Pish Angler - An Urban fishing streetwear label Project brand identity design

William Pascoe - n11381558

(DVB303 - Experimental Visual Communication Design Project)

Link to my Behance and A1 below:

Link to assessment 1: Design journal 1

Link to Behance page

Personal Introduction

Pish angler is a response to my connection within the urban fishing scene. Urban fishing is often seen as less genuine and satisfactory by fishing purists. Thus, why I have decided to name the brand ‘Pish Angler’. Pish is a slang term used by the Scottish, it’s used to express disgust and also used to refer to something with a negative vibe. As I come from Scottish descent, ‘Pish’ Angler seemed rather fitting.

When urban fishing, those who do so are often met by sights such as graffiti, broken bottles and grown over flora. As a response to the current scene, and culture which urban fishing is surrounded by, I have decided to form Pish Angler, a streetwear brand aimed at and targeted towards the often forgotten about Pish Angler.

Design concept

Pish Angler (P.A), is a streetwear brand whose main target audience are young Australian urban fishermen. P.A embodies aesthetics which derive from street art culture, graffiti and the overall skateboarding scene. The culmination of these aesthetics define Pish Angler, and as a response, P.A aims to stand out against other fishing brands which are seen today.

Pish Angler is an embodiment of the current urban fishing subculture otherwise known as ‘street-fishing’. This rather fresh subculture is missing the representation that it so desires and deserves, P.A is here to solve that.

This brand aims to inject a contemporary aesthetic into the current bland and ‘daggy’ fishing-fashion scene. The introduction of this graphic style within the current market will come as a breath of fresh air to many young anglers. This is because many of these young individuals feel quite disregarded by the current fishing scene, and the fashion garments which are being produced within it.

The Pish Angler brand uses visual design to gain attention from onlookers. The simple yet effective incorporation of graphic elements within P.A aim to form a sense of intrigue in order to welcome its new audience.

Project brief

User personas

Research

Design inspiration

Passport was created by Local Brisbane skateboarder ‘Trent Evans’ in 2009 after noticing an absence in Australian skate brands (Brinsdon, 2020). The Passport brand is now based in Sydney and has developed in to so much more than just skateboards. The label produces clothing, artwork and well put together videos, while simultaneously incorporating a well-developed style and aesthetic. The designs that are produced by the Passport team, express Australian imagery, including design styles from 1960’s/70’s illustrations. Passport is an impressive example of impactful yet simplistic design. The simple colour palettes and hand drawn artworks that Passport includes, define its brand today. I am deeply inspired Passport designs.

Jenkem is an American skateboarding magazine which was founded in 2011 by Ian Michna, which also produces merchandise (Rinn, 2016). The Jenkem brand is known for its simplicity, although the designs that are produced are quite impactful. Jenkem’s simple text-based designs are a good representation of this. Jenkem shows that there is no need for excessive amounts of colour, or even artwork for merchandise to be focal in the world of fashion and design. I draw inspiration from Jenkem’s simplicity.

Candice was formed in Melbourne 2019 by Nick Campbell and “launched as a hub for various creative disciplines” (Fast Times, 2024). Candice garments incorporate screen printing techniques and also include contemporary graphic designs. This label incorporates hard hitting textual aspects which jump out at the viewer. Candice also includes a simple colour palette within the designs which enables viewers to identify the branding from afar. Candice clothing is a unique twist on skate wear and utility/workwear.

Butter goods is a clothing brand which was created by Matt Evans and Garth Mariano in 2008. This brand was formed in Perth, Australia, as a result of a small amount of skate brands being owned by skaters at the time (Boardertown, 2023). Butter’s brand identity is quite unique, as the designers gather inspiration from music and skateboarding. Butter offers a wide range of garments within their collection and their incorporation of playful characters within their designs push the boundaries of fashion. This label is innovative and is known for its colourful illustrations and text-based designs. I enjoy Butter’s incorporation of characters; I believe that this creates a more inviting product. I plan on incorporating characters within my designs in order to communicate a playful aesthetic.

Relevant research / design inspiration conducted in A1:

Project Statement

My project, ‘Pish Angler’, otherwise known as (P.A), is a fashion / streetwear label which aims to target the fishing garment market. This label aims to add to the current market by introducing upbeat and graphically aesthetic garments and merchandise.

When conducting research, I discovered some interesting information regarding urban fishing. It was stated by Robert Thornton (a fishing expert) within a Daiwa fishing article, "A sub-culture of city-based anglers has formed over the last few decades, a community of anglers who put time into understanding the fisheries that exist right in the heart of the cities themselves" (Thornton, 2024).

It was also stated by Chris Wright “unlike the broader categories of fly-fishing, bass fishing, and saltwater angling, it (street fishing) has no recognition as a unique pursuit, no guidebook or seminal novel."

In response to the gap in the current fishing market, P.A intends to cater towards 15 - 30-year-old male urban anglers, and form representation within the urban fishing community. P.A aims to do this by developing streetwear garments for this specific subculture.

By forming street-style garments and accessories, Pish Angler hopes to be an inviting and engaging label, where customers and onlookers can interact, purchase garments, and simultaneously belong to a community.

This design project will be completed by following a strict project timeline. Keeping to the dates which are shown on the timeline, will be detrimental to the organisation and the outcome of this project. A vast amount of tasks will need to be completed, thus the importance of effective time management.

Key milestones include peer reviews, project feedback, showreel development, finalisation of designs and project refinement for the final exhibition.

Designs will be formed by creating physical drawings (pen on paper), and lino-prints, and converting them into vectors via the use of Adobe Illustrator. Designs will also be manipulated through the use of Adobe Photoshop. A product showreel will also be produced through the use of Adobe Premier Pro.

A variety of task deliverables will be produced as a part of this project. These deliverables include; Pish Angler’s brand identity, including logos, and alternate logos. A variety of stickers will be designed for Eskys, tackle-boxes and car bumpers. Multiple t-shirt designs will be created, as well as tote bag designs. These design pieces will form Pish Angler’s fashion garment identity. Lastly, product tags, labels and product packaging will be created.

Some major constraints within this project are low funds, unfortunately, as much as I would like to, I will not be able to afford to get every garment and deliverable printed physically. The best way to counter this is to use digital mock-ups where applicable. Another major constraint is the short amount of time in which I must complete the deliverables. Due to this time constraint, I have had to reduce the number of deliverables which I produce. If I had more time, I would love to complete more deliverables such as an interactive website, a zine and more garments, in order to expand upon Pish Angler’s brand identity.

Project Timeline

Process documentation

Style-guide

Mood boards

Initial brain-storming

Deliverables

• Brand logos x4
• T-shirt designs x 2
• Tote bag designs x 2
• Stickers x 4
• Product tags x 4
• Product label x1
• Project poster/banner x 1
• Product package design x 1
• Project show reel x 1

"Character" logo design:

When designing this logo, I knew that I wanted to include a brand character, as I thought this would help create a playful and fun mood. I began by sketching a design on to a lino-block, I then carved an image out, showing a person holding a fish. I thought this design was interesting as it shows depth and incorporates thick lines.

(The image is a depiction of the moment which anglers typically photograph, when they catch a fish.)

After printing the lino-block with black ink, I scanned it and imported the design into Adobe illustrator. I then touched up the lines, smoothed some edges, an edited some aspects of the character in order to give it a refined appearance.

After this step, I delved into colour exploration, I decided to use a predominantly green, blue and yellow colour palette as I thought this would complement the other logos, but also attract viewer attention.

Overall, I feel as if this character logo/icon is an interesting representation of the urban angler of today. The thick dark lines portray a graffiti-esque appearance which help guide the brands aesthetic.

Final design:

"Angler" logo design:

Design process:

When creating this design, I first began by drawing an image on paper. I then scanned it in order to edit it on Adobe illustrator. To finalise the design, I iterated the outlines, and line thickness. I created a smooth finish to the work.

I was originally thinking about producing a background colour aspect for the logo design, although I thought that this may overcomplicate the asset.

After forming the finalised outlines, I started exploring different colour variants although I did end up settling on a navy-blue and light green colour palette. I also explored line thickness and depth, and I settled on a centred design. The final design is balanced and includes a very slight envelope shaped warp. This logo is quite unique, and I believe that it is one of the defining aspects of Pish Angler’s branding.

Final design:

"Pish Angler" logo design:

Design process:

This logo variant combines aspects from multiple logo variations, it incorporates the ‘character’ and ‘Angler’ final design.

I first began by sketching out my ideas and then scanning them into Adobe Illustrator. Once scanned, I had to generate outlines and smooth out particular shapes. I had trouble considering which “p” to settle on, I ended up using the smaller and skinnier “p” for this design.

This larger logo incorporates both depth and balance, it also includes the curve to keep a natural and drawn aesthetic.

Final design:

"P.A" logo design:

Design process:

When designing this logo variant, I began by brainstorming and sketching my ideas on paper. I decided that I wanted an abbreviated logo just to keep it short and simple. This logo variant would be used on stickers and other small print designs.

Instead of using a ‘full stop’ between the two letters, I thought that it would be interesting and to use an image of a fishing bobber (a floating device which is used when fishing).

In order to design the bobber, I scanned my sketches and started editing them in Adobe Illustrator. I edited this bobber illustration by connecting lines together in order to form a coherent yet smooth and simple shape. I decided to use a primarily red colour palette for this bobber.

For the “P A” design scanned some letters that I had sketched out, and I edited the ones that I liked the most. I wanted to keep the smooth aesthetic that has been used across the brand, so this is why I tapered the edges on these assets. Once this was completed, I merged the bobber and the ‘P A’ assets together to form the simplified logo. The green and red contrast one another, which helps the design stand out and have a striking impact on the viewer.

Final design:

Final logo designs:

Sticker design #1 - "Pish . angler" - (Bumper / Esky sticker)

Creating this bumper sticker design was quite simple. I wanted to keep this design text based but also include bright colours to gain attention. This piece was created in Adobe illustrator and the text that is included, is an iteration of one of the brand logos. The colours that are included adhere to the brands colour palette.

After producing the design, I took a photograph of one of my Esky’s in order to create a digital mock-up In Adobe Photoshop.

Design Mock-up:

Sticker design #2 - "P.A"

To create this sticker design, I utilised brainstorming elements and sketches which I had created for one of my logo designs.

This simple sticker design was created via the use of Adobe illustrator and incorporates contrasting colours in order to gain audience attention. This playful design is aided by the bright red (both large and small) fishing bobbers. The colourful design is surrounded by a navy-blue border. I once again used Adobe Photoshop to create digital mock-ups.

Final design:

Design Mock-up:

Sticker design #3 - "Colour splash"

I began the design process by brainstorming and sketching ideas in my notebook. I used some of my previous lino-prints as reference images for this design.

I had selected a fish drawing which I had produced and decided to iterate upon that and manipulate it within Adobe illustrator. I added colour to this fish image and started experimenting with object placement within the sticker layout. I then included one of the brand logos on the bottom right corner and produced a digital mock-up within Adobe Photoshop.

The bright colours shown within this design contrast well against the white background and the dark thick lines.

Final design:

Design Mock-up:

Sticker design #4 - "Stay out of my spot"

For my final sticker design I wanted to create a primarily text heavy piece. I began by thinking of a phrase to include in the sticker, this phrase is, “stay out of my spot”. This phrase refers to the notion that anglers are quite territorial, and tend to keep their fishing spots to themselves.

I began experimenting with different letters and handwriting styles by drawing in my notebook with a thick ink marker. After experimenting I honed in on the letters that I liked the most. After this step, I scanned the assets and imported them into Adobe illustrator.

On Adobe illustrator I cleaned up the letters and removed unwanted aspects from each piece. I decided to keep the circular line which surrounded certain letters in order to help separate and spread out the text.

Colour was explored throughout this process, although I did decide to use a white, green and navy-blue colour palette within the final design.

Once the design was completed, I added one of the brand logos in the bottom corner and imported the work into Adobe Photoshop in order to produce a digital mock-up.

The rough nature of the typeface design reflects the graffiti that one would see while urban fishing.

Final design:

Design Mock-up:

Final design:

I gathered inspiration for this T shirt design from one of the worm stickers which I had produced during assessment one.

I thought it would be interesting to incorporate the running writing text which can be seen across the Pish Angler brand into this T shirt design. I then converted this text into the shape of a worm.

Once I was happy with some of the physical sketches, I then scanned them and started manipulating them in Adobe illustrator. I wanted to include thick outlines and bright colours within this design as I thought this would help the artwork stand out.

This piece showcases flow and balance, and also aesthetics that can be seen within skate brands and street art.

Once the image was finalised, I added lines on the text to represent the worm and then imported the image into Photoshop 2 create the design mock-up.

Design Mock-up:

When forming the second T-shirt design, I decided that I would include artwork on both the front and the back. I began by producing a lino-print design, and once this was completed, I printed the design with black ink on paper. I then scanned this print and began manipulating it on Adobe Illustrator.

Firstly, I removed any unwanted lines and rough looking marks within the design and began smoothing out some features. This design is a representation of me holding a fish which I had caught.

After creating the general outline for the image, started introducing colour. Different colour palettes were experimented with, although I ended up settling on a primarily blue palette with bright green, red and yellow accents. This design incorporates sharp edges and bold lines as I wanted to keep the hand printed aesthetic. This lino-print design would be included on the back of the T-shirt.

For the front, I thought I would keep it simple and reuse the ‘P.A’ logo design. I then utilised Photoshop to place these designs on a T-shirt mock up.

This eye-catching T shirt design represents the street-style aesthetic that Pish Angler is trying to achieve.

Final design:

Design Mock-up:

Design process:

I began designing the product label by sketching and forming ideas in my notebook. Once I decided that this asset would be text based, I drew a few hand-drawn iterations. I then scanned the designs and began manipulating them on Adobe illustrator. I decided to use hand drawn text as this would contrast well against the bobber assets/images.

I then started experimenting with outlines and began finalising the product label design. The outline which sits around the text sits on a slight angle, this helps balance the work.

A predominantly red and green colour palette was utilised within this work. This is because the contrasting colours help bring attention to the small yet fine details within this piece.

Once the piece was completed, I decided to once again incorporate the work within a digital mock-up. To do so, I imported the design into Photoshop and manipulated within the software.

Upon further inspection, if I were to consider making changes upon this design, I would make the word “pish” smaller to help further balance the piece.

Final design:

Design Mock-up:

The first step of the design process included brainstorming. I began by sketching ideas in my notebook, and once I compiled enough assets, I scanned them and imported them into Adobe Illustrator.

(I was initially thinking of drawing a worm character for this design, although I did not want to be too repetitive, since I produced a worm design for one of the T-shirts.)

The next step of the design process included touching up manipulating the artwork in order to simplify it. I did this by using the smooth tool on Adobe Illustrator. I also used the line tool in order to remove any inconsistencies in the design.

Once I had the artwork finalised, I began experimenting with different colours. Instead of using just one set colour for the design, I decided to use multiple colours on each fish in order for the artwork to stand out.

I arranged the fish into different positions until I found a design that I liked. The final design shows the fish pointing upwards, almost as if they're jumping out of the water. I then surrounded the artwork with a box with smooth edges and placed one of the brand logos in the bottom right corner. Once the design was completed I used Photoshop to impose my design onto a digital mock-up.

The fish asset which was created in this design was used within one of the sticker designs. I thought that this bright colourful fish icon seemed playful and inviting enough to incorporate into another design.

The thick, bold navy-blue lines contrast well against the bright colours, as well as the white background which can be seen in the work.

Final design:

Design Mock-up:

When forming the design for the first tote bag, I decided that I would begin by carving out a lino-block. This lino-print would be the basis of the design that followed. When beginning the lino-cutting process, I first sketched a design on the block and then cut around each aspect of that particular design. Once I felt as though the design was suitable, I spread black ink on the block, and printed the design onto paper.

The black and white image which was printed depicts two fish inside of a tin. I thought this playful depiction would suit a tote bag design well. I then scanned the physical print and used Adobe illustrator to manipulate the artwork. In order to come to the final design, a few steps were taken. Firstly, the work was image traced and smoothed using tools on the design software. I then manipulated the image and removed any excess lines and inconsistencies in order to create a plain black and white image.

When iterating this design, I had many ideas regarding the colour palette which was to be used. I first incorporated quite a dark colour palette which comprised of blues and purples, although I felt that this image was not striking enough. I then decided to lighten up the design by using brighter, contrasting colours such as green and red, and bright yellow and bright blue. I felt that this version of the design suited the aesthetic of Pish Angler well.

I then included text above and below the artwork which says “Pish Angler” in a handwritten graffiti style. I once again utilised Photoshop in order to create a digital mock-up of this tote bag design.

The rough looking illustration / lino-print style is inspired by the street art and graffiti pieces which line the inner-city waterways, and bridge underpasses. This is because urban anglers reside consistently reside in these locations.

Final design:

Design Mock-up:

Design process:

Once again, I decided to continue using the brand colour palette. When designing the image I thought of multiple ideas. During the process, there were a few iterations although for the final design, I had decided to merge aspects from each ideation into one another.

I was able to produce the design by firstly brainstorming ideas, and then utilising Adobe illustrator. When designing the product packaging, I thought it would be important to include imagery that can be seen across the brand. Product packaging is the first thing that many viewers see when they engage with the product for the first time. As a result of this, I decided to incorporate a thank you message at the top, and a simple product logo at the bottom.

A challenge which arose when designing this deliverable, was the iteration process. This was because I did not want to be too repetitive in my design work, although I did want to display the brand identity within the packaging.

Once the final design was chosen, I acquired a digital mock-up and manipulated it in order to display my design.

I believe that this design is a great representation of simple text-based design. The bold lines and bright colours stand out against the white background, and this allows for the design to attract attention from onlookers.

Final design:

Design Mock-up:

Design process:

When designing the product banner / poster, I wanted to keep things simple. In order to do so I reused assets which I had previously created within other deliverables. I included the pish angular character which can be seen on the product labels as well as the red and white bobber which can be seen within some logos and stickers as well. These assets were originally hand drawn then digitally scanned an edited in the Adobe illustrator software.

I wanted the brand banner to be impactful and simplistic. The simple use of colour within this design helps the character logo and name pop due to the contrast of the background.

If I were to design this piece again, I would incorporate some sort of tagline or catch phrase to gain audience attention. I would like to design more posters in the future. I did consider designing another character to sit next to the brand name via a lino print method, although upon further consideration I had realised that there would not be enough time to do so.

Final design:

Design Mock-up: