T.White Design » Branding & Identity

Connection

trent — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 01:11:33 +0000

Connection was the name given to the second-service at the First United Methodist Church in Warrensburg, MO. They wanted a visual representation of a connection with mission, heart and members.

The Dogwood tree has strong Christian symbolism.

- The four leaves represent the cross.
- Each petal has a hole in the tip to represent nail marks.
- The center often resembles thorns.

The Dogwood is also the official Missouri State tree. I felt this to be a great place to start when developing the logo. You can see the logotype, as well as a few of the graphic pieces I designed for this service.

UCM Light Pole Banner

trent — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:25:50 +0000

Design for universities is traditionally conservative, or at least smaller public universities in the Midwest. With each new project, I attempt to push the design in a more sophisticated direction. I don’t go totally off-the-wall, but try and design something that the client will accept (if not at first, then after I’ve pitched the idea).

These light pole banners were created to line the streets around campus. I decided to crop and rotate the logos slightly to increase visual interest. In this case, the brand doesn’t need to hit you over the head, because… well, you know you’re on campus.

Being subtle can go a long way. In my opinion, the cropped logo causes visitors to notice the banners more than a traditional centered-logo approach. It shifts the focus from the logo as a whole, and concentrates the eye on specific elements.

T.White Identity Package

trent — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:28:07 +0000

Designing an identity package is always challenging, but rarely more so than when trying to develop a personal identity package. I can understand why many agencies hire an outside design team to develop their identity. One would think that we would know ourselves better than anyone, but that often creates roadblocks in the conceptualization process as well as the decision making process. I seem to second guess myself more when doing personal work.

This is my newest attempt at creating a personal identity package, and one I am pleased with. I’m currently deciding on stocks and inks. These mock-ups were done on 32lb cotton stock.

UCM Confident Campaign

trent — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:57:54 +0000

This was one of the first campaigns that I was tasked with art directing. The campaign itself has been around for 3 years, but has evolved into this series. I’ve changed the look and feel from its previous iteration, utilizing more white space and updating the typography, as well as a shift in style of photography. Elements of the campaign include newspaper ads, billboards, magazine ads, posters, radio and television spots, updated webiste and online banners.

Knob Noster Athletics

trent — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:32:12 +0000

This was the first time I ever “up-sold” a client (is that a word?). The school board in Knob Noster, MO called me to create a graphic for the new artificial turf football field that had recently approved. All they asked for was an end-zone graphic and yard markers.

After looking at numerous other football fields, I noticed the fields that really stood out had mascots or logos at the 50 yard line, and accent marks in other areas. I saw this as an opportunity for them to really outshine other teams in their conference. They liked the idea, however, they had no standard logo. In fact, the Knob Noster Panthers had 3-4 iterations of ‘panthers’ grabbed from various sources. My suggestion was to create a new identity for their sports teams that could be used on fields, uniforms, signage, online, and everywhere else.

For the next few weeks I researched and drew panthers trying to find the best pose, expression and level of detail. After a few rounds of revisions and meetings with the board, this is the result. I provided a standards guide to help ensure that the logo looked its best in multiple applications.

The school board, district and community all rallied behind the logo and started to implement the new marks everywhere; from the football field to coffee mugs. One of the faculty purchased custom car seat-covers with the logo on them as a Christmas gift.

I was honored to be asked to attend the field dedication ceremony where I helped pull the tarp back to unveil the new logo and field to the public.

Secure Investigative Services

trent — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:01:29 +0000

Secure Investigative Services was a logo and branding exercise created by my professor as a university project. The concept for the logo was a ransom note with finger and thumb prints added as it might appear after a crime investigation unit dusted a document for prints. Brown paper gave the project a hand-crafted feel that complimented the logo.

Gavin’s Cafe and Bookstore

trent — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:47:53 +0000

Gavin’s Cafe and Bookstore was a fictitious company created in the vein of Barnes and Noble or Borders Books for a Package Design class. This multifaceted project gave us an opportunity to develop the logo and apply it to packaging, apparel and signage. Being clumsy myself, I decided to work with the ‘spilled coffee’ concept. Elements I created for the project include a shopping bag, tissue paper, gift box, and t-shirt.