Uplook
Re-aligning SCM's visual brand to its mission
My Role
Brand Designer
UI Designer
Team
Solo
Timeline
Dec 2021
(2 Weeks)
Tools
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Figma
Adobe After Effects
Overview
The final project of my Visual Communications course within Human Centered Design and Engineering was to create branding for an organization and distill it into a brand book. The following sections detail my final brand design for Seattle Children's Museum.
Project Timeline
This project was divided into two phases. The first was design research to understand Seattle Children's brand, from mission statement to visual brand. The second phase consisted of an iterative ideate/design process to create SCM's visual design language and a redesigned website mobile task flow.
Below is just one example of the many iterations I made during the second phase. This is a series of divergent and convergent designs I made when ideating for a redesigned SCM logo.
Brand Book
Below is the brand book I created at the end of the project, including a distilled version of my research, ideation and design work.
Microinteraction in Action
Below is an animated version of redesign task flow included in the brand book. This microinteraction redesign was keenly focused on improving users' experiences down to the small details.
Reflection
Before this visual communication class, I had no experience with Adobe Illustrator and very little experience with Graphic Design in general. I learned a visual design, ranging from typography, use of color, gestalt principles, and additional design concepts that I have integrated into my design process when implementing a design system and/or visual design language. A lot of thought went into not just the design work of this project (e.g., redesigning a logo that better realigns with Seattle Children Museums' mission), but also in the design decisions that shaped how I crafted the brand book and guide viewers through its content. I also really enjoyed taking the project one step further by exploring motion design with tools such as Adobe After Effects to bring the logo to life, a skill that I will continue to develop and use moving forward.
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If I had more time and could broaden the scope of this project, I would have focused further on the user experience. I would have stretched out the project timeline to go beyond secondary research and incorporate more user centered design practices , such as user interviews and usability testing.
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Since this was a class project, I didn't have an opportunity to work directly with the Seattle Children's Museum's leadership. I would have loved to present my recommendations to SCM and see it potentially spark dialogue and changes their visual brand and website experience.
