TAG

2020–2021

With the growth of ACC as a whole and the new galleries and upgrades coming to the Highland Campus, The ACC art department was looking to establish a brand.

Competitive landscape

Starting the project, our team had to embark on the journey that was the branding and naming of the ACC Art Galleries. We got introduced to the project on October 22nd as we met with our client. We learned a few things about the project, including that there were no names set in stone yet and that they needed help in the look of their new identity. Something that always stood out was that this was for the community, ACC students, and celebrating acc as a community. The goal was not only to display student work but central Texas artists. We took a lot of inspiration from the ACC slogan.

“ACC is for everyone.”

We took into consideration some of our competition like

• The UT Visual Arts Center

• St Edward’s Fine Art Gallery

• Texas State Galleries

As a team, we did some exploration and also researched other museums and galleries around the world. One of the Art Department’s goals was to achieve a brand that was not distracting enough to focus away from the art and not too corporate. They wanted to stay connected to the ACC brand but remain like individuals.

Define

Our first round of concepts had multiple approaches connected to art, history, and Austin culture. After trying these options, we realized it didn’t feel quite right. The concepts talked about art and time, but they didn’t say community, and they didn’t tie back to ACC. The main challenge we encountered was the difference between an art gallery and an art collection. The concepts were connecting to art history, but the gallery would only display current work.

We decided that each of us would write a story in 3-4 sentences separately. We reviewed our stories and chose three concepts to move forward with:

11 Sides: ACC is built by the community for the community. You can see this in the spread of their 11 locations, the rich diversity of their students, and their actions to connect to the workforce and leaders within Austin.

Open Circle: Elitism and gatekeeping are present in many art communities, which isn’t reflected in ACC’s art galleries. It is a welcome space for all.

Equity & Diversity: ACC is a strong leader in creating a space for equitable and diverse education. A short area where paradigms are continually shifting to give you a new lens on life.  definition of collective is “done by people acting as a group.”

Sketches

First round

 One of the big points is that at this moment, we didn’t have a solid name for the project, so basically, we had 3 original logos for a nameless gallery, we discussed multiple options, and after presenting our concepts and getting his feedback, we decided to keep moving forward with “the Highland Galleries at ACC” and the concept selected was the 11 sides of ACC.  One of the reasons why the client decided to move forward with this concept was its flexibility and multiple interpretations. One of the things they liked was how it almost looked like tinted glass.

Second Round

Transitioning to a new team

After round two of digital logos, we had to wait for the client's feedback. We knew the client was also waiting to see a proposal from the other design team, but since it was already time for our winter break, the design studio 2 students would take over the chosen concept.

Starting the spring term, half of the team came back for design studio 2. We still had our senior designer, Kristeen Johnson, and our designer, Whitney White. It was also great to meet some of the students from the other class who now took part in our team. Coming back to design studio 2, we all knew we would be getting started with the TAG project right away, so we kicked it in with a client meeting to go over the selected proposal.

The selected concept

Knowing the chosen direction was the other team’s proposal now my job was to help my team create brand assets that followed the new brand guidelines. The brand deliverables for TAG that our team put together, will help visualize the TAG aesthetic across digital and printed materials. These assets are essential for creating an effective and powerful brand. With the addition of a designed webpage, social media, brochures, and animation, these elements will help bring TAG to life.

Final logo

TAG Webpage

As an art director, my job besides overseeing the project and making sure things were looking cohesive. I took over the TAG website design with the help of one of our designers. Because our team was pretty wholesome, we had designers with multiple specialties, and that’s how the team decided to divide the deliverables. Because I was the only UX/UI and visual design student we considered fit to oversee the design.

One of the client’s goals was to achieve a sleek and minimal design that still showcased the brand style yet did not outshine the art pieces. A challenge to implement color was that the client did not want any image treatment over the art pieces. Our solution for this was to implement pops of color across the website through transparency, pop-ups, buttons, and interactive elements. We also implemented the brand colors to create contrast across the page layout.

A big priority for our branding was keeping in mind color deficiency and how friendly our brand color could be. We ran our color palette through an accessibility test and perceived the color palette with the most common types of color deficiency. It was great to see enough contrast in the palette for the user to perceive the content correctly, especially when it came to the text and information provided.

Among the deliverables provided to the client, some of the work we did included the website, brochures, postcards, social media templates, and animation for the logo.

Reflection

The TAG project has truly been a journey, as my largest project to date. It has left me multiple lessons. First, one must learn to work as a team and trust and defend my team’s work with enthusiasm. I learned that working with clients can be a rollercoaster where clients will need guidance with choices, which is okay. As an art director, I had to constantly take one for the team and always help and deliver no matter what. Through this project, we also had a team member leave the project, but we could meet the deliverables as a team.

Project status

This project is currently open, and the client is considering moving forward with it and retake it in the summer. The client has offered to make the project a paid opportunity if the team wanted to stay in the loop. Because of my upcoming graduation, I won’t be part of the TAG project in the future, but it was a great learning experience, and I’m glad to have been part of its story.