Designing an Integrated Visual Identity System: Corporate Identity Design
Second Year University Project
Project Brief
Functioning as an introduction to corporate identity and brand design, this project centred around the creation of a fictional brand/company and the design of all its relevant visual components and stationary pieces. The invented company had to incorporate and be inspired by a triadic combination of a chosen industry from the given list (sport, tourism, agriculture, or pharmaceuticals), one of the seven wonders of the world, and the visual style of any chosen South African artist. Using these three items, the project then required the development of a clear visual identity and personality, a brand name and slogan, and the subsequent extension of the identity into a range of stationary and communicative items.
Project Deliverables
1. Documentation of all development and process work
2. 2 x Hand executed logo in gouache on A5. One executed in colour and one executed in greyscale.
(Logo must incorporate a name, slogan, logotype/symbol, colour and typography)
3. Stylistic range and patterning
4. Corporate stationary:
- Business card
- Letterhead
- Envelope
- E-mail signature
- Promotional stickers
5. 3 Page Mini brand style guide, presented as presentation boards, that outlines the corporate identity elements/ visual assets
Design Strategy
For this project, I chose to combine the industry of agriculture with inspiration from the Grand Canyon as my chosen wonder of the world. The combination of these two resulted in the creation of a smoothie brand specialising in unique layered cactus dessert smoothies. I wanted to play on the idea of a desert-dessert. Gourmet dessert smoothies are made using the variety of desert cactuses and edible succulents found along the gorge of The Grand Canyon. Each unique smoothie contains various flavours arranged in layers so that the colours mimic the various layers of rock formations found in the Grand Canyon.
My brand is targeted towards fun and vibrant people with a spontaneous and adventurous taste palette. It is more targeted towards younger adults. Because of this I wanted my brand to incorporate a bright and vibrant colour scheme and fun appearance.
I was heavily inspired by the work of South African Graphic Artist Sonwabo Valeshiya. I wanted to incorporate a similar approach of stylised line work on imagery with splashes of colour that Valeshiya employs. The style is fun, youthful, adventurous, and modern but still brings back the patterns and textures of the natural landscape. I also wanted to use a similar typeface with a bubbly, fun script for titles paired with a more calm, legible typeface for subtitles and body font. It is still modern, but prioritises legibility.
Triadic combination of agriculture industry, Grand Canyon and artist inspiration
Back to the Beginning
Initial exploration and development
The Logo
The Cactus Crush logo incorporates the core values and imagery of the brand. It is fun, bright, quirky, and plays off the idea of the taste of the desert in a glass. I wanted to merge the imagery of a smoothie glass with imagery of a desert cactus. The main colours are varying shades of pink with a vibrant green to make the design pop. The bold, flat, stylised design gives off a modern yet vibrant energy. The logo exists in its main form as a horizontal grouping of logotype and logo image, but is adaptable as many different variations which shows the flexibility of the logo, as well as the brand as a whole.
Typography and Colourscape
Initial planning and development of corporate stationery components
Final patterns and illustrations
Mockups of Corporate Stationery
Mini Style Guide
