[Late Night Sensei], Branding Guide

"More often than not, as a creative with multiple pages it gets overwhelming trying to create and keep up with a consistent brand for my work. Faye takes a lot of that stress away so that I can focus on creating as an artist and connecting with my fan base."

- Yilo Mars, Founder of [Late Night Sensei]

View fullsize

The first step to an easily recognizable brand is a distinguished logo. The client had a handful of doodles in their notebooks that they felt connected to. I took these doodles, made some changes, and translated them into high resolution digital drawings. Together, these doodles now represent [Late Night Sensei], a brand dedicated to spreading passion about music and creativity.

View fullsize

View fullsize

Their first doodle became the brand's logo. A mascot named Sensei. Sensei is lined in black, regardless of what color background he's found on. Sensei's colors are never inverted, and if on a black or dark background, a special logo has been made where he is outlined in white with a white fill.

View fullsize

Sensei with a red background is used to primarily represent the brand. This can be found with social media profile pictures, favicons, or anywhere else necessary.

To avoid any potential followers from not knowing who exactly this mascot is, a wordmark logo has been created to be used alongside the pictorial one above. Helvetica Neue Condensed Bold is used to create an easily recognizable name. When used alone, the wordmark is always found in the color red.

When paired with Sensei, the wordmark is either white or black, depending on the lightness or darkness of its background. The wordmark is always found below Sensei.

The remaining doodles are used to represent [Late Night Sensei] in secondary places where the original logo shouldn’t be repeated. We can think of these three like Sensei's Sidekicks.

Sensei's Sidekicks can be found on the Instagram highlight/story covers.

The back of the brand's primary business card.

The secondary version of [Late Night Sensei]'s social media headers.

Or anywhere else deemed necessary. If a picture of [Late Night Sensei]'s founder is ever needed, the last way to represent themselves is with one of these cartoon portraits.

Another major aspect that contributes to a complete branding experience is a consistent style. [Late Night Sensei] is mindful to stay consistent with many elements of their design. In regards to font, the typeface Helvetica Neue is used. The Sans Serif font promotes a sense of creativity, boldness, and forward-thinking.

In addition to font, [Late Night Sensei] uses only 3 colors to represent the brand. The primary color is red, to represent passion and ambition. The secondary is black, representing boldness, uniqueness, and power. White is used rarely, as a tertiary color, it's most often used for font on black backgrounds, or to apply negative space to a design.

When using social media icons, [Late Night Sensei] uses icons with their primary color, red. A red icon + a red border best represents the brand.

Images by [Late Night Sensei] are always edited with a bright red overlay at 30% opacity and a bright red border. This makes each image cohesive.

With the following tools, [Late Night Sensei] will continue to grow its base and focus on making great content.

Click here to be taken to [Late Night Sensei]’s digital business card!