Graphic Designer. Bearded. Tattooed. Geek.

So as this post would suggest, I am back from the dead. Not literally, but figuratively. It’s been almost 12 months since my last blog post I believe. It could possibly even of been almost two years.

So in that time I would like to think I have grown, not just as a designer but as a person.

First things first...I am employed full time as a Graphic Designer. I won’t say where, but we sell personalised gifts and cards online. I’ve been with this company for almost two years now. I initially took the role as a Junior Product Photographer, in the hopes that it would lead to a Graphic Designer role which it indeed did. I have been designing for about 8 months now and for the most part I am enjoying it.

Things I have also learned since I last posted. Literally,  almost everything you learn in University amounts to nothing. So many things I have picked up over the last year from both my colleagues and my own self learning that university teaches you the bare minimum to get by. 

Other things I have learned...I really want to specialise in branding/identity/logo design whatever you want to call it. 

The reasons for this are many, but some of the most basic are I feel as if its almost scientific, I think its one of the most purest forms of problem solving and I love the process involved in trying to solve it. Its constantly evolving and people are coming up with new, cool ideas constantly and lastly I love the end result. Seeing a company and going I created that.

So my plan is to head in that general direction. I’ve already been working on this. Listening to a lot of podcasts such as Logogeek - logogeek.uk/ ( A really good and informative podcast and great website full of resources) and purchasing (but yet to read) a lot of design books. I’ve also just recently enrolled in the Logo Core - logocore.com logo design course with Mentorship. I’m hoping to really up my logo design game and understanding by undertaking this.

So the next few months should be fun and exciting. The plan right now is to continue working fulltime in my current role whilst developing my logo design skills and expanding my freelance business.

In the interim I’m going to be making more time to blog and update my progress on here. I have a bunch of things floating around in my head I plan on talking about. Hopefully a few of you will come along for the ride. Fingers crossed.

If you’re bored or interested you can check out my full website here:

So its been quite some time since I posted on here. I primarily used this previously as part of Graphic Design degree, but thought it may be time to use it in a professional capacity in my search to fulfil my desire to put what I have learnt into practice.

So since last posting I have made a massive move from the sunny warm skies of Australia to the rainy grey skies of the UK. My wife is English, hence the move. 

I am currently in a job which is not even remotely close to my chosen career path that I absolutely loathe, but it pays the bills and keeps me in comic books and vinyl. 

I have been searching for junior design roles here in Manchester, I have had a couple of interviews but no real success in landing a job yet. I really just want to get my foot in the door somewhere that understands I still have a lot to learn and will mentor and support me in doing that.

In the interim I have come to the realisation that I still have a massive amount to to learn, so I am going to start focusing more of my spare time on maintaining and developing my skills. I plan on documenting this through here as it happens via tutorials and various projects I hope to work on. 

And here we are at the end! Very final blog for this trimester! Breaking down ad campaigns and the technical aspects used in them. So here we go...

Campaign #1 - Expedia

Sun, Sea, Sand & Sex!! I love how this is done. The advertisement is for travel company Expedia. They have utilised luggage tags and created abbreviations for the four things everyone wants to out of a holiday. They are presented in the same way the airport or city codes are displayed on real luggage tags.

They have also created stamps of the company website and slogan that have the appearance of passport stamps.

I believe the luggage tags were actually created and printed, then screwed/scrunched up to make them look distressed and worn.

As for the stamps I believe these were done in photoshop as it is much easier to do this than have a stamp made up for  one off campaign.

The tags have been photographed in a plane white background using what I believe to be natural lighting and the stamps have been composited in, in photoshop.

Campaign #2 - Mcdonalds

Personally, I am not a fan of McDonalds. However I do think this ad is quite well done. I like the clean almost sterilised look to it and the imagery of fries/potatoes in their raw natural state and the cheeky slogan of “Real Good” almost implying that their healthy. Personally I feel “Real Shit” would be more fitting.

Technically I think this is well done. I believe they have used photography, specifically two separate images. One of a potato sliced and peeled into the shape of fries and another of a whole potato.

They have then taken the two images and done some pretty impressive photoshop work to merge the two and make it appear as if it is indeed one complete object/image.

I believe the curled/cutout M symbol is an illustration and has been filled by sampling the inside of the potato. I believe the cutout of said logo has also been created using photoshop techniques.

Campaign #3 - Opel

I really like this one for its simplicity and impact. It hits home to a topic that is very serious and sadly all too common these days - The dangers of texting and driving.

I’ve left this one till last to write about. Quite possible because it has been the most painful outcome to achieve.

Collaboration - Or lack there of is how I can best describe it. Working with people can often be difficult. Especially when those people are from other disciplines. I’ve often found that games designers or animators or even audio students have different personalities and mindsets from designers. Which makes sense. 

The task for this outcome was to help another student with their project by providing some sort of collateral and to have someone contribute to my project as well.

In making the video for my Lumberjack brand I required some music. I needed a serene piece for the beginning and something heavy and rocky for the ending. Unfortunately the fellow student who agreed to provide me with these did not come through with what I needed and I was forced to use royalty free music tracks to complete the project.

To help a fellow student I was tasked with creating a poster for their project. This, again proved to be frustrating. I was given no source or reference images. When asked if I could have a couple of posed images from characters or models I was told that they were already behind and wouldn’t be able to provide them. 

Instead, I was given four themes...Burning forest, Space pulp, Snow hunter & prehistoric hunter. At this point in time I was wondering if the creator was high when he conceived this concept.

Given the short time frame and lack of reference material provided by the “client” I resorted to using live trace on a bunch of google images and stock vectors to create the poster. This was the end result..

One of my deliverables for this trimester was to create a video advertisement for my brand/product.

In order to achieve this it mean stepping exploring and learning new software. 

I had previously used Adobe Premier Pro to cut and edit together video footage but I hadn’t explored it beyond this..adding effects and so on to the video itself. I wanted to learn how to do this with this part of the project.

I also wanted to learn how to create animations in Adobe After Effects which I had not previously used at all, but always wanted to learn and experiment with.

My original intention was to create a purely animated video in Adobe After Effects and add some music to it. As time went on I felt like I could not get the desired look/feel I was after by using animation alone.

I started to look for some live action footage of wooded/forest areas and I came across this video here:

I wanted to use this video as the base “layer” for my ad. My intention was to create a contrast between the beauty of nature and the contrast of being a Lumberjack.

My campaign thus far relied a lot on a vintage look/tone and I wanted to continue that with this video. In order to achieve this I needed to find some tutorials on how to do this.

This was the first one I used. I used this tutorial to learn how to change the colour of the video from full colour to sepia as with the rest of my project.

I then reduced the frame rate from 24fps to 14fps to give the video a more jittery appearance rather than the smooth HD look of the original source video.

The next step was to add texture to the video. Below shows the same frame at the three different stages. Original, With sepia and then with texture/grain added.

I was over the moon with how this turned out. Its a completely different look and feel to the original video and has the HD look that I was after. 

The next step was to create an animation in After Effects to add to the end of the video. As previously mentioned I had never touched After Effects at all and the interface was incredibly different to all of the other Adobe packages I had previously used before. So I watched this tutorial to get an understanding of the package and an idea of where and how to start.

The animation I created was simple and was just created to bring the brand into the video. It can be seen below. Short, simple & sweet.

So once I had my video’s compiled I needed to put them together into one! That end result can be seen below. At time of writing this, It still needed a couple of minor tweaks. Including some audio/music which will form part of my collaboration with a student from another discipline that I will write about in a future post over the next few days.

Here it is...

This is the FINAL cut with the music replaced. Hmmm for some reason Tumblr won’t let me imbed another video...So here is the URL:

A  non-disclosure agreement or NDA,  is a legally binding contract between at least two individuals or companies that specifies information, or materials that may be deemed confidential. It is generally information that requires sharing between said parties, but due to its nature needs to be restricted from third parties. It is a contract states that the parties agree not to divulge any information covered by the agreement. An NDA creates a confidential relationship between the parties to protect any type of confidential and proprietary information or trade secrets. As such, an NDA protects non-public business information.

The NDA serves to help two companies or individuals understand the ins and outs of each other's business to assist in determining the potential of a business relationship. 

The NDA can protect any type of information that is not public knowledge The NDA can contain clauses that will protect the person receiving the information so that if they to become privy to said information by lawful means, there would be  obligation for them to keep the information confidential. 

Sustainability in graphic design is something that I readily admit to not having given much thought to previously. Its not that I am not environmentally conscious, just that I generally do my designs and then I send them away to print, so ignorantly I thought that was someone else’s problem.

The truth is there are many ways as a designer that I can make decisions with regards to my work that can lessen the impact of the environmental footprint I leave behind.

The following TEDX talk by designer Eric Benson explains how he came to the realisation as a designer how much waste he was generating and contributing to the world. 

In it he states that the paper industry has the 4th largest environmental impact. He setup his website www.re-nourish.com as a tool for designers to help them calculate how their decisions impact the planet, as well as how to calculate ways to generate less wastage and save money on paper costs. There is also a database of eco-friendly paper stock that you can use.

In his video Eric asks the question: “What are the impacts of the objects I create?” 

With that in mind I’ve asked myself the question: “How can I reduce the impact of the objects I create?”

With my current Lumberjack project some of the things I could of considered prior to undertaking it and done differently included:

Using less material when developing my packaging prototypes

Using recycled card stock to create my packaging and prototypes.

Re-used paper when doing test prints. Printing on the reverse of the paper.

Sourcing black tins that I needed for my project instead spray painting them.

Using T-shirts that are made from organic or renewable fibre as opposed to synthetic.

I would not have used PVC for my packaging prototype - This was both un-useable and bad for the environment.

If the project were to come to fruition and be a real product somethings I would incorporate would be:

Packaging produced from 100% recycled materials

Oils & Cremes produced by hand from natural, organic & local ingredients

Printing provided by printers using VOC free inks

Use the re-nourish calculator to ensure my printing is efficient and reducing waste as much as possible

Use of chlorine free paper

Use Social Media to advertise/promote the business

Use lighter weight stock

I have to admit, I was pretty shocked when I heard this term and that we had to do it. I thought user testing was related to development and websites. Incorrect!

It was surprisingly straight forward. Essentially we had to create a survey and have at least 5 people respond to it and give feedback on the project. The requirement was for 10 questions to be answered to determine if the product/brand had the desired effect on consumers.

I created my survey and put it out to friends and family on Facebook to answer it and also again to the Brisbane Bearded Bandits Facebook group.

I asked the following questions:

1) Lumberjack is a brand that sells mens grooming products and apparel. Items include beard oil, hair styling creme and t-shirts. Do you think the logo, name and overall aesthetic of the brand capture this?

2) What do you like or dislike about the logo? 

3) Would you purchase the product? 

4) Why would you purchase this product over another similar one?

5) What words would you use to describe the product?

6) How much would you be willing to pay for the Beard Oil & Hair Creme gift set?

7) How much would you be willing to pay for a T-shirt

8) What do you think could be improved on?

9) Do you think the colour scheme works well with the brand?

10) What other products would you like to see Lumberjack sell?

Below are the answers and survey results:

The results and responses were amazing! I had 31 responses in total. There were some smart ass answers, but they were harmless and in good fun and provided a laugh. 

The thing I loved the most was the words people used to describe the product. Maculine, Vintage, Manly, Hipster. These were all the type of words I was looking for and felt when I was designing the brand. 

The other things I loved were that people were willing to pay a substantial amount for what they felt was a top quality product and also the excitement and ideas I was given for other items that could be produced under the brand.

Social media is a massive asset to any business these days. Particularly with businesses that rely on selling online.

With my brand the intention would be to promote and advertise through various social media platforms, primarily Instagram & Facebook and then direct customers to a website setup with a store.

So in order to implement a successful social media campaign I need to have a voice that resonates with my audience. A voice that speaks to the types of customers I wish to engage and who I wish to purchase my products.

In this previous post I established who my target audience was. Being a user of the products I am trying to sell I already have a good idea of who my audience is and what appeals to them.

The primary social media platforms used are:

1) Facebook - 71% of online adults use Facebook.

2) Twitter - 23% of online adults use Twitter.

3) Pinterest - 28% use Pinterest

4) Instagram - 26% use Instagram

As previously stated I will only be using two of these. 

The next step is to be specific about the goals I would like to achieve. With this particular brand/product I would like to be easily recognisable and iconic. I would like people to see the Lumberjack brand and instantly know that it is mens grooming products and apparel. Hence only calling the brand Lumberjack as opposed to Lumberjack Grooming Co. Which was my initial choice.

The next step is to generate a buzz around the product. I have begun to do this by establishing my previously mentioned Facebook & Instagram profiles as well as sharing the pages with the Brisbane Bearded Bandits group on Facebook that has 900 members. 

In generating the buzz on my page I have taken my followers through the process of creating the brand, from inception and showing progress of my logo design, packaging and other various collateral.

The next part of my process has been about content and delivery. I’ve just been taking organic photos on my phone. Nothing professional or studio based and posting them as they happen. I’ve shared links to between my two social media profiles and also to this blog. 

When posting on Instagram I’ve used a lot of beard related tags to generate interest and likes and followers. I have also used tags directed at the graphic design industry as well. These include:

#beard #beardcare #beardporn#beardstyle #pogonophile#realmengrowbeards #bearded#beardedlife #beardnation #beardgang#beardsandtattoos#beardedmenofinstagram #jointhebeard #beardoil#beardoftheday #bilf #beardsandtatts#graphicdesign #graphicdesigner #adobe#illustrator #photoshop #designstudent#branding #logodesigns #logodesigner#graphictee #designer #design

In researching this topic I did find there are more than a handful of automated content delivery platforms for social media that allow you to schedule and post to your various social media accounts at designated intervals. I prefer not to use this approach as I believe part of building a loyal customer and trust comes from a more personal and hands on approach. 

I setup the Instagram account about a week ago. So far I have made 16 posts, gained 8 followers and have started following 71. Whilst the number of followers I have gained is less than I would like, the amount of likes I have received on each of my posts has been amazing!

The Facebook profile I setup about a week after the Instagram. As yet there isn’t as many posts on there, but the ones I have put on there are more detailed, explaining certain processes and the development of Lumberjack.

In 24 hours I have gained 42 likes and reached 68 people. I am quite happy with that so far. The feedback and interaction with my followers so far has been positive. I hope to only grow this over the coming weeks.

So in order to create my Lumberjack poster I wanted to do something I hadn’t done before which was a double exposure effect in photoshop.

To undertake this I first needed to learn how to do this. I was surprisingly amazed at how simple this actually was. The majority of the videos I watched were less than 10 minutes long each.

These were the main two I used.

In keeping with the theme of my Lumberjack brand I wanted to do something vintage looking, but with a modern, grungy, masculine kind of look. 

I wanted to combine an image of a lumberjack with an image of a rugged landscape full of trees and snow capped mountains. I also used these two tutorial videos as they dealt with the double exposure using similar imagery.

In order to save time with this project and as something new that I hadn’t done before, that I thought would definitely be something that would come up in the industry I decided to purchase and use only stock imagery.

These are the three images I used to compile my poster.

In order to pull this off I knew I would need to undertake a bit of a refresher in layer masks. I had never really used layer masks until last trimester and I haven’t used them since. They’re are quite possibly the most valuable tool available to you in photoshop. The idea behind them is to allow you to work on your PSD file in a manner that is non destructive.

This video gives a very quick intro into layer masks and why they are so useful.

Because I needed to cut around a person with loose strands of hair I needed to know how to do this as well. In my early years of using photoshop and cutting people out I distinctly remember using the eraser tool and painstakingly erasing around the object or person I wanted to extract. The problem with this was that A) it was destructive and B) The person would always end up with blocky strands of hair that Just. Looked. Wrong.

Using quick mask and then the refine edge tool as shown in this video below gets a perfect extraction of the subject with perfect flowing strands of hair.

So now that I had the tools and skills needed to create my poster I got to work...

Firstly I cropped and masked out my subject...

Then I did the same with the image that I wanted to create the double exposure with. This was quite a long task. Getting in between the leaves and branches of the tree took some time. Having a wacom made it a lot easier

Next I positioned my images and how and where I wanted them. This first image is with the blending mode of the lumberjack adjusted to created the double exposure effect.

Next I began to mask and blend the different areas to allow more or less of the various elements appear as I wanted them to.

I then added the sepia colour tone that is consistent throughout the rest of my branding.

I then proceeded to use various grunge brushes and began to add texture to the image.

I then added the timber panelling as a background/border and continued to add texture using various grunge brushes and colours.

I continued to do this and added the Lumberjack logo and (fictional) web address.

So this is currently where I am at. Not sure where to put the web address at this point in time. I feel there is too much space at the top and it needs something more. Just can’t work out what. Open to suggestions...

Lumberjack...I have a beard. I love my beard. My fiance loves my beard and it feels awesome when I put beard oil on it. Given that this trimester we were allowed to create and develop our own product and brand it seemed pretty logical to go with that.

I follow a lot of beard oil brands/companies on Instagram. They all have their own identities and styles. A lot of them tend to go for more of a modern look and approach then vintage. I find this surprising given the whole beard/barber shop thing harks back to that bygone era. As previously said I really wanted this to be a big aspect of my brand.

So again, as with my typography and other projects I started doing some research. Pinterest is a gold mine for this.

These were some of the ideas I used for inspiration in creating my logo.

I was very lucky that there was such a vast amount of resources that I could use as inspiration. I got an idea quite quickly of what I wanted to achieve. So I set out to do something I rarely do ( which I know I need to work on. I drew, I drew a sketch of what I wanted my design/logo to look like.

So once I had my sketch down I set up recreating it in illustrator...

I was liking where this was going and it took me a lot of hours to get to this point. However, my lecturer felt it was too much like an illustration and not very logo like and that the complexity of it would mean the detail would be very hard to see once it was reduced down to the required sizes. At the time I wasn’t happy with this as I had put a lot of work into it, but she was 110% right.

This was the next iteration...

A more simplified logo that looked MUCH more professional effective. It was at this point I opted to drop the grooming company from the logo and brand name. As Heli explained to me many companies such as Nike are just simply that. 

It was at this point that I started to experiment with different banners, fonts and also colours...

Getting the Lumberjack banner right was a bit of a challenge. It took 3 or 4 different style banners before I managed to settle on the correct one. Finally I did though. Then it was just a matter of choosing the correct font.

As mentioned in the previous post it came down to these 3 choices. The middle one being the winner, determined by popular consensus.

I tweaked with the overlaying texture several more times to get the right distressed/vintage look I was after.

What you see below is the FINAL and OFFICIAL logo for Lumberjack. In Black & Sepia and Black & White...

I’m incredibly proud and over the moon with the end result. I truly it is the best and my professional work I have ever done.

Once I had my logo in place I set about working on my style guide. Getting all my rules in place for how to use and apply the identity to marketing materials and products ect.

So currently, I am working on my packaging and various other collateral. I will post about this in future posts. 

So for my brand, I wanted something vintage, yet modern. I did a lot of research on Pinterest researching the various elements and aspects of my product. Beards, Lumberjacks, Beard Oil, Vintage Logo’s, Vintage types faces ect ect...

I compiled a moodboard that showed the ideas and styles that I liked. Here is a small sampling...

I was really drawn to the black and sepia coloured designs. Many with banner elements and a distressed/aged look to them. These elements would all be crucial in influencing my typographic elements and my overall design.

You can see the FULL board here..

https://au.pinterest.com/pin/28780885091845326/

So with that in mind I started looking for the various typefaces that I liked and that I felt would suit the brand and what I was trying to achieve.

As I previously stated I was hoping to achieve a vintage look, with a modern feel. I was thinking along the lines of tattoo style fonts and fonts with flourishes.

This was my short list.

From here I managed to narrow it down to three...

Left to right we have Old Gate Lane NF, Happy Campers NF & Showboat. I wanted something with a bit of a character and a bit ornate. The problem with Old Gate Lane and Showboat was they were too heavy. When their various characters were viewed on a small scale the detail dissipated and was very hard to see. I put it to public opinion on Facebook and the overwhelming consensus was that Happy Campers NF was the winner.

Converse Vs Vans

Two of the most iconic brands in footwear. I love both of these brands and own several pairs of each. They’re both iconic brands whose merchandise extends far beyond footwear only these days.

Converse - “Shoes are boring. Wear sneakers.”

I like this one. Shoes are very specific. You wear shoes to work, you wear shoes with your suit. Sneakers you can wear with absolutely anything. Especially cons. Add to the fact that converse come in a massive range of styles, colours, & textures there really is a pair for every occassion. This makes them anything but boring. 

Vans - “Off the wall.”

This slogan to me suggests a bit more of a wild and care free attitude. The slogan comes from the the skate scene in the 70′s in California. When there was no waves and they were unable to surf, they would skate in trained swimming pools which was termed coming “Off the wall.”

I think I personally like and can relate more to the converse and their slogan. Converse has been around for over 100 years. They’re almost their own sub-culture one that has been embraced by artists, musicians, & skaters. They’re timeless.

Oakley Vs Ray-Ban

Everyone needs a good pair of sunnies. When I was a kid, growing up in a surf town, everyone had a pair of Oakley’s. My first pair were a pair of Frogskins, then I had the EyeJackets, Tens, and several other pairs over the years. As I grew older and my style and taste refined I became a fan of the Ray-Ban Wayfarer..again, classic and timeless.

Oakley - "Physics Elevated to an Art Form"

I remember growing up Oakley had the tagline Thermonuclear Protection. I also recall hearing a story that the lenses of a particular model were capable of stopping a shotgun blast. The focus of Oakley function over form. Durability and ruggedness. Of course they are made to look stylish also, hence the “elevated to an Art Form” aspect of the slogan.

Any film, or image you see these days that depicts military or police personnel is bound to have them brandishing some form of Oakley apparel. I believe their slogan and design appeals most to this “masculine” demographic.

A search of google images shows just how far intrenched Oakley has become into tactical gear and apparel.

Ray-Ban - “ Never Hide”

I really love this slogan, and I can relate to it a lot more than that of Oakley. Its about being yourself, being true to yourself and never being afraid of who you are. 

A really awesome aspect of it that I love that ties into the slogan of "Never Hide”, is their very open acceptance of the gay community and their marketing campaigns that have targeted them. This is something that I feel very strongly about as I have several gay and lesbian friends. I also love the fact that it is a massive contrast to the masculine identity of Oakley. 

Ray-Ban for the win for me!

Qantas Vs Virgin Atlantic 

Airlines...I’ve experienced quite a few these last few years as I’ve been travelling overseas. I thought I’d chose something I had a bit of experience in and move away from the fashion world for a little bit. So here we go.

Qantas - “The Spirit Of Australia”

Qantas is as much an Australian icon as vegemite, VB and Skippy. They are also one of the most well regarded and oldest airlines in the world.

Australians are proud of their airline. They’re advertising has always promoted a strong sense of patriotism and has also acknowledged our aboriginal heritage in their branding, not to mention the Kangaroo logo.

Everything about Qantas says Australia. 

Their epic and highly memorable I still call Australia Home commericals showcase that Qantas may show you the world, but that their home and themselves will always be Australia/Australian.

Virgin Atlantic - “ Virgin Atlantic, more experience than our name suggests”

Whats not to love about this? It’s witty, it’s cheeky and its funny. I looked at 10 - 20 other airline slogans and they were all so generic and yawn inducing. “We’re ready when you are” “We love to fly and it shows”

There is no fun or excitement in them. As I have said in previous posts, I like humour and tongue firmly planted in cheek. I like things that make me laugh and think. As proud as I am to be an Aussie and I believe that Qantas truly embrace their “Spirit Of Australia” motto, Virgin wins this one!

So the purpose of this particular blog was to help us come up with our own slogan. So I decided with mine that it would be “Beards are Bad Ass” 

The reason I went with this was because there a great deal many characters in popular culture that sport beards who are pretty bad ass people that you’d definitely want on your side in a fight (Not that I’m promoting violence. 

So i used this theme as well when designing my shirts..

In my first studio unit I really struggled with all the documentation project plans/ style guides/ Gant charts. I just could not get my head around them. All I wanted to do was make pretty pictures. ( Thats my simplified explanation when people ask me what a Graphic Designer does) 

In my second trimester, working on a project by myself I had to get my head around it. I also learnt the importance of them and the sense of accomplishment that comes from completing them.

So yet again, I have to produce one. Exact project plan specifics are still to come but at least my schedule is complete. The first 6 weeks have primarily been research and documentation, now the fun stuff begins. This is hopefully the path it will take.

Copywriting...Not copyright. Thats an entirely different kettle of fish. So what is copywriting? Copywriting according to wikipedia is:

“written content conveyed through online media and print materials. Copy is content primarily used for the purpose of advertising or marketing. This type of written material is often used to persuade a person or group as well as raise brand awareness”

I’ve always liked slogans that were witty, tongue in cheeky and that thought outside of the box. So with that in mind here are three of my favourites.

Copywriting Campaign #1 - EAT24

I had never heard of these guys before until I began researching this topic. When I found them though I LOL’d. I LOL’d A LOT. Real LOL’s not those pretend ones you do to your mates when you don’t know what to say next.

THAT in itself is enough to make these guys memorable to me and for me try whatever it is they’re selling. Which in these case happens to be take away food, home delivered.

Who doesn’t talk about something they really liked in this way?

And ZOMBIES! Everyone loves Zombies!

The best bit though is this awesome blog post from Sir Meowington!!

https://blog.eat24.com/an-excuse-to-use-cat-gifs-on-the-yelp-eat24-blog/

Copywriting Campaign #2 - Trello

Trello!!! I went with this one because as a student and having undertaken a great deal of group work, Trello became a necessity. I had ZERO idea what it was the first time I ever heard it mentioned, but I became familiar with it quite quickly and if someone had of simply quoted its product description to me. I would of been on board immediately. 

Its precise and pretty much hits the nail on the head with what it does. Enough said.

Copywriting Campaign #3 - Pinterest

Ahhhh Pinterest. Initially I was so overwhelmed when I was first introduced to this amazing tool. The mass and wealth of information is quite overwhelming, however I have now realised how invaluable in can be. especially in research for my design projects. It is essentially a ready made moodboard. I can print and access and organise my information at any time.

“They used Pinterest to plan a dream trip”

In order to market my product successfully I need to have somewhat of an understanding of marketing.

So for my particular product which I have previously mentioned as being mens grooming products I am going to look at SWOT Analysis, Marketing Personas & The 5 P’s of Marketing and apply them to my particular brand/product.

In order to help me with this I found an EXCELLENT resource on the QLD Government business website that provides tools for SWOT analysis and building customer profiles amongst a whole bunch of other stuff.

https://www.business.qld.gov.au/business/starting/market-customer-research

Lets Begin...

SWOT Analysis

Customer Personas

The 5 P’s of Marketing

The 5 P’s of marketing pertain to Product, Price, Promotion, Place & People and how they will all fit into the identity of the business and contribute to its success.

Product - The product itself is Lumberjack. Lumberjack is a mens grooming brand that will include hair styling creme, beard oil, and clothing. Eventually it will branch out into skin care and aftershave.

The branding will have a vintage, yet modern look to it. Products and packaging be will manufactured using organic and renewable ingredients and material. 

Price - Pricing will be based on production and material costs. Lumberjack aims to be a high quality, yet affordable product. As a designer design costs are minimal and marketing will predominantly rely on free social media.

Once overheads and competitor pricing has been calculated and taken into account an appropriate price point will be determined reflected our desired positioning within the marketplace.

Promotion - Using our social media presence Lumberjack will entice customers through competitions. Offering apparel and product samples through likes and shares of our pages, sharing our photos, tagging us in their own photos and videos using and wearing our products and for giving reviews and feedback on our pages.

Place - Lumberjack will initially be sold online through our web shopfront. Marketing and directing customers to our website will be done via Facebook and Instagram.

As the business and sales grow, the intention is to move into wholesale distribution. Supplying to Barbers, gift shops and other various like minded retailers.

People - The general demographic of people that I would like to sell my product to and help grow my business are young at heart, artistic, technologically minded, fashionable, environmentally conscious and socially aware.

These are the characteristics I hope people see and think of when they think of Lumberjack. I would like to see this in the staff, the customers and in turn the brand itself.

I wish to employ people with compassion and empathy who want to help people not just because it is their job, but because its who they are.

I want people to buy the Lumberjack brand because they recognise it as a brand that cares about people and the environment.

I was incredibly hesitant when I first sat down to write this blog, as I literally knew nothing of these topics, but its been incredibly insightful and dare I say inspiring as its opened me the possibilities of what if I took this beyond being simply a university assignment. :)

I was also required to take the information I have learned and develop my own marketing personas for the type of people who I feel would buy my products.

“ Brand engagement is the process of forming an emotional or rational attachment between a person and a brand.”

Everyone has products that they are loyal to. Everyone has preference of one product over another Coke vs Pepsi, Nike vs Reebok, Pizza Hut vs Dominos.

Each individual is different and has their reasons for why they are loyal to their own specific products.

Here are three products that I am loyal to:

Product #1 - Converse Chuck Taylors

I am a massive sneaker head. I’ve loved sneakers my whole life and I remember when my Dad went away with the navy as a kid and bought back myself and my brothers a whole bunch of them from the states.

Chuck Taylors - Possibly the most classic and timeless sneaker of all time. They originally started out as an athletic shoe, but have since become a cultural and fashion icon. 

Every single wardrobe should have at least one pair. They go with absolutely anything and everything and the amount of styles and colours they come in is virtually limitless. High top, low top, canvas, leather. You name it, you can get it.

Product #2 - Pepsi Max

I remember when I travelled to the US a few years ago and being suprised that Pepsi seemed to be more popular than Coke over there, as here in Australia Coke has a much larger market shared and is favoured by many more people. 

I much prefer Pepsi over Coke. I’m not sure why, but I remember when Pepsi Max first came to Australia. Maximum taste, no sugar was its tag line and I distinctly remember the ads at the time involved extreme sports, such as snow boarding an avalanche and other crazy stunts. For the life of me, to this day I cannot think of a single coke ad that stands out.

The reason however, I drink Pepsi Max over the Coke equivalent is without question the taste. Yes, it uses horrible nasty artificial sweetner, but it tastes so much better, less watery and without that nasty artifical sweetner aftertaste you get from Diet Coke or Coke Zero.

Product #3 - Star Wars

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away....

My Dad introduced me to Star Wars. Star Wars quite literally has shaped me into the person I have become today

Star wars is much more than just a movie, it has completely become its own brand and one of the biggest and easily recognisable in history.

I love everything about it. Some of my earliest memories revolve around watching it with my Dad as a kid, this further developed into a love of movies in general, this later expanded into other geeky things including video games and comic books. 

To the point where I eventually got my whole entire arm tattooed in Star Wars.