Posts by: Maria Kennedy

Managing and National Director, Grey Vancouver / Digital Design Instructor

A Brand New Day

avatar Maria Kennedy
Managing and National Director, Grey Vancouver / Digital Design Instructor
December 26, 2011

Just when we think our students can’t possibly get any better at branding, they blow us away yet again! Branding 2 is an elective course that builds upon the core principles taught in the Branding 1. During the course, we cover consumer insights, customer experience, brand architecture, big ideas, brand positioning, and, of course, brand identity.

This time around, the students were asked to select from one of three briefs — brand a contemporary art gallery in Gastown, develop the brand for a Vancouver-based boutique hotel, or create a BC airline brand. There was so much great work that we can only profile a few select examples, so here they are. Oh, and someone call Landor, because we have a truck-load of stellar brand strategists!

Let’s take a look at the art galleries’¦

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Branding an Eatery: A Feast for the Eyes

avatar Maria Kennedy
Managing and National Director, Grey Vancouver / Digital Design Instructor
November 2, 2011

In term 3 Branding 1, our students are given the task of creating and designing a new food offering for the area around the VFS Digital Design Homer Street campus. Consideration has to be given to what is currently represented in the marketplace, and what opportunities there are for new eateries. The students need to tackle a complete identity package in seven short weeks that includes the brand name, logo, storefront and environment, menu, stationery and collateral design. Recently, the students gave us some mouth-watering options. Every student created delectable designs but here are some bite-sized highlights.

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Seeding Ideas in Berlin – Part 2

avatar Maria Kennedy
Managing and National Director, Grey Vancouver / Digital Design Instructor
May 20, 2011

I just recently attended the conference, Typo Berlin, to recharge my creative batteries. It’s always amazing what you can absorb and learn in a few days at a conference, it’s as if the act of sitting and really listening allows the information to infiltrate and sink in.

Typo Berlin's Incredible on-site bookstore

The theme of the conference is “shift”, and most of the speakers are weaving this notion through their presentations. From shifting in media, to print segueing tablet, to shifting disciplines, each story is interesting and can be thought about when it comes to my own or our own situations. The conference organizers will shortly have podcasts available of the main hall speakers, they are available to view at http://www.typoberlin.de/video. I won’t go into detail about what each of them spoke about, but rather I will give you my top inspirations.

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Seeding Ideas in Berlin – Part 1

avatar Maria Kennedy
Managing and National Director, Grey Vancouver / Digital Design Instructor
May 18, 2011

Hello from Berlin!

I’m here for the TYPO BERLIN 11, Europe’s biggest graphic design conference, happening over the next 3 days, May 18-21. I arrived a little early to spend some time here and get over the invariable jet lag. People from all over Europe, and even a few brave North Americans, came here. This year’s attendance is about 1000 people. That’s a lot of designers. A lot of black.

Welcome to Berlin, all creative people!

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A Brand New Day in Digital Design

avatar Maria Kennedy
Managing and National Director, Grey Vancouver / Digital Design Instructor
April 11, 2011

For this Term 4 Branding 2 course, Digital Design students were given a challenging brief. We asked them to choose one of three real companies to re-brand. However, these were not official briefs so the extraordinary results were based on student exploration. Through research and analysis, each student developed a strategy and concept, the logo and all of the assets for various applications of the brand.