As most of you probably know by now, as part of my fourth year capstone/thesis project at school, I’m building bicyclette‘s identity throughout this year, and attempting to use social networking to aid in this process. Crowdsourcing, if you will. Last semester was all about exploration: a series of t-shirt designs that explored where some of my inspiration came from (here) and a series of posters featuring a photo shoot I did in order to promote the brand and blog (here). The semester also involved researching and writing a literature review about retail conception and development using social media and constantly exploring my concept creatively, primarily on the blog. Now, this semester, it’s all about putting it all together and working towards one larger creative capstone project for the final exhibition. Here’s my proposal:

My aim this semester is to focus on creating a brand book for bicyclette, my retail concept, exploring and determining the visual standards for the company and developing the brand identity further. This will be done by crowdsourcing ideas through social media as well as using my exploration from the bicyclette blog to guide the direction of the brand. Components of the brand book will include, but are not limited to: logo design, wordmark and branded font, business documentation such as cards, letterheads and envelopes, advertising, presentation materials, shopping bags, hang tags, and the website. Another integral part of this will be the way in which the brand book is presented for the final exhibition, as I want to go about it in an alternative way, and create an environment and experience at the exhibit that is in line with the store image and overall feel of the brand. I would like to create a retail simulation, so that people are able to interact with the various elements of the brand book as they would in the physical store environment.

So, as part of this, and since I need them to take with me to the trade shows in Vegas (yay!), I’ve starting working on some business card designs. I thought I would share them with you, see if anyone has any feedback for me, etc. These are all fairly rough, as is most of my work at this stage in the design process, but it gives you an idea of where I’m going with it.

I was going for something that successfully communicates the bicyclette brand, and is a little more eclectic and less corporate. Right now, it’s looking like the last design is what I’m going to work with, but I would love to hear your thoughts. These are all designed as one-sided, but I think when I actually get them printed, I’ll do double-sided, as I think they’re more professional and less cluttered.

One more quick thing I just have to share, especially seeing as it is Interior Monday, is this AMAZING vintage Arthur Umanoff Swivel Chair that I came across in The Sunday Times Market’s Etsy shop today. If the price tag wasn’t quite so high (especially with the shipping to Canada), it would be mine in a snap, and eventually bicyclette‘s. Le sigh. I definitely have to keep my eyes out for vintage floral print furniture such as this, so much personality.