Makers & Methods Case Study
THE CHALLENGE
An ACC theater group needed a cohesive branding system. The challenge was to create a coherent and attractive brand identity to establish brand recognition and attract more young students to attend these beneficial series. Their second goal was to attract working professionals in the theater department that might want to depart their knowledge to the next generation of up-and-coming drama/theater students.
View the Full Creative Brief Here.
ROLES
PROJECT MANAGER: Stephanie Johnson
LOGO DESIGN: Ashley Adams
POSTER: Ellie Shurtz, Della Price, Bryce Babin, Isabella Melendez
SOCIAL MEDIA TEMPLATES: Sophia Chow, Teo Garcia
ILLUSTRATIONS: Lauren Corona-Ruiz
CALENDAR: Summer Rodgers, Ashley Adams
PROMOTIONAL: Stephanie Johnson, Kelitza Ruiz, Madison Newberry
BRAND GUIDELINES: Teo Garcia
EMAIL CAMPAIGN: Sophia Chow
TARGET AUDIENCE
Their main target audience is mostly ACC Drama majors and prospective drama students. Around 75.8% of ACC students are between the ages of 18-29 with 57.1% being women and 42.9% being men. The secondary audience is community theater professionals that might be interested in sharing their knowledge with drama students.
APPROACH
This was a group project when I was studying at ACC . As a group, we carefully conducted the initial intake to gather the client’s needs. We then divided and conquered. The class consisted of 4 teams in order to give the clients a variety of choices. I have listed the teams and credited the roles.
TEAM 1: Elizabeth Shurtz, Summer Rodgers, Lauren Corona-Ruiz
TEAM 2: Sophia Chow, Teodoro Garcia, Bryce Babin
TEAM 3: Kelitza Ruiz, Isabella Melendez, Della Price
TEAM 4: Stephanie Johnson, Madison Newberry, Ashley Adams
RESEARCH & DISCOVERY
For our research and discovery phase, we wanted to know more about their series, vision, and goals. This helped us better understand what they were looking for, which guided us to deliver assets that fully met their needs and wants. Here are some questions we asked:
KEYWORDS that describe the ACC Drama department: accessible, generous, caring/involved, professional, excellent, light-heartedness/fun, Work hard - play hard, very hands-on method.
LOVES: movement, drama in action, rising stars, spotlight, energy, dance, emotion, shapes of people, dynamic, black and white photo - duotone, clipping mask inside type, like hand drawn- a sense of craftsmanship, loves ENERGY, taking object or method and using it to turn graphical elements out, enjoys monochromatic stuff - incorporates human figure, simplistic/minimalist maker direction
TOOLS of drama: hand tools in costuming and make-up, scissors, sewing machine, make-up brushes, airbrush guns, the hand in motion, and facial expressions to depict drama.
We also researched local, national, and international competitors, and these are some of our takeaways:
1. There are SO MANY theater/film groups and organizations out there Locally, Nationally, and Internationally!
2. Branding is effective when you start with a solid foundation - an excellent versatile & clean/straightforward logo so that you can go far with your other brand elements.
3. It’s essential to research what other competitors are doing to establish which design elements are effective and which aren’t.
4. Branding is effective when you can cohesively expand your brand to other branding elements such as posters, badges, way-finding signs, brochures, tickets, social media campaigns, etc.
5. Having solid brand guidelines helps with the cohesiveness of your entire identity and marketing.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
After our research, we compiled a comprehensive competitive analysis of local, national, and international groups doing similar things in Drama and theater. We discovered that many theater troupes/groups overuse the muse of tragedy drama masks and theater curtains. We took note to steer clear of these overused symbols to attract the younger target audience at ACC.
MOODBOARD
As a class, we initially divided into 4 teams. Each group made a different mood board to give the client various directions. My team noted some of the keywords our clients loved during our creative brief and research & discovery phase. These keywords were: “dynamic,” “action,” “energy,” “dance,” “motion,” and “monochromatic.” We played off of those words to create our mood board.
SKETCHES
Everyone in the class did sketches, and I’ve included a few of my own here. During this time, we were still unsure whether they wanted to keep the name “Makers & Methods” or if they wanted to explore other titles. Some of the logo sketches here explore different name options and styles. I also created a few initial social media and poster sketches that explored the concept of movement that the client frequently expressed interest in.
DIGITAL DRAFTS
After presenting our mood boards as a class to the clients, they expressed that they enjoyed the ones that showed more modern, youthful, bold, and eye-catching aesthetics. They enjoyed the idea of the interplay between typography and images. They also enjoyed the deconstruction of elements connected to being behind the scenes. Finally, they expressed that they appreciated the color palettes that were not harsh and aggressive but more inviting and welcoming. We took good notes and modified our designs accordingly. During this phase, the four teams presented their concept, social media assets, posters, and any merchandise they made.
OPTION ONE
These are Team One’s assets. They were going for a clean modern layout. The client did not feel engaged with the layouts or compositions. They felt that the layouts felt somewhat sterile and basic.
OPTION TWO
These are Team Two’s assets. The client loved Team Two’s social media assets as they displayed the energy they wanted and an understanding of the correct demographics/target audience they wanted to reach. They loved the textured background and the color palette and felt the layouts were engaging. However, they did not particularly like the display type as it gave them “space-age” vibes.
OPTION THREE
These are Team Three’s assets. The client didn’t feel that the aesthetics of the painterly brush reflected what Makers & Methods is really about - Drama and Theater.
OPTION FOUR
These are Team Four’s assets. The client LOVED team four’s logo as it speaks to the cyclical nature of the production process. They loved the clean, elegant, polished, and inviting layouts. The only thing they didn’t like was the one with the amorphous “blobs” with images and text in them.
FINAL DESIGN
Overall, the client truly liked Team Two’s overall design as they felt it reflected Makers & Methods concepts and the target audience the best. They also really loved team four’s logo, as it spoke to the cyclical nature of the production process.
For the remainder of the project, my class decided it was most beneficial that we no longer work in teams but as a whole group to tackle the rest of the deliverables. Since the clients liked Team Two’s assets the most and Team Four’s logo, we combined these assets to create and refine the rest of the deliverables: social media templates, calendar posters, email campaigns, illustrations, and merchandise.
TYPOGRAPHY & COLOR
Display & Header: Outfit Bold
Body 1: Sansation Regular
Body 2: Marydale Regular
REFLECTION
This project started slow and rocky as communication with the client throughout was sparse. It also felt disconnected at first since we were working separately in teams. However, as soon as our class decided to band together and use our strengths to collectively produce all of the deliverables, everything ran more smoothly. We worked well as a group, and everyone was receptive to each other’s feedback.
I was particularly proud of my team (Team 2) because the client chose our overall brand assets to move forward with, and my team member, Teo Garcia, created the entire brand guidelines. We could not have completed this project without our fearless project manager, Stephanie Johnson, and her remarkable ability to communicate effectively and directly with the client and the group. Lauren Corona-Ruiz did excellent illustrations and breathed life into our final assets. Additionally, Kelitza Ruiz brought insider knowledge on the correct ways to implement the ACC logos—finally, our fantastic logo, created by Ashley Adams, tied in the drama department concepts well. Everyone in the class was a delight to work with, but the names mentioned above were the MVPs of this project.
To take this project further, I would love to follow up with the ACC Drama Department after implementing these assets and collect data on their effectiveness in meeting their goals of attracting more students and working professionals to their group.
I learned a lot about the importance of effective client communication and how to set clear client expectations. I will undoubtedly take these newly discovered tools into my future projects.