Main Street

Main Street Brand

Problem Solving: The problem for this brand, is to increase awareness and expand the target audience. It was solved by bringing a new brand that focuses on the history, and culture, and showcases new assets to bring life to this district.

Research: The first research that was conducted was to find a small district within a bigger city, and make a brand, I chose Mansfield TX. I researched and visited five different areas within the city and main street stood out the most, having such a nostalgic country authenticity that makes one feel at home the minute they get there. Then interviews were conducted with business owners to find out w hat made Main Street special, I then took pictures of things that made it unique, and began developing my designs and assets to fit the brand. When developing this brand the design decisions changed, it went from different colors, typography, textures, and shapes before everything came together to fit the brand that was envisioned.

Innovation: This project compares to competitors because, it begins the same with research, ideation, and initiation, as well as the development of original design decisions and assets, such as a brand board, infographic, motion graphic ETC. What makes this superior is what the brand stands for and what its about, which is the history and culture of main street and its target audience, and acceptance for everyone no matter who they are or what they believe.

First map of Mansfield, with the five places I researched, which included Main Street.

Problem Statement

Demographics and Interview Findings

Photos taken at the beginning of brand development: street art on prominent building.

Old style mellow mushroom Restaurant

Old Style Creative Studio

Major shops on Main

Businesses on main

Old music shop

these were my first steps to the project, getting a feel of the area as I walked and took pictures. As can be seen with these first pictures of main Street, the brand was focused more on the buildings and the architecture of the area, but this quickly changed with more research that was done, and as I went and talked to business owners and other patrons.

Old style fine arts building with street art.

Avia grace shop like the old days

Music Venue, with legendary

old restaurant with Jimmy Hendrix

Old Gas Station and Brewery

Farr best theater at night, one of the oldest in Texas started in 1917 only showing silent movies

The lot the biggest biggest music venues on Main Street

Two pictures of the Mansfield historic and heritage center

Sidewalk art around the street

One of many pianos around main street that are donated for painting for patrons to play.

At this point I was done with part of my research and ready to develop my design decisions, such as color, typography, shapes, textures and voice and tone.

my first brand board had dark colors due to my thoughts on the architecture, as well as my logo was different

here is the first brand board and logo thoughts, due to the country feel of Main Street.

Static Brand Board

First vector logo choices

the first logo choice CYMK

As be seen my colors for the brand changed, to match the colors and feel of main street, which were bright and bold.

also here my voice and tone was intact, as well as my slogan and mission statement.

below is how i came up with voice and tone, slogan, and mission statement.

This is how my brand became developed as far as typography, color, Images and voice and tone, slogan and mission statement. It was suggested to me through peer and teacher review to be more unique with my logo development add more that what the brand is about, make it stand out.

below is my new and final logo.

Final logo

Voice and tone, as well as what it stands for according to the target audience

Final colors and type based on the feel and look of what the Main Street brand is about.

From here I developed my dynamic vision board and then made a plan for my media matrix assets, because the core design decisions were intact.

Dynamic Vision Board

This was the Media Matrix Plan, that was made for the one asset of my choice according to the brand. Below are my asset sketches and final assets.

Pole Banner and Signage Sketches

Bumper sticker sketch

Coffee Cup Sketch

Final Pole Banner

Final Signage

Final Bumper Sticker

Final Asset of my choosing

Below is the start of my target audience survey for main Street

Purpose

The project that will be discussed is the branding of small district within a city, the district that was chosen was Main Street, which is a historic area within the bigger city of Mansfield Texas, the purpose of this project was to give a new brand to Main Street, to make it a more family friendly area, while bringing out its history and culture. This brand has an authentic country hospitality that cannot be found just anywhere, its rustic culture and history is one full of art and music, that brings out main street's charm.

Respondent Info

For each respondent to be identified as a member of the target audience I will need their age, gender, average income, interest, and race.

The Target Audience is between 30- 65 years old

Questions with Rational

1) What is your favorite thing about Main Street?

I wanted to know what the respondent liked about the area before giving it a new brand

2) What feelings come to mind when you think of Main Street?

I wanted to tap to the emotion of each respondent and see the differences so that I might keep the good things during rebranding.

3) How would you describe you level of emotional attachment to Main Street?

I wanted to see if they felt a deep connection to MainStreet or not, did they truly love the place. Emotion is key in place branding.

4) How would you describe Main Street to an outsider?

I wanted to know if the respondents answer would be emotional or cognitive, In a place branding questionnaire both are good to use

5) Which emotions come to mind when you think of Main Street?

I wanted to see if they were good or bad emotions, but did not want to get to personal, getting too personal with questions will make people not want to answer

6) Describe Main Street in three words?

I wanted to know how they truly felt about main street without the changes This question will let you know what they truly think and if they will recommend the brand

7) What changes can be made to make it a more family friendly place?

I wanted to see what kind of rebranding they thought would solve the design problem, I wanted it to be an open question so they would have room to think and not be restricted with their answers.

8) Is rebranding good for Main Street?

used this question to see if rebranding would solve the design problem and make a real change for the better, what the target audience believes is so important

9) How can the history and culture of main Street help it to be more family friendly?

I wanted to know how they thought the already existing history and culture could be used to help make changes without being left out.

10) How can the art and music bring more value to the brand?

This question was used to see how the things that already stand out with Main Street would work for the new brand, how could this fit in with a family friendly brand.

11) The mission statement of the new brand is to live your most authentic life; how does Main Street bring that to life?

I wanted to use the voice, tone, and mission statement as part of the questionnaire to see if they felt it fit the brand, and if it would fit with the history and culture that exist

12) How will this new brand help the people of Main Street?

with this question I wanted to see what they thought a new brand would do for them in the long, and if they thought it would last.

13) Will this new brand hurt or help Main Street?

with this question will the new brand be positive or negative for what already exist with main street, this also lets me know how they feel about the brand.

14) Will this new brand bring more people to Main Street?

this question will tell whether they will recommend the brand or bring a friend with them thee next time, lets us know their perception of the brand

15) Would making it more family friendly take anything away from it?

with this question would the changes take away the good things about the area, or would the good things blend in and help it stand out more. Wanted it to be a free response.

Reasoning

I chose these questions because i believe the best fit what the brand stands for and what it wants to accomplish. I believe these questions are the easiest for the target audience to understand and explain their answers to. I expect to learn how the target audience feels about the brand and if they believe it is good for main street and will solve thee design problem in an effective way. also if the branding will make the changes i hope to accomplish .

References

Creative Research by Hilary Collins, Questionnaires, pages 128–131

Design Management by Kathryn Best, Measuring the Success of Design, pages 170–173:

A Designer’s Research Manual: Succeed in Design by Knowing Your
Clients and What They Really Need by Jenn + Ken Visocky O’Grady,
Tactic: Surveys + Questionnaires, pages 48–49:

Survey Link

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2Z86Z3L

At this point I made a final Infographic with my survey results included

this was the final asset to the Main Street Brand for the target Audience and the client.