Kung Fu Dojo
-Design | Branding | Illustration-
Overview
About the Dojo
The Problem
The Sun Wukong Martial Arts dojo is a new dojo based in Austin that specializes in teaching the ways of monkey style Kung Fu. Monkey Kung Fu is a Chinese martial art that utilizes ape or monkey-like movements as part of its technique. There are variations of the monkey kung fu styles, all of which are taught here, including Drunken Monkey, Stone Monkey, Lost Monkey, Stand Monkey or Tall Monkey, and Wooden Monkey.
Monkey Style Kung Fu is a rare form of Kung Fu that isn’t well known in America, let alone Texas. The teachers are attempting to bring their teachings to Texas and are needing help bringing awareness, promoting, and branding their business.
They needed a full design package. This included a brand, a logo, promotional items, signage, and merchandise.
Ideation and Inspiration
My idea for this project was to first do my research on the client. I was uneducated on monkey style Kung Fu and knew very little about Sun Wukong. I learned that kung fu has a lot to do with balance. The concept of balance in Kung Fu goes beyond physical equilibrium; it encompasses mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects as well. With balance being a big part of it, I wanted to use the ying yang symbol somewhere in my design. I also learned that Sun Wukong is also known as the monkey king and his power is controlled by his crown. It was worn on his head and controlled him when he would disobey. This was put on him by Buddha as a punishment for his disobedience. I wanted to incorporate that into my design somehow.
Moodboard
I did two separate moodboards for this project. The first one highlights kung fu, bringing out elements of a dojos aesthetics and research on brand designs.
The second moodboard shows some images of Sun Wukong I found because I wanted to do my own design for the project.
Mind Map & Matrix
Sketches
Digital Drafts
Round 1
Round 2
Final Design
Final Logo
Secondary Logo
Poster Design
mOCKUPS
Reflection
Overall, This project was a success and I accomplished what I set out to design. After my research, I was able to get a firm grasp on what this dojo is about and was able to make a successful brand for the clients’ company. I created a visually pleasing logo and a secondary logo that both represented the Kung Fu theme and Sun Wukong.
The challenge for this brand was the design itself. After doing my research, I saw that most brands use a rugged sketchy feel to their designs to give it that authentic look. I had my design completed; however it was pretty clean and felt really corporate. A Kung Fu Dojo should not have that feel to it, so I had to do some more hand sketching. After some time, I finally got that feeling of a handmade, pen and paper design.
In expanding the brand, I want to help explore their online presence in the future. Helping create a visually pleasing website, social media pages, and posts is something I can do, so going further, it would be something I think would be fun to explore.
In the end, this was a very educational experience and am very pleased to have been a part of designing this brand identity.