
I love learning things, so I’ve taken lots of courses on Coursera. One of them was CalArts’ Specialization in Graphic Design. The capstone project for the specialization was to invent a company and create a brand development guide for it.
The “secret ingredient” requirement was any extra addition to the guide that wasn’t already in the requirements. I chose to illustrate a scene from one of the dreams my company, Dreamera, rents out.
The appearance of the chimera downstream illustrates my idea that branding in the “off-the-rack” dreams would be non-invasive and would seem to be a part of the dream. (Because the point is for the customers to relax, and invasive ads are not relaxing!)

The course does a really good job of walking students through each step and what to include in a brand development guide. My company was inspired by the fact that I have very similar experiences to the company founder, Carrie Belefonte, and by companies like Netflix and Blockbuster.
I thought it would be a great idea to replace nightmares with the good dreams of one’s own choosing, so I set out to create a company that allows for just that.

Including the mind map was one of the requirements. My thought process isn’t always this organized and legible (especially if no one else is going to see it). But this exercise really helped me see what direction I wanted to go in.


We included our visual research, consisting of both contemporary and historical moodboards. I focused heavily on the concept of dreams, and the relaxing color scheme of blues and purples.




Next was the logotype. I tried different typefaces, then different styles of my chosen typeface. I tested it in the different colors I chose for my brand, then added the logo itself.
The logo, a chimera, is also where I got the company name from. The idea being a chimera is an amalgam of lion, ram, and snake, and Dreamera dreams (if you pay for customization) are an amalgam of characters and settings of the customer’s choosing.

Next I had to choose the brand’s typeface for the slogan and copy text. I had it narrowed down to a sans serif that, when bold, made me think of thought bubbles and a serif that, ultimately, I felt looked more professional.


![Left: mockup of the Dreamband. It looks kind of like an eyeshade you'd wear to block out light when you sleep. It has the Dreamera logo in lavender across the front and is displayed on the bust of a male model, shown from the front and from the side. Right is the introductory email. Subject: Try One on Us! The blue-purple logo is centered at the top of the email on a cream background. We want to give you the dream of your dreams. You probably haven't heard of us. (That's okay! We're new here!) So we want to introduce ourselves by giving you a free one-night rental of the dream of your choice. Just scan the code below in the Dreamera app and pick your dream! [QR code.] Scan me for a sweet dream! We get it if you're not ready to try it out just yet. Check out our website to get to know us first, and join our regular mailing list to get the latest updates. Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest logos in indigo are centered at the bottom, just above the Dreamera physical and web addresses.](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_1275,h_825/https://kcotenti.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Dreamera_BDG14.jpg)
Finally, we had to create images (I chose Instagram stories) and apply our branding. My applications include the headset (available to rent or purchase), an introductory email, a screenshot from the Dreamera app, and the “menu” of dream packages available.