Phase 1: Listen, Gather, Define Feb 24–March 2
For this mentorship project, I had the amazing opportunity to work with Car Beddice, who is an Associate Creative Director at Cossette, and IDEA alumnae Janice Callangan (Grad 17) and Shanene Lau (Grad 18)!
At our first meeting, I was able to show my portfolio and get some really amazing feedback from my three mentors. They helped point out some things my portfolio is missing; one was showing how a brand could extend onto different mediums using a visual language.
They also gave me the option to work at the office on Mondays from 9-5, which ended up being an amazing experience! It helped me focus during the time I spent there, so I was able to show my progress and receive feedback at the beginning and end of the day. Plus, I got to know my mentors better, and was blessed weekly by the office dogs!
The three ideas I pitched to the team the following week were:
- Inkswell is a tattoo boutique owned by a daughter of a classically trained calligrapher, who creates one of a kind calligraphy tattoos that have an exquisite meaning and look.
- Roundabout is a community-oriented hostel in Vancouver that is targeting millennial solo travellers and urban explorers, who want to travel for unique and local experiences at an affordable cost.
- Mush! is a luxury dog food brand based and made in Canada that uses locally sourced and ethically farmed ingredients to help raise dogs to be strong and healthy like the arctic sled dogs.
The team thought Roundabout and Mush! were interesting, and I ended up going with Roundabout.
The next step was doing a visual audit, which I initially mistook as competitive analysis, but learned that a visual audit is more about looking at the competitor’s visual language and brand. I continued on after developing the written aspects of the brand, such as insight, essence, characteristics, etc.
For this phase, I give myself an 8.5/10 because I got the deliverables done quickly, but I should’ve asked my mentors in advance about what format they usually do the brand development in, as I had to alter some of the work I did so that it follows the team’s usual workflow. I learned that asking questions is super important so I can deliver properly to their expectations.
Next up: all the fun stuff imagining, ideating, and exploring in phase 2!