Crafting a Dynamic Brand Identity for:
MASH Magazine
Brand confusion can derail a publication’s growth. This was the challenge facing USC Mash Magazine, a digital publication I was a part of that focuses on the intersection of fashion and business. Despite its growing membership and reach, the magazine’s existing branding failed to capture its dynamic and professional essence, leaving readers disengaged and confused.
The situation was clear: As the Director of Communications with UX research skills, I was tasked with helping the Design Team redefine the magazine's brand identity to reflect its fun, boundless character while maintaining professionalism. This would require a comprehensive visual research and analysis project to develop new brand attributes and artifacts.
The Design Process:
Research (Empathize)
Conducted user interviews to understand user experiences.
Evaluated current branding through usability testing.
Design
Identified problem statement and design goals.
Ideate & Prototype
Built prototypes to communicate design concepts.
Solutions
Delivered a final prototype.
The User:
Fashion-forward Fiona, a 24-year-old college student in Los Angeles, relies on USC Mash Magazine to stay updated on the latest fashion trends and industry insights. She seeks career opportunities and networking within the fashion industry, balancing a limited budget while aiming to maintain a fashionable appearance. Fiona actively engages with fashion content on social media, preferring visually appealing and informative formats that align with her career goals and interests.
Research:
I interviewed current readers, current members, and potential new audiences to understand their perceptions and expectations of the magazine’s brand. Feedback highlighted a disconnect between the magazine's content and its visual presentation.
My Discovery included:
Conducted visual research of similar publications, analyzing color palettes, logos, layouts, and typography.
Completed a competitive analysis on five similar publications using a SWOT format as part of the UX research for this project.
Reviewed feedback from current magazine members and readers to understand their perceptions and preferences regarding the magazine's brand identity.
Conclusion: The existing branding lacked a cohesive visual identity, failing to engage readers and convey the magazine’s professional yet vibrant character.
Unclear Branding
"It's hard to tell what the magazine is about just from the logo."
Lack of Professionalism
"The logo seems too plain and doesn't look professional enough."
Visual Clutter
"The mix of colors and fonts makes the posts look cluttered."
Brand Voice Confusion
"The posts are all so different, I can't figure out what the magazine's vibe is supposed to be."
Design:
Design Goals
Problem Statement: Readers struggle to grasp USC Mash Magazine's identity and values from its current branding, hindering effective engagement and growth within its target audience.
Clear Brand Voice
How might we establish a clear brand voice to enhance brand recognition?
Unified Visual Identity
How might we create a cohesive design that ensures a unified brand identity?
Ideate & Prototype:
Logo Redesign: Focused on creating a logo that is more open, friendly, and sharp while maintaining its fluidity and motion. This included exploring various design options and iterating on feedback.
Brand Voice: Developed a consistent brand voice by standardizing colors and fonts across all social media posts to create a unified and recognizable identity.
Goal #1: How might we establish a clear brand voice to enhance MASH’s brand recognition?
Solution: Establishing branding that keeps the visual identity grounded and professional.
Previous Color Palette:
Inconsistent and immature branding
There was no clear color palette besides bright hues, there was no cohesive branding.
Final Color Palette:
Final Logo:
Open, friendly, and sharp
Helped logo align with the brand while retaining fluidity and motion of the old logo.
Goal #2: How might we create a cohesive design that ensures a unified brand identity?
Solution: Redesign USC Mash Magazine's visual identity comprehensively.
Grounded and professional identity
The color palette utilizes a dynamic combination of cool, faded pastels and rich, saturated brights.
Previous Logo:
Did not align with brand
This clashed with the color palette and felt too cold.
Previous Layout:
Disorganized branding
There were various fonts that were incohesive as well as cover photos that did not match one identity.
Final Layout:
Unified brand identity
Here, MASH has a clear brand identity that you can understand just from observing the layout of posts.
Solutions:
Used font weight and size, color, and grid layouts to emphasize certain elements in the design. We designed dynamic layouts that will adapt and grow as the organization does.
Hierarchy
The color palette, blending cool pastels with rich brights and tinted photography, encapsulates LA's sun-faded aesthetic while deeper tones maintain professionalism.
Color
Consistency
Conducted training sessions with the editorial and design teams to educate them on the new brand standards, emphasizing the maintenance of the magazine's identity.
Results:
The rebranding effort was a success. The new identity not only enhanced user engagement but also reinforced the magazine's position as a leading voice at the convergence of fashion and business. I designed both mobile and desktop high-fidelity prototypes for the magazine's various content layouts.
Key Takeaways:
Since this was one of my first design projects in the role of a project manager, I gained valuable insights into the time required for each phase of the design project, which will better inform the scheduling of my future projects.
Seek Feedback Early and Often
Performing a SWOT analysis provided valuable context and highlighted threats that informed our branding decisions. This taught me the importance of understanding the competitive landscape to create a standout brand identity.
Leverage Competitive Analysis
Set a Realistic Timeline
In this project, I prioritized gathering feedback to a greater extent than ever before, actively seeking input from fellow club members and peers outside MASH. This helped me tremendously to improve the user-friendliness of the design.
Next Steps:
Build a structured approach to gather ongoing user feedback.
Explore new ways to display our refreshed identity, expanding our audience and ensuring consistent branding across various media channels.