Online course: Brand New Brand (part of the Long term online programme Graphic Design)

Dates: any time

Duration: 25 hours

Rating: 4.9 / 5.0 out of 863 ratings (see top rating courses here)

Participating countries: anyone can apply

Apply: Here

Organizer: California Institute of the Arts at Coursera

Cost:

  • FREE
  • $49 with sharable certificate

Brand New Brand

This course is the culmination of the Graphic Design Specialization and gives you an opportunity to tie together your knowledge and skills into a single project: a brand development guide for a company you will invent.

This course takes you through the entire design process, from ideation to creation to presentation. Through the guide, you will be creating and giving a visual identity to an imaginary start-up company, and applying that visual identity to a number of forms. You will also develop a logotype and accompanying graphic palette to visually represent your company, as well as apply that design to a number of different applications to see it at work.

Note: Only learners who have earned a certificate in the four previous courses in the Specialization are eligible to take the Capstone.

You will learn

  • Synthesize typography, imagemaking, composition and systematic thinking skills through ideation, invention, and conceptualization

  • Demonstrate visual research and development skills through the creation of a Brand Development Guide

  • Expand a brand identity’s palette through the inclusion of graphic marks or icons, color, secondary typefaces, and/or images

Instructors

Programme

WEEK 1: Course Overview

Course Welcome
Example Submission for Final Project
About the Capstone
What you need to take this course
What is a Brand Development Guide?
Setting up your project
Academic Integrity
Forum Guidelines
Requesting Peer Reviews
Ideation: Invent Your Client

In this module you will choose an area your start-up company works in, create a written (fake) history of your company, define company idealogical goals and philosophy, brainstorm for naming ideas and name your company.

Overview of Project
Invent Your Client
Fake Your History
Unpack your adjectives
The Name Game

WEEK 2 Visualization: Make Your Fake

In this module you will carry out visual research of reference material for your start-up’s identity. You will create digital “mood boards” to show the look and feel and visual direction of your company’s identity.

In The Mood
Developing Your Identity Manual

WEEK 3: 5 hours to complete

Logotype: Brand Your Brand

In this module you will learn how to create a logotype for your company, with emphasis on finessing typographic forms.

Choosing a Typeface
Typographic Space
Typesetting with Expression
Beyond Typesetting
Shapes of Letters, Shapes of Words
Typographic Skeletons
Customizing Letters
Variations and Refinement

WEEK 4 Palette: Expand Your Brand

In this module you will be extending the palette of your brand identity by creating a suite of elements for your start-up company: color palette, visual mark, secondary typefaces, imagery/forms and a secret ingredient.

Marks, Icons, and Symbols
Working with Color
Creating Hierarchy
Making Methods and Techniques
Range of Representation
Adding Color
Adding a Mark/Icon
Adding a Secondary Typeface
Adding Imagery
Adding a Secret Ingredient

WEEK 5: 4 hours to complete

Application: Apply Your Brand

In this module you will be using your extended palette, or suite of elements, to create a set of design pieces that showcase the identity for your imaginary start-up company.

Brand Applications and Mock-ups

WEEK 6: 4 hours to complete

Publication: Display Your Brand

In this module you will be reworking and refining your identity components. You will be finishing and refining the design of your Brand Development Guide and submitting it for the final. We will be wrapping things up this week and reviewing our peers’ work.

Principles of Composition
Page Space
The Grid
Simple Composition: Creating Page Spreads
Complex Composition: Putting your book together
Brand Development Guide