Eloise Atter - Graphic Branding and Identity - LCC My aim for my self-initiated project is to create a platform for my practice. During the COVID19 pandemic, I discovered pottery and the therapeutic nature of making something beautiful out of a piece of clay. This is a hobby I have continued, and I would like to take further, by creating a website to sell my products and showcase other work. The main task I have set myself is to create a brand identity that will carry the brand through other media such as Instagram in order to be recognisable and reach a wider audience. I will do this with a logo, colour palette and other graphic brand assets as well as photography and the clay products themselves. Through researching other pottery brands, I have found that creating short videos of the making process is very appealing to an audience, therefore I plan to make Instagram videos to show how a piece of clay can be transformed. I also hope to make a difference to people as I find the process calming and I hope they will too. This gives the project a purpose. Creating a platform also gives me the opportunity to generate sales for my products, which will hopefully become profitable in the future. To begin with, I plan on making an Etsy shop. From my research, I have found the most successful clay product sellers on Etsy have a thought out and consistent brand identity, which I think reinforces the trust in the seller from the customer. I will also propose a website design that I could use in the future. The business side of my work is a new skill that I will be learning, something that I find important to take with me after university and continue in my future practice. Designing for a purpose Some research I have conducted so far includes looking at similar brands, platforms artists have created to promote their work. Someone who I have been inspired by for a while is influencer and activist Florence Given, a radical feminist who illustrates. Her website includes prints of her illustrations and merchandise. Her choice of words and imagery tells her perspective on feminism, encouraging women to ‘be the love of their own life’. By looking though her website, I have noticed her brand is unique and has a recognisable style. This is something I think is imperative to success as a graphic branding student and designer. I have recently become the graphic designer for the UAL Women in Media society. Designing for a purpose, whether it is a rebrand or a campaign post, helps me to practice the skills I need to develop my own brand. I am constantly inspired by the way Florence Given presents herself as a female creative and her style has influenced the way I design for the society. Being part of a passionate community of female creatives has encouraged me to get involved with campaigns and think about design as a way to draw attention to social and political narratives. Sales initiatives I have taken part in initiatives that will help my project such as being part of the UAL Not Just a Shop live brief to create an environmentally sustainable product. We created the UAL Crafty Pop-up Shop where I could sell my clay products for the first time and gain experience in creating a brand. I found this challenging at first because of the number of products I had to make in a short amount of time (which sort of took the calming nature of the making process away) however reflecting on this experience, this is something I can learn from with better time management. The project taught me to consider where to source materials from, considering environmental sustainability. This was a challenge at first as I had other commitments and finding the time to design packaging was difficult. However, as part of my research, I found some very interesting sustainable materials for packaging that I can now consider for my self-initiated project. It is important for me to work towards my beliefs in what I do, therefore by thinking about the environmental sustainability of what I am making, I am including my beliefs into my practise. Overall, this process was positive, and I made some sales and therefore experienced how my brand identity had an impact on my products as well as learning about the sustainability of materials I can use. Following on from the Crafty Pop-up Shop, I also applied to Not Just a Shop open call to sell my products. The application process taught me a lot about pricing my products correctly so they would be appealing to customers (which I found difficult because my costs were high) however, I will resolve this by buying cheaper clay and materials. Following current trends, I have loved making animal plant pots for this application, which have an element of fun and humour to them. By speaking to tutors and experts about this opportunity, I learnt a lot about how to prepare myself; finding my target audience, how to price for wholesale and what designs are trendy and could become a series for future applications. Community I was also approached by an air-dry clay kit company called Sculpd, who welcomed me into their Creators Club, a community of potters who create work every month for a brief which is advertised on Sculpd’s website and Instagram (100k followers). Becoming an ambassador for Sculpd has really encouraged my practise in this field and it has also inspired me with many ideas by being part of the community. I have also found that a key part of growing my brand comes from collaboration and advertising through a platform like Sculpd. I have learnt that using social media makes my work accessible to collaborators and clients and I feel part of a community of artists and potters. Sculpd’s tone of voice is friendly and down-to-earth, which has made me think about the importance of positioning myself in this way as a pottery brand. This experience has reinforced my passion for design and the many ways I can conduct my design ideas and creativity. To conclude, as someone who practices multi-disciplinary design, creating a branded platform will help with my future practices as I add to my collection of work and therefore give my work distinction. Having an online presence will make my brand more accessible and position myself as an artist professionally. This will help me to become more confident in my abilities and show my work to a wider audience including future collaborators and clients. Reflecting on what I have learnt so far in the early stages of the project, I am setting myself goals to be more business minded and think about not only design as a product, but as a way to advertise and strengthen my own brand as a designer.
Florence Given Website (March 2022) https://www.florencegiven.com Sculpd Instagram (March 2022) https://www.instagram.com/sculpdit/ Pottdpeople Instagram (March 2022) https://www.instagram.com/pottdpeople/ JoannaClayDesign Etsy (March 2022) https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JoannaClayDesign
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