To see the website that was made for this assignment, click here. Below are examples of designs I made.

The Figurative Mascot

Figurative Special Offers

Example of Figurative catalogue

The Figurative Logo

The Figurative Buisness Card

The Figurative Letterhead

CD Case/Surface Design

The Figurative Shopr

The design brief was to create a cohesive corporate identity for a fictional toy store. The corporate identity must be original and suit the toys being sold. Elements to be designed were a logo, business card, letterhead, shopfront, company philosophy and any marketing gimmicks believed necessary.

As I have much knowledge in the area of action figurines, I decided the most appropriate type of toy store for me to work with would be a figurine store. Before I began to think of my company graphically, I sat down and decided on some guiding principals of company philosophy. I decided to project an image of slight arrogance, extensive knowledge and care about the individual customer. These indicate company cohesiveness and assurance of professional, friendly conduct.

I chose the company name “Figurative” as it is simple, catchy and reflects the product being sold, figurines. I have observed that many company names have multiple meanings, ie. “Revolution CD” could be referring to the revolution of a CD in a player, or the way that the product ‘revolves’, second hand items being re-sold. Figurative’s literal meaning, as in “Figuratively speaking”, alludes to speculation on untruths. I see this as an almost subliminal statement that this company is “too good to be true”, adding a neat little double meaning.

The tagline, “Biggest Range. Best Prices. It Figures.” fits with the company name and product. I chose to have three short sentences to emphasise the statements, which reflect a large portion of the company philosophy. Any more and it would have become too long, any less and it wouldn’t have included necessary information. The tagline is simple, quite short, and able to be broken into three pieces, allowing considerable design flexibility.

The four principal colours of my design are yellow, black, orange and deep maroon. I chose two bright colours and two muted colours to allow for as much contrast as possible. Maroon and black are the main background colours, orange and yellow standing out with text. This colour code is different from the more common yellow and red as seen in many corporate identities (ie. McDonalds) and thus is highly distinctive.

The two principal fonts I chose were Arial and bolded Rockwell Condensed. Bolded Rockwell Condensed works well in capitals as titles as it is strong, easily readable and somewhat unused in any existing designs. It is also slightly narrow, allowing more information to fit in a horizontal space. Though it makes a good title font, I discovered that bolded Rockwell Condensed was tiring to read in a paragraph. I therefore changed my paragraph fonts to Arial, because it is clean, nicely rounded and professional.

My logo is based on a facial profile, which forms the side and top of an “F” for Figurative. As this is an action figure store, and the primary product of action figure stores is superhero toys, I had the face wearing a typical superhero mask over the eyes, the tail of which forms the lower prong of the “F”. The mask is maroon to balance out its presence against the larger and lighter orange area of the face so that both elements hold equal attention. The result is a logo that not only incorporated the company name but also indicates perfectly what is being sold.

It was whilst making the business card that I decided to establish some basic shape design principals for the company. I used strong boxes to outline important information such as company number and address, and a gentle curve in the background to add visual interest without being too distracting. The company logo features prominently, being the most important element of the card. Next is the company name, in capitals and larger than all other necessary blank space, linking the company name with the information, ie. telephone numbers. I have placed the information in a box to visually separate it from the rest of the design, whilst keeping the colours constant so it does not look out of place. The overall effect is a striking, simple design that is unified despite several disparate elements.

The letterhead follows these principals, with the addition of gentle gradients to incorporate the white of the page into the image. I have chosen to have the letterhead only present at the top of the page, leaving the remainder as plain white so as to allow the business correspondence to stand out without any distracting background patterns or shapes.

The company website will work on most browsers and screen sizes, with an attractive interface and easily understood navigation. I believed it important for the company to have a website so as to display competitions and stock lists. I used the same principle of gentle curves as the letterhead, and the put important information in an orange box as I had in the business card. I also took the opportunity to animate the logo, making it stand out against other elements of the page. The catalogue images were based on rectangles to continue with the principal of important information in boxes.

I reflected the website’s design in the company’s other technological element, CD surface and cover. The CD surface design is most similar to the cover, and vice versa. They are both different enough so as not to have overly analogous designs, but alike enough to fit with each other and the overall corporate identity.

The mascot I designed reflects the product and adds memorability to the store. I chose a female figure with proportions as one would see in a figurine, and added unique elements such as yellow skin and pieces of armour to make sure that she is memorable. I chose to make her a 3D character so she could be animated and incorporated into the television advertisements.

The special offers of free cups, mugs, magnets, socks and salt and pepper shakers in return for valid receipts encourages loyal custom, also acting as an advertisement service in the persons home. I have chosen things the customer would see on a daily basis, so as to remind them of our store at every opportunity. I have added only the logo to these ‘gifts’, so as to not overload the limited space available on their surfaces. I have also created a
$100 Shopping Spree competition, challenging 8-10 year old customers to creatively state why they love Figurative. The winning entries would be incorporated into the hypothetical advertisement campaign as "testimony" of Figurative’s good service. I have also created the Employee Of The Month award, the prize of which is a salary bonus. This would create a healthy level of competition amongst employees and demonstrate that Figurative is a company that appreciates its workers.

The television advertisements were carefully designed to reflect the store’s appropriate demographic. They were punchy, loud and eye-catching, including the mascot, logo and tagline amongst showing the product. The stills were designed to be a simple as possible, thus less colours and shapes were used, so as to emphasise their messages.

The shopfront was the final element of the corporate identity to be designed. Signage was all in box shapes, again highlighting the principal of important information in boxes. The logo featured prominently, along with all the store colours, with various statements of the store’s assets painted on the windows. Less permanent information, such as competition information and payment options, was placed on easily replaceable flags by the door.

Adding all these designs together results in a complete corporate identity. Every element is different from the next, but still recognisably part of Figurative as a whole. Through basic design principals such as shape, font and colour, every component reflects Figurative. Each requirement of the design brief was met. The toy store corporate identity I created was unique, cohesive, original and suited the nature of the product being sold. No other toy store in existence has a corporate identity like Figurative’s . It figures.

The building of the website: Notes and processes

Right. I have the color code, I have the logo, I have the mascot, I have the philosophy. First I looked at websites that sold figurines to get some design ideas. The most helpful was http://www.starstore.com/ . After looking about that site for a while, I feel I’m ready to create my own.

WEBSITE SECTIONS
1. Business Philosophy, Plans for the future (on homepage)
2. Catalogue (so customers can order online) and Stock List
3. Store locations + contact numbers
4. Advertisements
5. Employee of the month
6. Special offers (mugs etc.)

Design, method etc.

Practicalities
As it wouldn’t be feasible to create an entire site, I have built a partial one with enough content to demonstrate what the full site would look like. I will create false links, underlined text, to indicate where the site would be expanded. I have, however, put several hours into creating realistic example sections.

Actual Design
The actual design is meant to be individual, fluid and professional. I’m using as many gentle curves as possible, creating a less jagged view for the customer. The rotating logo in the top corner is a constant reminder of “Figurative”. Its movement is intended to catch your attention without being irritating as you scroll down and read the site’s content. I set out primarily to create a cohesive design, with no element seemingly out of place.

A New Frontier
I am experimenting with a new technique of site creation – the use of layers. This is the first time I have used them, they are a departure from my usual table-dependant style. I noticed that many other toy store sites have layers as part of their sites, so I decided to give it a go.

Completion
The site will be the last aspect of the assignment I will finish. I intend to incorporate as many of the other parts of my design as possible to create a cohesive showcase of “Figurative”.

Business Philosophy, Plans for the future (on homepage)

This is basically self-promotion and a brief description of what Figurative is.

Catalogue (so customers can order online) and Stock List
Compiling this section took quite some time. As I don’t have the time to go to the effort of creating example sections for everything, I have limited myself to the beginnings of a stock list with false links to further sections. I have added images and prices of some figurines to four sections to show what the finished site would look like. The sections to view are
“Transformers”, “Anime”, “Comic” and “Movies”. Each shows how the figurines would be displayed.

Store locations + contact numbers
This section tells customers where their nearest store is, and also provides phone numbers in case they have any in-depth enquiries. There is also an email address provided for queries.

Advertisements
Television advertisements, pamphlets and any other forms of “Figurative” self-promotion will be available for download here.

Employee of the month
This section is to add a “Human” touch to the website, and re-enforce the company’s pride in its employees.

Special offers
Buy three figurines, get a free mug! Buy for and also get a salt shaker! Special offers of things with “Figurative” ‘s logo go here.

Once complete, this website will be submitted on disc with the rest of my VPD.

Animating the Logo for the website

The first thing I did was use 3Ds MAX to animate the logo turning away from the viewer. I exported the animation as frame-by-frame jpegs and imported them into Adobe Imageready, because I find it the easiest program to make animated gifs with. Frame by frame I added the website background, so that when I put the logo on my site it will be integrated into the overall design.

STEP 1
I emailed myself my preliminary sketch of the logo and imported it into 3Ds
MAX as a view port background.

STEP 2
I then roughly traced the sketch with spline lines.

STEP 3
Then I cleaned up the line edges and extruded the spline’s faces to see
where I should neaten some more…

STEP4
Finally I neatened all the edges and extruded the faces fully.

PHILOSOPHY, TAGLINE, WEBSITE, ADVERTISMENTS

Company Philosophy: Notes, explanations and processes

TAGLINE (part one)
Things I wanted to include in this were:
- A “Figurine” pun, if possible
- Something along the lines of “Superior service”
- Allusions to low prices
- Conciseness
- As many words beginning with “f” as possible.

I came up with the following options:

“Facilitating Figurine Fascination”
“Figurine Fervor”
“Biggest range, lowest prices. It Figures.”
“Facilitating Figurine Fervor”
“Figurine Fidelity”
“Focused on Figurines”
“Figurine Fortitude”
“Superior product. Low prices. It Figures.”
“Figurine Frenzy”

(along the way I thought of “Fiercely Flatulent”, “Fastidious Flannelette”, “Fledgling Flathead”, “Flooded Flocculent”, “Floodlit Flip-flops”, “Florid Flotation”, “Flouncing Flotsam” and lots more along these lines. Pity they’re useless for this assignment.)

I chose to eliminate “Figurine Fervor”, “Figurine Fidelity”, “Figurine Fortitude” and “Figurine Frenzy” from the list as they sound more like the name of a figurine store, and I doubt the target audience would know what “fortitude” is. “Facilitating Figurine Fervor” and “Figurine Fidelity” also have to be eliminated because the linguistic ability of the target audience may not be informed enough to understand the words presented. “Facilitating Figurine Fascination” has the same problem. That leaves me with “Superior product. Low prices. It Figures.” or “Focused on Figurines” or “Biggest range, lowest prices. It Figures.” . Before I chose, I need to decide on the companies’ philosophy.

PHILOSOPHY / BUISNESS PRACTICES

Content Employees / Welcoming Environment
Many of the larger corporations I have looked at go to great pains to
emphasize that they provide “human” service and keep their employees happy,
and that they provide an open and welcoming environment. Figurative would do
well to emphasize this with perhaps an “employee of the month” section on
the website.

Knowledgeable Employees
“Extensively knowledgeable and highly trained staff are there to help you!”
A healthy level of arrogance could be implanted here. Part of Figurative’s
appeal is their knowledge of collectors items, and ability to apply this
knowledge in finding the product.

Business size
“Large enough to find even the most obscure of figurines, small enough to
care about each customer”

Assorted Claims Of Efficiency etc.
“Enormous database of rare collectors items”
“All the latest new releases, and information on what is to come”
“A complete collection of movie, comic and television tie-in figurines”

Assorted Offers
“Play now, pay later with out two month interest-free period”
“Buy two figurines, spice up your life with free pepper and salt shakers!”
“Free fridge magnet with every purchase” etc.

TAGLINE (part two)
Looking at the above list of business philosophy, claims and practices, I have decided to use “Biggest range, lowest prices. It Figures.”. It has the figurine pun I wanted, shows confidence without being too arrogant, is memorable and easily nderstandable.

TV advertisements: Notes, explanations and processes

TARGET AUDIENCE:
As with the other aspects of my design, I am very careful to remind myself of the demographic my products are for. The following set of advertisements are targeted at the teenage / boy and older collectors.

Teenage / boy market = The most likely group of people who buy figurines. I
classify the target age group as 5 to 15 year-olds. Things that are
important to include for their benefit are:
- Loud and catchy music (ie. Dance or disco)
- Action-filled advertisement (ie. a lot of movement)
- Shiny things (ie. glowing words)
- Comparatively cheap prices
- Special deals (ie. Buy three figurines, get limited edition salt shakers)

Older collector market = Important things to include to catch their
attention are:
- Busty mascot (sad but true)
- Assurances of high quality service
- Emphasis that rare items are to be stocked

(All statements in the above section are have been supported by conversations with a collector of comics and figurines who is 40, a 10 year old boy names Miles and my own experience as a “tom-boy” figurine collector.)

LENGTH VARIATIONS:
Full-length version: This is the full length all stops pulled advertisement that would be played actually in-store and at promotion meetings. This is not intended to hold the attention of a prime-time television audience, and has more information pertaining to the business side of the company.

Television version: This is the version that would be shown during prime time television, usually at 6:00 when the whole family would be watching the television in order to encompass the target audience of younger boys and older collectors.

Short (or “refresher”) version: An Erin innovation! This isn’t a full advertisement, but a very short reminder to be played a while after the longer ad. The idea of “refresher” advertisements to remind a client of the previous ad is one I came up with one night when viewing a Harvey Norman advertisement for the fifth time. After two repeats, a once clever and persuasive advertisement becomes an annoyance and actually creates irritation towards the company. A “refresher” advertisement is a very short recap of the key concepts of the previous advertisement – the company name, logo, mascot and tagline (ie. “Supreme services”). A refresher ad should be played in conjunction with the longer version to a ratio of approximately 2
refreshers 1 one full length ad. Benefits of this system are:
- The elimination of over-repetition of an otherwise well executed
advertisement
- Saving money – the amount of television screen time is reduced, so the
cost of airing it is also reduced
- “Teaser” quality. Should the “refresher” be seen before the full ad, it
will spark the viewer’s curiosity so they are more likely to watch out for
the full length advertisement
- Re-enforcing the company’s key messages

If every company used this method it would become confusing to the viewer, but this innovation is entirely copyright to igurative, thus emphasizing the store’s uniqueness and contemporary thinking.

For these reasons I have chosen to incorporate my “refresher” advertisement idea into my corporate identity.

CHOICE OF MUSIC:
The piece “Distant Thunder” provides perfect music for this track because it
- Is lively without being oppressive
- Melodic without being overbearing
- Repetitive and thus not too distracting from the visuals
- Appropriate for target markets
- Virtually unknown, not widely used
- Memorable
- Easy to shorten/lengthen with my basic editing software
For these reasons I have used “DeeTraxx – Distant Thunder”. Had I had more time, I would have created my own music for this campaign.

VOICE OVER:
Although it would be wonderful to have a voice over appropriate for these advertisements (male, low voice, rather excitable) I don’t have the time or resources to hire someone. Any voiceovers will have to be done by myself, but please bear in mind that it is not an ideal circumstance.

References

Bin Byat, Ahmad 2005, Buisness Mentality Must Change [Online]
http://www.ameinfo.com/
Accessed: 14/5/2005

Author Unknown 2005, Sharp’s Business Philosophy [Online]
http://sharp-world.com/
Accessed: 14/5/2005

Author Unknown 2005, Star Store [Online]
http://www.starstore.com
Accessed: 14/5/2005

Author Unknown 2005, Titanium Dupont’s Business Philosophy [Online]
http://www.titanium.dupont.com/
Accessed: 14/5/2005

Discussions with the owner of a disposal store who collects figurines

Discussions with Miles, a 10 year old boy who collects figurines

Knowledge from a lifetime of collecting figurines

Hours of watching morning television on weekdays (programs such as “Sponge
Bob Square Pants” and “Pokemon”) and closely observing advertisements aimed
at an audience of young boys (ie. “Hot Wheels” advertisements)

Alberici, Emma 1999, The Penguin Small Business Book Penguin Books

Gilson, Clive 2000, Peak Performance Harper Collins

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