Smartha Identity Process Book

New Frontiers at Home: Art Direction Explorations

Advertising and Art Direction Process Book Rachel Bender

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Project 1/Identity Part A: Brand Concept

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Product Research Amazon Echo (AI Personal Assistant) Available sine: 2014 for Amazon Prime Members, June 2015 for general public Price: $49-179, depending on the model General Overview of Its Function cloud-based artificial intelligence-powered Alexa voice platform, which can answer queries, play music, control smart home devices, play games with users, set timers, and much more. device and platform that people use to control their homes and outsource simple tasks.

Integrates well with other third-party apps Why Does It Exist Now AI Voice Intelligence is still in its early mainstream stages, but there is increasing need to development technology that “feels more human” and also reduces screen time interaction

It was easy for me to pick a modern technology for this project. My parents received an Amazon Echo as a gift last fall and love talking to her, mainly to play music and ask banal questions to see how Alexa responds. I have had plenty of first-hand user experience with this device. While researching, I wasn't too surprised to learn the user base for this product is the Baby Boomer generation. It's a relatively simple technology and pretty fun.

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Project 1/Identity

Consumer Information: Amount total: 8.2 million users (supposedly, Amazon is kind of weirdly secretive about this data) Gender: 50% female and 50% male Age: Older demographics (Gen X, Baby Boomers) Key Terms: Useful Fun Convenient, Practical (to an extent) Integrated Central Elegant (Relatively) Similar product

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Maura

Consumer Info: Age: 51 Occupation: Novelist Martial Status: Remarried Spawn: Two kids, both over 18 Lives in: Manhattan Beach General Info: Not super tech-savvy, LOVES Amazon and has been a Prime subscriber since Day 1, doesn’t like to wear their glasses so generally trying to avoid using the computer as much per day. Has kids who make fun of her inability to use basic technology but wants to prove them wrong and that she can ďŹ gure things out on her own. Huge online shopper.

Things She Wants From a AI Personal Assistant Relatively easy to use, natural language commands. Actually helps her with daily tasks. Music streaming.

Key Terms Curious Practical Impatient Sociable Striving

When creating a user person, I shamelessly based it on my mother, Laura. She's precisely the type of person who would buy this product and I consulted her throughout this project to make sure I was staying true in terms of tone and style to my target audience.

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Naming Ideation

I ran into a lot of trouble trying to come up with a name for my product. I wanted something that felt domestic and classic, yet technological and cutting-edge. Everything I was coming up with felt very lame or like it was stating the obvious.

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Project 1/Identity

HmGrl

HomeGirl

HomGrl

HOMEGIR L

HmeGrl homegirl

Homegirl

homegirl HOMEGIR L HomeGirl homegirl

Home Girl HOMEGIRL

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Project 1/Identity

Home girl Home Girl

me o H Girl

Homegirl HomeGirl

homegirl

Home Girl

home girl I loved the name “Homegirl,” but was worried that it was a little too cutesy for my audience. The name “Smartha” was a compound word of “smart,” which describes the technology, and “Martha,” which is probably the most classic name associated with domesticity, aside from Betty.

Initially, similar to Amazon’s Echo with Alexa, I wanted to create a name for both the system and the AI personality. But for simplicity’s sake, I pared it down to Smartha.

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Smartha Smartha

Smartha

Smartha

Smartha

Smartha Smartha

Smartha

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Project 1/Identity

Smartha

Smartha

Smartha

I went in A LOT of different directions to find a successful logotype solution.

Everything from trying to mimic sound waves to completely ripping off IBM. I took off random serifs to create custom somewhat futuristic letters. I was heading in the right direction with adding pieces to my logotype rather than taking pieces away.

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Logotype Refinement

Smartha Smartha

Smartha

Smartha Smartha

Smartha When creating the logotype, I used Roboto Slab because it has both traditional and computer-based typographic characteristics. It felt like the right typeface to embody the vision behind my branding. I added additional weights onto the straight legs of certain characters to reference audio data bit mapping. The extra weights also look like a glitch, another digital technology reference.

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Project 1/Identity

Smartha Smartha

In the final refinement phase, I had to figure out how to deal with the foot on the “T.” I’d created a custom “boot” to match its curve, but in the end, the smartest solution was to modify it, so the serif fits in with the rest of the slab letters in the logotype.

I chose a dark gray for the final color; I thought it was a softer and a more on brand choice than black.

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Final Project

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Project 1/Identity Part B: Brand Expression

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Mood and Story Boards

I had already been joking around about creating a "domestic palette" for the Smartha Brand, but one that felt modern with current interior design trends. I looked through catalogs from the places my mother shops for furniture, (West Elm, Crate and Barrel, and Ruby Gold) And found that light beiges and grays were being livened up with bright colors, particularly a lot of blue accents.

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Project 1/Identity

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Smartha

Smartha

Smartha

Smartha

Smartha

Smartha

For translating my logotype into a motion piece, it felt obvious that I should visually portray sound waves into vector graphics. I had some grand visions of the lines taking on intricate shapes and filling up a home, but it wasn’t on point with focusing on the logotype, and I know my limits with animation. A project that would require me to only change the scale of boxes, timed with sound, seemed to be manageable and the clearest solution.

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Tagline Ideation A smarter home.

Home wired.

The voice in your head on the table

Work Smartha, not harder.

Remind yourself of yourself.

Be heard and understood.

An integrated home.

Speak smarter.

Give your home a voice.

Home on the brain

It was at this point in my project I realized I had not come up with a tagline yet. I always like puns, but for a line to accompany an otherwise verbally undescriptive brand introduction, "give your home a voice" felt like an accurate summary.

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Project 1/Identity: Final Presentation Assets Final Project

Logo at small and large scale, still clear!

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Project 1/Identity

Final Project

Brand Style Guide Typography: Logo and Tagline Roboto Slab typeface base with custom ‘t’ character and additional weight on the letterform stems

Give your home a voice.

Avenir Heavy typeface

Color Palette: Inspired by modern home decor color palettes; domestic, classic but fresh

#58595B

#99D4C5

#F0E9D6

Imagery: New Tech and Traditional Home

Fifth Element: Dots

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References to traditional setting mixed with graphic representations of sound and voice

Inspired by audio data bit mapping to represent a nod to past technology at the cusp of a new era of AI in the home

Final Project

Link to final video: www.vimeo.com/210219650

In the final brand introduction, I used the motion of audio wave forms to "add" the additional weights to the logotype. I also hired my mother as my voice actor.

When she says "Smartha" the animation begins, in line with the nature of how the device works.

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Project 1/Identity

Final Project

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Final Project

Smartha User Persona: Maura Slater Age: 51 Occupation: Legal Consultant, Works from Home Martial Status: Remarried Spawn: Two kids, both over 18 Pets: 1 cat Lives in: Manhattan Beach Transportation Method: Likes to walk places when possible, Subaru Activities: Anything outside (beach, hiking, swimming)

General Info: LOVES Amazon and has been a Prime subscriber since Day 1. Huge online shopper.

Relationship with Technology: - Not super tech-savvy - Doesn’t like to wear her glasses so generally trying to avoid using the computer as much per day.

- Has kids who make fun of her inability to use basic technology but wants to prove them wrong and that she can figure things out on her own.

Things She Wants From an AI Personal Assistant Relatively easy to use, natural language commands.

Actually helps her with daily tasks.

Music streaming.

Less screen time, hands free commands.

Something that feels human, but still a little high tech.

Key Terms Curious Practical Impatient Sociable Striving

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Project Reflection This project was relatively seamless in comparison to other branding ones I've taken on before. I knew what I wanted to do early on as far as a product to model my brand identity, which helped me figure out my target audience and how I wanted my product to be different than those currently on the market. While I struggled a bit during the ideation for a name and logotype solution, getting constant feedback pushed me along.

The solution made total sense to my target audience, meaning my mom told me she would’ve thought it was great even if I wasn’t her daughter. She wants to replace Alexa with Smartha when the device is on the market.

I knew that it was a good piece of work outside of being a school project when I showed it to ten employers in a row at Otis' internship fair, where they all seemed to understand what I was trying to convey. But the real cherry came recently when I was having dinner with a creative director at GE, who was looking through my website on her phone and told me how much she loved my branding. Without having to explain anything beyond "it's a product similar to the Amazon Echo," she understood my logotype design choices, sound, and animation style. It felt amazing to know what I'd created could be understood out of context.

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