Company Re-Branding: Logotype + Hangtags | Stitches

Thinking about different clothing stores while wandering around the mall and eventually coming across a Stitches made me realize the logotype for their branding seemed very outdated. I didn't understand the serif font they used and it just felt too cheap.

The clothing itself is both inexpensive and geared towards the ages 14-18, but I feel like even if the clothing is affordable, the branding itself can be luxurious. It's one thing to brand in this way, but keeping the target markets interest is another.

I played with a lot of sans serif fonts, but some reminded me of other clothing retailers, such as Winners. Ultimately, I decided to further explore the last design on the right of the first image. I then played with different colour schemes and hangtag design ideas, both front and back. On the first two hangtag designs I was playing with a different sans serif for the "1975" but the helvetica reminded me too much of the Gap, so I scrapped it.

The company is using a lot of light blue on their website due to summer branding, and I feel it works with the target audience, but I also feel it's more of a seasonal colour and could be used for a hangtag design during the summer months. The last design however, is my favorite. I actually went backwards and tried another serif font, but using the placement I created which made a whole new look for the brand. I like the colour and I think it also has that Canadian connection without reminding the customer too much of a brand like Roots.

Blake McGrath: Burn The Floor | CD Cover + Packaging

Blake McGrath announced his next single off of his album "Time to Move" recently. It's called Burn The Floor and is a great dance record that I hoped he would pick for the single. He held a vote on his facebook page with a choice of three songs: Burn The Floor, Penthouse (feat. Trish) and Lovesick.

Upon announcing the new single, he posted a picture of the cover. I decided to design it myself and see what I could come up with for packaging, also.

There are two final designs because I decided to push the text closer together for the cover, as I thought in the end it matched more cohesively to the back cover. Also, the tracks are fictitious, using Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" single as inspiration for the tracklisting. Photography is copyright respective owner.

Fictionist | CD Covers + Packaging

I heard about this band when they were in a voting contest for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. I decided to give them a listen and liked what I heard. I researched some of their CDs and decided to re-vamp the covers for a more contemporary and modern look.

First, I was playing around with a song of theirs called "Before I'm Old" and added that to the tracklisting of their CD "Lasting Echo."

The second image is another round of packaging using their song "Strangers in the Dark" as inspiration. I felt perhaps this track was more suitable for the cover given the photograph by Matt Clayton.

I don't know how the band would feel about hot pink, but I think they are the most unique and eye-catching so they are my favorite of the bunch.

Re-Branding The Warehouse Diner

I've decided to rebrand a diner I walk by occasionally. I really dislike the sign, so I was inspired to re-brand the company in a similar way to that of a graphic design project I had in fourth year. I really enjoyed re-branding 575 Jeans so why not?

The first image is signage exploration. On the left is a very contemporary design that looks very urban and rich in its simplicity. I personally like them but given the atmosphere of the already established diner I felt it didn't quite fit. Sticking with the green colour scheme of the already existing sign I explored further. Also, I began to play with "bar & grill" instead of the word "diner".

I really enjoyed the second to last design on the right, so I continued to explore that as coaster and napkin designs, which are the final two images.

CD Covers | Stanislao Moulinsky

Stanislao Moulinsky are a band I watched perform at Piazza della Repubblica in Firenze while on my trip. They were one of many bands performing for the La Notte Blu event going on at the time. I think they're a very talented band and I wanted to try my hand at designing and re-designing CD covers for them for fun. I'll probably design even more later, these ideas just popped in my head while taking a shower this morning so I had an urge to design.

Re-design for their album cover Y

Second re-design for their album cover Y

Design of a single cover for the record Tu Vai

Lady Gaga | JUDAS cover

I haven't posted for a while so I thought I would re-design the cover for Lady Gaga's single JUDAS. Using the red as inspiration I created this:

Here is a larger version.

From Italy back to Canada

I returned to Canada less than a week ago, and just yesterday officially graduated with honours from the Bachelor of Applied Arts (Illustration) program at Sheridan! Yeah! Degree. Feels good.

Italy was amazing, I will blog about it soon and share many pictures in my other blog Aesthetic Enthusiast. For now, here's a picture taken in Montalcino (AKA the most beautiful place I've ever seen) to tide you over.