Research - Branding & Identity

Direction

To gauge a better understanding of what direction Ryan want's 'Bamdoodle' to go in, I am going to collect a bank of research that is suited to the project to pitch a few routes to him and see which ones I can develop further.

This is the initial visual that Ryan has done for Bamdoodle. From this it is obvious that he wants it to be playful and not flat. I think that it is a case of finding a route that is playful and fun but not un-professional, finding brands that have a very informal tone of voice and lots of personality will help to find the right direction for Bamdoodle.

 Existing Furniture Branding

A lot of furniture branding focusses on the professional and craftsmanship of the person, which is very relevant for traditional furniture. Bamdoodle needs to retain this assurance of quality but with much more of a personal, friendly and hands on aesthetic

This company that makes unique drinking flasks steps slightly away from tradition and brings in a playful element with the axe handles intertwining. Although it is still very neat and minimal I think the playful logo gives it a lot more personality than if the 2 axes were simply crossed over like an 'x'.

This is an example of exactly what we don't want. I think this is very 'corporate trying to look friendly'. The typeface makes it look like a huge company that mass produces furniture whereas we want to communicate unique and individual goods made on a small scale.

The branding for Bamdoodle is going to have to exist somewhere on the product itself, with this in mind it may be worth looking into getting a rubber stamp made with the branding on it as this could be used else where as well. If this turns out to be expensive it may be that the logo is kept simple so that we can craft a stamp manually.

This is a good example of what sort of printed materials could accompany the product inside the box.

Cursive typography brings a certain personal and friendly level to blocks of typography

Skate Brands

As this product has as much to do with skateboarding as it does furniture, and anybody that purchases this product is definitely going to be a skateboarder, it is important to look into independent skate brands too see what is popular and successful .

I really like this style of illustration, I think that it has a good balance between 'strict, professional logo' and playful drawing

This skate shop shares an affinity with Bamdoodle as it focusses on hand crafted products, wood and skating. 

I think this is trying too hard to be cool and doesn't really mean anything.

Quirky

To suit Ryan's array of glyphs that he included in the initial Bamdoodle logo I want to look into quirky typography to see how we could incorporate something like this with it still making sense (and not using unnecessary pronunciation elements- umlauts, accents etc.)

I think this is stylishly good, but I don't think that the symbols are relevant to the company at all. It's just jumping on style bandwagons which is going to be damaging by next year.

If we could incorporate some quirky glyphs that are relevant to what Bamdoodle is about then it could turn into something quite interesting and interactive.

Fitting in with Ryan's recycled material D.I.Y ethic, we could look into embossing the logo on a variety of interesting and unusual material

Playful Tone of Voice

I think that something along these lines will be the best route to take Bamdoodle. Using humanistic typography and including a lot of personal touches with the product and playful copywriting will really help to give Bamdoodle a presence and personality.

As the products are made on a small batch scale it would be nice to individually number them so that the customer feels like they are buying something that is unique and personal to them

Fun labels, hand drawn typography, stamps and bits and bobs.

Finding a balance between guaranteed quality/ trustworthy and playfulness is what this brand is going to have to get across.

Here the logo incorporates a small amount of calligraphic type with modernist sans serif type which gives the impression of personality and fun within discipline and order.

Using geometric based illustration has a similar balance between fun and seriousness. I think something along these lines would definitely benefit the identity of Bamdoodle.

In terms of packaging as well as identity, incorporating as many little touches, like this string and little logo, will really help the user experience and connection with the brand.

Another example of cursive typography being used alongside lightheartedness and a friendly tone of voice.

I think using cursive type would definitely be a strong route to go down as it just lends itself so well to informal and fun communication

Written in any other style of type, 'Let's spoon' would look a bit strange.

I will use this research to start sketching out some initial routes prior to having a meeting with Ryan on Wednesday 16/10. After this we will choose one or two routes to really get stuck into.