Day Project - Sobriety Certificate

Recently, my Mum approached me with a heart-warming, creative present concept that she had for a work colleague. While on break, her work friend asked her, "Guess what today is?", when she responded, "5th January?". She was correct, but it was also her friend's 1 year sober anniversary. My Mum told me that she was very proud of him & she was upset that he was not doing anything to celebrate. My Mum wanted to make the moment special for him. Being one year sober is a huge achievement! It is something which definitely should not be pushed under the carpet, so I was very excited to work on this and help him feel extra proud of his achievement!

For personal reasons and to respect the person's privacy, I have used a random name generator to change all three names included in this design.

Above is the final design which I created. It was a very simple design, which only took averagely 30 minutes to an hour to create. I was given this task midday on a Sunday, and it was needed for the following morning, so I did not have the opportunity to spend much time on this project, especially as I needed to complete other tasks this day. However, I was still very pleased with the outcome of this design, and I am very pleased to hear that he loved it too!

Above shows the back of the certificate. My mum said to me that I should definitely put my logo somewhere on the design, however it felt quite selfish and insincere to put it on the front of the certificate. The front of the certificate should be entirely about him and his big achievement. So, I decided that the back would be the perfect place for me to put the logo. I also made the background design the same colour as the background on the certificate page, to keep the designs linked and to increase the professionalism of the design.

Above shows a few different colour variations of the certificate which I created. A key part of this project which I was focusing on was customer involvement and communication. I created this design sat next to my Mum, who helped me along the way with creative decisions. My personal favourite colour option for this design was the blue due to how well the dark blue and yellow contrast against each other, due to them being complementary colours. However my Mum's favourite colour choice was the green, so that is what we decided to go for.

I used a range of different typefaces within this design. In my research, I noticed that certificates usually use professional, serif style fonts, however I thought that it would be more appropriate to use sans serif fonts, which radiate positive vibes, which is helpful when celebrating something which, I can only imagine, was a dark time. Sans serif fonts also link to my own creative style much easier.

For the "Jason Slater" section, I knew that I wanted to use a handwritten font, but I did not know which one to use. So, I sat with my Mum, scrolled down the list of different options, and we both decided and agreed that the typeface "Zapfino" was the best option. We both loved how professionally written it was, and could imagine this exact typeface on a real certificate.

I also noticed along my research that a lot of certificates include a badge attached, either to the bottom, or placed in the middle. As you can see, I felt the most appropriate positioning for this badge would to be in the middle, so I can place my mother's and her best friend's name either side. The typeface used for the "1" was entirely my Mum's decision. I scrolled down all of the typeface options, and my Mum decided that "Bradley Hand Bold" was her favourite. Having strong customer communication is important as a Graphic Designer, as it increases the chances of high customer satisfaction, which is a top priority.

Above shows the final printed image of the certificate. I have censored the names because, as mentioned previously, I want to respect the person's privacy as this is a very personal achievement. I have created a curved edge on all 4 sides of the card as an extra bit of detail.

Above shows the back of the certificate which shows off my logo. This is a small part of this project, however I feel like it is a crucial part of bringing this entire design together. Small details like this show that lots of time and consideration has been put into the creation of this design.

This is a very small and quick project, however it is one of my favourite designs which I have created in a while, primarily due to the purpose. I love that I have been involved in celebrating such a huge achievement for someone, and allowing him to get the recognition and congratulations that he deserves. I hope this is something which he cherishes and remembers in many years to come!