Another of the enclosed works within Co-Respondence, was a task set to market & brand a product, which would be given out randomly, I was unfortunate enough to receive dog food, and not just any old product at that, but dog food for the contemporary consumer market; those which are image concious, ethically sound & into purchaseable identity.. you literally are what you eat.
I began thinking about the simplicity behind the design of contemporary brands, the likes of innocent & apples current brand identity (ref; new greener macbook tv campaign/packaging ethos) portray an image of honesty, simplicity and even naivety through their almost childlike logotypes and packaging design. This 'innocence' gives them a personal feel in a multi-national world, and thus, a step ahead of more traditional brands which are seen as mass produced and unfavourable.
So the identity had to be minima, it needed to be fun, and whilst the product itself needed to appeal to the nature of the dog lover, the imagery had to appeal to those who define their social status through what they purchase. In disposing of comedic initial concepts such as 'barkleys' and 'skinny bitch', I went with 'dogood; which just came about from scribbling 'dog food' on a scrap of paper when my head was at melting point.
The brand image instantly came together, it was to become a dog food which was as beneficial for the pet, as it was for the owner, and offered a humorous delivery in the fact that it didn't take itself too seriously. Whilst walking past a local pound shop, the g in 'bargain' just jumped out at me.. I'm sure you'll know of the 'gnu' logo with it's horned accents (featured in The Art Of Looking Sideways, Phaidon Publishing).
This became my inspiration, the swooshing descender of the g (later appropriately discovered to be baskerville.. spooky) looked just like a dogs tail curling, and with a little tweaking, the accent on the g was perfect as a lop-ear. The plan was set into action from there in, The g would act as a standalong mascot for the company, whilst the branding & packaging would be clean and simple.
