Brand Imagery: Photography, Illustration and Rendering
Lesson 13 from: Creating Brand Identity SystemsBrian Schmitt
Brand Imagery: Photography, Illustration and Rendering
Lesson 13 from: Creating Brand Identity SystemsBrian Schmitt
Lessons
Getting Started
1Branding Intro
02:51 2Taking this Class
00:51 3Design Is Dreaming
05:58 4Creative Process
02:39 5Quiz
Branding Foundation
6Beginning Work: Brief
02:50Research
08:54 8The Interview
05:34 98: Brand Mission and Values
05:02 109: Creative Strategy and Plan
03:42 11Quiz
Brand Identity System
12Logo: Symbols and Wordmarks
16:48 13Brand Imagery: Photography, Illustration and Rendering
06:53 14Color
09:20 15Typography
05:56 16Pattern
03:42 17Brand Voice
02:17 18Product Branding
05:08 19Branding Motion
03:36 20Quiz
Brand Communication
21Compositions
04:18 22Presentations
01:26 23Style Guide
05:00 24Quiz
Summary
25Summary
01:14 26Final Quiz
Lesson Info
Brand Imagery: Photography, Illustration and Rendering
talking about image making now, um, Image making is sort of a constant process. It's it's something that you always have to do in the inception of a brand, but just like the logo and like everything else in a brand identity system, it's something that's repeatable. So you're sort of starting a rhythm, you're starting a process that's going to be constant in image making the brand. You need to figure out, you know, when people think of this brand, what do they think of, what image do they hold in their mind? And when you're creating brand communication, especially for launches this image making can kind of, you know, set that out from the beginning. You can completely decide how people view the brand by how you image it. So, it's a very powerful tool in a brand identity system. Um, and it's something that through an ongoing conversation, you're able to build through time and and really use your communication um what you're saying as a brand to determine how people view it. Um you're not...
in total control, but you can definitely influence it. Um, and use it as a tool. Photography is constantly used tool for image making for brands obviously because it's realistic. Um, but it can still be conceptual, so you can do something that sort of defies logic, reason or is surprising. You can use photography in many ways to communicate ideas and it's very powerful in that manner. Um, there's different kinds of photography you guys should be aware of when you're creating a brand identity system. Stock photography is lower cost range. Um, and there's a set cost. Um but the problem is it's not custom for you. So you might have needs that are filled by stock photography and that's an excellent first place to look if you're considering keeping your costs down. But if you need to image the brand um in a very specific way that's custom for you and your brand and your products, you'll need to commission photography. Um and that has customized costs based on what you're trying to do. And that can be factors like models, um the photo shoot time, your location, um paying assistance, all the things that add up. So it's not just the cost of the photographer but the entire cost of a photo shoot that you need to consider if you're commissioning photography when it comes to illustration, That's a wonderful way to communicate ideas and looking at some examples right now, it's another kind of image making process. Um illustration. And specifically in this um example, graphic illustration um are used to kind of decorate these pixelated pictures on Norway's bank notes in your research for the project. You should have gathered imagery around the branding using this as a guide. Make a plan to image the branding program in the style you selected to communicate your brand, select and source photography or illustration to create a brand image style. This means having art that you own the rights to through an agreement with their creator for your branding project. You may need to show imagery of a product that product in use or another image that conceptually represents the brand for the Okey launch. We created original lifestyle imagery with a location photo shoot as well as product imagery created through three D. Rendering rendering is another kind of image making that you can consider. It's excellent for pre visualization. So say you have something that you want to make that doesn't exist yet like retail space or product, you can pre visualize what it might look like and kind of apply this to anything though, rendering is a very good way to get there because you can do it in different forms. You can have lower rez renderings all the way to photo real rendering. The more photo real you get the more expensive But um because of the power of rendering it's almost like illustration. You can make something that doesn't exist and now you can make it photo real. I'm going to talk about this okay project again, talk about the different kinds of image making we use and combined um to create the imagery for the brand at launch. So if you see here we're backstage on a shoot we went to Malibu and shot all around L. A. Um capturing lifestyle situations that felt you know on brand, this was about having products in people's hands and relatable situations where they're using the product um that could kind of just show how it was used. Um So we shot them in different parts of L. A. We cast the type of people that we felt like would want to use the brand um and put them in relatable situations where they were using it and enjoying the product. We also worked on renderings of the bottle. If you look at this bottle here, this is a glass bottle with screen printed outside, but it's actually a rendering. And what we're able to do through that process was have a ton of control and create images for a product while it was still in production. Um looking up close to some details of drops, you're able to see how photo real you can get with rendering and do really really amazing imagery. So it's created by partner Eric at 999 designs. If you look closely at these, you see that um each of the drops are individual in different places and you can kind of tell that, you know, we did a lot of kind of different considerations for how the light would hit it. So that these renderings um still our photo real and you know, the average consumer wouldn't be able to tell that they are renderings here. We're combining stock photography with rendering of a bottle to create a flavor image. Um So this is something that we're using in support of the flavors and the website and in communication and it became image making way for us to be on the lifestyle images um show product with flavor and context. You see how it comes together on the website here, I suggest you read the book made you look by Stefan Sag Meister. This book features excellent work by the renowned graphic designer, showcasing image making from photography to illustration, often combining the two. Seeing how a designer like Sag Meister chooses to create emotional lasting imagery gives insight into the image making process of a creative genius. This is an illustration that I worked with Lou Maya on. Uh he's a mexican american illustrator and we worked with Jose cuervo on a day of the dead Celebration and created original portraits of a skeleton family for the event also became an interactive exhibit where guests could interact with projections and dance with skeletons, mirroring their own body movements. Okay, I did a project a few years ago with Tommy Hilfiger that was about illustrations um that were actually oil paintings of style icons. Um so we painted both clothing and people And use these illustrations for the 25th anniversary brand campaign