Baseline

Branding for the Bachelor of Design (Honours) program 2023 graduation showcase, based around growth and non-linear pathways. The grads presented what they wanted for their showcase with themes, visual inspiration, general ideas, and the name "Baseline". Our design was inspired by basic shapes, trending designs, and a bright colour palette that reflects our interpretation of "Baseline". This project was created with a fellow designer, Taryn Kennedy, check out her portfolio at www.tok-designs.com! We combined two meanings of the term "Baseline" and created a typeface that is the central point of this design, check out more about the typeface development process here. The typeface is meant to showcase the development of basic shapes into letterforms... or students into designers!

Additional typefaces chosen for the branding were Scandia Medium, Scandia Bold and Keedy Sans OT. Gradients with a spray paint texture were used throughout the branding to convey the message of new horizons for the upcoming grads. They also specified that they wanted texture incorporated in the designs. The magenta shade from the colour palette was Pantone's colour of the year: Viva Magenta. Using this tone as a starting point, the final colour palette was created to represent an elevated version of the primary colours. This is again to enforce the idea of starting with the basics, and growing into something more refined.

The deliverables for this project included a logo, promotional posters, social media posts, a website banner, and student profiles. The smaller promotional poster was created for putting up around the college. It is simplistic, focusing on the basic forms, the shapes creating a dynamic poster. The lighter logo allows for focus on the texture and shapes. The second promotional poster was the main "Welcome" poster for the graduation showcase. It has limited shapes, with more information on the showcase and varying gradients. For the website, the banner created is a simplistic, yet dynamic gif with our logo surrounded by the main shapes included in our branding, fading away to reveal the logo more clearly. For the designers that may be more comfortable behind the camera rather than in front, we decided creating profile photos with their initials instead of portraits would be an inclusive solution. These student profiles were created for their website and social media posts.

Social media for the showcase starts with instagram, using the secondary logo for the profile, along with 3 introduction posts teasing that the showcase is coming soon. We also created a group instagram post. This would be a series of posts all posted after another to create an image when looked at on the Baseline page. The image is sampled from our promotional poster. The last round of instagram posts would be introducing our grads. Each post would include their profile photo (used for the website as well), a motion graphic of their initials, and a profile bio. Along with these posts, two instagram filters were created to help promote the showcase, one with our textured background and another with our simple shapes!

The second social media platform we designed for was Facebook. The profile photo is the baseline secondary logo mark again. For the Facebook banner, we wanted to make a reference back to the website banner gif. This was to create clear cohesion throughout all the final deliverables.

Overall "Baseline" is a way for the fourth year students to showcase the designers they’ve become. This theme of bright colours, fluid forms, and a personalized typeface is the perfect way to ensure the 2023 grad’s get the representation they deserve.