Stargazer Cruises Process Book

Process Book

By Patrick Kearney

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Topic Development

26

Nametag

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Research

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Floor Stand

10

Initial Ideas

30

Business Suite

12

Logo Development

36

Website

16

Advertisements

38

Activity Brochure

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Lanyard and Badge

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Graphic Standards Guide

22

Indoor Signage

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Closing Statement

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TOPIC DEVELOPMENT CHOOSING THE TOPIC At the beginning of the semester, I had no idea what I wanted my senior project to be on. I was struggling coming up with a topic because I wanted my topic to showcase my design skills, have an abundant amount of material, and have interesting content. All of the ideas I was coming up with were either not very exciting or were not substantial enough.

I ultimately chose to create and brand a cruise line. I chose this topic because I had gone on a cruise several months ago and couldn’t help but notice the abundant amount of branding. There were elements like the daily activity brochure, individualized ID badge, motion graphics on screens, posters to advertise performances, and so much more. When I thought of this idea, I knew it had great potential because it could produce exciting material and it was a fun topic. Even though I have branded companies in previous classes, this project felt different because of the approach I was taking. I chose and designed all of the cruise line elements based on how actual passengers would use them.

I wanted to create realistic material that could actually be used in a real-life situation so that when people view my project, they can easily imagine being on a ship from Stargazer Cruises and experience what it’s like to be aboard the frontier of adventure.

The mission of Stargazer Cruises is to elevate the vacation experience by providing unforgettable entertainment and great service at affordable prices to pioneer a once in a lifetime adventure.

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SEMESTER OVERVIEW This semester has definitely been anything but ordinary. The current pandemic affected my project in many ways. Going on cruises was becoming frowned upon because of the health concerns. I was thinking about changing my topic, but decided not to because there will be a time when cruise lines will be relying on their designers to create visually intriguing designs to entice people to vacation with them again, and I believe this topic was the perfect opportunity to show how my designs are capable of doing just that.

When spring break happened and the virus started to accelerate, my class was just beginning to conceptualize our projects.

Between the extended spring break and the uncertainty of the future of the semester, my progress on my project was severely delayed. I did not let this delay in progress affect my project and worked tirelessly for weeks leading up to the due date to make my project the best it can be. I hope you enjoy learning about the process for creating Stargazer Cruises. Welcome aboard!

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CREATIVE BRIEF Overview

I will be developing and branding a cruise line. After experiencing a cruise a few months ago, I couldn’t help but notice how much branding was throughout the ship. When I was coming up with ideas for this project, creating a cruise line was the only idea I had that would allow me to not only have several components to the project, but also take my branding, typography, editorial, and advertising skills to the next level.

Objective

The objective for this cruise line will be to encourage people 18 and older to book a cruise. I will do this by promoting that it will be adults only, easy registration, games that adults would enjoy, and sustainability.

Target Audience

Everyone older than 18. For example, a family with grown kids, a group of friends, couples, etc.

Competition

The two main competitors are Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

These two companies have a great reputation that draws people back to them to book another vacation. Their advertising consists of images that show people on one of their boats, or just the boat in general. On their website, they advertise the price of the different deals they are having to entice the viewer to click on it to learn more. Another competitor is Virgin Voyages. Virgin America created this cruise line very recently that coincides with what I would like my cruise line to be like. They also have a no kids policy, and talk directly to the viewer with sayings like “imagine what you could do the Virgin way.”

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Key Message/Call to Action

The key message will be encouraging and fun, enticing people to cruise our way. The call to action will be to have people book a vacation with the cruise line.

Voice and Tone

The voice and tone will be fun, playful, and encouraging. The language will also be persuasive to encourage people to check out the cruise line.

Outcome/Expectations

The outcome and expectations are that people will book a trip with the cruise line and be confident that they will enjoy it.

Deliverables

Name, logo, indoor signage, outdoor signage, activity brochure, stationery (business card, letterhead, envelope), employee uniforms, ID card, lanyard, two logos for restaurants on the ship, two logos for attractions on the ship (pools, shows, etc.), website landing page, and social media ads.

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RESEARCH I researched two of the biggest cruise lines, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, and Virgin America, who just released a brand-new cruise line within the past few years. I researched how they all advertise themselves through outdoor advertisements, social media, and their website. This was very informative because I was able to see how they all take different approaches to attract passengers. I also researched what kind of collateral and ephemera materials each cruise line has to get inspiration for how I could design my own.

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INITIAL IDEAS At the very start of the brainstorming process, I had an idea I really liked and thought I would use for the project. The name was Waterway Cruises. I had sketched out a logo (shown in the image on right) that resembled waves and the movement of water. I thought this was a great logo because it could be used as a design element throughout all of the pieces. I had also sketched out some of the pieces I was planning on making to get an idea of what they would look like. After getting feedback from my classmates and professor, I decided that Waterway Cruises was not exciting enough and that I should go in another direction. Not only did the pieces have to be exciting, the name did as well. I went back to the drawing board and brainstormed more ideas.

Naming my cruise company was very difficult because I could not find a word that could encapsulate what the cruise company was going to be about. I tried to search for words that were elegant, memorable, and could allow me to create visuals for all of the pieces. Some of the words I considered to use for the company were Crystal, Mist, Ripple, and Ebb. I also searched for random words that I could use like Seiliu, Ekcle, Nooz, Voquev, and Pruvia.

I was very close to using Crystal because I could use a diamond shape throughout all of the pieces and the slogan could be “The Choice is Crystal Clear.”

I started searching for words that related to nature and came across Stargazer and thought that would be a great choice. It was elegant and had a relaxing tone to it. Having the word ‘star’ in the name could allow me to play with the shape of a star for the logo and other design elements. After talking with my classmates and professor, everyone seemed to really gravitate towards Stargazer. I really enjoyed it too, and decided to use it for the company.

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LOGO DEVELOPMENT Creating this logo took a lot longer than I thought because I was having trouble creating a logo that would work. I wanted to incorporate the star shape with a simple way. The sharp lines of the star mixed with the fluid motion of the wave made it difficult to find an effective way to combine the two.

Below are some of the early iterations of the logo. The very first iterations are at the top, and as you move down the rows, you can see the progression of constructing the logo over many weeks and after lots of feedback.

First iterations

Last iterations

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FINAL LOGO After coming up with several concepts for the logo, I finally combined two of my initial ideas to create the final logo. I am very happy with how it turned out because of the simplicity and effectiveness it evokes.

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TYPOGRAPHY After coming up with several concepts for the logo, I finally combined two of my initial ideas to create the final logo. I am very happy with how it turned out because of the simplicity and effectiveness it evokes.

FINAL These are the final choices for typography. In previous branding projects, I have always stuck with one typeface. I wanted to try two typefaces for this project to make it more challenging for myself.

The two typefaces are Charter (left) and Aller (right).

Stargazer Cruises Welcome Aboard!

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COLOR From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to have green color palette because most of the cruise lines I found during my research had blue as one of their primary colors. I wanted to make sure my cruise line used distinct colors to stand out among the rest.

During the initial development process, I was trying to develop a pattern that could be used across all of the items to help the coherency, however the pattern ended up not working.

After looking at this monochromatic color palette, I decided to add in other colors to make everything stand out more. These are the final colors I chose to work with for my project.

Now that the name, typefaces, and colors were chosen, I was able to implement them into my designs.

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ADVERTISEMENTS OUTDOOR ADVERTISEMENTS I wanted these outdoor advertisements to transform the reader into a peaceful state of mind. Since Stargazer Cruises is for adults only, I wanted these advertisements to express it in a fun way. This image is of the waves behind the ship as it sails across the sea. I wanted to play off of this motion with “leave your worries behind” to go with the forward movement of the ship.

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FINAL After much feedback, I decided to change the image to make the text pop more because it was getting lost in the first iterations. I am very glad I changed the image because this image evokes more tranquility than the previous image.

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SOCIAL MEDIA For the social media ads, I wanted to use images that captured the experience on one of the Stargazer Cruises ships. For the first two advertisements, chose images that captured some of the activities on the ship. For the third one, I wanted to encapsulate the relaxation and tranquility of the overall experience.

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FINAL Most of the feedback I got was about adjusting the middle advertisement to make it appear more realistic and to fix the placement of the text and logo.

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LANYARD AND BADGE When I went on a cruise, everyone on board got a personalized badge to use throughout the ship. This badge is very important because it allows you to pay for outstanding items, check in for dinner, show you where your muster station is, and allows you to reenter the ship if you leave at a destination.

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FINAL Most of my adjustments were to the badge. I included the slogan and changed the placement of the logo and tried to make it similar to the business card.

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INDOOR SIGNAGE ELEVATOR SIGNAGE The purpose of this sign is to be hung on the wall by the elevator to help guests navigate the ship. The sign will show guests what deck they are on, what places are on that deck, and where other places are on the ship. I created a diagram of the ship to show all of the decks, which is placed above the floor diagram.

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FINAL Much of the feedback I got was on the right side of the sign. I changed the alignment of the text and added a green shape to give it more prominence.

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ROOM LOCATOR SIGNAGE The purpose of this sign is to be hung on the wall by the hallway entrance of rooms to show which way the room numbers go. One side of the ship will be even rooms, and the other side will be odd rooms.

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FINAL After some feedback, I added a range of numbers to help make it appear more like rooms rather than random numbers.

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NAMETAG During the cruise I took, I noticed that nametags played a big role in identifying the employees on the ship, so I decided to create one. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to push the boundaries of what I could do with the nametag. I decided to have the rectangular shape expand off of the logo to make it more visually interesting.

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FINAL After tweaking the text and logo, I made the nametag into a 3D shape to help visualize it in person. I originally had the nametag on a green shirt, but decided to put it on a yellow shirt to make the logo on the nametag stand out more.

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FLOOR STAND When I first thought of creating a cruise line for my senior project, I knew I wanted a welcome sign to be part of the visual display for the in-person exhibition. Even though the in-person exhibition could not happen, I still wanted to include this sign to welcome viewers to my project.

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FINAL The final is about the same as the original, except for the wave. I developed this wave pattern much later in the creation process and wanted to incorporate it in as many pieces as I could.

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BUSINESS SUITE BUSINESS CARD The business card took many tries to get the final versions.

Incorporating tons of information into a small space is not easy. I wanted to incorporate either the star or tagline into the card, but was having trouble finding the best layout.

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FINAL The feedback I got on the business card was mostly about hierarchy, white space, and coherency across the whole business suite. Once I got the final version of the business card, everything else in the business suite fell into place.

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LETTERHEAD The letterhead was challenging at times because of the center alignment of everything. Figuring out how to incorporate the tagline and company information was difficult because of the random white space and coherency.

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FINAL Much of the feedback I got for the letterhead was to make sure there is enough room for the actual letter because the wave at the bottom took up too much room.

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ENVELOPE Deciding where to put the tagline was a challenge, but I eventually found that putting it on the back was the best solution.

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FINAL After some feedback, I adjusted the envelope to make it coherent with the rest of the business suite.

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WEBSITE After researching how other cruise companies display their website, I wanted to create something that was different than the rest. I wanted the navigation on the side because the navigation on every other website was at the top. For the activities displayed on the website, I wanted to include a brief description for them so that people don’t have to click too many times to find out about that activity.

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FINAL The feedback I got helped me with making sure the tone of the website was accurate for my target audience.

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ACTIVITY BROCHURE The activity brochure was fun to create because I got to come up with all of the activities, performances, and restaurant names on the ship. This brochure will be given to guests every morning to provide each day’s list of activities and special events. I wanted the brochure to be a non-traditional size because it would be something the guests wouldn’t expect and a challenge for me to design.

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FINAL Some adjustments I made include providing more space around the edge for the text, changing the color of the main headings, and changing the color of the star design element from green to yellow.

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GRAPHIC STANDARDS GUIDE Creating the graphic standards guide was a challenge because I had to come up with all of the rules for the visual identity. Since I made a graphic standards guide before, I wanted to create something different so that it didn’t look like I was copying what I had made before. I changed the grid and layout of the information to make a brand-new look and feel.

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FINAL The adjustments I made based off of the feedback I received included making sure I stick to the grid and to add more content to show the company’s visual identity further.

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CLOSING STATEMENT Thank you to my family, classmates, and professors for their endless support, great feedback, and motivation for this project. I worked tirelessly to make this project the best it can be during these unprecedented times. This project is a great reflection of all that I have learned at George Mason University and am thrilled with the final product. I hope you enjoyed your stay at Stargazer Cruises!

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