Ch. 3 + 4, Strategic Creativity

Robin says, "If the creative idea isn’t strategically aligned with the overall brand narrative construct, then it will not be helpful to build the brand in the long term, enhance the brand’s position in the marketplace ... [and] keep the narrative alive and fresh." Something that I'm actually wary about for my Peebles design, is making it able to be enhanced and built upon with years to come. I don't want my design to end with me, I want to make solutions for this small business. Something that plays into that, though, is making designs that only I can edit. This week, I made two fonts for the business, and they're downloaded onto my computer, but I'm not sure how they do any good if other people can't use it too. I guess I'm not well versed in how to deliver files to a client either. Will they know how to install a font? Do they have any software that can actually support the font? All of these concerns play into if the brand identity I'm creating has legs long term.

I do hope that my illustrations and direction I've taken the brand is fresh and novel enough that it actually gets people to stop, look, and understand it. Something I feel like the previous design was lacking was any way to really draw the viewer in and make them want to understand the comic strips and advertisements. I'm hoping that my illustrations will be similar to seeing the Chickfila cow hold a sign that says eat more chicken, and I'm actually going to look to their advertisements as inspiration. I didn't even realize how similar my brand was to Chikfila, actually. Especially, with the messy handwriting. I'll just have to make sure to lean into the sports bar identity and also have no misspelled words. 

I wasn't expecting for this to be a topic in Robin's book. Some of this chapter really reminded me of what Dean said last semester at TrueMatter, talking about the way you write things on a website and how a viewer experiences reading. Can you cut unnecessary words? What is the shortest amount that you can say that still communicates the same message. I'm not sure how much I can use copywriting in elements of my design, but I can definitely use it for the website redesign I'm going to make. Additionally, on the website for the menu they're currently using, their headline for dishes with fish is, "From the Pond". Which shows they are trying to make an attempt to connect to their customer. 

I didn't even think about it, but I should probably think about what text will be on the website and how I can modify it to fit with the brand identity. I could maybe even think of common phrases or ways to refer to things and add it to my brand identity style guide. So much to think about! For the website, I want to lean into conversational, interesting, and witty tag-lines, which Robin says are most likely to keep attention.

I think my takeaway message that I want viewers to have after going on the Peebles restaurant is, "wow, they seem really unique and fun." My intent is Reinforce Identity, I believe, and I will definitely be going back to Robin's tips on mechanics and expression when I prototype my website.

The exercises give me flashbacks. I remember when I had a twitter in middle school and early high school, and I was desperately trying to come up with funny things to post, and also how to trim down what I wanted to post into a low enough character amount that it would post. I was always really bad at that.