Exploring brand identity : storytelling through the use of emotional branding for the Institute of Fuel Cell Innovation

Summary: This thesis project investigates branding strategies, such as “emotional branding” to tell the story of National Research Council's Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation. There are three aspects to the visual component: signage design, a process book and an animation. Each of these elements acts as the narrator of the story. The book includes a documentation of visual process and synthesizes this information into a section of brand guidelines. It showcases the brand identity and the evolution of visual process in the medium of print, while the animation illustrates the brand through motion graphics and provides an example of how the visual elements that form the identity work coherently as an animation piece. The signage design is the three-dimensional aspect of the project. It presents the branding applied in a tactile way and also reflects a relationship with the space in which it is showcased. With these visual and sensory tools, the Gateway will showcase the rich graphic language of the new brand identity. The written component of the thesis explores the ideas of Marc Gobé in relation to emotional branding and Peter Turchi and Tim Ingold in reference to storytelling. Linda Leung and Donald Norman's works and Ellen Lupton's theories on graphic design are also examined to further investigate theories of storytelling in branding and motion graphics.