GRAP5060 | Project 1: The Fundamental Principles of Layout | Exercise 4

Proximity and Repetition

​For this project we had to design a visual identity for a furniture workshop called CedarWheel using the assets provided and showing use of the concepts of proximity and repetition to create balanced and consistent designs.

I began by researching various stationary designs to gain some inspiration, looking closely at their layouts and how they manage to create pieces that seem to go together as a whole. 

As with all the other projects so far, I then went ahead and started drawing up some thumbnail ideas for the layouts of the stationary. I began first with the business card at it seemed the least intimidating with it being a smaller space, then took those ideas onto the other formats. 

I then went into Illustrator and started putting together some layouts; starting simple before adding more details. I wanted to make the design more interesting but wasn't too keen on the way the images we were given looked so I drew up a line drawing of one of the images to use in the background instead as it looked more subtly stylised and minimal. Below is the black and white design I did first, as well as the colour version:

I then tried to create a compliment slip and letterhead using the same styles I used for the business card to show consistency in the brand design. I still had to explore the fonts used for these designs as I wasn't happy with those yet. I also preferred the colour version of the design as it looked more interesting so I stuck with that.

After some feedback, I decided to not only slightly rework my initial design but create a new one too in different style, experimenting best I could with different proximities while keeping everything consistent.

Final Designs

Here are my final stationary sets, each showing slightly different ways of proximity whilst repeating certain elements on each format to keep the brand looking consistent and like it's all a part of the same set.