The company will work in partnership with mastercard to produce their product and therefore, it was seen appropriate to study their past and current designs. One important aspect to consider is the relationship between the dates of their rebrands, and the timeline of the modernist / postmodernist transition. The 2016 design has returned to the simple modernist design from 1968, utilising simple shapes and opacity, along with integrating a cleaner and more legible typeface. The 1996 design beforehand seemed quite cluttered for modern digital interfaces, its typeface was shadowed, italic, duel coloured and overlapping. These are all unnesacary design decisions which complicates the logo.
The relevant design aesthetic from 1968 which is being used today has kept contemporary for over 50 years, Sagmeister strives to acomplish this longevity within branding;
‘Trendy design and styles can work if you are designing something temporary, like an illustration in a magazine or a poster with a short life-span. However, most of the time at our studio, we seek to create work that can have a long lifespan and stay relevant for a long while, especially in relation to branding. The identity and visual language we create for our clients should stay fresh and relevant even after a decade’ (Walsh, 2016).
Even though the design holds many modernist aesthetics, there is a sense of a common trend occuring within the overlap and use of opacity. This similar design is seen within a few new rebrands, some of which are figured below.
These trends and social conventions need to be identified within popular culture, ‘whether to maintain a sense of originality by avoiding common cliches or to fit in with accepted norms in order for the potential audience to recognise its context and message’
Within the projects branding, there are two possible routes which must be considered. A contrasting route and an immitation, both are used to for association within a certain field of work or type of product.
‘Many of those producers would use a contrasting colour pallet, in order to differenciate from their main competator, whereas other may seek to emulate the leading brand in order to communicate to perspective buyers by association.’
A core semiotic review of the source material can help to distinguish any commonalities between competator brands. The data gathered can then be used constructivley to either place my brand identity within a similar context, or to create a truely bespoke identity. The problems with differenciating too much from my target market is that the demographics may get confused and associate my brand with inapropriate relationships. All major major competators for example, seem to use bold and bright colour pallets to stand out to the audience. This may be a beneficial signifyer to embed within my brand, establishing it within the banking industires.
When analysing contextual research, modes of communication must also be considered.
In a current age of digital banking and paypass, it is crucial to be portrayed as approachable ubiquitous as possible towards the consumer. With the expanding age bracket for users of smart products, there is also a need to develop a user experience for all age groups.
Where the audience will consume the branding will be a huge factor within design decisions made. Firstly the brand must include an acompanying iconography in order to represent the company on small interfaces such as smart watch technology. It must also however be bold and unique enough to be recognisable enough when scaled up to the size of a billboard. The industry which the company will be integrated into means that it is more than likely to have an advertisng campaign centred around business. This may include digital advertsiements along with print material on signs or in newspapers. Therefore, it is important to consider CMYK and RGB within the colour scheme of the designs.
Task 2 -
Identity - Owns a building company which employs 13 tradesmen
Gender - Male
Location - Greater Manchester UK
Age - 45
Needs -
To regulate employees expenditures using a secure and manageable finance system.
To stop employees spending business money on gambling, cigarettes etc...
To distribute petrol to employees
Identity - Staff member at a Womans Hairdressers
Gender - Female
Location - Perth Western Australia
Age - 24
Needs -
A regulated payment system which will allow staff to purchase supplies using a company finances
Identity - Busness Partner in a Financial Company
Gender - Male
Location - New York USA
Age - 32
Needs -
A shared business account from which all members can withdraw and regulate expenditures
Task 3 -
Looking into recent rebrand identities, there is a definite sway to return to past styles and a refference back to logos which were used throughout the 20th century. Particularly, refering back to their modernist counterparts. This return to modernist designs creates a paradox where these modernist designs are labeled as postmodern as they borrow from the historical styles of the 1940’s-50’s. This is an indication of modernist principles returning from that era and signals the decline of the heavy postmodern era.
The Natwest rebrand takes influence from its past styles, specifically the 2003 version however, utilises new technology within motion graphics. Its gradient box design helps to create some clever visuals when animating the logo. This advancement in special effects and high quality television screens of the 21st century opens up new dimensions of design within motion graphics available to the public. The basic shape and structure of the logo has always been very similar however, advancements in technology allow for new opportunities both in screen and physical production methods.
Hand crafted technies are still extremely relevant within more expressionate fields of design such as the music industries. Their hand rendered aesthetic connects the artist or band with the audience on a more human level. They also allow the band to establish a style and set trends both vocally and visually. The design above is both postmodern in its content as well as its enviroment and context. This emblum will often be seen screenprinted on Tshirts by fans resembling the rejection of a modern consumerist corporation based society and celebrating personal indeviduallity. The design serves as a detournement towards what is socailly accepted as the norm, it pushes all boundaries set by the hiarachy and resonates anarchy throughout.
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