Signal is a fictional storefront where artists and innovators buy, sell, and produce creative media.
Signal resulted out of a special topic studio course at NC State. Students crafted their own design brief and later built a complex identity system of logos, various graphic elements, color palettes, office stationery systems, physical and digital touchpoints, and a style manual.
Designing for cultural innovators
Challenge — Develop a business plan and identity system for a storefront that features media-oriented products.
Response — Signal a multi-media store, recording and filming studio, and equipment refurbishing workshop. Current digital content such as music, animated shorts, and independent films would be available for purchase, as well as old media (vinyl records and magnetic tape recordings) and players (vintage radios, television sets, tape players, still and movie cameras, etc). Signal would also buy used media from customers for either cash or store trade on the spot. Used equipment would be refurbished in the engineers workshop and later repackaged and sold.
Typography
Sanchez via Latinotype and Uni Sans via Linotype
Marks + Graphic Elements
Music: Angle bracket (<) or play symbol
Color: Soft green
Film: Dot (·) or circle symbol
Color: Amber color
Tech: Forward slash (/) or line symbol
Color: Imperial red color
Dot Network is a fictional tv network based out of Atlanta, Georgia, with a focus on current events, documentary arts, comedy, and original tv series.
Conceived as a forerunner of the ever-increasing mobile and no-strings-attached market, Dot Network provides "a la carte" on-demand, streaming, and mobile services for all.
Dot Network was conceived as an entertainment business with programs that uplift the stories of our time and spark conversation and empathy in others. Its brand ethos seeks to be meaningful and authentic and distinguishable from other major networks.
A style guide was developed as a useful tool for staff and freelancers. It helps answer the following questions: What is Dot Network? Who are the primary audiences? What are the strengths of the network and what elements set it apart from other television networks? What the marketing hierarchy should be. What primary elements convey the overall effectiveness of the brand, as well as what is secondary but critical.
Designed to be mere guidelines, the style guide seeks to provide the creative professionals employed by Dot Network the framework in which to operate as a brand but also the flexibility they need to remain agile and exploratory. Enabling staff to create content they’re passionate about will, in turn, result in better work. The style guide isn't a "how-to" book of marketing sorts, but a kit of parts that can be used to create visuals that represent the organization and its staff as a whole. All players operate from the same power grid, but they shouldn't feel hampered by an uncountable number of rules. The real test to the success of this guidebook is to see the brand live out in the real world in different environments and different permutations, all while remaining recognizably a part of Dot Network.
Crafting Identity
This graphic identity and accompanying style guide has two principle objectives: to conceptually and organizationally define Dot Network and visually represent an institution that is accessible, authentic, and indicative of our time.
The Floor is a production collective based out of Durham, North Carolina.
In collaboration with the co-founders, I developed key what, how, and whys of The Floor's brand identity. This included primary and secondary logos, type and photo treatments, apparel designs, marketing collateral, and other communication tools, as well as the inclusion commitment statement, core values, and tone of voice.
There are two logotypes: the primary logo illustrated directly above and the stepped, secondary logo with a textured background as previously featured
Logotype
Utilizing the typographic architecture of the sans-serif typeface "Bee," The Floor's logo is an exaggerated wordmark that is clean, friendly, and condensed. Its distortion of space and structure conveys a nocturnal sensibility that's inherent to nightlife and alludes to the ways in which music can transform an environment.
Typography
BBee via URW Type Foundry, Hiruko Pro via Thinkdust, and Alright via Okay Type
Mission
The Floor's primary objectives are to gather people around the transformative power of electronic-based music, elude formal structures of control to spark uninhibited creativity, and amplify the talents of local DJs.
Brand Applications
Social media graphics, posters, handbills, stickers, t-shirts, live streaming shows and motion graphics
