My overarching goal for this project was to create unique branding, style guide, and mockups, that would not only reflect the client's personality, and origins, but also be distinctive and recognizable amongst the sea of oftentimes monotonous logos.

My client was named Tyler Tewari, she's an international student from Trinidad and Tobago. With 4,059km between us, and a time difference, the only way we could connect for me to properly get to know each other was through Zoom webcam. I utilized this as an opportunity to collect as much information, facts, and personality traits about my client as possible.

Compiling my notes and other personal details I learned about my client to curate a mood board which would help me move towards creating a recognizable brand for her. This included curating possible colour palettes, visual elements, and exploring typography. Heavily inspired by the natural beauty of Trinidad's landscape, in contrast with the bustling nature of the carnival festival, I compiled imagery that was symbolic to my client.

At this stage, I began to sketch out some potential logos as well. Which ultimately would help define my designs and aesthetics for this project moving forward.

I wanted to encapsulate more than what I could fit into a single logo, so I created a matching poster that was designed to exhibit her love for nature, Japanese culture, and for the Japanese animation studio, Studio Ghibli. As well as her love for dragons, as she mentioned during our interview that she has always wanted a dragon tattoo.

On the theme of tropical nature, oceanic, and mystical elements, I decided that my micro animation would be a looping animation that involved elements of the sea. I wanted the logo to appear faintly in the sand and "come-to-life" as the waves splashed over the sand, filling the logo with colour. I mapped out my concept through a storyboard method with each scene helping me envision the viability of my idea.

Building off of all my research and my mood board. I was able to brainstorm and sketch any potential logos and imagery that I felt encapsulated Tyler's brand. I knew I wanted to incorporate elements from her interests and home town in the tropical area of Trinidad and Tobago, such as national flowers, native plants, oceanic elements, famous sceneries..and of course, the annual carnival festival.

The font I chose needed to be easy-going and natural with hints of sophistication and boldness to embody the brand of my client. I explored fonts that resembled handwriting, and walked the line between having rough edges but also elegance & spirit.

Heavily leaning into my client's love for Japanese culture and astrology, I chose a calligraphy style font that made English letters resemble Japanese Kanji and incorporated my client's nickname, Ty the Pisces.

Using Adobe Illustrator, I designed the logos based on the sketches that had the most potential. This is when I took a step back and really evaluated the final drafts that I have created. Asking myself whether or not I have encapsulated the important aspects of my client that I chose to showcase. From this, I ended up with three logos, an illustrative logo that really embodied Tyler's brand, and two scalable logos that could be used on smaller products when the illustrative logo couldn't be scaled to be accessible.

I asked my client to send me photos of her favourite places from her home town, and amongst the collection, there was a photo of an empty road with the most luscious palm trees surrounding it. As a starting point, I picked this particular photo as my backdrop to the poster.
Using Adobe Photoshop and my trusty Wacom tablet and pen I built whimsical elements over top of the image such as lush clouds, birds, and additional leaves.

Utilizing the illustrative logo I designed, and following my storyboard, I digitally painted the background, waves, sea stars, and seashells. Animating the splashing of the waves within Adobe Photoshop's Timeline feature.