Project Brief
The challenge was to redesign and modernize the style guide for the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.
Challenges
One of the challenges I tackled was modernizing the current guide. When I started the NASWA brand really only had their "swoosh" logo to use as a graphic element and that was it, so I also worked to add new patterns and graphic elements to flesh out the brand more.
THE ORIGINAL GUIDE
Once I was given the brief, I began by doing research about other brand style guides to compare the original one to. I was looking for different ways the information is often laid out and things that I could adapt to fit this brand. While I thought that the original guide had all the necessary information, I didn't think that it was presented in a way that was easily read. From my research and a previous project, I found that breaking up the information in different chunks or chapters really helped with legibility.
Process: COVER
After my research, I began creating different iterations of a cover. I tried playing with using the swoosh at different size, creating a new half page shape that echoed the swoosh, and gears, as that's a motif the President and CEO often used in things he would send out. After receiving feedback from the lead designer, I moved on with the one with an image inside a large swoosh and thensarted working on the rest of the layouts.
Process: PATTERNS
As part of the other layouts, I worked on creating new patterns. I wanted to create something that reflected the swoosh and also some more geometric patterns that I felt reflected that it's a governmental, professional organization. The lead designer and I decided that the bottom 2 were the strongest and most versatile of the ones I created.
Final DELIVERABLE
