For this client project, I was put in contact during October 2021, with a family members friends who are planning to launch their own business in January 2022. Their business was an antenatal class and a mother and baby class. These clients required everything, such as a logo, business guidelines, social media content and print media, leaflets, business cards, posters. We planned to have meetings via Zoom calls to keep up the communication. We tried to plan a face-to-face meeting, but due to the risk of one of the clients being exposed to COVID-19 at the time, the meeting was cancelled. We scheduled a Zoom call for later that day instead which went well. I was going to create four different logos, as there were three different classes of the business and then another logo for the uniforms. I carried the same style and layout throughout all of the logos to keep consistency and so their brand would be recognisable.
At the beginning of the project, I researched other mother and baby companies to see how they were branding themselves, but I also looked at other companies that used bees in the logo. This then inspired me to create different logos for my client until they were satisfied. I then went on to make the other secondary logos. I decided to hand-draw my own font to use for the logo and titles for social posts as I was unable to find one that would fit the theme I was going for. I also went for colours that are associated with children or babies, yellow, pink, blue and green. I kept these colours consistent through everything that I designed so there is a clear tone and message for the brand they are creating. During the meetings that we had, my client gave me a list of what they wanted such as business cards, feedback forms and information posters to hand out to expectant and new mothers. They also wanted to know that they could be trusted to listen to and that these classes are safe as they are both trained midwives and mothers themselves. I think this gave a unique aspect to their business. My clients were very happy with what I have created so far and have posted some of the work I have already created to their Instagram page @mama_bees_beehive.
During this project, I designed a lot of the aspects of freehand using Procreate with an iPad and Apple Pencil. However, when I had to design the posters and business cards, I used Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. I did not have much experience with InDesign previously, but I feel as if my skills greatly improved and I am much more confident in using it. I have learnt how layering works and how to get the text just how I want it. Like in my other projects, my communication skills also improved with professional clients as it was something I hadn't experienced before. This included listening to what they wanted and understanding it, but also guiding them into ideas that they may not have thought of or that were different to what they desired. Our main way of communicating was via emails, however, we also used Facebook Messenger if we needed to discuss something quickly. We used both Facebook Messenger and Zoom for our videos calls which meant that we were able to have a better discussion about what they wanted and the work that I had created for them.
I used a simple Gantt chart to monitor my progress throughout the project as that is what I find easiest to follow and update as I work. I tried to stick to this as much as I could, but when I didn't, I made sure to update it appropriately and accurately. This also helped me know what tasks I still had to do, which meant that I could keep my clients updated too. In the future, I plan to use Trello or something similar so that the client can see what tasks I am currently working on, what has been done. This means that they will also be able to leave notes for me if they have any ideas, schedule meetings and I would be able to upload the files directly, rather than emailing them over. They would be able to download them via the website and leave instant feedback for me, which would be very helpful.
Overall, I think that the project went very well and my clients are happy with the content that I have made for them. I enjoyed working on this project as it was different to what I had done before. I was also able to create my own designs which gave me a sense of freedom. I created a brand board for my client illustrating the different logos, fonts and icons used. This means they will be able to pass this on to another designer or developer if they wanted to. I would change the way I managed time and file sharing if I were to do this again, as I had some issues sending larger files through emails and having more transparency with my clients.