SEVERN COOPER - IDENTITY - EVALUATION

This was the first proper live brief that I have undertaken and I'm pleased to say that I am very happy with the final outcome of the brief and how the project went as a whole. To start my research into a broad range of leather (big and small) really helped me to understand what it is that my client would want their visual language to be as it can be very difficult to get a good balance between the modern and traditional. The bespoke logo is something that I have not done properly before and I am happy with the outcome I think that it gives the right tone of voice to the audience and it does not give too much away which allows the brand to evolve naturally over time. Creating a range of ideas for the different elements of the identity and getting informative feedback from the client really helped me to push the overall design as I did not only have to please myself but I had to please the client which is one of the most important things. I was looking forward to working with a professional printer for this brief but sadly it didn't work out as planned, I now have to pass that on to the client to get printed but I am happy that my design is still going to be printed and used for its purpose. I feel that I worked very professionally with the timescale as I did not want to disappoint the client with poor timing. Overall this brief has given me a better understanding of designing in the real world (buying typefaces/dealing with printers) and I will be able to take what I have learnt from this brief forward on to new client work.    

SEVRN COOPER - IDENTITY - CLIENT COMMUNICATION

Throughout the project, I have had both email communication and face to face meetings with the client to discuss the development of the project. It has been easy to get feedback from the client and working with them has been good for my practice as it is making think more about presenting myself professionally to the client both over email and face to face. 

SEVERN COOPER - IDENTITY - VISUAL GUIDELINES

One of the deliverables for this brief was to put the whole identity together within a clear and focused presentation of the different elements of the Severn Cooper identity. 

The visual guidelines that I have created give my client a better understanding of the visual language that is being used to represent the brand. It covers all the main elements which make up the identity which includes - 

• Logo/usage
• Social media 
• Typeface choice 
• Colour choice
• Print elements (business cards, letterhead, tags etc.) 
• Stamps
• Imagery for social media

All of this information should give my client what they need to understand and use the visual language of their brand from using this they will now be able to start using all the elements of the brand for themselves - I will always be on hand to help with any further queries that they have concerning the design. 

SEVERN COOPER - IDENTITY - PACKAGING

As part of the packaging for Sever Cooper, there will be basic tags added to each of the products these tags will help to add a more personal touch to the brand as the good are expertly handmade this continues this theme so that the customer knows a little more about their product.

These tags will be supplied by the client themselves, so what I have designed is the template for the stamp. The tag information will be on a stamp so that my client can change the tags accordingly, this means that they can update their look very easily just by changing the tags to something new. 

Information includes 

• Severn Cooper - Stamp on the front 
• Object - The product itself (Wallet or bag which have special names) 
• Colour - The correct name for the colour of the leather
• Date - When it was made
• Number - 1 out of 10 
• Maker - Who designed and made the product 

Final - Simple mockup of what the tags should look like once the stamps have been made. 

SEVERN COOPER - IDENTITY - BUSINESS CARDS

Business card information from the client 

Front

Severn Cooper

Leathersmith & Luggage Maker

Handmade in London

OR

Severn Cooper

Leather Goods & Accessories

Handmade in London

Back

Jim Cooper, Leathersmith

email jim@serverncooper.com

web www.severncooper.com

Development 01

• Wanted to keep the design of the business card simple and to the point not meaning that people would be more inclined to look further into Severn Cooper once receiving a card. 
• Experimented with a range of layouts to help find the best one for SC 
• It is essential that the business card is designed with care as this will be one of the main points of contact that the customer will have with the brand. 
• I decided that it would be better not include "leather goods & accessories" as this over complicates the front of the card when all you really need is the custom logotype. However "made in London" as more appropriate and I did experiment with using this in my designs. 
• Colour - some basic colours have been used to give an example of what cardstock we could choose leaning more towards using natural coloured stock at this point however, this could change once I have a meeting about the stock.

Development 02 - Business Cards - Refined

• After getting feedback from the client I was able to refine my ideas down and work on the best designs and then make some variations of the design to get the best result. 
• The design the client liked the most is with the "Severn Cooper" separated - so I made some variations of the design experimenting with alignment as well as looking at using smaller type in capitals. 
• Using smaller capitals I felt looked more aesthetically pleasing compared to all lowercase as it made the design feel slightly unjointed - having a mixture of the two gives the back of the card some variation which it needs to look the best it can. 
• Debossed logo on the FRONT (not printed) - immersing leather embossing. 

Final Design

• Selected and approved by the client - waiting on the colour choice before the design can go to print
• The straightforward design is legible on both sides - Name in title case as this is how it should be written as a name rather than capitals, the rest of the information is in small 11pt capitals as it is more prominent in capitals but I did not want them to be too big and drown out the rest of the information on the back.  
• The debossed logo means that it will be visible from both sides (slightly less on the back) but helps to make the business card feel unique much like a lot of the products that Severn Cooper sells. 

Paper Stock

• After meeting with the client we decided on the paper finishes for the business card. We also discussed where to get the cards printed, I suggested Evolution Print in Sheffield as the best people for the job so I have emailed them for a quote. 
• Green G.F Smith stock - Racing Green/forest green need to be chosen from to find out which is the best to use. 
• We also decided that there should be two styles of the business cards - (white stock with green ink and then the opposite green stock with white link) 
• The client wanted to add some more colour to the overall design so we choose the most appropriate colour from the given colour palette. 
• The paper will need to be 300gsm or more with the embossing. 

Printing/Finishes

Having inquired about printing from Evolution they were unable to print the exact specifications of the design as they cannot print white ink on their inkjet printers and as it is only a small job they won't do it on the lithograph printer which does take white ink. This means that I have had to alter the final design so that it will only be the white card with green ink. Now awaiting a response from Tom at Evolution Print about the alterations. 

I did not get a follow up email from Tom at Evlotion print so the client will be handling the printing from this point onwards as they want to get them printed excatly as designed and becuase evlouation are unable to print with white ink this means it will have to printed else where.  

SEVERN COOPER - IDENTITY - STATIONARY

Letterhead

• As part of the Severn Cooper identity, I have designed office stationery which can be used for a number of purposes within the business. 
• When sending letters to customers etc. these will need to be used to give a professional tone of vice to the business. 
• Simple design that links to the rest of the identity - which strengthens the consistency throughout the Severn Cooper brand.  
• Basic information - Contacts details (number, address, email and website) 
• Experimented with different layouts which helped to identify what would be the most appropriate layout for the letterhead.  

Further developments

• Having got the basis of the design showed these to my client which was good to see what they liked and disliked. 
• Some notes back from the client suggested that the body copy should be smaller so that it doesn't take up must room for when there is the other body on there it could feel too big compared to the rest of the body. 
• Taken influence from the business card - spacing in between Severn Cooper should be kept the same whether vertical or horizontal. This also helps to keep the consistency throughout the print collateral. 

Final Layout 

• Final layout for the letterhead - kept as simple and clean as possible letting the branding of Severn Cooper remain the main focus.
• Information is clear and easy to understand - the address is placed in the traditional place for a formal letter and the other details mirror this - text hierarchy has also been used to correctly lay the type out. 
• The invoice/receipt can now use this as a basis. 
• Has been approved by the client as the final design - waiting on stock choice.   

Invoice / Receipt

• An essential piece of design for any business an invoice - helping to keep track of what is being bought and what is being sent. The layout needs to be clear and to the point as it is an important document.  
• Using the letterhead as a basis for the design I was able to work my way down the page. Again making sure thing were all kept as formal/traditional as possible with the customer's address situated on the left-hand side. 
• Easy to understand, with all the relevant information on there. 

Final design 

• To be printed on GF Smith Colorplan - Natural 
• The file will be sent to the client so that they can print their own copies of both the letterhead and invoice on demand as this should save on cost for the client rather than getting professionally printed.