Jordan Cook 's Graphic Design Canvas

Introduction      A majority of people are born with hair, and it kind of just sticks with them throughout their whole lives riding its evolution process to term, and then there are some other people who lose their hair at some point for various reasons whether they are younger or older.      Whatever your case may be, this creative exercise shall be interesting for those who have both; however, those of you who don't have hair may have a bit more fun coming up with ideas.      This is another exercise out of the book CAFFEINE FOR THE CREATIVE MIND series written by Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Le Oldfield , and was given the wondrous name of "My Astro-Toupee" , how funny and relevant, right?      In the creative exercise "My Astro-Toupee" , you are to be unique, wild, and make sure the ideas you choose stand out. These ideas could be anything that comes to your imagination. They should make people gawk at you in awe because these things are abnormal things

Introduction      To continue with learning about what makes a successful brand identity and how to create one, this week we are to design three more touchpoints that we would consider using for our restaurant.      Now that we are in week three of Intro to Marketing and Self-Promotion , I am beginning to really understand branding and what it takes to have a successful brand. I know I still have a lot to learn, but designing a business from scratch helps teach someone how to go through the process themselves. It gives you a little taste of what it's like. Through-out my travels, I notice that I am zoning in on the brands that are in my environment.      One brand that I was focusing in on was Starbucks . Their name and symbol are everywhere. When you order Starbucks, you have a little piece of their brand in every step of the process. This includes their napkins, straws, coffee sleeves, bags, merchandise, stickers, etc. When you walk into Starbucks, it has a certain feeling

Introduction      CAFFEINE FOR THE CREATIVE MIND: 250 EXERCISES TO WAKE UP YOUR BRAIN is a fantastic book to have in your library for the ideation process. Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield have done a great job of putting together a plethora of exercises for business and creative professionals.      This week's exercise involves one of my favorite hobbies, writing lyrics. I have been writing lyrics since I was a child in grade school, specifically rap and poetry. I have used this as a creative outlet my entire life.      This exercise is called “That’s Not The Words” . “That’s Not The Words” explains that our brains remember music, and while music is playing, everything else that we are supposed to remember goes right down the drain.      In this exercise, we are to pick an object that is in our surroundings. When the chosen object is solidified, we are to take the melody that has been stuck in our heads and turn it into a song about the chosen object. If the tune is ab

     Branding is a crucial process for a company in the world we live in today. It is just as crucial as the product, service, or vision that is being sold.      One of the major companies in this world that has exceeded expectations in the branding department is Amazon.      This design post will discuss the article "The Amazon Logo: Inspiring Insights for Business Owners and Marketers" written by Rizza DC . The link is below. Link: https://www.crowdspring.com/blog/amazon-logo/ From a Bellevue garage to a global giant: the Amazon story      Amazon began in the year of 1994 when Jeff Bezos moved forward with creating an online bookstore from his very own garage. It began as a company that only sold books but quickly grew to sell music, movies, electronics, and much more.      Amazon grew to become one of the most popular online retail stores in the world, and this changed the perspective of the entire industry, according to DC. What is in a name? Quite a lot, i

     Now that a Logo had been established for Nigerian Street Buka , it was time to create a Brand Identity. For this part of the assignment, we were supposed to create a Business Card , Letterhead , Envelope , and a Website Mock-up (For a cell phone screen.) for our restaurant.      I began this project by researching various brand identities and business cards. I wanted to get a feel for what was out there in the world of the restaurant industry. Anyone can come up with a generic design for their brand identity, but if you want your brand identity to speak to your customers visually and emotionally, there needs to be a great portion of brainstorming and planning: colors, shapes, typography, and more need to be taken into careful consideration.      After completing my research, I drew my artboards out for each project piece and began contemplating a few designs. I knew my colors would be a combination of two or three colors that I picked from the logo itself. I placed the logo a

Introduction      We have all heard of poetry at some point in our lives, and most of us have probably had to write at least one poem throughout our childhood years in school and definitely in college. Some of us found a passion for writing poetry and other forms of writing, and others probably said yea, this is not for me. I fell in love with writing when I was just a little kid.      Whether you like poetry or not, have you ever heard of the different forms of poetry like free verse, sonnet, limerick, ballad, ode, acrostic, haiku, etc.? I know some of you probably fell asleep during this lesson, but I thought maybe you would remember at least one or two of these forms of poetry. I may be reaching out on a limb!       Well, today you will learn what a haiku is. A haiku is one of the most popular forms of iteration, and it follows this formula: Haiku Formula 5 syllables  7 syllables 5 syllables      Haikus are short and sweet, and they leave you wanting more. They leave you

     This week we are learning about Brand Identity, so I have chosen to write my design post on the article What is brand identity? And how to develop a great one. written by Donna DeBara . Link: https://www.vistaprint.com/hub/brand-identity      According to DeBara, brand identity is the collection of all elements that a company creates to portray the right image to its customers. This does not mean that it is the same as Branding or Brand Image. These are two completely different terms. What is a brand identity?      Branding is a marketing principle that helps shape a brand, branding is how the world views the company through their own eyes.      Brand identity is what makes a company’s identity recognizable. Through the association of the brand identity and the product or service, a strong relationship between the company and the customer will begin to build, along with loyalty. How to develop a strong brand identity? DeBara lists a few key elements about who you a

     Nigerian clothing and street restaurant signs are filled with vibrant and bold colors. Each region's colors vary, but many wear colorful attire at some point.      To begin my logo process, I came up with the name Nigerian Street Buka. I wanted Nigerian and street in the name so that people knew what kind of food it was, but I also wanted it to be unique so I named it Nigerian Street Buka. Buka refers to small local shops in Nigeria, and that is what my restaurant represents. I also knew that I wanted to represent music and food.      Then, I sketched 30 thumbnails, and from the 30 that I sketched, I chose 3 thumbnails. I then created 3 roughs from these thumbnails, adding more detail. I again chose 1 rough for my final design.      I uploaded a photo of my rough to Adobe Illustrator, and I began drawing everything out with the pen tool. As I came to the final logo, I realized that there were some details that I did not like. I ended up going with Bookman Old Style Bold

     We have jumped into the first week of Intro to Marketing and Self-Promotion . For the duration of this class, we will be working on the branding process for a restaurant. We will be creating a logo, business cards, letterheads, envelopes, web page mock-ups, touchpoints, a menu, and a branding guide. In this post, we are instructed to describe the restaurant: the food, the atmosphere, the dining experience, the anticipated audience, and anything that makes it unique. We are to think of the vision and mission of the restaurant envisioning the entire dining experience from a first-person point of view.      Welcome to Nigerian Street Buka , you will dive into the culture of Nigerian people, community, food, and music. Vision: Bringing people together, bite by bite and beat by beat celebrating authentic Nigerian heritage. Mission: To provide an authentic, wholesome, and immersive experience by delivering vibrant, rich Nigerian food and lively music to our American backyard.