This is a project that looking back on, I’m not 100% happy with because I felt throughout this entire brief, I wasn’t quite sure whether I was doing the right thing, and I wasn’t extremely passionate about what I was creating. Not to mention branding isn’t really my strong suit. Even though I would like to think I am good at it (since I’m studying Graphic Design), more often than not, I struggle with the business side of a project and logo design in particular.
Needless to say, I wished I had spoken to my lecturer more on getting further guidance on where to improve and what to include, as I often felt lost about the project up until the last two weeks of working on it. I also wished I had put more time into the project as it was often put on the back burner because Creative Design Practice took up most of my time due to it being the most credited module.
I felt that getting an extension could have given me a chance to work on my development work more because I got 69% overall in this module. I felt that if I had put more time into my development work, I could have pushed that mark into getting a first. I was honestly quite upset as this was the lowest mark I’ve ever got since the first year (and that was the essay), and I just wished I could have put more time into the project to get a better mark. Even though a 2:1 is still a fantastic mark, and it was for a 20-credit module, I just felt like I let the quality of my work drop a little too low because I wasn’t as passionate about it as other projects I have done in the past.
I can’t help but worry in case this mark hinders my overall degree mark in general because it is a 3rd-year module. Still, I realised that this is a good learning experience for me and a kick in the backside to put more effort into my work – passionate or not. Not every piece of work you create you will be happy with or passionate about, and sometimes you got to just accept the fact that is the case, and others will be able to recognise that, also causing you to get a 2:1 rather than a first.
But enough about my self-pity time to actually talk about my project. Honey Hollow was a business/branding brief for Design Management and Practice module. The project stemmed from my group business plan that surrounded the idea of “saving the bees” whilst creating eco-friendly boots with seed satchels that you can plant flowers with to help pollinate Chester. To make it more suitable for my career aspirations but experimenting more with different aspects of video games, I decided to turn the project into a brand promoting the upcoming board game that has aligned itself with the Save the Bee movement. This was so then that it can be linked back to my original business plan to raise awareness around the importance of saving the well-loved insects.
Our task was to create a presentation that consists of the brand identity of “Honey Hollow” to ensure the message is spread about saving the bees. My final solutions throughout this project were board game packaging, logo design, promotional material, logo application (from laser cutter to vinyl), a plant pot competition and creating some aspects of the board game physically (using the laser cutter).
Again, as I previously stated, I felt like I wasn’t as passionate about this project because I often felt confused about what I was creating for the final solutions for the brief. I think this led me to work on a variety of different things to cover my basis and explore logo application, especially as that was the main feedback I got given. In some cases, this was to my benefit as I learnt new skills such as using the laser cutter and creating vinyl stickers. However, it distracted me from adding to my development work, where I dropped my marks. In the long run, it would be to my advantage as I can include that within my skillset, and it would give me the chance to experiment with media that isn’t just digital work as well.
I was pretty happy with my final solutions in terms of my digital work, though some of the outcomes often felt repetitive in their design. I felt this was necessary to have a cohesive branding aesthetic, as I wanted this “cottage-core” element to fit nicely with the notion of saving the bees as Beekeepers (etc.) are in a rural setting. Not to mention “cottage-core” is a current online trend that people are obsessed with right now, especially the gingham pattern, making my design choice more relevant and “trendy” for potential consumers.
My logo was actually the catalyst for most of the overarching aesthetic, especially when it came to my colour palette. I wanted something warm and cosy, almost as if you were having your favourite cup of tea with honey. I also wanted to add quirkiness to my logo to make it seem more rememberable and stand out more, causing me to include small illustrative elements within the logo and the pops of green. This was one of the only parts of the project that I felt most proud of, as it is like a fully established logo. While displaying a good balance between illustrative and linear like logos tend to be. I felt like I could be more illustrative within this logo design because it was for a board game, and upon my research, their logos tend to be more illustrative and more complex in their designs. When reading my feedback that some of my logos got lost in translation and might not be as seen as a logo to some, this was another thing I got pretty upset about because this was one of the aspects of the project that I was proud of only to be told it didn’t quite hit the mark.
Regardless of the bitterness, this was a massive curveball throughout the third year and, in my opinion, the most complicated module as I had such a hard time wrapping my head around the brief concept. Though I have accepted that it wasn’t my best work, I can only take this module as a learning experience and improve further in the future. Possibly in my downtime in the future, I could learn the fundamentals of branding more and take time to really practice this skill. However, because I would mainly like to focus on my illustrative, animating and modelling skills, I could see this skill possibly taking a back-burner in the near future.
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