Billboards Design – Research and Design Brief

For this project, I chose to design my three billboard designs focusing on the Toledo Mudhens. Ever since I was little, I can remember going to a Mudhens game with my parents. It was always so fun and enjoyable whenever we would go. I want to bring that same joy and baseball atmosphere to my billboard designs. They will include bold colors and raster images along with some vector images as well.

About the Mudhens
Source: Wikipedia

The Toledo Mud Hens are a minor league baseball team located in Toledo, Ohio. They play in the International League and are affiliated with the major league baseball team the Detroit Tigers, based approximately 50 miles to the north of Toledo. The current team is one of several professional clubs that have existed in Toledo since 1883. The name “Mud Hens” was first used in 1896, after the team was bought by Charles Strobel. One of the two parks where the team played that year, Bay View Park, was adjacent to marshland which was inhabited by American Coots, also known as marsh hens or mud hens, from which the team adopted their name.

They won back-to-back Governors’ Cup championships in 2005 and 2006.

The Mud Hens currently play at Fifth Third Field, at 406 Washington St. The new stadium replaced Ned Skeldon Stadium, located in suburban of the Maumee/Toledo area.

Thumbnails and Preliminaries
Thumbnails
Preliminaries

In-Store Display Brand Brief and Research

For this project, it was easy to pick a brand that I love and could design for. I chose to do a display for Apple products since there are a variety of different Apple products such as the iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, iMac, Apple TV, and MacBook and MacBook Pro. Plus, I absolutely love Apple. Their overall product designs is simple and clean and I really appreciate how consistent they are with all of their products that they made.

About Apple
(Source: Wikipedia)

Apple Logo
Apple Logo
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company’s best-known hardware products include the Macintosh computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the newly added, iPad. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWork suite of productivity software; Aperture, a professional photography package; Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products; Logic Studio, a suite of music production tools and its iOS Mobile Operating System. As of August 2010, the company operates 301 retail stores in ten countries, and an online store where hardware and software products are sold.

Apple was established by Steven P. Jobs and Stephen G. Wozniak on April 1, 1976 in Cupertino, California and went corporated in January 3, 1977. The company was previously named Apple Computer, Inc. for its first 30 years, but removed the word “Computer” on January 9, 2007 to reflect the company’s ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers. The Apple II (1977), with its plastic case and color graphics, launched the company to success, earning Apple over $100 million by 1980, the year the company first offered stock to the public. The 1981 introduction of IBM’s PC, running a Microsoft Corp. operating system, marked the beginning of long-term competition for Apple in the personal-computer market. As of September 26, 2009, Apple had 34,300 full time employees and 2,500 temporary full time employees worldwide and had worldwide annual sales of $42.91 billion in its fiscal year ending September 26, 2009.

In Store Displays

Initial Design Ideas

Mock Apple Display Idea
Mock Apple Display Idea
 
Apple Display
Apple Display

Since Apple is known for their simplistic and clean design, I want to incorporate that into my design. I real like the shown designs and I am going to redesign it to where it is more hands on since Apple products are meant to be tested and explored in their stores.

Thumbnails and Preliminaries

Below are my thumbnails and preliminaries.
Thumbnails & Preliminaries

VCT 304 Shoe Display Research

I began this assignment by brainstorming ideas of products that I have seen displays for in stores. The following is a list of what I came up with:

  • shoes
  • shampoo
  • mascara
  • movies
  • computers
  • sunglasses
  • stationary
  • clothing

Skechers shoe display
Skechers Shoe Display
The two display items that really popped out to me were to do either shoes or sunglasses. Both have numerous displays in stores that showcase them. I decided to lean more towards shoes but I know many people will probably do shoes since shoes are easy to design a display for and are basically a necessity that many people can’t nearly go without.

The brand of shoe that I want to focus on is the Skechers brand of shoe. Skechers devotes much of its creative energy and revenue to flashy, highly visible ad campaigns—a strategy that has helped the company grow within a matter of years to a multimillion dollar business. I want to bring out that energy and modernness in a shoe display. I want to shy away from ordinary shoe displays since most displays I’ve seen have all been the basic vertical display on walls.

About Skechers

Skechers is an American shoe company whose headquarters is in Manhattan Beach, California. They were founded by LA Gear shoe company founder Robert Greenberg. After being ousted from the LA Gear board, Greenberg started Skechers in 1992 with his son as a distributor for Doc Martens. They launched their own shoe line in 1995. Skechers’ early products were utility-style boots and skate shoes. The company has since diversified to include thousands of styles of lifestyle footwear. It has also been refocused toward girls, promoted by female pop stars such as Brandy, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, The Spice Girls, Ashlee Simpson, Gwen Stefani, Ciara and Carrie Underwood. David Cook has signed an endorsement deal with Skechers that ran through December 2009. Skechers’ brands include Skechers Sport, Skechers USA, Active, Cali, Shape-ups, Skechers Work and Skechers Kids. Branded separately, the company’s fashion and street lines include Unltd. by Marc Ecko, Rhino Red, Red by Marc Ecko, Zoo York, Punkrose, Public Royalty, and Mark Nason. Skechers have 193 company world-wide stores (Wikipedia).

The Initial Design Idea

After looking at thousands of displays, below are some of my inspirations that I hope to bring into my display:

Thumbnails

Below are my thumbnails.
Thumbnails