The Glory of Identity Design

As science has proven time and time again. The most stressful job a creative will ever have is one where they are creating a solution for a friend or family member or if you're really cursed. Yourself.

Lucky me, not only was this project for me, but it's also for friends I am in partnership with. I am not only part owner and founder of One Last Layer, but I am also the lead designer... What else would I be doing?

In stressful times it's always good to go back to basics. Remember, identity design is about creating puzzle pieces for others to assemble, and that will be your brand. You want those puzzle pieces to make sense, to fit where they need to, yet be interesting and cohesive enough for others to get an idea of the larger picture

The Creative Process

In this case, a large part of the brand marks will be found as tags on products, advertisements, and social media content. That's already a lot.

Looking into different design philosophies is where I always start. Assembling the tools for the job is a large part of the creative process and research phase.

I was pulled into using the ol' liquid branding philosophy. It has been gaining popularity for the past couple of decades as brands need more flexibility to stay on top of all the different mediums needed. Instead of creating one mark that shines for web but sucks for embroidery, why not create one mark for both that share the same visual language. It's all about positioning.

Through a few rounds of internal edits of our mascot (our royal scared-skele-friend) and custom typography; It was all about building the tools we need to have a healthy launch.

For the timeline, I had roughly two months to create and finalize our initial brand book. We went through two edits, and most of them were my own after sitting on it for a couple of days. The last assets that were added were the crown and simplifying the skull's eyes.

At the time of writing, we have started our soft launch and plan on having products ready to order early this year. Currently waiting on the last physical proofs. I'll have a write-up on the designs once we announce them all via social media.

Which you can see here on our Instagram!

Sincerely,

JT