Stott & Atkinson Photography - Visual Development, Idea & Concept Refinement and Brand Delivery

Stott & Atkinson Photography - Visual Development, Idea & Concept Refinement and Brand Delivery 

Concept & Brand Delivery
Taking foreword the discussions with the client outlining key visual deliveries that reflect there brand and there desired positioning between traditional and contemporary wedding photographers. As a means of replenishing there logo the idea of combining type paths with iconography will act as a means of referencing the circle shape they wanted to keep in connection with the + camera mark, to emulate the contemporary within a traditional presence the repurposing of a serif font will be played out. Adding a more soft tone of voice that will contrast with a secondary sans typefaces edited to contrast this softens in accurate visual deliveries to show the attention to quality and detail within the brand.

The layout and the positioning of elements will constantly reference the photography style, zoomed out central shots emulated by central alignments with lots of white space in the design too detail shots using small type faces to strengthen the emulation of there attention too detail while the use of large visuals will contrast with this to create a bold look and feel that reflects a full range of emotions captured within a wedding scenario. 

Digital Development
Logo
The start point was to figure out a type choice, settling on Cordale in a medium weight contrasting with a Heavy weight madras in italic and regular to show a contrast in weight and a contrast in finesse to support the traditional and contemporary look and feel. 

Then started to try out the arrangement of the type working off the idea of the X with a container around it so the logo could be applied across multiple bland collaterals and still feel structured and consistent across the range. 

Taking the boxes away allowed a more delicate look and feel and allowed me to include the & while still referenced the +, the & has a more traditional tone of voice while the attention to detail in the positive tracked and spaced out glyphs have a very contemporary feel. 

Playing with the idea of type following a curved and circular path, curved as a method of showing zooming into finer details within there process and a full circle path to reference the circle they wanted to keep, adding a lot positive tracking and outlining the type allowed each glyph to breath and remain legible and balance with the main focus been there surnames as this is what carries the brand. The idea of personality and connection. 

Starting to try out the interlocking of elements and tried again too convince them too drop the + and add it within other touch points but they still wasn't having it. The layering of the elements contrasts the angular with the curved to work on the contrasting contemporary and traditional while also giving off a feeling of coming together. 

Working on using a physical circle again, reflecting the old brand and also denoting a wedding ring to keep things traditional, it didn't feel very balanced though anymore, all the content needs to be constrained within this ring or the idea of coming together is lost when things are on the outside. 

Final design feeling very balanced, spacious and airy with the addition of a delicate pattern within the plus to work on this idea of the focus on the details. 

Begening to soften the serif, working on the negative space within the bowls at first to soften things up then moving onto the terminal ends and stroke connections/crossbars etc. Losing the clarity and sharpness allows me to contrast it with the geometric serif to show a contrast between photography styles and the old and the new. 

 

Rounding the apex off too add a further friendly and soft feel. 

Moving onto the sans where I began too add an angled cut off to terminal ends to support the circular path this follows. 

To keep this consistent I added it too the serifs too this added a further contrast of tone. 

Business Card Development

Starting too apply the logo too the brand collateral, focusing on the central positioning to reference there shooting style. 

Starting too add content all on one side to create an economical 1 sided card, the balance worked well working on the idea off the offset shooting style they follow but I wanted the logo to be the only visual reference here as it carries a lot of meaning regarding there brand positioning and tone of voice. The backside of the card will just act as a communicative format. 

Trying out different scales and positioning to show there attention too detail within focused close up shots or offset shots. 

Fixing the logo within a box supporting the idea of coming together and the visualisation of a camera view finder. Felt a little heavy. worked a little better with the reversing out it felt a little more delicate but still was a little unbalanced. 

Working on the idea of offsetting and cropping photographs, this broke the logo up a little bit and altered how it was communicated and the detachment doesn't bode well for the idea of marriages when the logo is meant too symbolise the coming together of people. 

Expanding on the idea of bringing  in more photography marks, the ones on the edge worked nice it had a feel of traditional film, but the more deconstructed one was starting too feel a little busy and far too contemporary. The idea of using extreme small point size to create lines works well to connote the idea of attention to detail.

Starting to work on the back side of the card, focusing on the legible communication of information and a friendly and conversational tone of voice, nothing shouty. 

The use of a minimal card left the layout feeling a little empty the idea was to leave space for writing personal quotes down maybe but as a single entity it didn't work the brand needs to be carried through everything not just one element. 

Using the top and bottom of the card allowing central space allowing separate elements of content too be appreciated. 

Adding corner marks to show the framing up of shots, outlining a key piece of information that has conversational use of language, trying out the underline works better its less intrusive and bold. 

Trying out alternative layouts like the central alignment of elements too work with the positioning of the logo, splitting the lines up into individual horizontal entities supports the idea of how they accurately frame up shots and perspective in there process. 

Negative space is often a key focus within photographs to frame shots up, this was the idea presented here but in terms of digesting information it didn't work very well. 

Everything feels structured and lines up nicely and is balanced, slightly offset but central in terms of the balance of space, information is easily digested, nice and conversational with a nice contrast of tone which helps carry the brands value of contrasting the old and the new. 

Zine Development

The client liked the idea of the snapshot of the content so the starting point naturally was too begin working out a layout with this in it, I tried suggesting the colour swatch idea but they said it felt too distracting. Understandable as we mentioned the photos was the main focus of the delivery. 

The overlaying of the logo over the photo was there favourite aspect, it attached there brand mark and acted as a form of a stamp of approval referencing the traditional way of stamping off finished jobs. The use of the large hidden type wasnt fed back very well, they commented on how it looked more like a promotion for a contemporary art show. Completely the wrong tone of voice. 

Working with the idea of showing a snapshot of there work, the cheapness of the zine would allow a zine to be produced every few years snapshotting there best work as a keepsake for potential new clients.

The breaking up of the date works better though and would allow a more consistent aesthetic to be achieved as the date changes, with it been part of the header the aesthetic may slightly change depending on how the dates look visually as silly as that sounds but theres a focus to the attention to detail in the brand so these things count.

Ideas of producing a hand wrote letter and invoice would cut costs down and keep that traditional conversational tone of voice, but professionally we agreed it didn't work and for there contemporary positioning it was important too have a typeset template.

We agreed on a multi column, expanding on the idea of central alignment at first to work on there shooting style and to reference traditional letterheads. This felt a little loose in its alignment so spacing the content out across a modular grid to make better use of the negative space.  

A set agreed format for the letterhead and invoice, agreeing that the use of too much black in the payment boxes was a little shouty in its tone of voice, the space within the bottom quarter allowed the invoice header too be added to keep the invoice and letterhead consistent. 

Production
A quick mock up working out how the zine felt to hold size wise and how the photographs works in term of scale and positioning, they loved the contrasting size and positioning and the structured feel too the zine and we agreed on an ice white stock choice to enhance the attention to detail and quality of the photos. 

To contrast the contemporary and traditional values they wanted within there brand positioning we agreed on neutral tones for the letterhead and invoice as this supported the conversational tone of voice while the mandarin orange GFsmith stock carried a very contemporary look and feel for the brand. A nice contrast and focused central point for the delivery of a contemporary brand. 

While the look and feel of the printed visuals had a nice contrast between traditional and contemporary, agreeing to strip back the marks to simple + and - and the distance icons seen in the view finder to work with there idea of scaling and distance within there photographs. 

Nice little tool for making zines, even spacing for staples.