Our group members were;
Myself (Jasper Lee)
Bobby Jones
J'nae Saunders
Joe Harrision
Sam Cook
Lizzy Gosney
I was very happy with this group as I have previously worked with Bobby on a number of projects and I have wanted to work with the other in various degrees as I know the all have different skills; all of which can be applied to this project.
Once we had got together we were asked to complete and submit a contract so that if there were an disputes, fall outs or argument they could be settled through the contract.
At this point we were also asked to decide on a name and what area of the creative industry we wanted to work in. We had not decided on either so were not able to provide this information yet.
Once all the contractual information had been completed and submitted we arranged our first major meeting. This meeting was to discuss the name, profession and location of our business.
In this meeting we decided on where we were going to live and work as well as our name as well as an idea of what are of design we were going to specialise in. We chose to work in Barcelona as it is a major international creative hub as well as having a strong rich culture and good transport links to the rest of Spain and Europe.
The name and profession took us longer to decide on. After a while we decided that we should just set our minds on something and focus on it. We chose to focus on branding and identity, specifically the events branding and identity.
The name was also difficult to decide on and we cam up with a lot of possibilities, however the name we chose was 'Equilibrio', which is the Spanish word for equal, harmony, balance. We though this was appropriate as our aim was to create a balance through our design.
At this point we decided to split off individually and research separate areas to build and develop the business. My research was focused on the competition in Barcelona and how we will compete with them. I had already made plans to attend talks in Manchester by a selection of leading Barcelona studios. This gave me the platform to get to know their work, know how the studios work and their ethos, all elements that can inform our decisions for Equilibrio. (My notes from the talks and Q&A are in a separate blog post.)
At this point in the process we also decided on what roles we would take in the business and what responsibilities we had.
Bobby: Creative Director
"My roles include leading the communication design, interactive design, and concept forward thinking in any work assigned. I also guide my team with skills and experience related to graphic design. Some examples of my work can include visual layout, brainstorming, and copy writing."
Jasper: Art Director
"My role is to make sure that illustrators and production artists produce and complete their work on time and to the creative director or client's satisfaction. A major part of my role in the development of a project is to make decisions on the visual elements of the project, and by giving the final say on the selection of models, art, props, colors, and other elements."
Lizzy: Brand Identity Developer
"Brand identity design is concerned with the visual aspects of a company or organization’s brand or identity. Some of my roles in terms of design include creating a unique logo, or signage, and is then often integrated throughout all the elements of a company’s materials such as business cards, stationery, packaging, media advertising, promotions, and more."
Sam: Visual Image Developer
"My roles is to develop images such as photography, 3D modeling, and image editing. My specialty is to aid web development, software development, or multimedia development in a job"
J'nae: Account Executive
"My role is to bring more clients into the agency to increase revenue. I establish relationships with clients and closing deals being a direct link between the agency and the existing client, managing day-to-day affairs such as media placement, distributions, contract negotiation, etc and ensuring customer satisfaction."
Joe: Illustrator & Linguist
"My roles include conceptualising and creating illustrations that represent an idea or a story through two-dimensional or three-dimensional images. I do drawings for printed materials such as books, magazines, and other publications, or for commercial products such as textiles, packaging, wrapping paper, greeting cards, calendars, stationery, and more."
"Brand identity design is concerned with the visual aspects of a company or organization’s brand or identity. Some of my roles in terms of design include creating a unique logo, or signage, and is then often integrated throughout all the elements of a company’s materials such as business cards, stationery, packaging, media advertising, promotions, and more."
Sam: Visual Image Developer
"My roles is to develop images such as photography, 3D modeling, and image editing. My specialty is to aid web development, software development, or multimedia development in a job"
J'nae: Account Executive
"My role is to bring more clients into the agency to increase revenue. I establish relationships with clients and closing deals being a direct link between the agency and the existing client, managing day-to-day affairs such as media placement, distributions, contract negotiation, etc and ensuring customer satisfaction."
Joe: Illustrator & Linguist
"My roles include conceptualising and creating illustrations that represent an idea or a story through two-dimensional or three-dimensional images. I do drawings for printed materials such as books, magazines, and other publications, or for commercial products such as textiles, packaging, wrapping paper, greeting cards, calendars, stationery, and more."
We tried to work it so that each role had some synergy with the area each individual was researching as well as spreading out the work load and focusing on peoples strengths.
As well as looking into our competition and gaining information on working as a designer in Barcelona, I started producing some initial logo ideas for the business.
I experimented with a variety of different options, trying to represent the 'balance' of Equilibrio. I did this using motifs such as scales and circles. The majority of my sketched concepts were type based as this is the type of logo I live developing and think is the most effective.
I proceeded to digitise the logos I thought were the most appropriate and effective. This allowed me to be more precise and accurate and also see how the logo worked when it was scaled up and down. When digitising the work I also produced a few new designs.
Once I had digitaised the logo ideas I presented them to the rest of the group so that we could discuss our preferences and thoughts.
The group decided on three possible logos, however, we could not agree on a single one.
As I was the Art Director at the company (and it had been agreed by the group) I made the executive decision on the logo. The logo that was chosen was the third one above with a few minor changes.
As we had now decided on the roles within the business and the logo, I began creating the identity - starting with the business cards.
It was very important for each member of the team to have their own individual business card. The reason behind this was so that clients could contact who they were working with directly. This individual nature also allowed us to give give out others information. For example if I thought that the client should make contact with Joe, I could provide the client with his card. It also makes us more human and therefore more approachable.
The business card design was extremely simple, using only the logo on one side and then the information on the other.
I continued to expand and develop the brand, creating a letterhead.
In keeping with our name, we wanted a balance within our branding. To emulate this balance everything has been centrally aligned vertically and where possible and feasible centrally aligned horizontally too.
I mocked up a wide range of stationary to show how our brand could be spread across printed material.
I also mocked up how our logo would look if it was letterpressed.
I finally mocked up how our brand could be spread through our studio, on the windows and floor.
Whilst I had been working on the branding and identity of the company the others had been working on different areas so we were ready to present.
Bobby had been working on the branding (website) asn the mission statement and ethos.
Lizzy had been working on the mission statement and ethos too.
J'nae had been looking into location and the studio.
Joe had done all of the costings and number crunching.
Sam had been looking into clients and the type of work we would be doing, as well as creating the presentation.
Sam and J'nae had also been working on a short video to end our presentation with.
Bobby opened the presentation by talking through who Equilibrio was and what we did.
We each individually introduced ourselves and what our role was within the business.
Lizzy then covered our mission statement and ethos.
'EQUILIBRIO: The harmonious balance between the Client and the Creative.
What is Equilibrio?
Equilibrio is the Spanish term for balance, in this case referring to our well-balanced work ethos. The name Equilibrio dictates the tone and personality of our practice.
Who are Equilibrio?
Equilibrio are a branding design agency based in Barcelona, specialising in events branding.
What we do?
As a branding agency we focus on creating a clear set of associations and perceptions in people's minds. Any organisation can benefit from being branded well. We believe good branding makes an event distinctive, engaging, memorable and exciting. We focus our practice on the client. Each brand is personal and specific to each new client.
Equilibrio offers intelligent, innovative design benefitting a broad range of clients, helping them to stand out from competitors. Our practice works with events to help them gain recognition and boost their aesthetic visually.
Our work ethos?
Working with a well-balanced work ethos we put our name into our practice. Our studio operates in a friendly, approachable and informal manner. Based in the heart of Barcelona, we encompass the bold, vibrant and lively culture.'
Bobby also talked through our unique selling point. Our USP was that we were the only British design company specialising in events branding in Barcelona we had a very different attitude and work ethic.
J'nae discussed our location, living and studio space. Our studio and living space were in the same building but they were split over two floors. The studio space was on the lower floor, this was where all our work took place and where we met clients. This was only for this as we wanted to keep our work life and social life separated so we could really focus when we were working and really relax when we weren't.
Lizzy and J'nae also talked about the interior of the studio. We wanted the studio to have a very clean and crisp aesthetic, plenty of natural light and wall space for us to display work the was in development.
Joe went in depth into all of our costings and set ups, where we would get the money, how much we would charge and any other information regarding money.
I then talked through the brand guidelines that we had set.
As we are a branding studio it is very important to have a strong brand and identity ourselves.
The logo should always be used in black, unless on a black background in which case it should be white.
The logo can be enlarged to any size you that it can be used on an internal wall or the side of the building.
The logo can not be used smaller than 8mm as it may lose its integrity and this is not something that we want.
Always aligned centrally.
The only time this is not the case is on envelopes to allow for all postal information.
I also talked through the other printed collateral I had designed and mocked up and the website that Bobby had designed and mocked up.
This is the first point of contact for potential clients, it allows them to get to know more about us as a studio and the work we do, as well as getting to know us more personally as people and how to get in contact with us - Regards the website.
At this point in the presentation I also mention the competition we faced and the information I had learned from BCNMCR.
Sam talked through the type of work we would like to produce and the style we would like to develop, as well as the different clients we want to work with.
Sam also talked about the future of the business, with our aim to expand to bigger clients, a bigger studio and more members.
At the end of the presentation we played the video as I distributed our business cards throughout the audience.
Equilibrio are a branding design agency based in Barcelona, specialising in events branding.
What we do?
As a branding agency we focus on creating a clear set of associations and perceptions in people's minds. Any organisation can benefit from being branded well. We believe good branding makes an event distinctive, engaging, memorable and exciting. We focus our practice on the client. Each brand is personal and specific to each new client.
Equilibrio offers intelligent, innovative design benefitting a broad range of clients, helping them to stand out from competitors. Our practice works with events to help them gain recognition and boost their aesthetic visually.
Our work ethos?
Working with a well-balanced work ethos we put our name into our practice. Our studio operates in a friendly, approachable and informal manner. Based in the heart of Barcelona, we encompass the bold, vibrant and lively culture.'
Bobby also talked through our unique selling point. Our USP was that we were the only British design company specialising in events branding in Barcelona we had a very different attitude and work ethic.
J'nae discussed our location, living and studio space. Our studio and living space were in the same building but they were split over two floors. The studio space was on the lower floor, this was where all our work took place and where we met clients. This was only for this as we wanted to keep our work life and social life separated so we could really focus when we were working and really relax when we weren't.
Lizzy and J'nae also talked about the interior of the studio. We wanted the studio to have a very clean and crisp aesthetic, plenty of natural light and wall space for us to display work the was in development.
Joe went in depth into all of our costings and set ups, where we would get the money, how much we would charge and any other information regarding money.
I then talked through the brand guidelines that we had set.
As we are a branding studio it is very important to have a strong brand and identity ourselves.
The logo should always be used in black, unless on a black background in which case it should be white.
The logo can be enlarged to any size you that it can be used on an internal wall or the side of the building.
The logo can not be used smaller than 8mm as it may lose its integrity and this is not something that we want.
Always aligned centrally.
The only time this is not the case is on envelopes to allow for all postal information.
I also talked through the other printed collateral I had designed and mocked up and the website that Bobby had designed and mocked up.
This is the first point of contact for potential clients, it allows them to get to know more about us as a studio and the work we do, as well as getting to know us more personally as people and how to get in contact with us - Regards the website.
At this point in the presentation I also mention the competition we faced and the information I had learned from BCNMCR.
Sam talked through the type of work we would like to produce and the style we would like to develop, as well as the different clients we want to work with.
Sam also talked about the future of the business, with our aim to expand to bigger clients, a bigger studio and more members.
At the end of the presentation we played the video as I distributed our business cards throughout the audience.
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