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CT303 (Spring)

Dynamic Branding

Spring

Professor

C.J. Yeh
Co-chair, Advertising & Digital Design Curriculum
Founder and Executive Creative Director, Cynda Media Lab [➚]

Course Description

This course introduces the theories, principles, and skills of dynamic brand identity design. The primary focus is on the use of media design to communicate brand messages and personalities. Advanced concepts and techniques such as fluid identity, data-driven design, and generative design are also discussed.

* This class is a requirement for the A&DD and SED and the Brand Design Minor [➚]

CT&D Website
ExperienceDesign.NYC [➚]

Grade Breakdown and Evaluation

  • Professionalism, Teamwork, and Class Participation: 35%

  • Presentation and Team Reviews (4 points per checkpoint): 32%

  • Mid-term Presentation: 15%

  • Final Presentation: 18%
    (A: 91% or above, B: 90% – 71%, C: 70% – 61%, D: 60% – 51%, F: 50% or below)
    * You will work in teams in this class, but you will be graded as an individual

Section Info
Section 601 / Class Drive [➚]
Section 65A / Class Drive [➚]

Office Hours
Schedule a meeting with CJ via Calendly [➚]

Project: Brand Redefined
Each student team (3 students) will create a new dynamic branding system to elevate the overall experience of the entire consumer journey.
Deliverables:
Brand Style Guide
– History
– Brand position statement
– Brand mantra
– Brand personality
– Logo
– Typography
– Color pallet
– Iconography
– Texture and/or image standards
Applications:
– Environmental graphics and/or signage
– Environmental motion graphics
– Other applications

WEEKLY OUTLINE
* Weekly outline is subject to change according to the pedagogical needs.

WEEK 1
Wed 01/29

  • Introduction

  • Lecture: Desk Research Methods

  • Lecture: Empathy Interview Techniques

  • In-Class Workshop:
    – Team forming, decide on a team name and select a team captain
    – Remote collaboration framework: create Slack team channel, create Miro board, create one G drive team folder and team member subfolders
    – Each team will select one type of brand to explore
    – Start desk research and analyze the competitive landscape
    – Draft interview questions
    – Interviews (each student will interview a minimum of 3 people, so the team will have at least 9 interviews)

  • Homework:
    – Complete desk research
    – Complete empathy interviews
    – Create a 7-minute presentation to present the three brand redesign candidates


WEEK 2
Wed 02/05

  • Presentation: Brand Experiences (one brand will be selected as the subject of rebranding)

  • Lecture/Discussion: What Is a Challenger Brand?

  • Lecture/Discussion: Love Is Blind – A Brief Intro to Branding

  • In-class Workshop / Homework Assignment:
    – Draft three brand purpose statements (one per student)
    – Identify three possible archetype combinations and rationales (one per student)
    – Analyze three (3) competitor archetypes (one per student)

WEEK 3
Wed 02/12

  • Presentation: Brand IdeaL and Brand Archetypes

  • Lecture/Discussion: Brand Positioning, Brand Mantra, and Brand Personality

  • In-class Workshop / Homework Assignment:
    – Draft brand positioning statement, brand mantra, and brand character (one set per student)

* Fireside Chat: UGG x Ambush x FIT (02/13 common hours)


WEEK 4
Wed 02/19

  • Lecture/Discussion: The Art of Logo Design

  • Team Review: Brand Positioning, Mantra, and Personality

  • In-class Workshop:
    – Minimum 30 logo design sketches per student using at least 3 different logo design styles (90 per team, upload to team Google folder)

  • Lecture/Discussion: Dynamic Identity System

  • Homework Assignment:
    – Discuss as a team and each team member selects three logo sketches, digitizes them (black and white), and proposes dynamic systems (9 candidates total).

WEEK 5
Wed 02/26

  • In-person Class Canceled

WEEK 6
Wed 03/05

  • Lecture/Discussion: Visual Design in Branding

  • Team Review: Logo Sketches

  • In-class Workshop / Homework Assignment:
    – Logo design advanced drafts (one set per student)
    – Brand color pallet and type pairing drafts (one set per student)


WEEK 7
Wed 03/12

  • Lecture/Discussion: Communicating Your Design Visions

  • Team Review: Advanced Logo Drafts, Color Pallets, and Type Pairings

  • In-class Workshop / Homework Assignment:
    – Logo refinements
    – Color pallet refinements
    – Type Pairing refinements


WEEK 8
Wed 03/19
WEEK 9
Wed 03/26

WEEK 10
Wed 04/02

  • Demo: After Effects

  • Team Review: Brand Style Guide and Storyboard

  • After Effects Demo for 602:
    – Import Illustrator Files
    – Continuous Rasterization
    – Source Text Property
    – Hold Keyframe
    – Set work area (B, N)
    – Trim comp to the work area (option + click)
    – Deselect All (Command + Shift + A)
    – Shape Layer Basics
    – Graph Editor: Value Graph

  • In-class Workshop:
    – Brand style guide design
    – Style frames

WEEK 11
Wed 04/09

  • Demo: After Effects

  • In-class Workshop:
    – Brand style guide design
    – Animatics


WEEK 12
Wed 04/23

  • Demo: After Effects

  • In-class Workshop:
    – Brand style guide design
    – Mockups for environmental graphics and other applications
    – Environmental motion graphics production


WEEK 13
Wed 04/30

  • Guest Lecture: Minjal Dharia, Director of Brand Strategy and Marketing at Lippincott

  • Team review

  • In-class Workshop:
    – Brand style guide design
    – Environmental motion graphics production
    – Mockups for environmental graphics and other applications


WEEK 14
Wed 05/07

  • Team review

  • In-class Workshop:
    – Brand style guide design
    – Environmental motion graphics production
    – Mockups for environmental graphics and other applications


WEEK 15
Wed 05/14

  • Final Presentations

* Final file submission for grading 05/19

Creative Technology & Design (CT&D) Attendance Policy

Attendance is not optional. If you are going to miss a class, you must contact me via email ASAP. Due to the quantity of material covered in the course, I will not be able to spend class time explaining missed assignments or redo lectures. If a class is missed, it is your responsibility to get information regarding missed assignments and lectures from one of your classmates.

  1. Students are required to attend all classes, be on time, and remain for the entire class.

  2. Students who miss three classes for classes meeting once a week or four classes for classes meeting twice a week will receive a grade of “F.”

  3. The student who arrives 10 minutes after the start of the class will be considered late.

  4. Two late occurrences = one absence

  5. A student who arrives over 30 minutes late or not returning from the break will be considered absent from the class.

  6. Working on projects for another class or using digital devices for socializing (texting, social media…etc.) or gaming during class time will be recorded as an absence.

  7. An excused absence is still recorded as an absence. The difference is an excused absence won’t impact your grade for professionalism and class participation.

Additional Course Information:
Department Policy on Plagiarism

Plagiarism and other forms of academic deception are unacceptable. Each instance of plagiarism is distinct. A plagiarism violation is an automatic justification for an “F” on that assignment and/or an “F” for the course. A student found in violation of FIT’s Code of Conduct and deemed to receive an “F” for a course may not withdraw from the course prior to final grade assignments.

Use of AI tools

It is permissible to utilize AI tools in your creative process. However, you must identify which AI tool is being used at each stage of the process. You are required to fact-check AI output and avoid stereotyping and bias in your work. Finally, you are responsible for ensuring that the final creation is unique, ownable, and without any copyright issues.

Fact-checking AI output

AI tools are not infallible. They often generate incorrect or misleading information. It is your responsibility to fact-check any AI output before using it in your work. This includes checking the source of the information, evaluating the quality of the information, and considering the context in which the information was generated.

Avoiding stereotyping and bias

AI tools can be trained on data that contains stereotypes and biases. This can lead to AI output that is also biased. It is your responsibility to avoid the potential for bias in AI output. You should also be mindful of your own biases when using AI tools and take steps to mitigate them.

Ensuring the uniqueness and ownership of your work

You are responsible for ensuring that the final creation of your work is unique and ownable. This means that you must not plagiarize the work of others, including submitting works done solely by AI tools without meaningful improvement and input from you.

Penalty for violation

Violation of this policy may result in a grade reduction or suspension from the class.