AM
“Brand me” was the first activity we were faced with. It involved us getting into groups of six and asking our tutor, Sarah Snaith, just three questions in order to gain the information needed to brand her. With a very basic understanding of branding and the added difficulty of limited data, I found this challenging. I wasn’t sure on what sort of information it is that we were looking for, and only on reflection now do I see that we needed to ask more directly what Sarah wanted to portray about herself and which features we needed to prioritise.
My group came up with a more visual approach to the task, creating a character to represent Sarah’s views and personality.
She has a chameleon-like head signifying her ability to mould to her environment (teaching years 1-3) and the fact that she writes about a range of design related topics for multiple magazines. Having mentioned her interest in print design, specifically noting English 50’s and 60’s Graphic Design, and describing her aesthetic as classic, we included her fifty’s style glasses. She is dressed in a tutu to express her love of dance and performing when she was younger and its contribution to her subject of writing, along with ice hockey skates to show her underlying Canadian background.
(image of logo)
Our peers came up with a typographical representation, pitching a slogan. I didn’t think this would be an effective form of branding, as I tend to steer towards visuals, however on discussion of the use I recognised that they can have a significant and in some cases stronger impact on the audience due to their catchiness.
I think we created an entertaining logo, however I am unsure whether Sarah would want to use this logo to present herself to the public and further professional corporations. Perhaps it is too comical to be suitable and has too many features, confusing the audience and lessening its memorability.
In this way, I would define branding in a more critical light; it is the expression of specific attributes and principles that are attractive, memorable and unique to a known target audience, inclining them to feel a necessity to the brand’s service.
PM
Our next activity – Library Labyrinth – was a task related to the importance of referencing and also a challenge. In pairs we were given a paragraph with a reference, which we had to use as a trail by finding that book referenced, and then choose a reference within that book to have obtain another book.
By the end of the exercise we were defeated, having had extreme difficulty in attempting to find firstly references within the books at all, and secondly, whether the books that were referenced were in the Uni Library. We were asked if our trail changed drastically in terms of subject, which it did, but admittedly most likely because of our frustrations with the activity and therefore our tedious links between the books (e.g.: seeing the word corn and so referencing a book related to food).
It is safe to say that our experience in using the library was tested, along with our patience. If we couldn’t find a reference we would look at the other books on the same shelf, other books by the same author, find an extract written by a second author and find a book they wrote, explore a subject mentioned, or in the end, a random word that we liked the sound of. With regards to the shelves, it was interesting to see the range of different books that were somehow linked, according to the librarians. Each person’s brain works differently and therefore links of subject can range dramatically. The librarians have laid out the library in a way that I and most likely you would not first choose to, and I suppose in this way, we need to be conscious of what we are exposing and expressing when branding, as one representation may mean something to one person, but could be interpreted very differently by another.
Jasmine Tucker 