Passionate about paper (and postcards)

My MA classmates might probably think of me more as a digital fiend than someone who's obsessed with paper, but anyone who remembers me from my foundation days will testify that I indeed have a thing for the latter, from textured pieces to graphic-led wrapping paper and delicate Japanese rice versions. For as long as I can remember, I do also seem to have the habit of collecting postcards; first, from travels (my dad, then my own), and then to more interesting forms which play with die-cuts or interesting materials and so forth.

Researching ideas for my interactive postcard campaign has therefore led me on to very inspiring finds and it's really hard to stop looking! Here are a few of my favourites so far:

This sundial business card was created for an antique watch collector.

Postcarden: A greeting card that lets the recipient grow his/her own cress!

Bosch lawnmower calendar: Each day, the recipient gets to tear off from specially cut papers that mimic a wild lawn – leaving a perfectly mowed lawn at the end of the year.

Eyeball.ing – refining the brand identity

Testing the various logos with a sample of the target audience has led to eyeball emerging as the forerunner, but of course I'm not simply letting it rest there.

A few dozen tweaks later, I've got these to show as fruits of my labour. From testing how the logo looks with the addition of an 'eye', to the thickness and kerning of the typeface, and on to developing the elements that would eventually form the accompanying graphics, these will then be incorporated in the interface design of the iPhone app.  

A beginner's attempt at mapping an app

I tried sketching these out on an A4 piece of paper, I really tried.

Even after reading through resources such on Interactive Sketching and How to Create an iPhone App, I was still stumbling along. Then I recalled how someone once said that if you're stuck sketching out an idea, try a different tool to draw it with, and voila!

Using post-it notes this way also enabled me to think a lot clearer and feel less apprehensive about thinking what each page needed. This is how the different parts sit:

• links
• pages
• actions (for user)
• functions  

So now I've figured out how the iPhone app would work, it's on to visualising it!

Testing, testing... seek, inquisitor and eyeball

As the first few results come trickling in, here's a snapshot of what's been noted so far. Each participant was given a set of postcards – one logo per postcard, and a brief explanation on the service being offered (ie. alternative London events/venues).

They were then asked the following:
1. What are your first impressions of this logo? (Please describe in 3 words.)
2. How does the logo make you feel? (Again, please describe in 3 words.)
3. How well do you think this logo relates to the service?

The answers were then detailed on the back of the card, and at the end of the test, the participant was asked to state their preferred logo. The comments made a really interesting read, but I'm not going to detail every one of them here – it's more fun to read it in the original handwriting! ;)

Alter-egos

While trying to flesh out the personalities of the seek, inquisitor and eyeball, I realised words just weren't jumping out at me in the beginning. To get into a better frame of mind, I tried visualising them as having their own calling cards instead – which oddly (maybe not) did help!

I also wanted to experiment how the logo would lend themselves to simply being graphics, and out popped 4 designs for the shortlisted logos, complete with 5 characteristics for each detailed behind. Cue, photos!

The FMP – logo development - Round 2

From pen/pencil-to-paper beginnings, the shortlist of 3 names for my final major project have now made it to the Indesign/Illustrator drawing board.

My preferred versions for each name have been enlarged and placed in the bottom right corner of each jpeg. With a bit more tinkering where needed, these will then be tested with a sample of the target audience of 25-40 year olds – that might just be you!

(Don't shy away from expressing pre-testing opinions now...)

Pencilled in

Following on from the shortlist, here are some initial logo sketches for seek, inquisitor and eyeball. At this stage, I think the first two names lend themselves rather easily to the creation of logotypes, while I find myself gravitating towards more of a symbol-led logo for eyeball.

More development ensues!