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The brief:
Design logo and stationary for Christine Crossley.
Background:
Christine owns her own home-run book-keeping business in Todmorden. She has recently retired after 40 years at a popular firm in Todmorden and has decided that she would still like to keep some of her clients. She made the decision to set up a freelance business from her home as she only has a few clients. She approached me to design a logo and stationary for her to use. She wanted the design to be simple and monochrome as she would be printing the majority of the design on her home printer.
Mandatories:
A mandatory requirement is that she wants the logo to say her name and book-keeping and accounting services.
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I went to meet Christine to get some idea of exactly what she wanted from me. I asked her series of questions to help me to come up with a few ideas.
Questions:
1. Describe yourself in 3 words
2. Do you prefer serif or sans serif fonts?
3. Are there any fonts you have in mind already?
4. Would you like the use of a secondary logo that could stand alone (image)?
5. What stationary do you require?
Answers:
1. Professional, friendly and trustworthy
2. Sans Serif
3. Calibri
4. Not really but I would be open to any ideas
5. Letterhead, business card and an invoice
These answers are going to be very helpful when it comes to designing the final outcomes. I want to make sure that I represent Christine as a person as she is running a local business which is not corporate, I think the typeface should represent her personality to her clients who already know and trust her.
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Choosing a font:
I have been compiling a list of possible fonts that I could use for the brief. I know that Christine wants a sans serif font and I also want a font that reflects her. I think that a font with a selection of weights will be best as I can use the different weights to separate information with the logo.
I have chosen the following fonts to present to Christine to choose her favourite.
My personal favourite font is Kozuka Gothic Pro, simply because it offers the best options for me a designer. I think that using weights of a font is a good way to work with Type Hierarchy and information which is something I think I will need to do with this brief. I do also like Orator STD because I feel that it ties in very well with accounting as it looks like digital numbers on a calculator. The main problem with this font is that it only has one weight so type hierarchy is not as easily possible.
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Having presented my font choices to Christine she has chosen Kozuka Gothic Pro and Calibri, she prefers calibri because she has it on her own computer at home and the font will be consistent on all printed material. I have explained to her that I can download the Kozuka font onto her computer to which she expressed more interest in.
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Logo experiments:
Using Orator STD.
I decided to look into logo variations with Orator STD to start as I can see if the font will work in the way I want it to.
1.
2.
3.
I am happy with these logos and I have managed to use type hierarchy by separating the information with a black line. I think my favourite out of the set is the 2nd variation as it looks more uniform to me and I think it will work well across a range of stationary. I have experimented with the use of an image on the 3rd variation by using the 2 C's to represent Christine Crossley, this would be used as a stand alone image on a business card for example.
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Kozuka Gothic Pro:
Using Kozuka Gothic Pro and different weights:
1. and 2.
3.
Now that I have experimented with this font I am sure that this is one for the logo. I played around the different weights that the typeface has to offer and I think that Regular and Light are the two which are more legible and work in harmony together. I have also been experimenting with the positioning of the strapline/job title under her name. I think that the top option is the best because it fits perfectly into the end of the Y.
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Choosing the logo:
I have presented the logo variations to Christine and she agrees with me that the Kozuka logo is the best fit. She did not like the Orator STD logos because she felt they were too heavy and the font was too imposing.
The Final Logo for Christine Crossley:
Now that I have the logo finalised I can start to put together the stationary for the final response to this brief. Christine has further expressed that she would simply like a business card and a letterhead as she wants to lay out her invoice herself.
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Designing the stationary:
Letterhead:
I created an A4 document and placed the logo into the top right hand corner, the client had expressed that she wanted the letterhead to be very simple with an easy layout if she were ever to reproduce the file. I added a thin black line to the bottom of the letter to create a specific place for the contact details to be. I am not sure where to place the address for Christine as of yet because the traditional letterhead would have it underneath the logo in the top right hand corner. I am unsure about whether the place the address with the contact details though, I am wary of negative space where it is not needed.
I have decided to keep the traditional letterhead template because Christine has asked for the layout to be simple and easy to reproduce.
Final Letterhead:
I have left a large amount of space for content on this page because it has a duel function of an invoice as well as a letter template.
Business Card:
I want to create a business card that can be printed both double sided and single sided as Chrstine will be printing them herself to save on cost. She has expressed to me that she will be sending 100 to print and would like them to be double sided, but any further print runs will be done herself.
The business card has taken on the same aesthetic as the letterhead with the logo featuring on one side for impact. I have also kept the black line over the contact details for consistency.
Final Stationary:
I have mocked up the stationary to be able to show Christine a more professional layout and allow her to see what her work will look like when printed.
Mock Up:
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Evaluation:
Having completed this brief I can now look back an evaluate it critically.
Overall I have enjoyed this brief because it has had a quick turn around, it has taken me 7 days to come up with the logo and mock up the stationary. Both myself and Christine appreciated how short a time it has taken me to complete as she needed the designs within a few weeks of approaching me. The final mock up has added a very professional aesthetic to my work and Christine also appreciated seeing the designs in context. I have not had a lot of experience with branding and identity in the past so this brief was a great opportunity to experiment in this area.
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