OUGD502 SELF BRANDING EVALUATION

Level 4 vs Level 5 branding

Level four branding is to the left and level five to the right. Just my looking briefly at the two versions of self branding, you can definitely see the similarities between them. Firstly, the colour scheme is the same, a kind of turquoisy-blue and white combination, which gives a very fresh and vibrant appearance in both examples. Also, this year I kept the name of my brand the same "bex" only choosing to show it in lowercase instead of uppercase, as in the level four designs it does look a little shouty despite the rounded typeface. I also chose a change of typeface for my brand name, instead of the rounded sans serif typeface, I chose Lust, an elegant serif typeface, as I thought this better represented my personality and provided a lot more interest on the front of the card than a sans serif would. Similarly between both examples of self branding, there is a lot of white space, or blank space for writing on the backs, something I think is really important for a business card to have, so you can write personalised messages for each person you give a card to. A major different between these cards is their production. For level four The business cards were digitally printed, which gives a really flat appearance. In level five I wanted to reflect more my love of analogue techniques (which I did subtly in level four my using a mono print texture for part of the front), and produced the front of the business cards using Brusho powders, creating a large sheet of stock in this fabulous colourful pattern, and then cutting out the business card shapes. This makes a much more tactile feel, and the colours are great and bright, being the real thing not a photograph. The "bex" text was produced by cutting it out of white vinyl and then sticking it onto the front of the card, which produced a gloss effect with the text, as I sued gloss vinyl, which contrasts nicely with the matte appearance of the Brusho pattern. I thought this was a much more clear and effective way to demonstrate my love of both analogue and digital techniques, the Brusho reflecting the analogue and the vinyl and digitally printed backs representing the digital side.
One thing that has improved since last year is my photography skills as can be seen in these two photographs, as I think the level 5 branding photographs not only have a much more professional construction but also the colours are much more appealing, as I've discovered the auto tone, auto contrast and auto colour tools on Photoshop which are a life saver.
For this brief I have worked quite efficiently on it, which have resulted in me not having to rush towards the end to finish things, which resulted in business cards that I am really proud of and would actually give out to creatives, and produced to a standard and will all the aspects I wanted to experiment with and include.