It was important to the library that their website be very visual, modern, and packed with useful student resources. Based on visual samples provided, I created a clean, bright design to both appeal to artistic students and to coordinate with the Art Institute colors (red, black, white).

I have to say, I was impressed with and a little jealous of all the resources the library provides its students. Sometimes I miss being in school!

The new Orange View website.

Before

The old Orange View website.

The church asked me to give their website a fresh, more modern online presence based on the identity I had created for them several months ago. I also felt it important to reorganize the content in a way that would make it easy for both visitors and members to quickly find what they needed, whether it be service times, prayer requests, or sermon podcasts.

Check out the new website, and be sure to visit Orange View if you’re ever in the Orange County area!

B(r)ands

Richard knows his industry well, and if you are at all interested in learning more about music branding, I recommend checking out the blog itself!

Daniel was described to me as very talented, intelligent, and quirky. I was asked to build for him a logo that referenced both his musical and mathematical abilities. The above option was his favorite, and the most fitting, but I also loved the below option, a play on brackets.

Daniel loved the final identity, and it was ready just in time for his first interview.

The Banner

Yvonne wanted a graphic that reflected their location (known for its beach sunsets) and the name (Southwest by South Florida Mensa). Based on these and her own ideas, I created a banner that will be used on the new site and in their newsletter.

Yvonne loved the banner and said it had overwhelmingly positive feedback. “The original you made put a smile on my face,” she said, “but the end product is stunning.” (The original mentioned was an earlier version that wasn’t quite there.)

The Favicon

After implementing the banner, Yvonne asked me to create a favicon as well, a small palm tree similar to those in the banner.

Like Yvonne, I’m pleased with the results of the project, and I look forward to seeing the website completed!

]]> http://www.thebloccreative.com/blog/case-study-mensa-banner/feed/ 0 http://www.thebloccreative.com/blog/hactivism-one-sheet/ http://www.thebloccreative.com/blog/hactivism-one-sheet/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:40:07 +0000 Brooke http://www.thebloccreative.com/blog/?p=347 Typically I don’t include case studies of internal projects, but I enjoyed this one and wanted to share it. David (my husband and video guru for The Bloc Creative) recently completed a feature screenplay and asked me to create what is called a “one sheet” to help him pitch the script to movie executives at this year’s Pitchfest in LA.

A one sheet for a screenplay is basically a one page marketing tool intended to be handed off to an executive for quick reference later. It is often double-sided, and contains imagery to set the tone, as well as a brief summary of the film.

David’s screenplay is about an unemployed programmer who finally lands a job–which turns out to be hacking banks for a madman. The tone is dark but hopeful, similar to The Pursuit of Happyness.

Front

One sheets typically include information on both the front and the back, but I chose to use the front as a miniature poster and gave some breathing room to the text on the back so as not to overwhelm the reader.

Back

David’s pitches went very well. He’s had five requests for his screenplay already, three “We’ll be in touch”s, and two requests for another screenplay he’s planning. And he got quite a few compliments on the one sheet along the way, so I’d say it was a success!

A bit of trivia for you: the binary you see spells out the title of the film. No, I’m not actually nerdy enough to be able to read/write it myself. I used a text to binary translator.

Heather mainly sells knit and crocheted goods on Etsy, and she wanted a memorable brand that would relay the “creative, yet practical side” of her designs.

With this in mind, I used hand drawn type to create a logo that she could use in her shop banner as well as in marketing materials.

Be sure to stop by her shop to check out her work!

Before

As with Pocket, the website for Richard’s band, Burnside Project, needed an upgrade to match the identity we had created for it. The new site needed to be darker and more pensive than Pocket’s, to reflect their music. Richard described it as a “moody, tech-organic plaything–a darker look at indie rock and electronics,” but he also wanted to give it a tinge of childlike playfulness.

Beyond that, it was important that the site function, like the Pocket site, as a social hub with access to the other two sites and social networks.

After

In keeping with the band’s underlying theme of the juxtaposition of technology and the organic, we built the new site around an illustration of robots attempting to portray a tree.

Be sure to visit the site to check out Burnside Project’s music, photos, and press. And while you’re at it, click over to their MySpace, which we also redesigned.

The Logo

Based on Orange View’s philosophy of doing its best to follow the Bible, traditions aside, I wanted to create something fresh that stood out from most church logos. The obvious choice of image for the mark was an orange, but I’d seen the same mark on nearly every business in Orange County and did not want to follow the trend. I also did not want to use the typical church imagery of a cross, fish, or dove.

With these thoughts in mind I created a clean, modern logo with a mark that did use orange imagery but took it even further. Rather than the overused orange ball with leaf, I chose to show the interior of the orange, made up of many parts, to symbolize the members of the church and their place in the whole.

The Sign

The challenge here was to use the existing sign structure and replace it using the new logo and style I’d created, while making it easy to read from the street. This was my first attempt at creating signage, and I enjoyed it.

Before

The Results

Was the project effective? I’ve gotten good feedback from fellow members, but the best evidence of its effectiveness so far was a visiting teenager I met yesterday who said he had seen the sign and checked out the website, then decided to visit. That alone makes every bit of my time worth it.

Before

Richard felt that his old site didn’t accurately reflect his music and wanted it to match the branding we had begun with designing the Pocket logo. We met over coffee to discuss his vision for the style of the Pocket brand (and by extension, the website). As his music was a mixture of different instruments and styles, he felt a collage-type site would best illustrate it. His description was “imperfect,” “messy toybox,” juxtaposition,” vibrant,” and “American 80′s.”

After

Our redesign of the Pocket website included drawings by Richard combined with images that fit his description. The new site is powered by WordPress to give him easier access to the content and also connects visitors to his social networking profiles. Richard is pretty excited.

Visit the site to listen to Richard’s music, download his remixes, and read the story behind each song. Over the next year, Richard will be releasing a new single every month. You can check out the first now: “Surround Him with Love,” featuring Robyn Hitchcock.

Edit: We also redesigned Richard’s MySpace and Twitter.