Creating collateral material for an organization can sometimes seem overwhelming. However, with the right design skills, collateral material can fit your brand's personality and be extremely effective.
Image from Lead Branding.
How I Researched
When creating collateral material for The Gap, I first researched many aspects about the brand. For any organization, creating branding materials must effievtly portray your company's personality. To set your organization apart, you must first research. During my time researching The Gap, I focused mostly on their current brand persona and competitors in the industry. For this specifically, I found the Gap's main competitors are Artizia, Zara and other large department stores.The Gap also has a retro, laid back persona in coordination with their mission and branding statements. Knowing this, I was able to analyze the things that set the Gap apart when considering branding materials.
What I Found & How it Applies to Collateral Material
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First, I used the Gap's ability to stand out from its competitors to create my collateral material. I wanted to continue the Gap's more retro style when choosing fonts and spacing. When creating my business card, letter head and envelope, I used a new signature "G" to emphasize porportion, typography and space. I wanted to create a piece of branding that would still feel old-school, yet be easy to identify on a piece of collateral material. Similarly, I created a new "The Gap" icon to be featured on these pieces of branding. When comparing to that of their competitors, the new logo I made uses spacing and offset letters. This was intentional, to continue sticking to The Gap's orginal brand persona while also being original in comparison to their competitors.
Below, I have attached my complete letterhead, envelope and business card for The Gap.
Learning & Practice
Overall, creating effievtive and identifyable collateral material is something that takes extreme time, effort and dedication. Understanding the imoprtance of research and brand identity takes time to be able to materialize. Through practive and effective time management, learning the essentials to this can and will be done.
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