01 Branding and Identity: Center for Language Learning
Project Brief
This project involved the development of an identity for the University of Pretoria's new Center for Language Learning. The Language Center currently operates as an ESL English teaching center but has plans to expand to lessons for other languages. Their target market is international students from countries where English is not an official language, such as Angola, Brazil, China and the DRC. The branding identity developed needed to be achieved in a visually fresh, inclusive and culturally sensitive manner. A requirement was the creation of a brand strategy and visual identity guide for future designers to implement the brand. Following the development of the brand, the Center required the creation of a collection of branded collateral, social media posts, and on-campus wayfinding.
Deliverables
01 Group research and presentation
01 Group research and presentation
02 Brand strategy:
- Brand Personality
- Tone and Vision
- Mission Statement
- Moodboard
03 Visual assets:
- Logo System and Grid Structure
- Colour Palette
- Graphics (imagery, illustration, iconography, photography style and treatment)
04 Design applications: physical and digital collateral including:
- Business Cards
- Email Signature (for mobile and desktop)
- Stickers
- T-shirt
- Bag
- Instagram Post or Carousel
- Signage and Wayfinding System
- Poster
- Any Other Relevant Applications
05 Visual identity guide
06 Process work documentation
Design Strategy
Learning a new language and navigating a foreign area can be daunting. Therefore in the branding of the Center for Language Learning, I aimed to create a calm, inclusive and welcoming environment through my design decisions. Following the spirit of welcoming inclusivity, I created a clean, friendly and upbeat feeling identity. The center's persona and tone are inspired by Chef Gusteau's motto “anyone can cook” adapted to “anyone can learn.” In the Ratatouille movie, Chef Gusteau imparts an inspiring piece of advice:
“You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul. “ - Augustus Gusteau
This voice of guidance and inspiration is encompassed through the feeling the brand imparts. This inspirational, fresh feeling was created through aspects of the brand like the logo's central message of achievable goals and new horizons of possibility through its symbolism of a key, target or location tag. The centre's steady and guiding feeling was achieved through the brand's primarily blue colour palette giving a sturdy and grounded feeling in collaboration with the bright, uplifting accent colours. The imagery, logo and icons were chosen to show universal symbols of inclusivity and positivity.
The full process breakdown of the project can be viewed here.
The Lingo of Our Logo
The logo was chosen for its combination of symbols representing a key, target and location tag. These symbols relate to the main features of the Center for Language Learning which unlocks new potential in foreign locations through the help of achieving student's language development aims and goals. The symbol was crafted from the letter forms of the center's acronym CLL as seen in the logo breakdown below.
Translating into the technical
The Center for Language Learning logomark translates into a dynamic and instantly recognisable icon used for apps or web page favicons. This application was chosen for its legibility because of the small formats that the web icons often appear in.
Illustrating our individuality
The icon range was created from the line shapes, thickness and quality of the center's logomark symbol. The icons can be used in a range of applications when needing to break up important information, academic learning contexts or to add a small mark of inspiration where needed.
In a similar way, the patterning and imagery were also stylised from the elements and style of the centre logomark.
They were created to show universal symbols of inclusivity and positivity through their bright colours, friendly faces and symbolism of individuality as well as connection.
The photographic treatment inspires a calm sense of upliftment through their clean and simple appearance. The choice of black and white colour grading brings cohesiveness when paired with a pattern or illustration allowing them to stand out against the photograph's simple styling. The guidelines to achieve this are mentioned below.
