design process. My thoughts behind the design was to have the user experience as paramount. Once the user hits the site they will be instantly hit by the red bar at the top. Then hopefully the red social media bar will subconsciously be in their mind throughout, which could led them onto one of the social media pages. Next step is to have a visual image of what the company is about, and that is the tortoise. On top of the tortoise is the logo, straight to the point, this is what the company is and this is what we represent. The whole website is in three section. One section for the header will be what the user immediately sees. The white section is for information and the black area is the footer section. Green is used to highlight titles and important text, red is used for highlight the call to action buttons and to grab the users attention.

Poster

For the poster, I wanted to show what it would look like if the company was promoting their Kickstarter page. Something simple but putting in effect all the consistency of branding guidelines. Appealing to the technology side of market in order to try and bring in their support and investment. I wanted to use a design that was vibrant, modern and straight to the point. Green to link back to the nature side of the company but using the remote control car to attract and appeal to the target audience. Then simply using a short paragraph of text in a contemporary fashion .

Business Card

Business card. I wanted the business card to have the look and consistence of the website and poster. Therefore i kept the modern look. I added a gradient to the front of the card to add a vibrant, attractive touch. This will allow the business card to stand out among the crowd, putting the company out there, showcasing that they want to be seen and heard and want to be in the limelight.

If I wanted to represent the nature side of the company towards then I would choose a different stock choice, maybe an organic paper that is environmentally friendly. But for this business card, gloss would be the perfect choice and having a thick stock to represent boldness and professionalism.

 Clothing

A lot of the time Hardshell Labs will be out in the field researching about the tortoises and finding out ways they can protect the tortoises. Therefore it would be beneficial to have the branding placed on clothing. Using the icon of the logo without the type, still links and relates strongly to the company. It also appears clean and modern. The colour of the t-shirt would be green to represent the wildlife, nature loving side of the company. If i was to make the actually bag then the bag would be environmentally friendly and made out of strong material, this will ensure that the companies public image will remain positive, also the strength of the bag will be a big help due to the terrain in with the desert tortoises live in.