Current Branding Project

The following is an exploration of the target marking for the line of camping equipment that I will be branding as a part of my Graphic Design Concepts class. Comments and criticism are welcome!

A Brief Glimpse

A small campsite sits, nestled in a clearing and crowned in giant cypress trees, at the edge of the picturesque Fort Wilderness Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. A narrow path leads from the small parking bay located some ways away, weaving in and out of the trees and into the distance. The smell of pine and earth mingle in the air and a small brook can be heard, bubbling cheerily beyond the road. The quiet is broken by the sound of a small minivan winding its way along the path to the campsite.

As the van slows to a halt the side door swings wide and two young boys leap from the back seat, dashing toward the clearing in obvious delight. Next to exit the van is the boys’ older sister, her hands filled with a large picnic basket, a folding chair slung over her shoulder. She inhales deeply as she gazes up at the crown of branches swaying high overhead, the dappled light dancing on the ground before her. As her father closes the back door of the van, after unloading the last of their packed supplies, he brushes off his hands and looks around happily. His wife appears at his side, smiling. For a time, they watch as their children scurry around the campsite. They reminisce on the adventures they once had as newlyweds and delight in the fact that they are now sharing this adventure with their family.

As night falls, fireflies dance on the horizon. A column of smoke drifts from the small fire that finally decided to ignite after several, stubborn hours and almost an entire book of matches. The twins, now covered in marshmallow, are in the midst of a dramatic shadow puppet show from inside their tent. Their sister sits with her parents around the glowing fire. She pours them all a mug of hot chocolate as she removes the small pot from the fire. Together they discuss their plans for the morning, passing around a small map, desired destinations circled in black ink. They all look up in delight as a wave of colorful fireworks glisten in the distant, starry sky. Curious of the faint booming, the twins join their sister and parents around the campfire. Together, they enjoy a moment of quite magic.

What I've Been Up To

Hello, faithful readers.

Here's a look at what's been going on in the long and arduous months since my last post.

This semester, my friend Justine and I are taking a package design class. Our first assignment was to design economical and eco-friendly packaging for an inkjet printer cartridge. For me, the worst part about buying new ink cartridges is having to pull out the hedge trimmers to open the package. My design is based off of an idea that, from what I can tell, is already in use in Europe. It is simple to open and uses far fewer materials to package.

Think single portions of breakfast cereal. The top label peels away to reveal the cartridge.

Here is my mood board, the color and black ink designs and a mock up of the package:

I am also taking a Trends in Design course this semester (the name is misleading; it's should be called Trends in Advertising). In the class we discuss the elements of an effective advertisement and advertising campaign. Our first project was to design an advertising campaign for Johnsonville Bratwurst. My teammate Emily and I developed a campaigned based on the idea that "The Future is Brat" with Johnsonville. Our ads revolved around Frank, a fun-loving, fortune-telling football fan (isn't alliteration great?).

Here is an example of print ad, ambient media blade sign and an origami "fortune teller" from the campaign:

Emily and I worked really well together so we decided to stay on for the next project, an ad campaign selling Oreck vacuum cleaners to a younger audience. With a little help from Twitter, we were able to put together a really fun series of ads. We focused on the idea that floors have pretty tough lives, especially messy floors. We decided, if floors could talk, they would have lot to say.

Here is the final series of ads for Oreck as well as two examples of ambient ad placement:

The ambient advertising would consist of plexiglass signs that would be printed with the same style text as the print advertisements. They would be placed in generally messy places; in this case, a mall and a movie theater.

I have also been doing a lot of work for the CCAD Student Programming Board, for which I am the Chair of Communication. This year we rolled out an entirely new system and, of course, with that came a new logo which I was happy to design!

And, of course, with a new logo comes an entirely new brand! I've loved designing a variety of posters for the group and its events.

The project currently devouring my time and attention is for my Graphic Design class and deals with brand standards. We chose a small business to re-brand, developed a series of 30+ logos, whittled them down to one and are in the process of applying the logo and other branding elements to stationery. My small business is The Mean Bean, a coffee shop from my hometown. Of the thirty logos I presented to the class, the one with the most positive feedback was an expressive little mug.

Here are two examples of the brand as applied to letterhead, envelope and business card:

The final design will probably be an amalgamation of these two designs. We also have to develop extension pieces to showcase the brand. I am working on a series of expressive paper and plastic cups, coffee sleeves and travel mugs. I will post the final result as soon as its finished.

I am also working with the great people at The Leaky Cauldron to develop a graphic identity for LeakyCon, a Harry Potter fan conference being held in Orlando, Florida in July of 2011. You can see a sneak peek of what we're working on over at LeakyCon's Twitter. We've got a lot of fantastic things in the works and I can't wait to share them with you.

As always, I would appreciate any feedback you can give about the work posted here.

If you have any questions or are interested in working with me, feel free to email me, jordan@jordanedwardsdesigns.com

Room 3428

Room 3428 is a YouTube Vlog project produced by seven friends who met at a Harry Potter conference and decided to stay in touch. Recently, they challenged viewers to create a logo for their channel. My submission features the scandalous "red panties" that the friends discovered when they first stayed in Room 3428.

As I was making the logo, I noticed its look shifting more and more toward a very graphic, "Fifties" style. This gave me the idea to illustrate each of the vlogmates in that style:

AVP:Musical

Positively Gleeful

I haven't been this excited for a television show in a long time. What excites me most about Glee is its fresh approach to telling the age-old high school story. You might say, "Jordan, this is exactly like High School Musical, a franchise which you have publicly proclaimed to detest," and you might be right but from what I can tell, Glee has a few more things going for it.

For one, it does not star Zac Efron.

Glee takes a brutally honest, wonderfully witty look at the cliquy and confusing world of high school in a way that HSM simply failed to do. The item on the top of my seemingly-endless list of reasons why High School Musical is a miserable piece of work is the cast's frequent outbursts into song. I know it's a musical but for me, it just doesn't make sense that the "guys" can think its so lame to join the musical in one scene and break out into a choreographed musical spectacular in the next. Glee's portrayal is much more honest.

The jock is shanghaied into the glee club, under penalty of expulsion for getting caught with pot. His jock friends hate it. They do not sing.

One of my favorite things about Glee is its colorful (and remarkably accurate) cast of supporting characters. Jane Lynch plays the swishy-tracksuit-wearing, protein-shake-drinking, iPhone carrying advisor to the "Cheerios", the school's cheerleading squad. Her veracious wit and rigid adherence to the established social norms make her a treasure trove of great lines and a joy to watch. Jayma Mays plays the adorably germaphobic guidance councilor who has a thing for the Spanish teacher and newly appointed leader of the glee club (played by Matthew Morrison). Morrison's character, once a glee club golden boy himself, adopts the floundering show choir after the previous instructor (played, hilariously by Stephen Tobolowsky) is let go for inappropriate contact with a male student.

I can't wait to see where this show will go. It has potential to be great (and a lineup of guest stars to help it get there). Hopefully the writers have a plan that includes more than just following the stars to college because, as Zac Efron learned himself on Saturday Night Live, "No one sings at college."

Glee premiers September 16, at 9:00 p.m. on Fox.

Summer is Finally Here...Almost.

I'm a day away from summer and the glorious creative freedom it brings. My summer class actually went by really quickly and I will (hopefully) escape with a decent grade. As intimidating as it was at first (and still is, to an extent), I found the class to be a fantastic learning experience. My instructor is a wizened old guy with a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue. He's not afraid to tell you how he feels about you or your art. I appreciate that. After last semester especially, I was beginning to get the sense that the only critique we would ever get would be happy-fluffy-rainbows and that just doesn't cut it. I welcome the criticism because, more often than not, it is honest and valuable.

Here are a few of the latest things I've done for the class:

Objective: Design a company slogan so that it functions as a logo

Slogan: "Plop, plop. Fizz, fizz"

We then applied the slogos to ads.

Objective: Design a list while adding meaning

Meaning: A literal interpretation of the deconstruction of language

Foreign Language: German

Phrase: Beware of Dog

Objective: Allow the message to transcend the language.

Those were some of my favorites. The rest were passable but not blogworthy.

I'm also doing some freelance work for a software development company based out of Delaware, Ohio. I serve as a contracted designer for web-based projects. So far, the projects have been interesting and will hopefully be recieved well by the clients. Here is a snapshot of one of the designs through a series of edits:

Client: Council Tool

The client wanted a more patriotic design so the colors changed to

red, white and blue and I placed a subtle flag in the background

I also found a much more effective way of using their wordmark

based on their existing product labeling system.

So, that's what I've been up to. I'm looking forward to some relaxation and working on some personal projects I've had stewing in my head for a while. I'll let you know when they're ready.

Adios.

Alive and well

Hello, my faithful readers.

How are you two doing?

I am finally finished with year two of collage and have begun a wonderful little thing called a "minimester" where I will be learning the ups and downs of typography. Our first project dealt with the blending of two characters so that each depends on the other for existence. Mine turned out something like this:

Aside from the childish snickering that often accompanies this sequence of numbers, I think it is a relatively interesting piece. It was received well by my instructor who gave some honest and helpful criticism (something I have truly come to appreciate when I find it). The fact that the characters are virtually identical does take away from the complexity of the piece however I tend like the "ying and yang" idea.

The next assignment takes this idea of dependent existence a step further by adding color to help flavor the story we are trying to tell. I have several designs I might use but haven't decided how color will come into play. I suppose that depends on the selection of Color Aid at the supply store (a selection that is, no doubt, far from extensive).

Apart from my summer minimester, I have had a relaxing and enjoyable start to summer vacation. My sister and I met up with some friends and saw J.J. Abrams' new adaptation of Star Trek which, for someone who new nothing about Star Trek save for the hand gesture, was a thrilling and enjoyable ride. Abrams is a master storyteller and his eye for detail make me giddy with delight. I also saw Ron Howard's Angels and Demons which did a fair job of representing what I believe is Dan Brown's best work. The story moves faster and is more engaging, the music contains a wonderfully developed version of the theme from the DaVinci Code and most importantly, Tom Hanks no longer sports a mullet.

New readers of this blog might not know, but I am an avid fan and steadfast follower of Lost (another J.J. Abrams brainchild) and I was utterly dumbfounded by the finale of the fifth season. The phone conversation with my sister two minutes after the show ended sounded something like this:

Jordan: "What…"

Emily: "What…just…"

Jordan: "…the…"

Emily: "…happened?"

Jordan: "…"

Emily: "Hello?"

Jordan: "I…"

Emily: "Locke is…who is…?"

Jordan: "I don't even know."

Needless to say, I have no clue, not even the tiniest inkling as to where the show will go for its final season. I am very intrigued by Jacob's story although I take issue with the fact that he has an American accent. For me, a seemingly ancient, ageless character would not have an American accent; and a very modern one at that. It dilutes a good portion of the characters depth because, when compared to the biblical and ancient Egyptian references that surround the show, America is very, very new. But that's just me.

Tomorrow I leave for Boston and LeakyCon which promises to be an awesome experience and I am super-excited but wary at the same time. I will certainly have an awesome time but when it comes to the online portion of the Potter fandom (from which the entire conference sprang), I am a novice at best. I am a little worried that I will be surrounded by people I should know but don't, hearing jokes I should get but don't. I will be bringing my MacBook so I will do my best to blog once or twice from the conference, pictures if I'm feeling generous.

For the most part, I'm feeling pretty good about things although, there are some annoyances I wish I could evict from my life. I lost my second USB Flash drive in three weeks which makes me begin to worry for my memory or my sanity. I can pinpoint the last time I had the little sucker; where I was, what I was doing and where I thought I put it, but now it's gone and isn't showing up in the places where it could logically be. I'm afraid it fell out of my pocket as I took out my keys or answered my phone or sat in a movie theater.

I need to clean. I need to audit myself, inventory my life.

I'll let you know when that actually happens.