Personal Branding Update:Swirls & Twirls

I watched a really good tutorial online using Adobe Illustrator showing how to create swirl/twirl designs. I have researched the graphical representation of the spiral/ swirl and found a great article of what it represents.

In various mythologies the spiral is a globally positive symbol. Here are some of the meanings that have been attributed to the spiral.

Carl Jung, the famous psychiatrist, said that the spiral is an archetypal symbol that represents cosmic force.

In ancient Britain, the spiral seems to have been associated with the feminine as the doorway to life.

It has been associated with the cycles of time, the seasons, the cycle of birth, growth, death, and then rebirth. The cycles of time and nature are the cycles of life.

Some consider the spiral a symbol of the spiritual journey. It is also considered to represent the evolutionary process of learning and growing. It seems that life doesn't proceed in a straight line. The path of life more closely resemble a spiral. We seem to pass the same point over and over again but from a different perspective each time. To walk and then stand in the center of a spiral or labyrinth has been a psycho-spiritual exercise for centering the consciousness.

I feel the spiral represents me well. My branding is being used to help me on the next step of my journey, showing my growth from University student to full time employment in something I am passionate and enthusiastic about. I decided to give it a try on a business card. I created shapes and used and the twirl tool to create the designs experimenting with different shapes and layout.

I feel this design is more feminine and it is the most popular chosen colour of young adolescent females. The chosen colour scheme is purple and pink. I feel these colours represent me as they stand out and are feminine. The colour purple represent the emotions and meanings of calming, creativity, wisdom, dreams and is uplifting. The pink colour edged on behind the purple works well and compliments the purple.

The swirls and twirls identify my easy going nature as they continue off the page. The font used is American Type Writer, I have chosen this font as the end of some letters swirl just like the design patterns on the page. The black text stands out and makes it easy to read. It is not too bold and harsh and does not outweigh the design.

Below is an image of my business card using the swirls and twirls idea. The blue line breaks up the front and back of the card, with the swirls continuing onto the back. The side with my contact details on is the front of the business card.

As you can see from the screen shot below I have used the same branding and experimented using it in my CV.

I have also used the branding to see what it would look like on my website.

Thinking Outside The Box.....

I am currently looking at some ideas of different ways to present my business card so it stands out is quirky. Looking at different layouts online has given me some ideas. Some ideas I have looked at are:

• Post it notes
• Pen
• balloon
• coaster
• credit card style

Week 10: Update

The web team has completed the website for the gallery, which is now live www.3rddimensionexhibition.co.uk/index.html.

Student Profile Page

Getting Here Page

Home Page

The content I have gathered has been uploaded and can be see on the homepage and contact us page. As a group we have worked really well to get it finished before the exhibition. This was one of our aims as we wanted viewers to be able to check the website before the exhibition begins so they have access to the relevant information. Everyone has contributed individually to the process and we have been able to bring all the different elements together. The Facebook page that was set up has really helped us as a group to communicate outside of Uni. The Drop box folder has worked extremely well to allow us access to each others files and folders.

Chrissy has informed the group that she can get hold of boards that we can use during the exhibition to show our 3 pieces of work so I believe we will use these instead of the 3D paper boxes.

Chosen 3 Pieces Of Work

After careful consideration I have chosen my 3 pieces of work to be shown at the exhibition. The first piece I have chosen is Yvettes Bridal Website. For me personally I am extremely pleased with this piece of work. At the beginning of the project I had no prior experience of web design using CSS. With help from the tutorials set and using online tutorials I was able to produce a successful website. I feel my mark reflected my hard work I had put in to producing this website. I thoroughly enjoyed the module and learnt a lot of new skills from it.

The second piece of work is my blog. The blog was created using www.blogger.com with its content gathered from local produce websites. I had to take into consideration search engine optimisation and had to ensure the content was displayed in a logical order. I also had to take into consideration font, colour and layout. I think my blog works really well, it is easy to navigate around and formative.

My final chosen piece is my 3D biodiversity stamps. The software used for this module was 3D studio Max. Having no prior knowledge of using this I am pleased with how my work turned out. A lot of research went into myideas of the ladybird, flower and butterfly as I wanted a continuing theme. I found it quite a challenge to create the objects but am pleased with how they turned out. I usedPhotoshop after to create the effect of a stamp.

Week 9: Update

In todays class I provided the Web Team with an introduction to be placed on the home page and also content on how to get to the exhibition and also a contact us page. Below is the content for the homepage.

'Opening on Monday 9th May at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford we present the 3rd Dimension exhibition. The 3rd Dimension focuses on three physical senses seeing, touching and hearing allowing visitors to experience a thrilling and exhilarating walk through of final year Undergraduates' work.

The exhibition focuses on three significant pieces from each student. The meaningful and important pieces will allow the students to express their attitudes and opinions on projects they have created throughout their time at University. There will be a moving mixture of graphical imagery, 3D designs and web design.'

I researched the homepage content by looking at other exhibition websites to see how they have worded their introduction. I wanted the content to be concise and to the point as apart from the image it is the first thing users will see. The introduction informs the users what the exhibition is about, where it is and the dates it is on.

As a group we discussed how our work was going to be displayed in the exhibition and this needed some thought as the other class are using all the display boards. I think now as a group we have to think outside the box to what we can use instead of standard boards. Sally came up with an interesting idea using paper to create a 3D box. On each side of the box an image of 1 of our 3 pieces can be displayed. I think the class was spilt on this idea purely because of the time scale it will take to produce for all of us. I feel that if we were able to make the box ourself then it could work however some members were not as enthusiastic and felt that realistically it could not be achieved. T shirt designs were also discussed and exhibition team need to decide if each group are going to wear a different colour, or each module pathway will wear a different colour.

I have also been working on my personal branding website and preparing my final 3 items to be seen at the exhibition as the deadline for this work has been set for Thursday.

More Experimenting with personal branding

I have taken on board my original idea of black and grey smoke and used Adobe Photoshop to experiment with making it my own. Looking online at some tutorials I have experimented with the wave effect. By drawing a straight line and using the dodge and burn tool I manipulated the line. I then applied a wave effect to it and changed the opacity. The images below show some different screen shots of me experimenting with the design.

In class I presented my final business card idea to Marianna. After taking into consideration her comments I have kept the original concept but changed the text font and my logo. The sqiggle smoke effect was created in Photoshop using the Wave tool, I experimented with some different designs and came up with a black and grey colour theme. I have also made the font a lot lighter and floaty so it fits with the original theme and does not weigh the branding down. I have carried on the theme of the waves by putting them on the back of the card so it appears to be sweeping across the back continuous.

Front

Back

The colours chosen are still black and grey, I know they are not very girly but I want to come across as professional and not use the stereo type pink coloured font you would expect from a female. Im currently working on my website now so will include the website address at a later date when its up and runing. Here is a preview of the index page layout. The website consists of four pages About Me, Portfolio, CV and Contact Me. Every page follows consistency as the links are set in the middle of the page. The black, white and grey theme has been continued throughout the entire website.

Below is a screen shot of my CV. I have continued the ongoing theme of black and grey waves to create a sweeping effect across the page. I have also added it in at the bottom to create continuity and an added effect. The headings of each section are in bold to show their importance and the text is standard size 12 font.

Below is a CV I have created using the same style but experimented with a landscape layout.

Week 8: Personal Profile Information

Today I created a Personal Profile questionnaire for everyone to fill in. There are three question and the responses' will be on each students profile page next to their portrait image. The answers will allow the viewer to find out about each student. The questions asked are:

1. Tell us a bit about yourself?

2. What do you feel you specialise in? (Programs, Software, Application. You can say more than one)

3. What do you hope to do when you graduate?

The questionnaire has been put into the drop box so everyone can fill it in and post it back in.....Simple!

I am going to post on the Facebook group aswell so those who were not present in class know the questions are waiting to be filled out.

Business Card Idea

I saw an advert on the TV the other day promoting a singers album. The advert used a clever technique to create the effect of smoke, I think this look really cool and wanted to try and incorporate this into my personal branding. I decided to experiment in Illustrator with different fonts, logos, colours and layouts. I have used the same colour scheme as before, I feel the black and grey looks professional and stands out against the white background. The logo in the top corner was made from downloading a font from www.dafont.com, I then played around with its positioning and layout on the page. The logo has been place in the top left hand corner of the card. The smoke effect has been added to sweep across the card, continuing with the black and grey theme like the one I saw in the advert. My name is situated in bold, with my mobile number and email address as method of contact. I am pleased with my finished card I think it looks professional and stands out. I will continue this theme throughout my CV, portfolio, blog and sketch book.

Business Card

I have experimented using my logo on a business card. This is not the final version but a rough idea of how it will look.

This is the second design for my business card. I think i prefer the text plain grey, my name is bold and stands out and my contact details are easy to locate. The colours are easy on the eye and the text is clear to read.

This is the back of the business card, which acts as my logo.

An Interesting Read...

My friend has lent me her book entitled Business Cards 2, More Ways Of Saying Hello written by Michael Dorrion and Liz Farrelly. The book is full of business card ideas from different companies. The cards vary from standard sized cards to fridge magnets. The book is really innovative and shows how creative you can be. There really is no limit!

Personal Branding Ideas

I have been playing around in Adobe Illustrator today experimenting with different fonts and types. I have downloaded a font type from www.dafonts.com and experimented with its layout, size and colour. I have chosen a grey, black and white because I think it stands out, is clear to read and looks professional. This image can be placed solely on the back of my business card, in a large box or smaller and placed in the corner. I will need to experiment with this. This personal branding will also appear on my CV and I will use the same font type. I like the idea of the curved edge boxes so could use throughout the page to put different sections of my personal information in. I also like how the letter m filters into the b, I think this makes the name look edgey and stands out.

Week 6: Studio Photos

In todays class we had the studio booked out to take everyones profile picture. Participation from the class was great as most people turned up and was extremely co-operative as they cam down in groups so it did not get too hectic. One problem we had was with lighting as we booked out the soft boxes but they were locked in someones room so we couldn't access them on the day. This meant we had to play around with the lights we had in the studio which were quite strong and harsh but we made due with what we had. We wanted to ensure everyone felt comfortable when having their picture taken so we gave them the decision of how they wanted to stand and if they wanted to smile of give the camera a pose. The students that didn't turn up were asked to email us a picture of themselves with a black background. The images were loaded onto the computer at put into the dropbox folder for the class to pick their favourite photo to be used on the website.