In the spring of my junior year of the Johnson & Wales Graphic Design program my professor tasked us with creating or expanding on a brand we had already made, but instead of creating a brand guide, we created a multimedia ad campaign. This was a very exciting concept to me, as there was a brand I had conceptualized in the Fall but never expanded on. That brand was “Crash!”, an alternative/punk fashion brand that took the “brand” out of brand design.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Isn’t being punk all about avoiding consumerism because of how unethical it can be?” You’re completely correct! But what if we made a brand that allows people to enter the punk scene in a way that avoids all of the unethical corporate practices? In a world where this brand is real, the clothing products would be completely ethically and organically produced in ways that produce the least waste possible. With that, a portion of all proceeds would go to charities that benefit marginalized groups, such as POC and LGBTQIA+ organizations. From that, I sought to create a tagline that’s flexible but still communicates the same ideas. That’s where “Crash Expectations” came along. This tagline encourages individuality and being unapologetic, which also birthed the ad campaign I was tasked with creating. I wanted the overarching theme to be “Crash _______,” so that I could create ads that explain the brand’s values in just one word each. Some examples of phrases I ended up using are “Crash the Patriarchy” and “Crash Intolerance.”

While all of my ideas felt great, I really needed to shift my focus to the actual designs as well. The initial logo I made for a “ten logos” challenge the semester before was a hand-written, intentionally messy, but kind of clunky (in a bad way) logo. I wanted to update it so that it still had its same customized edge, but was more streamlined and less overbearing. That’s where I created a “typeface” with the shapebuilder in Illustrator and had it in an off-black shade, but faded into a fun lightning bolt to maintain its aforementioned edge. While I loved my original logo, this was definitely a much more professional interpretation of my brand vision.

Next, it was time to create my ads! I had to create a myriad of different formats, such as multiple billboards, a poster, and a few different magazine ads. I wanted to create a “cut and paste” scrapbook feeling in my ads that communicated the organized chaos that this brand represents. I decided to find some images of myself and some friends in the edgiest clothing I could get to implement into the ads to add a personal edge. After using some Illustrator filters and creating a drawn-on border to make it look like ripped paper with red accents, I was able to adapt a lot of my images to the ads. Even though it was an unconventional way of doing things, it worked out!

As part of the project, I created a few pieces of packaging material for the brand. I designed a shopping bag, a shoebox, and a jewelry box. I kept it consistent with the branding by having it in off-black boxes with the titular exclamation point on the sides in red and white. It followed the branding, but in a different enough way to create some variety and differentiate it from the promotional materials. At the end of the day, this project really created a brand I wish existed in the real world. Hopefully, someday I can see that this comes to fruition in some shape or form. But for now, I’m happy to just put the idea out into the world and let everyone Crash Expectations.