Overall very happy with how branding went for the group, and I feel like contributed meaningfully to the whole process. While I am not happy with how the group has worked as whole, I do think we have made professional progress to addressing the issues.
I was the primary creator of the logo for our group Data Mage Studios. I have currently gone through 4 rounds of iterations from feedback. A full breakdown of iterations and thought processes can be found in the attached document.
While the groups were formed randomly, we wanted to make sure we were going to be able to work together as best as possible, so we created a team charter. I was in charge of documenting and writing everything down in the team charter. I had a lot of problems last semester when it came to planning in general, and it’s something I wanted to work on this semester as much as possible especially when it came to group work. So for this I made sure to advocate and include specific planning when it came to the group project. We together found an add on for Microsoft teams that adds a group calendar to our group, which we update for planned absences, deadlines, and planning work for the group. Because it is integrated in the place we share and upload files already, it’s very easy to check as well as update as necessary. We don’t have much on it at the moment, just because of the break as well as the projects not being announced at this point in time, however we plan to take advantage of it. We have also decided on using the SCRUM methodology for our work. Once the project is fully announced we will be taking advantage of using the teams calendar to plan sprints and work two weeks ahead of time, with a stand up every week. As of right now, we have had three stand ups so far to discuss the work we’ve done, problems in the group, and planning for the branding project. I lead the first stand up, which is pictured here.
We have decided to use both Teams and Whatsapp for communication within the group, and I am doing my best to stay active in both. Teams is for file uploads, tracking stand ups, and important items in general. Anything that is finalized, an important checkpoint, or just files we need to keep track of go into Teams. For general communication, quick checks of iterations, or informing of something immediately it goes into WhatsApp. It makes it so that on days I work from home (Tuesdays and Fridays), I am able to still communicate in case any changes are made or if I need feedback for the project. I have been consistent in sharing updates and taking a lead when it comes to communicating the work I have been doing.
Our group was having a lot of trouble keeping files organized, and after having a meeting with Jan we decided to set up a notion. I did the main set up of all the areas and the teamspace. The main thing we were having issues with was keeping up with what had been decided about the game, so the first thing I made was a game bible. We discussed aspects of what went on as a group, then added topics to the top that we may want to add or change about the game, then discuss again to see how or if we implement the idea. It has added a lot of accountability within the group as to making sure no changes are made without discussing with others first. I also set up a task section to keep track of what needs to be done, by who, and when it needs to be done. Since we have begun to separate tasks in a much more structured way.
For the creation of our studio, I helped by making one of the moodboards. When I thought of informal and playful branding, I leaned towards bold imagery and striking colours. I looked through Dribble and searched for a few different terms such as mage, informal, vivid, and games. I found specific imagery that leaned more towards what I was looking for in design such as the little shape guys with arms and legs, the bold icons of strange man, and just a general stylistic feeling that struck a chord with me. For palettes, and I’m not sure why, but green was all I could think of when it came to design. Forestry and swampy greens stuck out to me the most, though I brighten them up a bit when testing colours as I wanted something that was striking, something that immediately caught your eye. I also took a look at fonts which I leaned overall into something playful and strange- lots of curves and divots that would help accentuate the style I was looking at. Lastly, I drew some inspiration to put to life the ideas I was going for. They weren’t logos, or even iconography but just captured the feeling I was going for. I liked the idea of this gruff wizard at his computer, someone a bit disheveled and almost messy in a way. These helped get my idea across to the team. From here our group went over all the moodboards everyone did and while ultimately most of my ideas went unused, the striking visual style of the little characters and the shapely icons helped to define our visual style with logos as well as iconography.
I then helped to get down a specific visual style for how to represent our brand. At this point we had already primarily decided on colours, shapes, etc- However, before creating our brand guide to display this information we wanted to get a visual style down with ‘real’ product examples. That way we could see how the information would be presented in a practical setting. For this I created mockup sketches of four different posters, and 3 different business cards. I focused primarily on shapes, colours, and how to use the logo. We wanted something that was striking and informal- catching your eye without being too serious of an overall product. The curving shapes of the first business card with the somewhat hidden mage logo on a few of the other mockups ended up reading visually the best. From there we decided to continue specifically with business cards, where Yoshua tried combining and translating some of the ideas I had on the mockups. Later towards the end, I had jumped back in. Frame 12 was not mine, however profresh was. I used the lighter background and darker logo to contrast a bit sharper, and also make the overall information on the back of the card easier to read. However, it ended up feeling a bit empty so added visual interest to the logo by adding our highlight colour behind it, which helped draw your eye a bit more towards the logo. The hiding of the logo really added a lot to the character of the logo and inspired me to add actual rules to how to hide the logo, which I discussed with Frank. This then made it into the brand guide, where I had played around with what worked or didn’t work when hiding the logo and created the ruling as follows.
At the start of the project I had been elected team leader by the group as I was the one speaking up the most about what needed to be done as well as advocating for things to continue to move rather than stay stagnant. If I am honest with myself, I was frustrated for not communicating to the team that not only did I absolutely not want to do that, but that I was not a good fit for being Team Leader. After about two weeks of this, I had stepped down due to issues with the group emerging. I completely understand where the fault is in me in the situation and where I had gone wrong. I became extremely stressed at the idea of being in charge of the project, and felt if something went wrong it would be put on my shoulders. I ended up taking this personally and pushed way too hard when it came to trying to complete work. I also understand even clearer, I am not currently fit to be a team leader in any sense. I am still getting used to working with a group in general, as I am very used to having control of situations as a lot of my commission work is done by myself and with general feedback from a client. A big rule for my commissions is that for my illustration work, it’s a bit of a get what you get process. The client has some say in the start with minor revisions allowed for some things- However, I have worked in control of every step of the process for years in every project I have worked on. I want to improve on working together with people and giving clear and direct feedback on what I think, rather than just assuming people will know what I mean right away. While group work is a two way street and there were also some issues on the other side, I am trying my best to focus on what I can control and what I can personally improve going forward. Someone else in our group has taken over being team leader while I have become primary communication and documenter within the group, alongside Yoshua for communication.
After having multiple team meetings with the group and Jan included, I do really think that our group isn’t communicating in a healthy way, and I have definitely contributed to it. I need to be clearer when I have problems or issues and I do need to make sure that people understand when I am trying to state such things. I have been trying my best for a while to communicate that I do not like the way I have been spoken to and about during the project, however it seems I was not clear or direct enough in these matters. Going forward for the group project at least, I will be working on the project separately from the rest on a more professional / contract based approach. Due to the tension and conflict within the group, I felt it would be best for me to step back a bit from directly working at the table and would do 1-2 daily check-ins for progress. Communication will be streamlined through whatsapp and tasks assigned through the notion. While I do wish we could have worked this out within the group itself, I personally feel as though our professional work is really well done but the interpersonal tensions are too much for me to handle at the moment.
If I had the opportunity to prepare more for Night of the Nerds, I think I definitely would have planned a bit better on my end. Even though most tickets were only sold out in the afternoon, nearly everyone came in the morning and then a few people scattered throughout the day. This left us with not much to do during the day, except try and coax the few straggling people to our table. I also do wish we would have printed some of our directions, and maybe kept our table a bit organized so people understood a bit better what to look at and what to do. Since we had a confusing monitor set up it made it quite difficult to tell where they were meant to look and sit at each point, and I do think we could have streamlined it a bit better. Overall it went well and we have a list of things to look out for and fix now, however it will take a bit of time to get everything done for the final presentation.
For the group work, I wrote a reflection on how we as a team and how I personally could have better handled a lot of our conflict. I regret how everything ended up working out, but at the end of the day I am still proud of the product we put out. Things that could have helped us better work as a team are, better REAL communication between members, a working agreement that was not only finalized but agreed upon with consequences, and better documentation on group decisions about our work with everyone`s input.