We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Bumseok Hong about their original and creative Brand Identity design work. Bumseok Hong is an award-winning communication designer, that makes our world a better place with their original brand identity works.
Bumseok Hong ("BH") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work YM Coffee Project Brand Identity. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
BH : The brand identity design of the YM Coffee Project was created by the direction the brand wants to go. For a long time, YM Coffee Project's brand identity design led to the development of keywords and brand philosophy. Thanks to this text work, I was able to create brand identity with solid logic. All principles, ideas and inspiration come from text work through the interview with the client.
BH : The identity captures the name YM and the mood of the YM Coffee Project in a mark that is welcoming, cozy and comfortable like home. Set in YM Coffee Project : YM Coffee House, YM Roasting Factory and more, the identity evokes the align of the Project, as well as taste and expertise for the perfect coffee.YM Coffee Project as its name suggests, it is a brand for the ongoing project, so I aimed to make it sustainable and able to maintain its own identity.
BH : YM Coffee Project is on-going Project brand. Now there are YM Coffee House and YM Roasting Factory. YM Espresso Bar will come at 1Q 2020. Client needs the whole package for further, so I make elements for other projects.
BH : I work for YM Coffee Project for 5 months. From head to toe, I keep digging this field and finding ways to be great. I organize brand value as keywords like warm, special, professional. You can see more details via document I attached. Before visualizing, I make vague concept or ideas to the text to make it clear. And it works!
BH : Client and I talked a lot about brand value and derived three keywords. Warm, special and professional. Based on these three keywords, a warm approach such as "home", a space that others do not know but special treatment, a brand name "YM" to show the specialty of coffee, the shape of a dripper reminiscent of coffee. So I made the appearance of "house" into a brand identity.
BH : I designed for YM Coffee Project. YM Coffee Project will continue to run the project, and the design will be made sequentially.
BH : Studio Lad is a design consultancy specializing in brand identity, especially derived from typefaces. The most important thing in a brand is the match between name and visual identity. Through such matching, I have designed a unique brand identity for YM Coffee Project.
BH : The design of the YM Coffee Project has nothing with any other design or designer. Interview with client was the most helpful to do this work.
BH : Designed for all customers who love YM Coffee Project and potential customers who will love in the future.
BH : The point at which the concept of the YM Coffee Project differentiates it from other similar concepts is that it has unity through a series of logic. Since I have made the process of combining with limited elements, future projects will be equipped with a device to have unity and will gain a superiority in visual identity due to the speciality of color or shape when compared to other brands.
BH : "YM" in YM Coffee Project means initial of YongMin, the name of founder. Founded by YongMin Cho, this is a project related to coffee. This is project related to coffee started by founder YongMin Cho. That’s why I named it YM Coffee Project.
BH : I used a variety of tools. There were a lot of tools, from pens for sketching, color books for the color palette, to a variety of materiel to identify combinations of textures. Many software from Adobe have also been used for the final output.
BH : The YM Coffee Project shows the continuity of the brand through its limited elements. The most unique and strong feature is that many of the sub-brands under the name of YM Coffee Project show a unified identity.
BH : I worked with a web designer to create a website for the YM Coffee Project and worked with print shop staffs to make the package. Working with people who have expertise, I was able to cope with unexpected situations, and thanks to that, I learned a lot.
BH : I don’t think the technology that usually plays a big role in the brand identity design hadn’t that much part of this work. A little different kind of technology played more important role. It is a conversation. It was my greatest help to build bond and empathy through an interview with Client.
BH : I have done a lot of research on symbols to design the brand identity of YM Coffee Project. I got a hint about the keyword through FGI, and then I used the keyword search tool to see how it is related to the brand. I studied the color psychology to see what orange color reminds people of and what it makes. I reduced the relevance error via this research.
BH : The concept needs to be dense but simple. The most difficult task was to organize the intent of the design intuitively. When I heard that things that seemed to be different or gave different impression than I expected, I had to modify it to fit the intent and the process of reducing the error was the biggest challenge.
BH : The brand identity design of the YM Coffee Project was a very satisfying result, and it was a loving work. I wanted to show it to more people, and I was confident that I could get an award. Until I waited for the results, I was a little bit nervous but I got it. Yeah!
BH : Design is not just about making things. It is accompanied by constant persuasion and consultation. I was able to deepen my worries about direction as well as how to persuade. I feel a step further.
BH : If you are my fan, please contact me, please. You can contact Instagram through the homepage. If you go to www.studio-lad.com, there is a contact tab. If you click on it, you can send a message directly. There is also a way to contact me through Instagram @ studio_lad_com. Follow me.
