Evaluation

Overall this project has been very successful, I have learnt a huge amount about branding/brochure design and prepping a brochure to print back to back. I feel the logo I have designed for the National September Memorial is fit for purpose as I have reasoned the way it is designed with regards to the square footprint of the towers and the uppercase text symbolizing architecture. I feel the brochure would work well in celebration of the memorial as it has imagery and facts from the towers and imagery and facts about moving on and regrowth of the memorial. As my ideas developed throughout the project I feel my skill in design also progressed as when finalising the brochure I realised that the first few spreads needed tweaking upto the standards of the rest of the brochure. I have thoroughly enjoyed this brief as I have been able to create a brochure with imagery, some of which I took myself and typography.

Printed Pictures

Here are a few images of the printed brochure

Live National September Memorial App

Got the application working, heres a few screen shots of the brochure from my iPhone.

Designing a logo for this brief was quite difficult, at first I wanted to go with an organic theme. To use the fact that life goes on and regrowth happens, I wanted to use greenery to produce this. But after a page full of different ideas varying from trees to New York skylines I thought why not use the square from the foundation of the towers? I tried this and added a typeface to it but I felt it needed something else. I decided to put the square at an angle and incorporate a condensed uppercase typeface quoting 'National September 11 Memorial' but separated onto three lines. This then adds the theme of architecture and buildings into the logo.

I feel this logo works successfully as the brand identity for the memorial. 

After several mock ups and redesigns the brochure is now complete. Here are two of my favourite spreads from the brochure

The first spread is the story of a survivor from the collapsing towers, I think the serif typeface adds to the feel and brings the 'American' feel into it. The black and white image of the man adds also creates a real attachment to him and the brochure.

The second spread is various facts and figures from the devastation of the September 11th, I have emphasized several key points and made them stand out a little more. This is also the center spread of the brochure and when opened up 210mm x 210mm it is able to lead you in and keep reading the facts

What is branding?

To understand branding, it is important to know what brands are. A brand is the idea or image of a specific product or service that consumers connect with, by identifying the name, logo, slogan, or design of the company who owns the idea or image. Branding is when that idea or image is marketed so that it is recognizable by more and more people, and identified with a certain service or product when there are many other companies offering the same service or product. Advertising professionals work on branding not only to build brand recognition, but also to build good reputations and a set of standards to which the company should strive to maintain or surpass. Branding is an important part of Internet commerce, as branding allows companies to build their reputations as well as expand beyond the original product and service, and add to the revenue generated by the original brand.

When working on branding, or building a brand, companies that are using web pages and search engine optimization have a few details to work out before being able to build a successful brand. Coordinating domain names and brand names are an important part of finding and keeping visitors and clients, as well as branding a new company. Coordination of a domain name and brand names lends identification to the idea or image of a specific product or service, which in turn lets visitors easily discovery the new brand.

Branding is also a way to build an important company asset, which is a good reputation. Whether a company has no reputation, or a less than stellar reputation, branding can help change that. Branding can build an expectation about the company services or products, and can encourage the company to maintain that expectation, or exceed them, bringing better products and services to the market place.

Brochure Mock Up

Really like the logo I have created for this project so set about getting some rough ideas together for a brochure, a mock up is imperative to get a grasp on how it might look when it's printed.

After making the mock up it's really made a difference to the things I have to redesign, firstly the die cut is far too big and I need a working grid system, secondly the text on the image is far too small and need to incorporate this into the same grid system.

Logo and Brochure Idea

I've been struggling to create a logo/marque and after several ideas that didn't feel strong enough I decided to use a square to represent the memorial pools. I then decided to put it on an angle to give it the feeling that it's still standing and the faith and remembrance have held it there.

The second image is a quick visual of a brochure design, keeping a simple but effective design with a capital condensed typeface. And also keeping the theme of the angled square. The square will be cut out of certain pages showing the image on the next page to represent a new chapter in the memorial brochure. The size of the brochure is 210mm x 210mm again to keep with the square theme.

Second Attempt

After the failure of the first logo idea I tried to move away from the ideas of trees and leaves and tried to create a typographic image of The National September 11 Memorial incorporated into a shape of two towers. This is the result after a tiny bit of tweaking.

As it's only a basic idea I will be changing the kerning and leding but overall I'm quite pleased with the logo.
 

First logo/marque Ideas

Here are the first ideas I've had for my logo/marque. I tried the different acronyms and the full title with also uppercase and lowercase text. I quite like the image on the right with the full name but I can't help but feel that it reminds me of a National Park logo not the National September 11 Memorial.

Initial Ideas

My initial ideas for a logo/marque include ideas based around either a tree or a leaf. This is because of several reasons, the main ones being the survivor tree

And the 400 Swamp White Oak trees that are planted on the plaza. Obviously tree's also have to connotations of life, roots, growth, remembrance and various others. I have also thought of an acronym for the project as I feel 'The National September 11 Memorial' could be too long to brand successfully. Maybe to something such as 'NS11M' or just 'NSM'

This will also make it easier to add to a symbol such as a tree in a circle. Here are a few examples of different ways people have used a tree to brand their company or used it in a symbol.

As for the brochure I have had some ideas for that too, I would like it to be in the proportions of one of the towers so I'm presuming it will be a square type brochure. The main aspects of my brochure will be imagery, I have already taken a few images which I plan to use in the brochure such as;

This image will take up the whole page and I will add the specific text/quotes in a mature typographical style to fit in with the brochure, each page will have a different image and the themes I have thought of up to yet are; candles, water, smoke, trees and leaves.

Here is an example of a square style brochure I could take influence from.

Research into the National September 11 Memorial

To be able to get an idea on how I'm going to go ahead with my branding of the memorial I decided to research into it, to find out any important imformation I need to incorporate into the branding. 

The memorial is to is to honor the lives of those that were lost during the terrorist attacks of February 26, 1993 and September 11, 2001 in which nearly 3,000 died. The memorial takes up 8 acres of the 16 that occupied the twin towers and is a tribute to the past and a place of hope for the future. The names of everyone that lost their lives are inscribed in bronze around the twin memorial pools.

This is the current logo/marque on the National September 11 Memorial website;

Various Murals have been created for the 9/11 disaster, here are a few examples. Most of them are various pieces of street art;

Some very moving images, because of this it is imperitive that the branding I produce will not upset anyone and that it will reflect the importance of the memorial and all those lives it has affected. 


Also as the brief has asked for a brochure to be designed I have looked into the current brochures available and here is a link to a printable version 


Memorial Brochure

Briefing In

The branding brief for my second year of Foundation Graphic Design is about the National September 11 Memorial. I have been asked to create a brand identity which includes a logo/marque and typestyle. I have also got to produce a commemorative promotional brochure to celebrate the opening of the memorial. Exterior signage has also been specifically asked for. Further developments to add to the brand identity include DVD/mail pack and maybe a 'Mural' in which the values of 9/11 must be reflected.