BRAND DESIGN &

DEVELOPMENT

■ BRAND GUIDELINES ■

ALPHA Education is a small non-profit organization that was looking to revamp their brand identity to adapt with current trends and to appeal towards the youth. Brand identity for APLHA Education was created in early 2000’s and has never been updated ever since. As there were a little guidelines present to use the brand on stationaries and other materials, identity of the brand was often questioned. My main objective was to create and standardize branding of the organization on different levels including digital and print mediums.

My process started with collecting and observing materials on which the brand identity had been already established. It included business cards, letter heads, envelopes, folders, brochures, annual reports, publications, certificates, stationary items, etcetera. After carefully analyzing the objects, I found out that the brand logo was misused in most of the cases by stretching or squashing it. In some cases, the brand colors and text content of the logo was replaced, destroying basic brand structure. Even though there was not enough budget or time for research, I could not compromise on the creative steps involved in developing a set of rules for brand usage. With all ALPHA Education-branded items in my arsenal, I started taking references from brand books of well-established companies, like Adobe and Apple. This boosted my work with pre-written rules and guidelines which could be easily customized to create a standard for ALPHA Education’s brand identity. It included rules to be followed during application of the logo, warnings about how not to use the logo, digital and pantone color codes, and more.
After developing the brand guidelines, my next objective was to implement those rules into practical design. For this, I moved on with redesigning ALPHA Education’s brochure. I was given the instruction to stick with previous copy content and the tri-fold style. I had complete freedom with redesigning the new brochure and I utilized it to my full potential. I decided to proceed with a design that uplifted the company’s vision, ‘World peace through Education’. With my design strategy, I stressed on the words, ‘peace’ and ‘education’, as I strongly believed that one should get those emotions holding the brochure. I discussed this idea with the Deputy Executive Director of ALPHA Education, and it was approved instantly. I started working on wireframe templates and a low fidelity physical prototype was later presented before the board for feedbacks. After getting a green flag for the template, I started working on the high-fidelity prototype. The color palette I chose for the brochure came from fine tuning the brand colors. A quote by June Callwood was used in the previous version which was given no importance. I decided to give it a typographical twist and made an art piece out of it. It made a strong back cover for the brochure. For the inside pages of the brochure, I was given instructions to keep it simple. With that in mind, I experimented with gradient colors and basic shapes to create a design that the client liked very much. The final version was later published online on their website.

*Mock-up of a proposed folder design for ALPHA Education

* Mock-up of a proposed folder design for ALPHA Education [ Spread ]

■ BRAND BOOK ■

This brand book upholds all the values of the brand and educates one to properly use the logo while designing new merchandise. 

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