This is the bento board i displayed to the class. I jotted down my key feedback:

Too much going on

The first thoughts was to do with the colour scheme. Daniel advised i refine my palette, as the shades of orange are very similar and its not really necessary to have such an expansive palette.

I agree that the shades of orange are too much. The darker, accent colours are also very similar and i probably won’t need them all.

My reasoning was that the various shades could help the brand from being too bland and boring, but this critique helped me understand that a more refined palette enforces brand recognisability amongst users.

Adjustments

i revisted my colour research case studies, and decided to narrow down my palette to 4 colours. I’ve decided to stickwith the orange as my main colour, and 3 accent colours. As they are all dark, i think slight variation in different touchpoints will keep it from seeming boring.

Let the users inject their own personality

this was an idea i had considered, but couldn’t figure out how to include. Daniel gave me a really good idea, to have some touchpoints/ branding aspects be left blank. Since its a space for everyone by leaving it a little bit blank this fits with the idea that the people are what fill the space.

He also mentoned i should invite people to contribute more to the brand, and consider redacting the design so it can be interpreted in different ways.

This will create curiosity of the brand, and really conforms to my values that it should be a community owned space. Each Third Space (in each town) may vary slightly as the community will differ, and i think this is a good thing as it will allow it to feel more personal.

I have decided to try and strip back my brand as much as possible, so users can make it their own. I dont want it to feel corporate and very stylised.

I created this billboard in canva, by leaving the blank space its letting people inject their own thoughts into it.

Try to make the logo/wordmark more playful

This is probably the biggest takeaway ive made from this critique. I was pretty happy with my initial wordmark, but its quite ‘safe’ and there is definitely room for exploration.