Chapter 3 of Robin Landa’s book Creative Strategy discusses developing a brand strategy that does more than align with the goals of an organization. As I continue to develop the branding of How to Make Something, I’m taking into consideration the different assets that are a part of this larger project, and what visual queues I need to develop so that between my various assets, the brand is recognizable. Because the advertising campaign for How to Make Something will focus on the distribution of zines, and my goal is for people who find them to go back to my main website, a strong visual system is extremely important. Reading this chapter before the first half of my deliverables are due has been helpful because it has reminded me that the components I’ve been developing individually, need to look like they belong to a bigger brand. Chapter 4 focuses on not only generating but refining ideas that connect a brand's message with its users. For How to Make Something, this looks like designing a social media/ guerilla marketing campaign to advertise the goals of the site that considers the field research I completed earlier in this process. Having the opportunity to present half of my deliverables in this upcoming week will also hopefully allow for unbiased feedback as to what is currently working and what can be improved.
The first half of my deliverables presented on Monday 3/27 will include: prototyped wireframes for mobile and desktop site, finalized branding materials such as logo, finalized word mark, and the first half of content for my site. The first half of How to Make Something content will include the mission statement and two zine project instructions.