January 31, 2016 – Jamie Hammond

January 31, 2016Jamie Hammond

Website Composition

Continuing my website for the identity of the brand I have tried to experiment with the layout of all the components to see if I could come up with something that represents the creativity and inventiveness which tattoos represent.

To see which direction I could go in, I stayed with the ship wheel theme to define the design. I liked how this looked when it was solely in the corner because of the boldness and how it links to the octopus tentacles in the top corners. But once I did this all over the page I thought that it looked too busy and was far too overpowering.

I then had a go at putting text into one of the wheels to see if this would break it up a bit, or to see whether or not it wasn’t working. I liked how this looked because of the text within, however, it was still far too overpowering with all of the black. To divide this up slightly I could have changed the colour palette of them with greys and maybe the odd hint of blue (the same tone which is on the business cards) but I don’t feel like this would have worked because of the nature of the repetition. Therefore, I decided against it and tried to change the design so that it wasn’t as ‘in-your-face’.

This led me to changing the centre wheels positioning to the side, so that there was still room for other elements within the gaps. I preferred this style because it was less vibrant and the design seemed to flow more. Nonetheless, I think because of the juxtaposition of the colour palette for all of the elements I think that the design was too much- even though it could represent the creativity of the brand in an interesting composition.

After experimenting with all of that, I decided to go back to my original three wheels in the corner. On the right, as displayed, I followed a more traditional approach with the text that almost looks like a scroll. I used the oars for the top and bottom of this to make it more eye-catching and to keep it in keeping with the rest of the aesthetic of the page. I really love how this turned out because it follows the gird method of the website, but when I glance at the page I instantly think that it is for a tattoo company. Therefore, because of this and the emphasis on the design, I think that the identity and style of this format is successful for the brand. I could develop it slightly to include a hint of blue, but as it is I think it still works.

January 31, 2016Jamie Hammond

Identity: Website development

To develop the brand I continued working on the website. I liked how I started with this because it had a strong layout (yet simple, but that is suitable for the audience) and it caught your eye. I have worked on this by incorporating more of a design that could be transferable to other platforms. I wanted there to be a strong and apparent tattoo influence and link, so with this in mind, this is what I came up with.

As High Seas Ink is a tattoo brand that targets a contemporary, “hipster” audience I focused the visuals to capture the creativity and nature of the brand. Firstly, I didn’t like how the top corners were empty and plain- which are two things that tattoos do not represent. So I used the logo graphic for this and placed it in the corner, focusing on the tentacles to portray the ‘hand-drawn- nature of tattoos because it feels natural with the curves. I like how this jumps out from the page to create a bold design for the header, and I think that it sets it up nicely for the rest of the website.

As it was the home page and I had already stayed to the grid method with the navigation bar, I wanted the page to be a little bit more adventurous and creative. This led me to using solely visuals, and I arranged the ship wheels (still linking to the sea) in a clock/cog formation as I think that this looks interesting and is very engaging. For the other side of the page I am going to use other visuals, possibly some using text so that it is more informational, but continuing the theme and aesthetic. Moreover, less text will appeal to the target market as well as making it visually interesting.

January 31, 2016Jamie Hammond

Identity: Website beginning

After designing the logo, I have now gone on to making the many formats for the brand in order for it to establish itself (as said in the brief). I thought that the next stage should be a website as this is a large platform for a business and I think that it would give me scope to explore the colour palette of the brand as well as making an interesting composition with all of the elements that I have already made.

I wanted to follow the stereotypical grid layout for the website because I think that this would suit the young target audience. I have used a lighter shade of grey for the background as I think that this is bold and works for a consistent theme for the brand. The logo is centred at the top of it which I think works well in this instance.

The navigation bar which is underneath this is in a completely different style of typography; a sans-serif. I have chosen a sans-serif as this because it contrasts against the type of the logo, and when I have used the same font I don’t think that it worked because it made the logo stand out less. I developed this by separating each ‘button’ with the ship wheel graphic that is also featured in the logo. I really like how this has turned out because it has made a clear navigation for the page as well as a consistency for the identity of the brand.

January 31, 2016Jamie Hammond

Identity: Business cards

For the start of the identity for the brand I wanted to start making products that the brand could use to market themselves. I have utilised the logo as the main feature of the design as this would be the recognisable element and make the brand become well known. I tried to go with the same colour palette to see how this would work out in a different formant.

I originally made the business cards in a grey background, but as the company had link to the ‘sea’ I thought that maybe a more subtle tone of blue could work as the basis of the background. On the one displayed above I don’t think that the darkness works for the company because of the contrast and darkness with the black. However, the composition with the slight black outline around the edge of the card works well and makes the design more defining, therefore, I will keep this is other designs because it is simple but works effectively.

On this later design I have used an even lighter shade of blue. I think that this works better as a background colour because of the juxtaposition of tones with the black. The tones of blue that I have used aren’t bright and only have a subtle element of colour to them which I think works well in this instance. I could have used bright colours to make the cards more defining and eye-catching, though as a subtler colour I think the designs are still successful. The development of the colour palette could expand to include this shade of blue and I think that this small amount of colour will be more effective on other products and formats for the brand to gather a consistent identity.

Businesscard7

To continue the original colour palette of monochrome I have tried this in a grey background. I really like how this has turned out because of the boldness of the design. Whereas the blue background gives it something more, keeping it grey is consistent with the logo and I think that this would appeal to more people. Though, looking back at the other designs I do feel that the lighter blue design is the best one out of all three in this format. I will still use this shade of blue on other formats and designs, but not necessarily as the background colour as I don’t think that this will work on a website as much as a grey.

January 31, 2016Jamie Hammond

Logo Refinement

After doing a lot of different ideas and playing around with compositions and typography I have decided on this as my final logo design. The black with grey and white works really well for the branding and identity of the tattoo parlour, as well as being appropriate for the target audience. It is a recognisable brand because of the boldness of the graphic element on top, but if needed it could be simplified down without the type to be even more minimalistic. I think that this could work very well on certain products on platforms, but for a brand that is working their way up and dispersing nationwide I think that the typography should be there.

Now, with a refined colour palette and eye-catching design I can move onto creating an identity for the brand. I will start to market the brand with products such as business cards and a website to see whether I need to alter the aesthetic (in case it is too simplistic for these platforms).