My Final Logo

When creating my logo, it took me MANY attempts.
I first tried my initial design and decided I didn't like it.
This is what it looked like:

It was boring, unappealing and generally dull.
I then tried something else.
I took an urban background of a decayed wall and cut it into a circle before bringing it through on photoshop.
I then made a 'R' on the text tool and colored it blue. I placed this in the middle of the circle.
(All done using photoshop)
I then edited the coloring of the photo to make it seem a bit more 'exciting'.
I also darkened the corners of the image.
This is what it looks like:

I'm really pleased with my final logo. I think it is eye catching and different and would definitely attract customers. I'm happy with the coloring too, I think the dark blue compliments the neutral background. The decayed wall in the background almost looks like a floral pattern, too.

I think this logo represents the shop well and shows exactly what the shop sells and represents.

I like my logo and am happy with how it turned out although I wish I'd made the 'R' less vibrant and made it blend in slightly more.

Although this doesn't look like any of my initial designs, I'm very happy with how it turned out after playing around with my first design. I decided to keep the circle theme as I rather liked it, but changed the word 'republic' to just one letter as it makes it more appealing and there is less to read.

I'm very happy with the coloring and am glad I chose the neutral colored background to show the decay but the brighter lettering so people will remember the shop.

Republics Re-branded Logo Ideas

 This is Republic's original logo. This one is plain, dull and simply uncreative. It's standard text and regular colors don't suggest anything in the shop would be attractive. It is not a logo that would draw any attention or attract any customers.  I personally wouldn't enter the shop as the logo doesn't appear to indicate that any of the products will be attractive either. It is not something you are immediately drawn to.

This is my final logo design idea. It is a circle with the world 'republic' rotating around it. It has an arrow that joins the C to the R, which is supposed to show the entrance and exit of the shop. The blue text represents attractiveness or the ability to appeal. The red arrow shows security, this will ensure there is a bond of trust between the customers and the company. The purple outline of the arrow shows guidance. The customer is being guided into the store. 

This is my explanation as to why I chose the initial ideas that I did. Here I have included reasons, color scheme, marketing ploy, etc.

These are my initial ideas for the logo. I have included the old logo, my logo ideas, the meaning of different colors and the colors I'm going to use. These are just very quick sketches and aren't developed much.

Here I have moved onto to an explanation of my final idea and design. I have developed it slightly further by mucking around with the colors and positioning, I have then explained my thoughts and ideas and why I have chosen the things that I did. I am happy with my final logo design and will begin to take it onto photoshop to develop it further.

Changing Republic's brand identity.

Why has republic shut down?

• Expanded rapidly about 10 years ago but sales failed to keep up
• Its target youth market has been the hardest hit demographic of the recession, plus it has faced increasing competition from online stores.
• High prices and low quality cause marketing sales to plummet.
• 150 staff were made redundant when stores shut down, they hoped this would improve the overall business but it has only made it worse as there were not enough employees to serve and this caused customers to complain and therefore rapidly decrease.
• Republic is owned by private equity firm TPG, which bought the company in 2010 in a deal thought to be worth about £300m, and now stands to lose much, if not all, of its investment.

Here is a BBC news article with more of a detailed insight on the situation.

Why have I chosen Republic?

I have chosen Republic because it has potential to be a successful business but lacks the required qualities in order to make it successful. It has no creativity and is very plain, the marketing ploy is dull and lifeless. I feel that with hard work I could create a brand new identity for the business that would be interesting, eye catching and popular.

Re-creating Republic.

In order to re-create or re-brand Republic, I'm going to be changing some vital things about the business; 

I'm going to make Republic a new logo and a new webpage design.

The first steps I'm going to take are for the logo.

I'm going to re-search different logos and get an idea of what kind of design I would like to do. I'm going to re-search different colors and their meanings so I can accurately use them. I'm then going to do a few different sketches of various designs and then come to my final design idea and start to create it on photoshop.

To create my webpage, I'm going to look at the original website and see what I dislike most about it. From there I'm going to see how I can change the things I dislike about it and how I can improve it for potential customers. I'm going to do some initial idea sketches for the layout of my webpage, then my final idea and then make the final product on illustrator.

After doing both of these tasks I can then write up about how I did them, what I did, why I did it, etc. 

Unsuccessful Brand Identity

I have chosen to do Republic as my unsuccessful brand identity.

It may look like a popular shop, but this photo is years old. Recently, it has gone into the dumps. Due to its pricing issues and lack of variety, no one is interested in shopping here anymore. Infact, within a week a total of 8 shops had already shut down.

Originally, Republic started in 1985 as Just Jeans, but after 1995 it changed it's name to BestJeanswear,  Republic was launched in 1998. It was a private, limited company and in 2005 Change Capital invested in the company to finance expansion plans. May 2011 the company was bought buy the privacy equity firm. 

In February 2013 over 150 head staff were immediately made redundant due to the recession and also company finances were having trouble. A total of 8 stores then closed and many are still going today. 

3 British Advertising Companies

Research three British Advertising and Marketing companies who have rebranded companies focusing on Brand Identity.

Firedog:
Firedog have rebranded Assam Place, London.
WHAT IS IT? Assam place is a development which features both premium student accommodation and contemporary student accommodation. It also provides a variety of studios for students or even teachers to live.

WHAT WAS THE INITIAL BRIEF? Firedog’s brief was to create a strong brand that communicates the unique benefits of the development, creating the perception that this development is more premium and desirable than the product offered by competitors. It was originally to design an appropriate but high standard building that can accommodate a variety of people.

THE RESULTS:

The Assam Studio offer has already been fully leased off plan and the bookings are rolling in for the LIVE1 tower. Assam Place opens fully for business in September 2013. We continue to support the brand family, developing events collateral, digital media, social publicity, integrated communications and advertising. 

Not only has the building changed- for the better, but so has the website. It has gone from being plain, boring and hard to use to sophisticated, fun, easy and helpful.

The website is very modern. It not only provides information (price, place, photos) about Assam but it also creates a fun atmosphere- which will help to attract potential renters. It has a virtual tour that will guide you around and will show you what the building looks like. The website theme is a simple black and white, which is good as the photos exhibit vibrant colours- if the website was bright too then it would potentially lose customers as it is too much.

All in all, the building is attractive and so is the website and logo. The rebranding was good for Assam Place as it will attract many more students and will be successful. 

United Colors of Benetton. 

WHAT IS BENETTON? Benetton is known for their flashy campaigns, but not for their clothing. Their fashions have lost relevance over the past two decades because they look no different from any other European designer. We created this presentation as a complete overhaul of their business model to make their business model a living, breathing example of the diversity that their name was founded upon. 

WHATS BEEN REBRANDED? HOW? Benetton established a worldwide network of Benetton Foundries: design schools around the world that train up and coming designers. These students attend a two year program, culminating in a collection that showcases the color of their region in the stores worldwide.
The rebranding included a new brand identity, website, store design, and a 360° campaign to launch the first collection.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW? The company has fully been rebranded and for the better. It's now on top of the global market for clothing and is one of the most iconic companies.  

CoreBrand.

WHAT IS COREBRAND? CoreBrand has been studying brands for decades and can quantify and optimize your brand opportunities. 

Their global qualitative and quantitative research capabilities include:

• Market researchReputation, perceptions, attributes, gap analysis, perceptual mapping and audience segmentation
• Brand engagementCustomer, employee and stakeholder satisfaction
• Brand validationEvaluation and assessment of preferences, believability, relevance and semiotics
• Brand valuationBrand equity evaluation, market share analysis, media mix modeling, and understanding the brand’s influence on market cap and revenue.
• Brand projectionForecasting, long and short-term budgeting, time value of money
• Brand trackingBenchmarking and ongoing scorecard updates

HOW/WHAT DO THEY DO? 

They help to change companies (for the better) so that they can attract more customers. They focus on the actual campaign and include all elements to make the company succeed (EG website, advertisements, etc)

Failing Brands Mindmap

Evaluating final interactive media

1. Explain exactly what, why and how you did each stage of the process?

Ideas Generation: When told I had to do a photo shoot for a advertising poster I had various thoughts about the setting and product I would like to use. After being told it had to be a trainer I immediately wanted to do either an urban shoe or a running type shoe. I then thought that if it was a running shoe it should have an outdoors type background as it makes sense and relates. 

Sketching out design layouts: I drew a burgundy vans shoe as a template. I then drew the background as a skating ramp because Vans are known to be quite urban and rugged shoes. I then colored the Vans in appropriate colors and selected my background colors to set a calm but still boyish theme.

Mock up: I made up a mock up but using copyright images just to see what I thought I'd like mine to be like. I used a different type of shoes and a skater-urban background just as a little tester. This is what it looked like: 

Studio and location photography: For the shoe photographs we used a studio lighting set up with two huge lights to light the white paper. We then positioned the trainers differently for each photograph until we found one we liked. After photographing the shoes it was time to location hunt. I went out around the school and decided I still wanted an outdoorsy background. I found a photo of a decayed plank of wood with lots of moss and leaves growing on it and then decided I wanted that one. I snapped different shots of the plank and found the best one to use. 

Edit and Photoshop/Illustrator process: When editing my final poster I decided I'd like to mainly use photoshop. This is because I'm more comfortable with the tools and I feel like there is a wider selection of editing to choose from. It also seems a lot easier and can do exactly what I want it to. I then uploaded it onto illustrator to select some text for a slogan. 




Putting it into a real life setting: I decided to put my photo onto a billboard. I opened up photoshop and it took me about 3-4 minutes to transition my photograph onto the billboard, I then turned and twisted it until it looked more natural. 

2. List all strengths and weaknesses of each aspect of the production.

Idea Generation and creativity: I thought about my idea a lot and after doing my mock up it certainly developed and changed quite a bit. It went from a simple urban shoe to running shoes fit for males and females and the background changed from a skate park to an outdoors scene. I think this was creative but I still think I could have done it a lot better had I put more effort and focus into it. I also felt with a bit more photoshop knowledge I could improve remarkably.

Appropriate target audience and company: I wanted my target audience to be both male and female as it is a product that could appeal to either because it was sporty and exercised based. I then realized that because of the product being how it is, it could be used for any age group. I found it good and helpful that it was for both sexes and all age groups as it is generalized so people are more likely to buy it. I thought this was a good idea and it really worked well. Next time I could make it more specific.

Mock-Up (Photographs of trainers, locations, etc): Here are some photos of various locations and pictures I have taken and possibly used:

Some of these photos aren't useful and some are. It was all down to the dynamics and lighting etc. I think next time I'm going to change the product around; by this I mean take different photos of different shoes and a bigger variety of backgrounds to see which I prefer. I think photo taking for the shoes may of been weaker than photo taking for backgrounds. 

3. Evaluate the success of the final poster design, is your re advertising for a target audience.

Suitable for target audience: 

Composite image using final poster.