Words form the basis for the RGD's Book Club Branding by Esther Sunghee Byun RGD
06/03/23
Esther Sunghee Byun RGD gives us a glimpse of her design process for developing the RGD Book Club branding.
Created with a goal to share the love of literature and design books in a positive nurturing environment, our virtual Book Club aims to bring the RGD community together to learn and read a variety of design books, virtually meet and ask questions to authors, help Members develop skills and socialize with fellow designers.
The branding for the RGD Book Club start with words — Esther began by creating a mind map and listing words that represented or related to a book club. She then analyzed each word, selecting three words to develop concepts ideas for the branding. More adjectives were added to the selected words and short sentences were formed to further explain each concept, forming the basis for the branding. Each concept was developed further with a logo mark, distinct typeface, colour palettes and patterns to be translated to different platforms. Ultimately, 3 concepts were presented to the RGD's Design Committee.
"My favourite design detail for the project is the slightly tilted letters of the first "O" and the "U" in the logo mark. The concept being typography-driven, I wanted the logo mark to represent books on a bookshelf with each letter representing a thin book. The subtle tilted letters add a movement in the logo mark and playfulness to the overall look," offers Esther.
For the primary typeface, Classic Grotesque Pro, which is the RGD typeface, has been picked by the RGD Design Committee. "My first choice for the typeface was Pilat Compressed. At first, the selection of Classic Grotesque Pro was a bit of a surprise but as I created the final deliverables, I realized that the typeface worked well with the overall look of the digital images. It portrayed a strong sense of craft, humanity and history — this all explains the importance of the typeface and the book club," says Esther. "I am thankful to have created the RGD Book Club branding as it allowed me the space to design with a lot of freedom to experiment and to come up with different concept ideas."
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Our next virtual Book Club on Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers meeting takes place on March 27. We will be joined by authors Ellen Lupton and Kaleena Sales. More details here.
The Virtual Book Club is open to all professional Members of the RGD, including Certified RGD, Provisional RGD, Affiliate and Junior Affiliate Members.