Unit 9

Branding

Brandings I like:

They are representing their main selling point which is the two joy cons.
They were the first gaming company to release a two-in-one device which marked a new era of gaming, which is what they maybe conveyed.
The two joy cons are asymmetrical, which was pointed before it came out. There are theories that it symbolises the concept of duality, representing the different play modes which are handheld and docked.

The red, white and blue colours symbolise the bottle cap.
The circle shape of the logo represents the globe, and shows the brand`s popularity worldwide.
The word “Pepsi” is located in the centre of the circle shape, it hints that Pepsi centres the world.

It communicates its qualities of being reliable, having strict logic and having foundational elements.
Its angels and curves makes it eye-catching and balanced.
Its vortex-like shape represents the apps powerful capabilities.
The hexagon shape represents its structured approach to problem-solving.

Its bold and clear
It has clean lines which emphasises its modern stores and products.
It has a bright design reflecting their style and approach.
The whole logo symbolises accessibility and wanting to attract new clients.
Primark highlights their openness and drive for growth.
Its a minimalist logo
The light blue colour represents lightness, accessibility and freshness.

The logo represents its modern online system for selling clothing.
It shows it has an informal atmosphere of shopping.
Its simple text refers to being associated with clothing.
Its turquoise shade shows its modern and fresh image.

What makes branding work and what doesn`t?

What works:

Trust with the audience
Consistent branding
Authenticity
Differentiation by standing out in the market

What doesn`t work:

Following vague advice
Lacking clearness
Inconsistent branding
Too much on the visibility aspect

My new logo and header for year 2:

The brand name is my name to introduce myself.
The colours are lighter and softer to represent my personality and style.
I made it simplistic to make it memorable.
With my header, I chose some work I was proud of to show my creative skills.

Brand identity – Yoichi Kotabe

Yoichi Kotabe is a animator and character designer known for working on the Super Mario games.

Visual style:

Yoichi`s visual style is representing a classic anime style probably inspired from his animation works in the 60`s and 70`s before he joined Nintendo. He redefined characters designs from pixel art using package illustration.

Audience:

His art speaks to an audience who are into games with a cartoony/anime style like Mario. It is also specifically targeted for people who like platforming games.

How he inspired to be an animator and artist:

He started liking animation from his mother, who introduced him flipbook animation. But with art, he liked it ever since he was a child as he read manga and was copying the pictures. Even his dad was an oil painter.

Where he studied:

He studied Japanese-style painting at the Tokyo university of the arts.

What is teamwork – For group project

With an upcoming group project, I will cover what teamwork is:

It can be with friends (not ideally recommended) or not.
Never compromise, it might look someone doesn`t want to put the effort it, but really that person might going through something, informing a teacher will help.
Its helpful if each person in a group has a specific role, so the teacher can mark work easily
On teams you can use a feature called loop, where you can access different tools like, checklist, task list etc, which will help with time management.
Always have fun, have that in the back of your mind when doing the project.
A must for clear communication with the team.

Loop functions

Loop will be essential when working on the group project for time management, here is the list of its functions:

Firstly, we have the Q&A function, its very simple and you can ask related questions about your project and someone from your team can answer for you.

Next is the task list, here you can track your tasks, add in statuses, due dates, and add blockers.

Next is the voting table, here you can decide on what the teams thinks about something on a project decision by typing the idea, listing pros and cons, and the actual voting system by pressing the +0 button.

Next is team retrospective, which is like a version of the task list but if you prefer a simpler layout. You can add cards with your tasks and move them to what section each of them a currently on.

Lesson reflection:

We were introduced to an upcoming group project for unit 9
We were also introduced to loop on teams that will help us with the group project
We looked into loop`s functions, they are quite simple and easy to use
We looked through our units for this year

How and why is media made?

The piece of media I am choosing is the Nintendo switch game Animal Crossing New Horizons which is one of my favourite games.

Who made this? – A man named Katsuya Eguchi.
Why was it made? – It was made by the creator`s inspiration of feeling isolated after moving away from home to work. The game has themes of friendship, family and community.
Who was this made for? – People who like relaxing and non-violent games. People who have played the rest of the franchise (the games that came before). Players of all age groups. People who like life simulation games. People who like games that have aspects of open world and virtual pet-raising.

Main task

I have pick the film The wolf of Custer to design a background in its original style.

Style deep dive:

The movie`s style resonates using a 2D drawn animation style. The textures are specifically using a charcoal brush which explores a range of tones from darks to greys to lights.

My background design:

I just came up with a night sky forest setting with a full moon, some trees, a grassy land and some stars.

This also has a grassy land with a neon pink sky. I got inspiration from a background image from the actual film.

I made these both on photoshop.

Group project

My core aims for this project:

Get all my individual tasks done
All of us have good teamwork
Create what we want to create
Submit sharp on due date or a couple days before
Having fun

What does Environment mean?

Actual meaning vs What I think it means

The actual meaning of environment is “the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates.”

What I think environment means it more to do with nature and natural landscapes.

What will our group produce?

I am in a group with Marcia and Geanina. What we have all decided on is to create a comic set in a fantasy city named Idariostadt.

Our roles:

We have created three characters:

I created:

Maribel

Description = Innocent, kind, is a baker, lives in Idariostadt, 20 years old, 5`0

I drew her on Photoshop and used the brush tool to make a black outline of her body, face shape and hair. Then I changed colours to fill in the outline to make a complete look. I looked up “female body outline drawing” on Pinterest to give me a reference as drawing is a weakness for me.

Geanina made the final design

Marcia created:

Zeon

Description = Mysterious, only kind to his closest friends, unpredictable, gives bad boy vibes but has a good heart, 23 years old, 5`6

Geanina created the final design

Geanina created:

Aserothe

Description = Mage, antique dealer, chill guy, powerful, rich, 28 years old, 5`10

Geanina also made the final poster:

Me and Marcia created the story/story script:

Today I sketched and filled in a concept design for inside Mirabel`s bakery on a website called Magma where you can join others to draw together. I used a reference picture on Pinterest and sketched the outlines. Then I used to fill tool to fill in the outlines.

I think the only thing I would change is to make it a bit brighter instead of it being pure black. I would probably add a range of colours to make it come to life more.

Reflection on progress – currently 10/10/25

My team currently have nine tasks that are done, one ongoing and nine tasks to do. With me individually, I have three tasks left to do. Our progress is going smoothly and very quickly despite the due date being December 8th. This means we have plenty of time to do what we need to do. My goals are just really carry on as normal as we are doing really great with how much time we have especially and just not to fall behind with anything.

Feedback review

“You have analysed the characteristics and gained context for the environment brief shared on teams.

You have conducted research to develop ideas for creative production.

You have used knowledge of context to plan and develop a solution to the brief.

You have started to apply practical skills and knowledge to communicate your ideas effectively.

Overall, an interesting start to this project. Really emphasise problem solving and skills development when writing in your WordPress as well as individual contributions.”

My feedback was mostly positive, with the main points being about how I have analysed characteristics, gained context, conducted research, used knowledge, developed solutions, applying practical skills and communicating ideas effectively. The only things I need to improve on are emphasising problem solving and skills development.

I am tasked to create the city map, so far I have done the outline:

I used Photoshop and the tool I used was simply the pen tool. I sketched the straight lines by pressing the shift button. I used this picture to sketch:

I have finally done the city map. I used Photoshop like I said previously. The tool I used was simply the pen tool like I said previously. I sketched the straight lines by pressing the shift button like I said previously. I labelled places to make it clearer what is what.

Goals for this week until the 12th of December

S: I would like to able to type speech bubbles, draw the comics panels outlines and do my own editing.

M: I should be able to reach goal covering the last three weeks.

A: I should be able to as I have all the available college hours and equipment in the classrooms.

R: Yes it is relevant for the group project (unit 9).

T: Start date is currently when I am typing this (24/11/25) and the finish date is the unit`s due date (12/12/25).

Panels plans I contributed in:

I used firealpaca to make these. I create a new layer, press add panel material and use the divide tool to split it into smaller panels.

We have started developing our comics panels. This is panel 2. Geanina did the drawing, Marcia did the backgrounds, whilst I did the speech bubbles. I did this by opening firealpaca first to then exporting it to photoshop. Then I used the ellipse tool to shape out the speech bubble. Then I used the pen tool to draw the tail of the speech bubble. Then I used the horizontal type tool to type out the text and then I dragged the text onto the speech bubble. This will continue to show all the other panels finalized.

Evaluation:

My tasks

The big task I was chosen for was to create a city map. At first I felt that I had to create a full map myself and I wasn`t really up for it because I lack drawing skills. So I ended up making it easier for myself and looking up for city maps online. The one I picked took about two weeks due to it having too much detail. So I ended up changing my mind and found a simpler design which worked better for me and that got the job done. Another task that I was chosen for was a much littler one which was to create the speech bubbles for our comic. With this task I was up to doing. I heard from my peer that I could make them from photoshop, which I never knew about. But due to my familiarity with the software, I created them on there. I actually didn`t know how to create speech bubbles on photoshop, so my peer helped me by showing me how to do it. After that, I got the hang of it quick and managed to do it on my own with confidence because it wasn`t complicated to learn.

Work produced

My teams initial plan about the comic was to create 15 pages. However, we faced a problem of it taking longer than we expected too. This was due to focusing too much on details such as the backgrounds, lighting, shading, the characters posing and detail. So, we all agreed on to lower the number of pages so then we could focus on the quality rather than the quantity. As of now, we have completed five panels which is a third out of the expected total pages which I find is not bad.

Final product

With the total of my five pages, it is still a work in progress rather than a final product. I would of have liked the full comic edited on flipsnack, but I had issues with signing up.

WWW:

Individually: Learned more about making comics, learned to use firealpaca and loop which I have never heard of, had a role in my team, focused more on concept design which isn`t a skill of mine.
Team: We all contributed with our roles, clear communication in what needed to be done, used loop to track our time doing the group project, manged to split our work doing the comic, showing our updated work.

EBI:

Individually: Do more in depth research before jumping into pre-production, searching up tutorials on firealpaca, expanding my role to try different skills in the process.
Team: Splitting our roles to make it more equal so everyone has the same number of jobs. I could of also looked at the time it would take for each job and split in evenly.