Creative Brand Strategy Task 2

 

( Week 6 - Week 10 )

Taylor's University

Shubashini a/p Subramaniam / 0367697 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Creative Brand Strategy ( MKT63904 )

Task 2

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Table of Content :

1. Module Information Booklet

2. Lectures

3. Task

4. Task Compilation

5. Reflection

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Module Information Booklet :   

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Lectures

Week 6 :

This week focuses on moving from the campaign proposal into visual design development by creating a clear and consistent visual identity system.

Start developing the:

• Brand/Campaign Name

• Logo

• Brand Identity Moodboard

• Colour Direction (with justification)

• Typography Direction (with justification)

• Icon and Symbol System

• Overall Visual Style

• Poster/Campaign Applications

Research symbols and icons that represent the campaign. For logo development, create at least 20 sketches and ensure the final logo matches the campaign’s purpose. The logo should be simple, memorable, and suitable for the target audience.

A good campaign logo should communicate:

• What the campaign is about

• The emotional tone of the topic

• Who the campaign is for

• What makes the campaign different

• The campaign’s personality, such as calm, serious, friendly, bold, hopeful, or supportive.

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Task 2

Task 2 : Brand Guideline / Brand Book

Task 2 requires students to develop a complete brand guideline based on their approved Creative Brand Strategy campaign. 

Required Sections:

1. Cover Page – Brand/campaign name, logo, title, student names, and date.
2. Introduction – Purpose of the brand guideline and how it maintains consistency.
3. Table of Contents – Clear structure of the document.
4. Brand Overview – Purpose, vision, mission, positioning, values, personality, tone of voice, target audience, and key campaign message.
5. Logo System – Logo variations, rationale, construction, clear space, minimum size, background usage, and misuse.
6. Colour Palette – Primary, secondary, and supporting colours with HEX, RGB, and CMYK codes, including colour usage and justification.
7. Typography – Typeface choices, hierarchy, sample layouts, and usage rules.
8. Visual Elements – Icons, symbols, patterns, textures, illustrations, photography direction, and other visual elements based on the selected 10–15 strongest symbols/icons.
9. Corporate / Brand Assets – Applications such as letterheads, business cards, envelopes, social media icons, stickers, tags, or other relevant brand materials.

Each design decision must be explained and connected to the campaign message, target audience, brand personality, and mental health awareness direction. The brand guideline must be completed before developing campaign applications, impression artwork, or the journey map, as all future visuals should follow the established identity system. The final submission is a professionally designed PDF due on Tuesday, 23 June 2026, at 6:00 PM.

Week 6 - Week 10

This week focuses on moving from the campaign proposal into the visual design development stage and creating a clear visual identity system.

Students should work in this order:

1. Finalise the campaign name and positioning.
2. Collect and organise 100 symbols/visuals related to the campaign.
3. Develop logo sketches.
4. Select the strongest logo direction.
5. Build the brand identity mood board.
6. Decide on the colour palette and justify the choices.
7. Decide on the typography direction and justify the choices.
8. Develop the icon and graphic element system.
9. Create the key visual direction.
10. Begin developing posters and other campaign applications.

The logo should be simple, memorable, suitable for the target audience, and aligned with the campaign’s purpose. It should communicate what the campaign is about, its emotional tone, target audience, uniqueness, and overall personality.

Campaign Name & Positioning

Campaign Name: "Am I Okay ?" & Brand Name: The Umbrella Club

Campaign Positioning:

Moodboard

Logo

I first developed the 20 sketches of my logo:

From there sir chose 2 of the logos and I began to expand on them in Illustrator.

Sir said I should develop it more and try to make it have less details as logos are supposed to be simple and clean. Thus I began experimenting with it more for a cleaner look and came up with this:

After showing it to sir he asked me to remove the rain element as it made the logo look messy and uniform and  to add in the brand name in it to see how the official logo will look:

Sir told me it would look more cleaner and eat if instead of adding the name outside the image, put it inside with it. After adjusting its layout me and sir came up with this as the official logo:

I also created different variation of brand logo for secondary usages:

Colour Palette

The Umbrella Club's primary colours are black and white, representing clarity, simplicity, and trust while ensuring a timeless and professional brand identity. A supporting palette of gentel colours adds warmth and emotion, healing and compassion. Together, these colours create a balanced visual identity that feels both approachable and reassuring.  

Typography

The Umbrella Club uses Righteous for headings to create a bold, friendly, and approachable identity, while Nunito is used for subheadings and body text to ensure clarity and readability. This combination creates a warm, modern, and accessible visual style that makes mental health content feel welcoming and easy to engage with.

Icons & Symbols

We were instructed to find 100 images / symbols related to our campaign and brand with justification for sir to look at :

Sir then went through it and picked out a few symbols / icons for me to develop into my brands symbols :

1. Umbrella — this is one of your strongest repeated symbols because it can represent emotional protection, safety, and shelter during difficult moments.
2. Person Under Umbrella — stronger than umbrella alone because it shows the person being supported, not just the object.
3. Shared Umbrella — very suitable for showing community support and not facing emotional struggles alone.
4. Umbrella + Brain — strong because it connects directly to mental health support, but simplify it so it does not look too illustrative or childish.
5. Umbrella + House — useful for safe space, but make sure it does not become too similar to a home/community campaign.
6. Safety Net — strong metaphor for support during emotional challenges.
7. Helping Hand — clear and useful for assistance, support, and reaching out.
8. Listening Ear — one of the strongest symbols because mental health support is not only about giving advice, but listening properly.
9. Speech Bubble / Speech Bubbles — strong for safe conversations and emotional expression.
10. Thought Cloud — useful for reflection, emotions, and checking in with oneself.
11. Brain — important to connect the campaign back to mental health, but avoid making it too medical.
12. Lock and Key — good combination for privacy, safety, solutions, and empowerment.
13. Lighthouse — strong for guidance and hope, especially when someone feels emotionally lost.
14. Anchor — good for grounding, stability, and emotional strength.
15. Compass — strong for direction and finding a way forward.
16. Bridge — strong for connection, support, and moving from isolation to help.
17. Community Circle — suitable for inclusion and collective care.
18. Balance Scale — useful for emotional balance and self-awareness.
19. Rain Cloud / Raindrop Under Umbrella — strong if you want to show hardship and emotional protection in one visual.
20. Stepping Stones — good metaphor for slow progress and healing.

The next step, was to choose around 10–15 final visual elements and redesign them into one consistent style. Make sure they have the same stroke weight, same line quality, same corner style, and same level of detail. He mentioned that I could also combine symbols more meaningfully, such as umbrella + thought cloud, listening ear + speech bubble, lock + key + heart, rain cloud + safety net, lighthouse + bridge, or community circle + shared umbrella.

Thus, I began sketching out my ideas on Procreate :

After showing it to sir, he said that he liked the design but some of them are filled like vectors but some has more white making everything as a whole look inconsistent. He helped pointing out the more stand out symbols to fix :

I reworked the odds ones and later got approval for my new ones by sir and began Illustrating it :

Corporate Applications

When I fist made my corporate application sir rejected it saying that the business card and letterhead is not okay. In more detail that the layout is not comfortable and nice.

Thus, I had to re-do it.

For my letterhead & cover, sir mainly said that it looked to much, like there was too many things going on and it was hard to focus on the words, He also mentioned that I should justify the words for a cleaner and professional look. I re-did it and got sir's approval :

For my business card, sir said it looked boring and I should incorporate some of my brans supporting colours to add a pop and to add some visual elements to better represent my brand. After experimenting around in class, I created something both me and sir really liked :

 

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Task 2 Outcome Compilation:

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Reflection

Experience:

Developing the brand guideline for The Umbrella Club allowed me to understand the importance of building a strong and consistent visual identity before creating campaign applications. Throughout the process, I explored different logo concepts, selected meaningful symbols, developed a cohesive colour palette and typography system, and designed supporting brand assets. Continuous feedback from my lecturer encouraged me to refine my work through multiple iterations, helping me produce a more professional and unified brand identity.

Observations:

I observed that every design element must work together to communicate the campaign's purpose and values effectively. Simplicity played a significant role in creating a memorable logo, while consistency in icons, colours, typography, and layouts strengthened the overall identity. I also realised that constructive feedback is essential, as small adjustments to composition, spacing, and visual hierarchy greatly improved the clarity and professionalism of my designs.

Findings:

This project taught me that successful branding is more than creating attractive visuals, it requires thoughtful design decisions that support the campaign message and resonate with the target audience. By refining my logo, standardising my icon system, and improving my corporate applications, I gained a deeper understanding of brand consistency and visual communication. The completed brand guideline now serves as a strong foundation for all future campaign materials and ensures a cohesive identity throughout the project.