WRL100 Review – “Work towards one goal in unison!”

Looking back, Work Related Learning, or the Branding module was a brief that I struggled with from start to finish. I was rarely at ease, with little confidence in my own ideas. I was personally distressed at the time, and upon refection, I would say that affected my productivity and perhaps my ability to work with others.

Though my end result was a “fruit juice” themed studio, I went though numerous aesthetic ideas as I tried by best to cut through the brief. The brief essentially asked students to rebrand the graphic communication studio. In “rebranding” the studio as Creative Juice, I had the chance to design logos with the visual language taking cues from fruit juice labels and stickers. Yes, I did learn a lot about fruit stickers; more than I thought I’d ever need to.

I feel that I could have been better organised in presenting my work. I used a sketchbook for scribbling down notes, ideas, and supporting sketches, a ring-binder file for the hard-copy of my online research and digital development work, and later printed off my brand guidelines as their own booklet. (The brand guidelines could have been bound and presented better.)

Polished colour logo for the course’s branding module.

This project could be undertaken as part of a group, or carried out solo. I was actually eager to work with other students. One peer from the group of students I asked to join, set up a Discord server to share website links, Google Drive files, and other information. I contributed as much as I could.

I’m thorough in my note-taking.

the screenshot from above is a capture of a page from my Google Docs. I can say that I did learn a lot during research, and realised that there was a lot more consideration that goes into “branding” than I had initially thought.

I didn’t use my initial mood boards because my ideas changed a lot throughout development.

The mood board above is of an “energetic” theme. As I anticipated, making mood boards was fun; I made a few, and most were scrapped. But it really helps to solidify an idea – or just to move onward – if you can capture the right sort of visuals and aesthetics. Most importantly, it’s fastest, and easiest to communicate with images than words (as long as the chosen pictures make sense in context).

I failed in working harmoniously within a group; I left the peers I had chosen to join prematurely in order to finish the module solo because I felt that I wan’t gelling with my partners, and that I felt stifled, somehow. When at work I take note of a co-worker in need of aid, and they do when I too need help; but it’s a much different dynamic in a studio – in an agency – and I hope that I can work towards better interactions with those I share ideas with.

I continued to work through the module despite my frustrations, and came out with a solid concept and aesthetic. I also learned new digital artworking techniques within Adobe Illustrator. It’s hard to look back on a module that I had so much trouble with and say that I “enjoyed” it, but it was worth all perseverance for new knowledge and skills. I’m also happy that elements of my work (such as the inclusion of plants in the workspace) are being taken into consideration when giving the studio a new face.