Fancy Feast Updated Look

Fancy Feast updated their look - the cat's eyes are now blue, the font is thinner with yellow outline, added text for 100% complete and balanced (circle beside Fancy Feast), recycle type larger and reworked coloring.  They moved "Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein, Crude Fat, Crude Fiber, Moisture, Ash and Taurine" before the ingredients (yum!) Interesting changes but I can't say I like it better.

Brochure Fold sketches

Playing with folds and diecuts. 

Top left - Wanted the diecut rectangles to mimic art frames - gallery style. May get to abstract for the feel I want.  We'll see.

Bottom left - Also playing with more of a book feel with each page revealing the next page.  The back could be tricky.  Still playing.

Top right - playing with a std letter size foldout but with the last 2 pages cut to different shape.  May not work at all - and I would play with the shapes as the photos/illustrations/content is layed out.

Bottom right - I liked the idea of photos down the left side and text on the right - with some type of spiral shape to connect each section. I was thinking about having b&w (tinted brown) photos and text with the spiral connector having the pops of color. 

I am constrained a little by the size of the paper I want to use.  It's 12 x 18. Still lots of choices and decisions.

Inspirational Museum Facility Rental Brochures

Kemper Museum - very playful and fun.  The cover page has the tagline "Your Event is our Masterpiece".  Love that.  I love the "story" of this brochure.  The first page has a testimonial from a 40 year old woman celebrating her milestone birthday.  It has the caption "Create Your Own Story - Because I'm a Work of Art in Progress, the Kemper Museum was the perfect place to celebrate my milestone birthday".

Other quotes - For Business - Warhol said, "Good business is the Best Art".

For Wedding - "Art is Forever - Like Us"

Last page has an ad for "ARTINI NIGHT"  - how fun is that?

http://www.kemperart.org/

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum - very elegant brochure.  The photographs are gorgeous.  The colors and lighting help to give it that magical feeling.  The charcoal brown rectangle throughout the brochure helps to give an elegant, consistant feel to the brochure.  The front and back are connected through the use of the soft green color.  Love that pattern on the back. Notice the use of typeface throughout. The logo is very tribal, nature-museum looking but they only use it on the back.

http://www.naturemuseum.org/

Gathering content for mailer / sketches

INVITATION TO NIGHT OF THE THREE KINGS - option 1

The Night of the Three Kings is the museum's annual fundraiser.  It's held on Jan. 6th each year (the 12th night according to the season of Epiphany).  It's a medieval, art celebration with roasted pig, beverages and catered food.  Some pictures from the website - they have music, fire eaters, and lots of fun.

ADVERTIZEMENT FOR EVENT - MUSEUM SPACE RENTAL - option 2
The museum rents out space for weddings, family reunions, rehearsal dinners, birthday parties, etc. They celebrate the intimate atmosphere of art and beauty by sharing it with others on their special days.I've found several inspirational museum space rental brochures.  A very unique place for art lovers to celebrate - surrounded by art from the masters.

INVITATION TO GRAND OPENING UNDER NEW NAME AND LOCATION - option 3
The museum is currently looking for a new location with more space.  They will definitely be changing the name too since they will probably not be located in Madison.  They have had a famous landscape designer design the gardens which will also be larger.  This would be an interesting challenge since they are already have a brand (name and logo) which is known in Morgan and surrounding counties.  I thought about morphing the old logo into the new logo.  I can also see a very elegant invitation at the center of the foldout.

More Inspiration for Brochures

If I can't find a way to diecut my blocks (becuase they need to be very precise), I do like the grids here - I could use them without cutting anything.

Another way to add my blocks. I like the idea that "artwork" shows through the cutouts - like a gallery.

I thought of this with the colors on my logo (neutral colors overall - ivory, charcoal brown, taupe - with pops of color from the logo e.g. emerald green, teal blue, cranberry and zebra).

Another way to add those pops of color - and have the pictures and text connect.

I like the elegance of this brochure.  I could use the background pattern on my stationery over some of the photos I took at the gallery.

Just love this brochure.  The caption says that the colors of the brochure were designed to match the colors of the makeup.  Rather than have a model pose for the shot, the designer created the face in illustrator. It said the client didn't budget for the diecut so they didn't end up using it.

All brochure examples from http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/ - best of brochures

Inspiration for Brochure

I was thinking about using my block repeat pattern with a diecut before I saw this online (purchased a square punch from a scrapbook store last week) - I was thinking about having it mimic an art gallery wall / picture frames with interesting photos behind the blocks. Just love this design. (from http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/ - best of brochures)

Swirls

Just to get swirls out of my system.  Thought I'd share a few grand opening invitations with you.  One is actually called Serious Swirls - all from "invitationconsultants.com".

Final Stationary Board

After many, many photos in all kinds of light, I settled on this one.  The resolution is terrible and I'm definitely retaking the photos.  I don't know if it's the camera, the lights or the photographer. I wanted to mimic the repeating blocks on the stationary with the business cards.  Like the layout but working on the clarity.

Stationary Photography

Starting to photograph stationary.  I realize that I need to work with lighting and layout more.  I used a dark brown background but I'm trying other backgrounds too.  I like the brown and think it will show up better than white or off white.  Also realize my photoshop skills are getting rusty! Back to sketching layouts.

Full Set Stationary & Business Card

The back of the letterhead is a pattern made from the M. I like it because it mimics the block pattern. I'm going to put the same pattern on the inside of the envelope. 
Since I took all color from the letterhead and envelope, I wanted to add some color to the back of the business cards. I clipped the M to items from the pictures I took at the museum.  The red is the ammonite fossil, the green from the medieval Mary garden, the blue from ceremics in the Ransom exhibit and the zebra looking pattern from a Calder work.  As usual, I have to ask myself - Is it too much and does it still coordinate with the stationery?  I'm going to print them out and see what it looks like.  Then I can decide.

Stationary in use

Wanted to see the stationary in use.  I like the letterhead but not quite satisfied with the envelope - may play with the positioning a bit. The spacing at the bottom of the letter if not accurately reflected since I didn't outline it or the envelope.  It's about 1/2 inch from the bottom.

Color Inspiration

I've heard look to fruit, nature (and even your cat) for color inspiration. 

Charcoal brown, ivory and taupe right under my eyes.

Madison Museum

MEETING WITH MICHELE
I met again with the Madison Museum director.  I showed her my final logo and several drafts of stationary.  She gave me really good feedback about what would work best for stationary and business cards.  Also gave me a few business cards they had used in the past.  The museum website is key because it has so much information.  Michele didn't feel her email address was necessary since the website has contact information.  She said the phone number is important.  She has used several tag lines in the past.  "A Sublime Walk into the History of Art and Beauty" and "Bringing Art History to Life".  She was told by someone that "A Sublime Walk . . . " was too long.  I'll ask the class which they like better.  We talked about a map of the museum's location on the rack card.

COLOR IDEAS
In order to be cost effective their idea with color was to use black, white and a pop of red.  Michele's least favorite colors are brown and orange.  (interesting because I am using charcoal brown and taupe / and she did say she liked the colors in my logo).

APPLICATIONS FOR THE LOGO
The most important brand touchpoint for her today is definitely the website. She also mentioned rack cards (the cards that you see in displays at motels for local travel and points of interest) and possibly signage for events.  For many of the events the event cards are already designed and printed - the museum does not supply. They are not looking at any clothing right now (maybe future) but are interested in bookmarks. She is also very interested in redesigning a laminated card for the medieval Mary garden.

Since we know the museum name is changing (and probably won't be another name starting with M), I showed her we could still use the letter idea with any other letter - whenever they decide the name. Michele had the idea of intertwining the letters, which I really like.

This exhibit was from the last event - an evening reception with artist, Henry Ransom - extremely well attended.

  

I just love the friendly, warm, cozy atmosphere of the museum.  It says come in, sit down and enjoy.

One of the sculptures in front of the Calder piece (top).  Side view of the same sculpture. Might be interesting for a mailer or brochure.

Stationary Finals

Set with "M" logo pattern.  The back of the letterhead has a subtle ivory pattern down the side so that when it's folded it shows an image (can't see it from this screen).

























I'm having trouble with my printer and the light brown.  It's streaking so I may have to change the coloring. Doesn't do it on smaller areas or the scrolls.  When the back of the letterhead prints it shows through on the right side of the letterhead.

My first idea was to repeat the logo and have an inverse pattern - it was hard to let go. It's simple and I think the blocks balance the scrolly "M".  Can't decide about the stripe - I like it but only use it on the back of the envelope.

Playing with patterns

I really want something simple on the back of the stationary so that when it's folded into the envelope something shows through. I've been playing with patterns again - the "M" is making some pretty interesting patterns (lines 2 & 3) none of them go with my stationary front, however, I do really like the stripe.  Believe it or not I did come up with the stripe before I saw Kim's post on barcodes. I realize I've got to stop playing and make a decision.