Creative Brand Strategy | Project

21/4/26 - 23/7/26 (Week 1 - Week 14)

Kimberly Miaw Jya Nee | 0366836

Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media | Taylor's University

Creative Brand Strategy

Project

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[Table of Contents]

1. Lectures

2. Instructions

3. Project

   Task 1: Presentation & Situation Analysis

   Part A: Presentation

   Part B: Situational Analysis

   Task 2: Purpose, Positioning & Personality

   Part A: Ideation

   Part B: Purpose, Positioning & Personality

   Task 3: Cause / Campaign / Event Branding

4. Feedback

5. Reflection

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Lectures

Week 1: Module Introduction

• Semester theme: Mental Health Awareness
• Task: narrow down from the broad theme to a specific campaign direction
• Example of being too vague: "My campaign is about mental health awareness"
• Example of being specific: "My campaign raises awareness about emotional burnout among university students during assessment periods"

Week 2: Brand Strategy Fundamentals

What is Brand Strategy?

• The thinking and planning behind how a brand wants to be understood, remembered, and experienced
• Brand strategy = the thinking
• Brand identity = how that thinking becomes visible
• Key rule: strategy comes before design
• A logo without strategy is just a graphic
• A poster without audience understanding is just decoration

Brand Strategy vs Brand Identity

Brand Strategy	Brand Identity
Purpose, Vision, Mission, Values, Positioning, Personality, Story	Logo, Colours, Typography, Layout, Posters, Social Media

Key Brand Strategy Components

• Purpose — why the brand exists beyond profit
• Vision — the future change the brand wants to create
• Mission — what the brand actively does to achieve that vision
• Values — the principles guiding how the brand behaves and communicates
• Positioning — what makes the brand different and relevant to its audience
• Target Audience — a specific group, never "everyone"
• Audience Insight — a deeper emotional/behavioural truth about the audience (not just a fact)
• Personality & Voice — how the brand feels as a character and how it speaks
• Brand Story — the emotional narrative connecting the brand to its audience
• Big Idea — the central creative concept that guides visuals and messaging
• Tagline — a short, memorable phrase that captures the brand message
• Visual Identity — how all of the above becomes visible

Touchpoints & Customer Journey

• A touchpoint is any place the audience encounters the campaign
• Examples: social media, posters, events, QR codes, workshops, merchandise
• Journey stages: Awareness → Interest → Understanding → Engagement → Action → Sharing

SWOT Analysis

• Use to evaluate a campaign strategically, not just visually
• Strengths & Weaknesses = internal
• Opportunities & Threats = external

Week 3: Situation Analysis & Campaign Proposal Planning

The Big Idea Behind This Week

• You are not just analysing an existing campaign — you are using that analysis to build your own

Template Logic Flow

Issue → Problem → Audience Insight → Strategy → Concept → Visual Direction → Touchpoints → SWOT 

Follow this order; do not jump to design before the strategy is clear

What Makes a Strong Proposal

• Specific topic (not broad)
• Research-backed claims
• Clear audience (not "everyone")
• Meaningful audience insight
• Consistent tone throughout
• Strategy, message, audience, and design all connect logically

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Topic too broad
• Writing "everyone" as the target audience
• Making claims without evidence
• Designing before understanding the problem
• Generic mental health symbols without meaning
• Tagline too common or vague
• Fear-based or dramatic messaging
• SWOT treated as a simple checklist

Week 4: Brand Positioning & Differences

What is Brand Positioning?

• Strategically defining a brand's unique value in the minds of target customers, relative to competitors
• Formula: For [audience], this brand is a [type] that helps them [benefit] by [unique approach]

Differentiation vs Distinctiveness

• Differentiation = your brand exists outside or apart from competitors
• Distinctiveness = your brand stands out within the same space as competitors

Brand Positioning Map

• A visual tool that plots competing brands along key attributes (e.g. price vs quality)
• Helps identify gaps, opportunities, and where your brand sits in the market
• Steps: Understand market → Identify differentiators → Map competitors → Position your brand

Types of Positioning (choose what fits your brand)

• Leader, Customer Service, Convenience, Popularity, Cost-Based, Quality-Based, Differentiation, Role-Focused, Competitor Comparison

USP vs UVP — Key Difference

USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

• The hook — what makes the campaign different right now
• Focuses on a specific feature or guarantee
• Purpose: to sell and differentiate in the moment
• Example: "Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or it's free"

UVP (Unique Value Proposition)

• The heart — the broader value the brand offers
• Focuses on long-term trust and brand experience
• Purpose: to build lasting connection with the audience
• Example: "At-home convenience for the modern, busy consumer"

Simple rule: USP is for the campaign, UVP is for the brand.

Week 5: 

Week 6: Brand Positioning & Visual Identity Development

Where you're at:

Moving from Task 1 (proposal/strategy) → Task 2 (visual identity design)

Build identity BEFORE poster

1. Brand/Campaign Name
2. Logo Development
3. Brand Identity Moodboard
4. Colour Direction
5. Typography Direction
6. Icon/Symbol System
7. Visual Style
8. Poster/Campaign Application

Logo must communicate

• Campaign purpose, target audience, emotional tone, what makes it different
• Avoid generic, medical, or random-looking logos
• Minimum 20 sketches required
• Must work in B&W and small sizes

Moodboard must include

• Logo, colour, typography, illustration/photo style, icons, poster layout, social media, emotional tone references
• Must support your strategy, not just look nice

Colour & Typography

• Calm = safety/healing | Bold = urgency | Dark = seriousness
• Rounded type = friendly | Condensed/bold = urgent | Serif = emotional/mature

Symbol Library

• Collect 100 symbols/visuals/words related to your campaign
• Each needs a short explanation of relevance
• Use patterns found to build a consistent icon system

Week 6 Deliverables (due next week)

• Confirmed campaign name & positioning
• Logo sketches + selected direction
• Brand moodboard
• Initial colour palette & typography
• Progress on 100 symbolism references
• Early icon/visual exploration

Key reminder: Every design decision must tie back to your strategy — purpose, audience, mental health issue, USP, emotional tone.

Week 8:

Back To Top

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Instructions

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Project

In this module, we were required to create a Mental Health Awareness Campaign in collaboration with Taylor's Centre for Counselling Services (CCS).

Fig. 1. Creative Project Brief - Mental Health Awareness

Task 1: Presentation & Situation Analysis [30%]

Deadline: Week 2 & Week 4

The first assignment is divided into two sections: a Case Study Analysis and a Campaign Proposal.

Part A: Presentation (10%)

In Week 1, I narrowed down two potential topics to explore for my project:

Proposed Topics:

1. How childhood experiences affect adulthood (e.g. childhood PTSD, depression)
2. Perfectionism paralysis (e.g. anxiety, self-esteem issues)

From there, I began searching for existing campaigns related to these topics. It was difficult to find ones that directly matched my focus, so I consulted Mr Max in Week 2. He advised that I could use a broader case study as long as I could relate it back to my chosen direction.

Based on that, I decided on Pinterest's "Don't Don't Yourself" campaign as my case study.

Fig. 2. Case Study Analysis Report (PDF)

Part B: Situation Analysis (20%)

Fig. 3. Campaign Proposal (PDF)

Fig. 4. Task 1 Presentation Slide

In Week 5, we presented online via Microsoft Teams, with a 7-minute time limit per person.

Back To Top

Task 2: Purpose, Positioning & Personality [30%]

Deadline: Week 10

Part A: Ideation

- find 100 symbolism/visuals that represent your topic

Fig. 100 symbols/visuals 

logo

- minimum 20 logo sketches

- black and white

For Week 6, I worked on finding references and inspiration for my campaign logo. Other than that, I also created a detailed concept of my campaign original character

Fig. Logo Moodboard

Character Concepts

1. The Perfectionist (Owl)

• the lead character
• overanalyses everything, sets impossibly high standards, and refuses to call anything done
• looks wise but is actually just frozen.

2. The Comparer (Deer)

• wide-eyed and frozen
• always hyper-aware of what everyone else is making
• cannot focus on its own work because it is too busy watching others.

3. The Deleter (Mole)

• digs up ideas then buries them before anyone can see
• acts out of protection but destroys before anything can grow.

4. The Scroller (Snail / Squirrel / Crow)

• carries the weight of every saved reference, mood board, and collected inspiration on its back (snail)
• moves constantly but never actually makes anything (snail)
• hoards inspiration and references (squirrel)
• only collects a ton of good, exceptional works (crow)

5. The Fraud (Raccoon)

• looks like its wearing an eye mask
• scrappier, anxious energy
• rummages through other’s idea and piece it together
• convinced it only got this far by accident and is about to be found out

These five characters live in the same world, like a Creature Camp which serves as the visual and narrative setting for the entire campaign. The camp metaphor was chosen because a camp is a place where beginners are expected, trying things is encouraged, and imperfection is part of the experience so this camp concept mirrors the emotional environment the campaign wants to create for its audience.

Then I started sketching out the logos on Week 7 in B&W.

Fig. Logo Sketches

Feedbacks from Mr Max:

1. Campaign Name & Tagline 

• "Little by Little" works as both, but avoid feeling too generic. The strength lies in the visual world built around it.

2. Character Concept

• Personalising perfectionism as 5 forest creatures is a strong idea, relatable and not overly clinical
• "Creature Camp" framing works well (learning, mistakes, beginner mindset)
• Watch out: characters shouldn't just be cute mascots. They need to clearly represent perfectionist behaviours.

3. Character Recommendations

• Owl, Deer, Mole, Raccoon: concepts are clear ✓
• For the Scroller: Snail is the top pick (slow-moving + carries burden = being stuck), Squirrel feels too energetic, Crow skews too dark/mysterious

4. Logo Directions

• #1 Friendly, handmade feel; approachable tone suits the anxiety/paralysis theme
• #6 The double "L" symbol + owl-eye concept has potential, but simplify before it gets too abstract; test at small sizes
• #7 Badge style ties nicely into the camp concept; great for merch, stickers, posters. Just don't lean too heavily into scout aesthetics.

5. Overall Logo Direction

• Should visually suggest progress, small steps, building confidence. Avoid looking too polished (try sketchy textures), but still keep it designed and intentional.

6. Next Steps

• Continue developing character sketches
• Refine logo from #1, #6, or #7, pick one final direction, then build out full brand identity. 

For Week 8, I continued refining Sketch #1 by exploring three simple variations, experimenting with distortion and rearranging the layout.

Fig. Further Explorations of Logo Sketch #1

After sharing the three variations with Mr Max, he selected the second one. He did note that the letter "L" was reading too close to a "D" and advised me to tone it down or reduce the swirl. He also suggested exploring the swirls on other letters instead.

Fig. Final Chosen Logo Sketch

Based on his feedback, I explored two more variations and he approved one (marked with three stars). The next step is to digitise the logo in Illustrator and move on to character design.

Fig. Digitised Logo in Illustrator

Part B: Purpose, Positioning & Personality


- mood boarding & brief

Back To Top

Task 3: Cause / Campaign / Event Branding [30%]

Deadline: Week 13

- can dont do video (choose between vid, quiz, illustration book)

- 3 physical application

Back To Top

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Feedback

Week 1 (21/4/26)

General Feedback:

• Introduction to the module and project briefing by Mr Max.
• The main theme for this project is mental health, in collaboration with Taylor’s CCS.
• Our task is to design a mental health campaign that is visually engaging while also addressing the issue meaningfully.

Specific Feedback:

• We were required to present our initial topic ideas to Mr Max in class.
• We were also asked to begin researching relevant case studies based on our chosen topics.
• Since I proposed 2 topics, Mr Max advised me to look into both topics.

Week 2 (/5/26)

General Feedback:

Mr Max gave a lecture on how to conduct an effective case study on existing campaigns.

Specific Feedback:

• Mr Max advised that the selected campaigns do not have to exactly match my topic, as long as I can relate them back to my research later.
• I managed to find a suitable campaign by Pinterest.
• The submission deadline for the case study report was extended to Friday of the same week.

Week 3 (5/5/26)

General Feedback:

Mr Max outlined what is needed in the campaign proposal for class this week. 

Specific Feedback:

• I decided to chose creative students (particularly in design and media fields) who struggle with perfectionism and experience difficulty starting tasks due to fear of failure and high self-expectations as my target audience
• Lego, stepping stone, hill, mountains, 

Week 4 (12/5/26)

General Feedback:

Mr Max focused on Brand Positioning. We were also required to show him our campaign's USP and UVP

Specific Feedback:

Worked on the presentation slide

Week 5 (19/5/26)

General Feedback:

[Submission Week] This week is the submission for Task 1, followed by online individual presentation via Teams.

Specific Feedback:

Finalised the slides and campaign proposal document

Week 6 (26/5/26)

General Feedback:

Task 2 briefing

Mr Max created a template 

no presentation for this task

finalise logo by Week 7

verbally explain brand identity choices in final presentation

Specific Feedback:

Week 7 (2/6/26)

General Feedback:

[Public Holiday] Since it was a public holiday, Mr Max held an online consultation session this week. I sent in my campaign logo sketches and also a more detailed concept of my character personifications via Teams.

Specific Feedback:

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11 (30/6/26)

Week 12 (7/7/26)

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Reflection

Experience

Observation

Findings

Thank You