THE CHALLENGE
CREATING A
BRAND WHICH
INSTANTLY
CONVEYS ITS
CORE CONCEPTS
The MaxMara Leisure line is dedicated to the busy, on-the-move, elegant woman who seeks comfort and practicality without sacrificing style. It’s a line that offers precious and innovative fabrics and has a specific target audience in mind.
When the company contacted us they were soon to release a new collection - EASYTRAVEL. The challenge at hand was designing a clear identity for this new collection - a definitive tone of voice that would communicate the essence of the brand whilst generating excitement for new products.
THE LANDSCAPE
A SPACE OF
CONSTANT
EVOLUTION
Evolving giants
Max Mara Group is an international fashion house which has been operating since 1951 - recognized throughout the world due to its modern female clothing products, produced by state of the art industrial processes.
Yet even giants such as Max Mara Group are not immune to the constantly evolving nature of the world of fashion and textiles. In this particular example, it was not just a matter of the garments’ physical design - the language we used and how we contextualised each product was also hugely important in determining their success.
Questions we needed to ask
> How have the lifestyles of women changed in the last 50 years?
> How has Max Mara Group interpreted this change and adapted their style/design?
> As a company, what do you most want to communicate with today's woman?
STRATEGY
MAKE IT
EASY
What does 'Easy' mean? What characterizes an intuitive product?
We started with a few simple questions to define the core concept behind the EASYTRAVEL collection. In the same way that it should be easy to understand which direction the next subway is coming from, the function of the garments in this collection should be instantly recognisable as practical, comfortable and stylish.
We summarized this concept in a single characteristic: "AFFORDANCE". This is the property of an object that immediately defines its possible uses or instantly clarifies how it can, or must, be used.
Based on this philosophy, we decided to develop the visual imagery around the products and the browsing/purchase experience.
Understanding how we shop
Before working on the visual aspect, we dug deeper into how a customer behaves in front of a hanging garment. We wanted to understand if we could not only display the design in a similar manner, but mirror the experience. We realized that we could create a point of contact through the label because, after examining the garment by hand, you would usually look at the label.
As such, we decided to include certain information about the garment on the label as well as a call to action which immerses the customer in a clothes shopping experience and makes them more active within it.
BRAND
INSTANT
CLARITY
We wanted to introduce the concept of "affordance" in the visual identity of the brand. The simplicity and readability of the typography and geometric forms used fit perfectly with the concept of instant recognisability, which underpins the collection.
As travelling was the key theme that inspired the collection, we made explicit references to transport through the use of a language rich in symbols, which instantly conjures imagery of going on a journey.
BUILDING
COMMUNICATION
TO TRANSCEND
CULTURES
All the design around the brand had been based on instant clarity, but we still wanted to go further. How do you convey a universal message which requires no knowledge of any particular language and transcends all cultures and individual standards of iconography?
We decided to opt for a ‘talking label’, which would explain the technical aspects of each garment and fabric, instructions for care and a description of how the garment feels - all using very simple words and icons. It was as explicit as we could get.
Photographic language
The photographic language displays each garment in the context of what it was designed for, portraying how it will look in everyday, relatable experiences.
EASYTRAVEL was created as a collection to be lived in. For this reason, we felt that we needed to bring it to life as much as possible.
