Ideas I had was to turn all products fully organic, design new pattern using illustrations of various methods to make coffee and take influences from library and books as I personally love to read with a coffee I also find library's and book stores very relaxing, Id like to give off this vibe writhin my branding that Costa is a cool fully chilled out brand making it a place you can go to seek some time to yourself or have a comfortable chat.
I experimented with hand written script for the first time starting on paper and turning it into a vector. I wanted to try this approach because its something new to me and something im interested in, however it lost meaning and became something going for just aesthetics, even then it did not live up to my expectations. The final design did not convey a appropriate image of Costa and lacked depth. As they are a global corporation an approach like this would be an extremely risky move.
After this I went back to looking into negative space and within san serif fonts these are a range of different san serifs. Other ideas was to use coffee beans to resemble a love-heart this gives off more friendly vibes because it suggests love of people, coffee, and others. This related back to my aim of creating a more sanitary and approachable image distracting people from recent news articles on bad hygiene. I also experimented with negative space in the O by trying to resemble the top of a coffee cup you would find in a nice coffee shop.
My next approach was to just go bold and stylish I actually really liked these style but for me they just didn't seem strong enough for an international brand. There was also lack of depth behind these ideas. I dropped this idea fairly quickly after feedback.
For my next idea I wanted produce a organic feel as research showed a large amount of coffee shops are offering outstanding quality food products where as Costa offers food which is good, however is over priced and lacks filling. I found this from primary research in store. A company which uses organic and fair trade gives the impression the company is for the people rather than themselves with money as there primary aim. Although Costas coffee is fair trade, in the re brand they could expand this to organic foods for a more positive image. Influences came from independent coffee shops and the idea to resemble a stamp as research showed this was a current trend. This is where the rustic edginess is coming from within the designs. I could see products being stocked in crates and having large wooden tables and chairs, with consistency throughout, something they currently lack. This would help to attract a younger audience something I felt should be an aim in the re-brand. However feedback suggested to not take it to far from the brands current market as they are not an independent store they are a global corporation. This means they can not stray to far from what they really are, and have to cater to a global audience still.
I took four different logotype’s Ideas in for some feedback as I was unsure of what direction to go in. Feed back was very helpful and gave me a clearer understanding of what needs to be done next and where to take my branding now. What I Learn from the feedback was a range of things the main being to narrow down my choices more by picking a few designs I like rather than having a wide selection which can be too much to look at, meaning some get over looked. Other feedback I received was to make sure I don’t take it down a independent coffee shop route/style as it is an international brand and needs to be able to attraction a wide range of audience rather than a niche audience. It seemed the favourite logo was 1c and 4a. For this reason I will be continuing development on both however my main focus will be 1c as it was said this looked the most adaptable and organic. I was advised to try filling it in to give it a slightly more powerful look so this will be where ill start. Feed back from students left on my sheets was ‘1e could be misread’, “1c could be filled in to make it more informed’ and ‘Narrow it down’. Written feedback from my tutor. Reminded me to have a clear identity and aims for the company. This helped me get back on the right track.
Here was written feedback from my tutor. One of the most helpful bits of advice was to make sure I have a clear identity and aims for the company although I did have this to begin with I had started to ver away from it with some designs.
Putting my faviroute into context for my crit group.
As I dropped some logos I came up with a new concept. The idea behind this was taking influences from coffee stains. I began with sketching up rough then experimented with actual coffee. I found that the coffee ring can look very elegant on its own. It never seemed to create a full circle there was something i really liked abit it. So I used different brushes on illustrator to try recreate the same look. I was happy with the final outcome however feedback shown it was a risky logo to use because the c could stand for anything and does not link directly to Costa well enough. Although this could be adapted with me to time maybe becoming a symbol for the re brand.
For colour I tried a variety of solutions red, green tanned and black. The green was probably my most prominent idea and was to convey messages of eco friendly, healthy and caring. The worry behind this idea and from feedback was it may take brand to far from its origins this could be problematic for such a large companies with branches all over the world. As people may not be comfortable with such a big change. As Costa is know by its name I feel a logo change would be acceptable however colour was it to much. I thought about this a lot and decided to stick with the original Costa colour. By keeping the original colour scheme I am able to experiment more with the logo while still communicating key brand messages. I checked this at my final critique and Feedback also showed a large majority agreed with this.
I lost focuses so reread the brief then wrote this out to help me stick on the right track. What I want to achieve from my rebrand is create a more clean, friendly looking brand but with a slight edginess maybe even rustic feel. This is in reaction to the bad press costa has had about unsanitary hygiene this included, dead rats, rat droppings and deadly bateria this lead to several stores being closed. Secondly I would like to bring in a large audience of students, as from my primary research I saw that a large majority of consumers looked over 25 to further back this point I am going to create a survey for students in my class. From Feedback I decided to make some changes. To start I was advised to get rid of the distressed texture on the text, to help convey a more corporate message. I agreed with this and we discussed how I need to be careful as Costa is not a independent coffee shop they are an international company and to be careful not to stray to far from this which I was doing. More discussing with my critique team lead to the decision to tidy up the side lines more also making the lines smooth rather than rough this on a whole will give the text a more sleek formal look which keeps the brand serious and powerful. To subtly contrast this I used rounded edges I feel this helps balance between a relaxed feel and a corporate feel. Experimentation with the flicks give it a more contemporary feel appealing to younger audience more as well as being recognisable.
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