In case any of you don't remember, Yellow Duck PR is the marketing company that I am working with in building awareness about Design With Chon. Linda, the principal + executive director of Yellow Duck PR, came to me because she found my posting on Craigslist for a marketing consultant intern. She wasn't applying for the position, but gave me some pointers, and we instantly connected via email first and in person. We felt our business could be of great asset to each other since we could work like a bigger agency — DWC is the creative department, and Yellow Duck PR would be the marketing department. We would coexist, but be two separate independent companies.
Now let's get into the fun creative! Developing the logo + brand identity of Yellow Duck PR was tons of work, but so worth the effort and time. I prefer projects like this, because I love to start projects literally from scratch. I asked the client a million questions so I could get into her head to see why her company vs. others, and specifically, why the name? For all my clients, I want to understand the inner workings of any company so when I develop the outer shell that is to be seen by the general public, it will visually reflect the personality of the business. I am looking to develop a visual story through all the branding materials — corporate stationery, business card, brochure and so on...
The style of design work that is representative of Yellow Duck PR is definitely reflective of my personal taste — good, clean design, and strong graphics with a hint of whimsy. After my several conversations with Linda, I had a sense of what she wanted, but I definitely took it a HUGE step further beyond her expectations. I certainly took much pride in presenting to her 3 different concepts, of two which I knew, she would have a difficult time in making a final selection for the identity of her company.
For Yellow Duck PR, the stacked words in all caps is the actual logo of her company. The "Beak" face is the brand icon, and it can be seen as part of the signature logo or separate.
In the business card design (below), I wanted to literally bring the "Beak" to life. It's a one-folded business card with a die-cut along the beak's edge which allows the user to open the mouth and fold the card over to conceal the business card content. How neat is that?! Seriously, it's even better live. These flat renderings don't do the job. I will be taking photos of the final product once I get it so you can really see the "Beak" in action. :)
In developing the corporate stationery, I thought it would be fun to have two versions to the letterhead – "Closed Beak" and "Open Beak". Depending on her recipient, conservative or fun, she would pick the best letterhead design to match the personality. For any custom designed letterhead, there should always be a suggested template design on how a letter should be set up. For example, the "Open Beak" letterhead required precise measurement so the addressee's info is placed correctly in the speech bubble seen below. I provided Linda with exact dimensions in which she could set up her margins in Microsoft Word. This letterhead template is usually seen as part of the bigger Brand + Graphics Standards Manual. In this case, I provided the necessities based on the client's current needs and budget to get the project done.
So essentially everything has been completed for Yellow Duck PR in terms of logo development and corporate identity, and the initial beginnings of a Brand + Graphics Standards guideline. But it doesn't stop there... a customized brochure was integrated into the bigger picture, too. Clients tend to move on from designers once they get their logo files and initial graphics started, but they forget what they have access to when working with a designer specializing in graphics.
For instance, in the Yellow Duck PR brochure below, we didn't buy any photographic images. I created all custom infographics to visually tell the story, define the inner workings of the Yellow Duck PR process, and to reflect the overall nature of the brand. In addition, I was able to work with Linda's copy and restructured her verbiage so it would better be effective in each spread. Light copywriting is just one of the many services that I offer as I design any project. I am about making the whole picture and content cohesive down to the very last period in a sentence.
{Logo + Brand Identity, Brochure ©2011 Design With Chon}
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