A Designer Through and Through
I find a lot of joy in the design process, and would most likely do it to some extent even if I wasn’t getting payed. To that extent, I often work on fictional projects to stay sharp and have some fun. Here are a few of my most recent.
An idea my dad had given a quick and simple face. When you first come to Michigan one silly fact you may learn is that there is actually a town here named Hell. As you may imagine this creates all sorts of jokes like “Hell actually does freeze over every winter.” Because of the name and jokes the town runs off of tourism quite a bit. With that in mind my dad, a lifelong baker, thought it would be a good spot for a bakery. However, if you going to do it you need to lean into the joke. So why not make it so delicious it must be evil? So that’s the simple brand idea behind Hell’s Bakery. Make it look and feel much more luxurious than something someone would expect from a small Michigan town. Then play with the language to give off tongue and cheek jokes that will give the readers an “ah-ha” moment every time they see an ad.
Hell’s Bakery
Another idea from my dad. He is a person who enjoys numbers, and the patterns that seem to pop up anytime you look into them. In this case phone numbers. The number 1-800-726-8263 could be advertised as 1-800-rant2me, and that sets up a pretty interesting case for a call-in phone line where you just get to vent your frustrations to a stranger on the phone. Modern-day this would most likely be a mobile app instead of a phone number, but the name is catchy so I ran with it. Giving it a visual brand language and fleshing out a few other aspects of the brand.
Rant-2-Me
There are plenty of groups online that give out hypothetical design prompts. Slash Films was one such prompt. Inspired by Saul Bass’ movie posters for films like “The Man with the Golden Arm” and “Anatomy of a Murder” as well as the subtle imperfections that make practical film effects connect with us on an emotional level I went with a wordmark that has jagged and irregular shapes. This style translates over to the visual language with similar breaks and the active warm color pallet.
