#finalreflection

The H20 Esports Brand Activation Project demonstrates a complete professional process in creating, developing, and activating an esports brand. Across Learning Aims A, B, and C, the project explores branding theory, visual identity development, activation planning, production techniques, and evaluation to form a cohesive and realistic esports organisation.

The project was guided by the principles of brand consistency, audience engagement, accessibility, and improvement. These ensured that H20 Esports maintained a clear water-themed identity while presenting itself as a competitive, modern, and youth-focused team within the esports industry.

Learning Aim A: Principles, Assets, and Benefits of Esports Branding

Through research into established esports organisations and branding theory, I developed a detailed understanding of how branding creates identity and long-term value in esports.

Key findings included:

Brand as Identity: Successful esports brands communicate their ethos through consistent visual design, tone of voice, and messaging.

Brand Equity and Value: Recognisable brands build loyalty, increasing both commercial and community value.

Legal Protection: Copyright, trademarks, and intellectual property registration safeguard brand integrity and prevent misuse.

Customer Equity: Loyal fans provide long-term stability beyond tournament performance.

These insights directly informed the H20 Brand Guidelines, defining logo usage, typography choices, and the blue, white, and black colour palette. Blue represents clarity, confidence, and flow; white reflects simplicity and transparency; and black conveys professionalism and competitive strength.

This foundation created a professional and structured identity for H20 Esports, balancing creativity with strategic consistency across all platforms.

Learning Aim B: Planning and Developing Brand Activation Content

The planning phase focused on developing a structured brand activation strategy to launch H20 Esports as a recognisable identity.

Brand Activation Plan

Scope: Targeted toward esports players and fans aged 16–24.

Objectives: Build brand recognition, increase engagement, and establish a professional online presence.

Research and Concept Development: Moodboards, logo sketches, and merchandise concepts were developed using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Timescales: Work was structured across a phased production timeline to simulate a real esports marketing workflow.

Activation Content Produced

Digital Media:

Social media mock-ups (Instagram and recap posts).

Twitch overlay concepts.

Website layout designs.

Promotional posters and team announcements.

Physical Media:

Merchandise range including hoodies, shirts, caps, and mugs.

Seasonal clothing concepts.

Brand-themed accessories.

Each asset followed the H20 style guide, ensuring unified branding across digital and physical outputs.

Spaces for Brand Activation

H20 Esports was positioned across:

Social media platforms (Instagram, TikTok concepts).

Streaming environments (Twitch overlays).

Event promotion materials.

Merchandise and wearable branding.

This multi-platform approach extended the H20 identity into both digital and real-world spaces, reflecting industry-standard esports activation strategies.

Learning Aim C: Production, Evaluation, and Refinement

Learning Aim C focused on applying production techniques and refining the brand through structured evaluation.

All merchandise ( including hoodies, shirts, mugs, and seasonal designs ) applied the H20 brand guidelines to ensure consistency.

Evaluation and Feedback

Feedback was gathered from peers and reviewed critically. Constructive suggestions included:

Improving logo visibility on darker backgrounds.

Increasing digital interactivity.

Expanding the merchandise range beyond seasonal items.

Enhancing accessibility considerations.

Version 2 Improvements

Refinements were implemented to strengthen professionalism and inclusivity:

Added improved contrast and subtle outline adjustments for logo clarity.

Expanded merchandise to include everyday and seasonal collections.

Improved typography hierarchy for better readability.

Considered accessibility improvements such as colour contrast awareness and inclusive sizing.

Introduced more interactive digital content concepts such as weekly recap posts and player spotlights.

These refinements improved brand clarity, audience engagement, and overall professionalism, aligning H20 with modern esports branding standards.

Reflective Summary

This project allowed me to apply branding theory, practical design skills, and evaluative thinking within a realistic esports context.

Through experimentation and reflection, I developed a stronger understanding of:

The importance of consistent branding in building recognition.

The value of structured planning in esports marketing.

The role of feedback and iteration in improving professional assets.

The need for ethical and inclusive design within gaming communities.

The final H20 Esports brand now presents a cohesive, competitive identity that could realistically operate within the UK grassroots esports scene.

Conclusion

The H20 Esports Brand Activation Project demonstrates the full lifecycle of esports branding from research and planning to production and refinement.

H20 now stands as a fully developed esports brand with:

A clear visual identity.

Structured activation strategy.

Consistent cross-platform presentation.

Consideration of inclusivity and accessibility.

A strong connection to its target audience.

The project meets the objectives of the activation brief and reflects a professional understanding of esports branding aligned with industry standards.

References

After nine blog entries and several rounds of testing, refinement, and reflection, I feel that my project “The Taste of Home: Chinese Food in Everyday New Zealand” is finally taking a clear shape. What began as a broad interest in food and cultural identity has now developed into a layered visual narrative that explores how Chinese culture is embedded in ordinary, everyday spaces—from supermarket aisles to kitchen counters and restaurant tables.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned during this process is that photography is not just about capturing what is visible, but about revealing what is felt. Each decision—from lighting and framing to sequencing and layout—affects the emotional tone of the project. I’ve also come to understand the value of working iteratively. My early shoots were more observational; now, I’m more intentional in how I frame each image to tell a story about place, memory, and identity.

Looking ahead to Assessment 4, I plan to refine my image selection and focus on the emotional pacing of the photobook. I want the book to move the viewer through different emotional spaces: curiosity in the supermarket, comfort in the kitchen, and warmth in the restaurant. I’m also considering adding short captions or bilingual labels to further ground the photos in my personal perspective.

This project has become more than a documentation of food—it’s become a documentation of belonging. I now see photography not only as a creative tool, but as a way to connect with my own cultural identity and share it with others.

Task 2 was a rollercoaster ride (it was a lot of fun, but I was also scared that I wouldn’t make it to the end). It was a big project, so I will break the reflection into parts.

First up was the collage for which I presented Neville Brody’s quote “typography is a hidden tool of manipulation in society.” I chose this quote partly because I believe it, partly because I love how seriously designers take themselves, and mostly because it sounds cool. I cut the quote down to just 5 words “a hidden tool of manipulation” as the full quote was too long and cluttered the page. I knew I would probably lean towards Postmodernism and grunge in my collage, so when a classmate brought a collection of old art magazines to cut up, I plundered accordingly. I was picky with my letters, collecting letters with a handmade/printed look that were similar sizes and colours. Initially I wanted to make a collage like a hidden objects game so that I could use details as features on different pages of the zine. I tried many iterations of the collage but ultimately felt the images I had weren’t cohesive, so I decided to cut back to only the fortune teller since he tied in nicely with the quote.  I followed Constructivist influences when creating the sunburst and positioning the words. Overall, I love the way the collage turned out, although it is off-centre which really frustrates me – in future I’ll be sure to measure things out properly before cutting them up or gluing them down.  

Collage evolution (#DesignIsAnIterativeProcess)

Next up was the monogram, which was the section I struggled with most. Silly as it sounds, I don’t like my name, so I wasn’t keen on investing time into portraying it. Still, I gave it a go- I do appreciate a good monogram (and it was mandatory). I found myself drawn to older monograms; those made by creatives who used traditional making techniques like printing or engraving to sign their works.  Our first monogram exercise tasked us with hand drawing 2 monograms inspired by 3 different font styles. 

Dodgy attempts at hand lettering

Of the styles I experimented with I wound up really liking the blackletter designs, so I sent it to Illustrator using the Adobe Capture app, where I edited it to improve the quality of the vector and position the letters more nicely together. I kept some of the texture of the original drawing to maintain the handmade feeling, but edited enough so it felt refined. My monogram was well made, but could have been more interesting – I really struggled to find ways to weave the letters J and T without it looking like a stick. I am interested in pushing myself on this front to improve my typography and hand lettering skills.

Brainstorming alternative monograms

Process of designing final monogram

Final monogram (in a container)

Finally, all the pieces came together for the zine. I got Covid right in the middle of this project so it was a little hectic for me. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed the making process and felt that it was a great creative exercise.  My font choices were Kiln Sans (sans-serif)- a textured font styled to look like a wood-block print; and P22 Typewriter (serif). Both of these fonts came from the Adobe Fonts library, and both emulated the handmade look that I love. I enjoyed playing with the layouts of the text and tried to develop a look that blended the geometry of Constructivism with the chaos of post-Modernism. That being said, after looking more carefully at the magazine spreads of Greiman and Carson, I could have done with a more careful use of grids in my layouts (particularly on pages 4 and 5). I enjoy learning the Adobe suite so most of the issues I faced during the creation process felt like learning opportunities – except for the problems that made me feel crazy... I'm looking at you printing set-up. It took me four tries to get all the pages printed in the right order, I had to add an extra collage in the middle to make the pages divisible by 4, then the pages printed unaligned. I cut them to size as best as I could, but realised that I definitely need some practice with using bleeds/slugs/etc to achieve the desired results.

(Bonus collage/mini-poster in centerfold!)

Final zine spread, cover to cover

Thank you all for supporting and keeping up with my capstone project, with the IRIS project! 

Here is a link to my YT channel where the series is uploaded! 

Thank you again and good luck to everyone with their future endeavors!

For this post I would like you to reread and analyze comments I have provided you on assignments throughout this course. In doing so I want you to write your own feedback in response to my comments focusing on things like:

         comments you found useful and why:

The comments I found useful were for me to connect the dots while avoiding redundant writing. To work on being concise and be mindful of using inverted pyramids. 

         comments you did not find useful and why:

Avoid introducing new errors after editing, perhaps a notation of the error would be helpful.

         what you have learned from comments I have provided:

I learned from the comments to organize my thoughts more, to analyze my material making sure every word is critical to relay my point.  This will help me untangle sentences and deliver the message briefly and to the point.

Then, answer these questions again, but this time thinking about your peer review editing partners. How did all of these interactions help you to reflect, revise and improve your writing over the course of the semester?

Lastly, reflectively analyze your writing throughout this course by:

         Identifying what you learned about writing this semester:

I learned many different strategies when writing, one of them being the difference between editing and revising. This semester I did peer editing for the first time, the feedback I received was constructive and helped me to gain confidence in writing. In terms of editing my peers, I needed to expand on  the suggestions I made to edit peers.

         Addressing how your writing has developed throughout this course:

write final reflection

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What did I learn from the activity & how might I apply this more widely.

Dance: I learnt the importance of creativity and being open-minded to other ideas. Everyone has a different style of dance they prefer and its important to take that into account when choosing dances to learn. I think this can be applied in other aspects of my life such as coming up with innovative ideas to solve problems.

Touch Rugby: Touch rugby pushed me to keep improving on my skills each and every week. This involved me constantly practicing my passing in order to improve my catching and my quick passes. I hope to use that resilience and perseverance in all aspects of my life.

Borneo Project: I learnt the importance of giving back to the community. Though we live now in a globalised society, it is important to care about our local community and how we can work on improving it. 

What did I do?  Was I successful in meeting my goals?

Dance: I wanted to improve my dance skills. I have found that my moves have become a lot cleaner, I’m now more flexible and I have more control over my moves now.

Touch Rugby: When I began to play touch rugby, I wanted to improve my play by incorporating more passes and skills. Now, I feel comfortable passing longer distances and also dodging people though it is still a skill I am hoping to improve.

Borneo Project: I wanted to contribute to a rewarding cause and that was really showcased through the Borneo Project trip that I went on. I was able to witness what the money we raised contributed to and this filled me with a sense of fulfilment.

How did I think/ feel during the activity?

Dance: Depending on the dance, I would feel either very relaxed or stressed. This was often my stress-relieving activity.

Touch Rugby: This made me feel energetic. I constantly felt adrenaline whenever something interesting happened in the game such as if someone got through the defence.

Borneo Project: During the activity, I was mostly tired but by the end of it, I felt very fulfilled.

How did I interact with others? What did I learn about myself and others?

Dance: I learnt that I am good at providing others with ideas. For each performance, I provided ideas on formations and lighting. This CCA worked best when each person was contributing their own ideas.

Touch Rugby: Touch rugby required us to always give other constructive criticism. I learned that my usual tactic is dodging the opponent which is different from others who uses passing to confuse the defence.

Borneo Project: Borneo Project required lots of small groups working together as one collectively. This means that we had to communicate well with each other. I learnt that a lack of communications can lead to discrepancies in understanding, which led to conflict.

What did the activity mean to me? Should others do this activity?  Why?

Dance: This activity was amazing way I could mix my creativity with staying fit. I think everyone should try it as it can appeal to a wide range of audiences.

Touch Rugby: This activity was my way of trying out a sport that I was not that familiar. I think others should do this activity as a way of connecting with others and releasing stress.

Borneo Project: This activity was my way of giving back to my local community. I encourage everyone to take part in fundraising campaigns as it will allow you to connect with your local community.

How do I see myself developing as a result of this activity?  

Dance: I think that this has helped develop my resilience and perseverance. I had to have the discipline to keep practising every day. 

Touch Rugby: This has helped my physical physique by improving my stamina and my agility. I think improving my health is a very positive development that has arisen from actively playing sports.