BRAUBERRY

The Brand Mash-Up series was one of the first bigger projects on my YouTube channel that I started as a means of both expanding on what I had been doing as well as learning new tools such as Blender. The idea for BRAUBERRY was a response to the need for being careful when handling intellectual properties I didn’t own in the case they might endanger my YouTube channel. It was also a fun opportunity to see what could come about from merging two seemingly non-related brands.

The BRAUBERRY Typeface

The first step I normally follow is the brand name/word and its typeface. I borrowed the grid technique used to create the original Braun logo and identity. The typeface was made more regular, taking most of its influences from Braun. I intentionally chose not to look at existing examples of Braun typefaces so as not to be too influenced when solving for symbols I had not yet seen. The grid I chose made some instances very difficult, but the result was some interesting letters and characters that I think made it uniquely BRAUBERRY.

One other exercise was the creation of the BRAUBERRY emblem/monogram. A Mirrored “B” was deemed simple and motif-friendly - something that was very common at the time for a lot of the big brands like LV and Gucci.

Once these elements were developed far enough to be used in scenes it was time to create first the product, the Luda cologne.

The idea for this product was inspired by a lyric from a Missy Elliot and Ludacris song that made reference to Burberry cologne. Looking at it now I see just how unfamiliar I was with Blender as most of the design was limited by what I could do. It would be interesting to see how I’d fare today..

LUPA

The goal of this project was to combine some unrelated elements into a unique design. It took the bottle-top mechanism found on some brands of beer, adding it to the function of a backpack. The result was a strange-looking item that sported a houndstooth pattern - which was a callback to the name of the product.

The video I made for this project was one of my favourites and I’m sad it got lost during a time when I was becoming more familiar with the other parts of the systems and industries I was entering - it’s difficult to look back at this time without some pause. I regret the things lost, but where I have gained I have managed to recapture some things I needed to motivate me to continue.

Auroboros

The last project in the first Brand Mash-Up experiment was the Auroboros Bluetooth speaker. The name is a combination of “audio” and “ouroboros”, with the form being a torus textured to look like the scales of a snake. The goal of this project was to explore the creation of a short advertisement. I was moderately successful when considering what I had set out to achieve, but, again, my limited experience with Blender and Da Vinci Resolve at the time shines through.

Overall I managed to achieve more than I expected during this project and, to this day, use some of these lessons in new projects. I do intend to revive BRAUBERRY and Brand Mash-Up when circumstances permit.