Brief 7 - Development

I reflected on the work I had done up to this point and had a discussion with a few different people on the overall look of the branding at the moment, and what their opinions were on the logo designs etc.

Feedback

• Amount of space around text is good
• Footer is interesting
• Use of brand in the corner is good - easy to replicate over everything
• Convention concept is good - better than just a campaign
• Circle logo is better than straight text
• Think about the content of the convention
• Think about what is really needed for the convention - App, collateral etc.
• Perhaps relate to some pivotal sci-fi moment etc.
• Use of colours is good - creates an identity for the convention instead of relying on the Syfy purple.
• Is the branding needed twice?

The majority of the feedback was positive, with some good constructive points for me to think about and consider to move forward with. The suggestion I really liked was linking the convention to a pivotal sci-fi moment, as this is something that would really get the passion of the brand across to the audience. After a more in depth discussion about this, I decided on the moon landing, particularly the quote 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind' - this is something that would create an interesting concept for the convention.

Using this phrase as a concept, it suggests that the convention is something hugely important - and in Syfy's case, it will be drawing in audience members into seeing their true passion for sci-fi, while also imply the ease of getting there - one small step for them to go to the convention, one giant leap for Syfy in terms of getting the audience they want and convincing them of their true passion for sci-fi as a genre.

Taking the feedback on board, I also decided to move back to the circle logo idea as this was the one which received the most positive feedback. Using the concept, I decided on calling the convention 'one small step...', and then the tagline for it will be 'one giant leap for Syfy'. As it is such a well known phrase, it will be easy for the audience to understand this.

I applied these changes to the design.

Immediate issues with this are clear. The space is significantly less - something which was liked in the original design. The second is that the footer isn't working with this new development, especially because of the amount of room it does take up. While I do really like this, and it was the one thing that I wanted to use through this brief, if it's not working I'm not going to force it in, so decided to get rid of it.

Getting rid of this footer leaves more room to work with, and as the logo is the main focus, the secondary information is something I need to work with to keep the space and keep the design clean and simple. In terms of imagery, I really wanted to play on the moon landing, and find some imagery of this to use. It really emphasises the sic-fi angle and pivotal moment of this.

I moved all the secondary information to the top left corner, leaving more room for the imagery and tagline.

I started working with the imagery and seeing about what size to have it at.

I decided it definitely worked better being far away, and with the tagline in the bottom left corner. As the astronauts suit is white, the smaller the image, the closer it gets to the centre of the page, so having the tagline across the middle in white is just not going to work.

I asked for a bit of feedback on this progression and it was positive on the direction. It was also mentioned that the logo looks like the astronaut is thinking it, like a thought bubble, and perhaps I could rearrange it so it would fit this more.

I worked on this, and also on the idea of having the imagery in black and white so the logo would stand out more and it, and the Syfy logo would be the only colour on the design.

The second design is obviously more relatable to a thought bubble, however I do think the design on the left works better with the small blue circle above the pink. I also really like the way the image looks in black and white. It makes the branding stand out a lot more, while still be as clear as previously.

I then decided to change the Syfy logo branding. I do like the use of the triangle in the corner, however I think a more professional and clean direction is needed. With the gap in the top right corner, it is a clear place to put the branding instead, and include the full logo and tagline as well.

I think the branding change makes a huge difference to the appearance and does make it look simpler and cleaner.

The only concern I have now is that aside from having the logo, the brand isn't really put across as well as it could be. I am a bit concerned that it isn't as obvious as it could be.

With this thought, I tried out using a faint purple filter over the image, linking it to the brand colour. I also experimented with the tagline text in the bottom left corner.

I like the purple tint. It's subtle and doesn't affect the rest of the poster in a negative way. I also think the bottom text works better over the top of this than it did over just a black and white image.

Following this, I tried a couple more variations with drop shadows and changing the image size.

The image works better at the smaller scale. It leaves more room for the logo.

I don't think the logo design is working anymore. I think that while the overall layout has moved on, it has shown how weak and unprofessional the original logo design is. While I did like it originally, it worked well with the footer idea, and now I feel that it just looks out of place and something more sophisticated, simple and clean will work better.

I decided on taking it in a simpler direction of just having the text and having it in a box.

I feel that this is more fitting with the rest of the poster. The lack of colour in it really emphasises the purple tint and is much cleaner.

The only thing I don't like is the fact that I have to have 'sic-fi convention' in the top left corner. I decided on merging this into the logo design.

Merging the logo with the event works better and evens out the content at the top of the design.

I don't like the space in the logo next to 'one', especially as the rest of the box fits perfectly around the rest of the content. I decided to try it where this space was cut out.

I do like the way this makes the logo look. It adds a bit more of an individuality to the design instead of just being a generic box.

I continued to experiment with this to see if there was another design which worked better.

The first one doesn't necessarily do anything special. I like the second one. It plays into the 'step' noted in the name as it looks like one small step up. I don't like the third one where it is accurately cut out to the words. It just doesn't work. The fourth one is ok, but I feel it is a bit childlike, whereas the other designs are cleaner. I also much prefer the use of one colour instead of having four in there. There's no reason to have four colours, so I think it doesn't really add much.

I decided on the second design. It's simple and individual. I edited the 'step...' so it was the same width as the 'small', keeping the space even around all of the words.

With just the purple as the only colour in the design, I wanted to try the logo with some colour in it, creating a bit more of an identity and giving it more of a presence against the rest of the design. I started by trying two gradient styles, one flat from blue to pink, and the second with an emboss and red to purple.

The first is a bit too washed out against the purple. The second just doesn't work with the embossed effect. I did this because I was using purple and didn't want it to go straight into the image, which it would have otherwise.

With this progression, I decided on trying the image in just black and white again, and having the colour on the logo so this would be the main point of the design.

I tried two colour gradients, a red to orange, and light purple to dark purple.

The red works really well, and I really like that. The purple obviously links stronger to the branding, however it does get a bit too dark in the bottom right corner.

I tried two more variations of this purple, changing the direction of the gradient, and including purple over the imagery at the bottom, fading it out to black.

I still think the purple is too dark in this shade. It's obviously not a colour I can change as this is the brand colour, so it makes me inclined to go with the red gradient as it works incredibly well against the black. The purple tint over the imagery works well like this, with a black top. It subtly hints to the brand, while not being overpowering. I decided to try this red design with the image at the bottom with a purple tint to it.

I think that this works pretty well. The red colour stands out against the rest of the design, and the image is strong in the purple colour as well.

I asked for a bit of feedback on this, and it was said that the top part of the poster was very black, and that the purple tint from before worked well because it lightened it up. It was also said that the circle design was preferred to this design at this point.

I definitely knew I didn't want to refer back to the full page tint again or use the circle design, so considered different options. I decided to move forward with creating a background to go behind the image and fill the black space. Referring to the previous designs, I decided on the galaxy star image as it was simple but decorative and was pretty obvious what it was. I then applied this to the design.

I think this works well and does add more to the design. It makes it a bit more visually interesting and really emphasises the space element. It also works with the fiction side to the genre of sci-fi.

For the logo design, as I definitely didn't want to use the circle design again, I inverted the design I had so it would be a block colour and the text would be cut out. I also decided that I definitely wanted  to move forward with the red gradient as this is definitely the most eye-catching colour. It gives the convention its own branding, along with the purple tint hinting to the Syfy branding.

I think that this works really well. The purple tint is a bit more obvious with the addition of the starry background as there are lighter areas where this is shown. The red shows really well against it. The design is balanced with the plain top against the detailed bottom, and the addition of the drop shadow on the tagline text really helps that stand out against the image.

I then made the logo larger as there is quite a lot of space.

I am really happy with this as being the final design for the promotional poster. It's simple in layout, with interesting imagery, and I think the concept created through this design is quite strong and creative. It isn't obvious or boring, but has the clear markers to show what it is promoting. I think the colours work really well together, and I'm happy I got a good balance between the purple and red, showing Syfy's identity, as well as creating a clear identity for the convention.

I mocked it up to see how it would look in context.

Overall I am much happier with the direction of this brief. I think that it is moving in a much more creative and interesting direction, and the development done to the identity has been positive. Creating an identity as I created a poster isn't necessarily the way I usually work, however in this case, I think it worked well as it allowed me to see it in context immediately and see how the branding works and how it doesn't work.

I do think it's a bit of a shame that the footer idea has gone, however the design now shows the huge progression I have taken in the design and identity of this brief and concept from the initial stages. I think it has come on a huge amount and definitely looks more professional already.

The next step is to think about the collateral and designs needed to complete this brief.