Branding
Sustainable Environment Foundation
Linking technology within the urban environment to help build a better environment for the future.
The Brief was to create a comprehensive brand for the Sustainable Environment Foundation, for practical applications, in addition to the usual letterhead typed stationary. The brand needed to be recognizable so it could be used in a fund raising capacity.
I chose to do this project because it was a live brief, to me this meant more as it was a real brief thus having a purpose. Also with the environment being a hot-topic of the moment I knew it was going to be challenging to create a brand that was different, innovative and could stand out from the crowd. I looked at the 'low carbon world' website and quickly realized there was no brand, therefore this wasn't just a re-branding exercise. I was able to create a complete branding package and be diverse in where it could be used, for example the website and conferences.
When I initially looked at the 'low carbon world' website I was confused because there was no brand to speak of. Luckily I discovered that the Sustainable Environment Foundation conference/Low Carbon World was taking place on April 17th at The Royal Geographical Society. At the conference I got a greater understanding of the foundation, how they promote themselves, and their demographic, it was really worthwhile going to the event, as it helped me with my concept. At this stage I had my own idea of how the foundation worked, and what they required from me, I went to a meeting at Quintain (Sustainable Environment Foundation founders) where we clarified exactly what they had in mind, along with their background, history and ethos.
Initially I looked at a lot of 'green issue' related media, and brands such as; The Better Buildings Partnership, Greenpeace, Oxfam, Climate Change Capital, WWF, UK Green Building Council. I watched documentaries that included; The 11th Hour, An Inconvenient Truth and The Great Global Warming Swindle. After this stage the project took me about 2 weeks to get a recognizable brand, by knowing the problem and developing the brand DNA, the core DNA being; innovation, time, honesty, balance and community.
Because the foundation is relatively new, there were restrictions such as designing a logo that incorporated both a mark and descriptor. I sketched, brainstormed and made mood-boards from my brand DNA (these can be seen in sketchbooks).
I visualized the company as being a balance between different elements of the natural world and the urban built environment. With the current focus on global warming timing is critical.
Alongside the logo mark I have used a descriptor because the foundation is in its infancy so to create brand awareness it is useful to have the name alongside the logo. For this the typeface I chose was Montag which is only used for display work that could include conferences. Montag gives a clean, professional brand identity. Montag mirrors the logo harmoniously as it is rounded with long stems reflecting nature. The typeface is also friendly which is good for the foundation. The internal typeface is Helvetica as this available anywhere and is as good as free to use.
I also considered the psychology of colours. I chose green because of the ‘green’ ethos and blue as it is a recognized colour that people part with money. Charities use it so a foundation is no different.
For a complete branding package I looked not only at the main logo, letterhead, business card but to the biggest thing that they do, i.e. the conference. I have included a mock up for next years conference.
To create my brand I used a range of software including; Adobe Illustrator to create vector logos as work done in the software is non-destructive, doesn't use bitmaps, the work is very crisp even when re-sized and is great for logos. For the moving image sequences one promo piece was made with Adobe after effects using flourishes which grew over time. The techniques I used to get this to work included masks, using Vector illustration artwork. I also wanted to render the logo out in 3D with the idea of a leaf stem transforming into a flame. However, after experimenting with the logo I chose the final one as presented.
One promo piece was made with Adobe after effects using flourishes which grew over time. The techniques I used to get this to work included masks using Vector illustration artwork. I also wanted to render the logo out in 3D with the idea of a leaf stem transforming into a flame. However, after experimenting with the logo I chose the final one as presented.
I enjoyed the challenge of working to a live brief and learn a lot about the whole branding concept. I already knew how to use basic camera moves within Maya but having to utilize keyframes for a moving image piece challenged me to learn new animation techniques within Maya.
I think my branding concept is the ideal solution as it embraces the company ethos. The mark can be interpreted in different ways; i.e. the world, (hands holding the globe); time (the ON symbol – can also be interpreted as a clock at 12 noon representing time running out for green issues); innovative; subtle; clean; professional; easily recognizable (which is good for brand awareness).