Woodside Productions
Design Process

Logo Design

I started by identifying information about the company, to help understand what makes the company unique, and to help with my design process. I began with recognizing the main characteristics of the company that I wanted to portray. Identifying the main qualities — Inexpensive, Reliable, Imaginative, and Hardworking — helped me know what I wanted to work towards when making the visual brand. 

After learning more about the company, I began working on the logo. To help me generate ideas for the logo, I used a Logo Development Chart to help me organize my thoughts, as well as create different types of logos. I sketched out ideas based on the name of the company, as well as things associated with the company, whether directly or indirectly. After sketching out individual ideas, I combined some of them to create more logo ideas I could potentially use.

I chose to base some of my sketch ideas on either trees or animals that had characteristics or meanings that matched the qualities of the company. I considered basing part of the design on fir trees (honesty, truth, and forthrightness), beavers (hardworking and sense of achievement), as well as coyotes (laughter, humor, and foolishness), before deciding to work with a parrot instead. Since parrots are known for mimicking human speech and sounds, they are very similar to actors and their roles in film. Parrots could be seen as nature’s version of an actor, with the way they are able to pretend to be something other than what they are.

I brought the sketches into Illustrator, focusing on the combo sketches. I included a variety of the sketches, so I could see which logos turned out better than the others. Some of the logo designs were more detailed than others, so I could have a variety to choose from. I also started them all out as a black and white design, to focus more on the look and quality of the designs before I started adding color.

Choosing the best four logo designs, I added color to them before shrinking them to a much smaller size. I needed to see how each of the logos looked at various sizes, so I could know if a design was too detailed (like the fir tree design), or if it was too difficult to read in a smaller size (like the typeface for the three tree design). 

Slogan Process

While I worked on creating the logo, I also thought of some ideas for the company’s slogan. The slogan was meant to be a short phrase that complemented and completed the whole idea of the company’s logo and name. I thought of slogans that centered around the idea of creating visual stories, as that is the main job and purpose of the company.

I settled on the slogan “From a small paper to the big screen”, because any story that is on its way to being filmed must be written down and put on paper in some capacity, whether it be by book, screenplay, storyboard, etc. This slogan best represents the purpose and function of the company.

Company Lockup Combinations

After choosing the final logo, typeface for the name, and the slogan, I created different combinations of the three in lockups to see how they each looked together. After assembling all possible combinations (logo + name, logo + slogan, name + slogan) for the various situations they may need to be used, I also assembled the three of them together in one lockup.

Color Scheme

I chose royal blue as the primary color for the company, because blue represents Confidence, Trust, Responsibility, Imagination, and more. The qualities of this color match the qualities of the company, which makes blue an appropriate color for the company and its values. I chose a much darker blue as the accent color, while choosing a lighter blue as the secondary color to offset the deep color of the primary and accent blues. 

Finally, I chose yellow and green as additional accent colors, but are only used on the logo for the parrot. The yellow and green were chosen to give the parrot a realistic coloring, as some parrots have yellow and green feathers, but the colors were also chosen because of their meaning of originality and creativity (yellow), and the being the color most associated with nature (green). 

Typefaces

The typeface ‘Broadway’ was chosen as the main display typeface because of the style and association. It is a typeface that brings thoughts of theater and acting, which shows the acting side of the company. It includes drastic thicks and thins which is a complement of an actor’s role in front of the camera.

‘Lucida Fax’ was chosen as the text typeface because of its contrast to the ‘Broadway’ typeface. It is a thin, steady typeface without drastic weight changes within each letter, which allows it to be easy to read when in large quantities.

Deliverables

Business Cards

Two types of business cards were created for the company. The first is a traditional business card that can be easily carried around by anyone and can fit into any wallet. The front side includes the name, logo, and tagline of the company, while the backside includes the employee and company information with an image of the logo on the side.

The second business card is a perforated bifold type card. Instead of being the standard shape, the card is in the shape of the parrot head, with the parrot design on the front and back of the card. On the inside of the card, one ‘page’ is dedicated to the employee and company information, while the other ‘page’ is a fillable portion where the receiver can write down their name, contact info, and any information for the company. This portion of the card would mainly be used as a type of request/ commission form. Since the card is a perforated bifold, the employee information side can be torn off for the customer to keep, while the company can keep the customer request side.

Wearables

Jackets and caps were also created to be used by the employees of the company. They would generally be worn during filming and while out on set, so the crew could be differentiated from the cast. The jackets would include the company name and logo on the back, with the name and slogan on the front, and the two-tone triangle design on the sleeves. The caps would include the name and logo of the company on the front. Both the caps and jackets would be available in black and white, with the dark and light blues being inverted depending on which color you got.

Business Stationary

The business stationary set included standard #10 envelopes, a letterhead and invoice, 9x12” manilla style envelopes, business card holders, and a company folder. Each stationary item included the Woodside Productions brand and would be for the company employees to use for work.