Homewares Company Branding & Corporate Stationary
Design process for a branding project I was commissioned to complete in August 2014. The company were a small homewares/textiles firm based in Cardiff, looking for a logo, stationery, a small website and some potential packaging. This would be a challenging brief as a.) budget was limited and b.) there was a time pressure, (an upcoming international trade show in Paris.)
I began by establishing branding styles within the textiles and homewares sector. The client wanted a 'French feel' to the branding, but with a sense of modernity, standing it apart from the company's competitors without being too 'off the wall'. I completed a quick series of mood boards to check I was on the right track with my initial ideas.
A small section from one of the mood boards created prior to the logo design.
Once I'd confirmed with the client I was on the right track, I set about developing a few dozen logo concepts, based around the visuals I'd compliled in the mood boards.
After reviewing some of the logo ideas with the client and receiving some feedback, I was able to develop the designs further until we reached a logo the client was very happy with. The logo uses a clean, sans-serif typeface to give a sense of modernity, (which my research found unusual for a textiles/homewares brand, many of which have been established for 60+ years,) whilst drawing subtly on some elements of vintage French logos and signs.
The chosen logo.
The logo then needed to be applied to some wider collateral, including business cards, a letterhead, a simple website and some graphics for social media. I based most of these around the textile patterns the company had developed to date, which were visually very striking. The intention was that potential customers would immediately get a look at the company's product on first meeting a representative, even without the availability of a look-book or samples. The pattern shown below was just one of four designs used.
The business cards were printed on matte, slightly textured 600gsm Quadplex cards, helping to give a more luxurious, high-end feel to them.
The business cards were printed on matte, slightly textured 600gsm Quadplex cards, helping to give a more luxurious, high-end feel to them.
Once the project was completed to the client's approval, I designed some elements that they may want to develop in the future, including some ideas for product packaging. (See below.)
The project was completed on time, under budget and to the client's satisfaction in
less than four weeks.
less than four weeks.
A packaging design concept I produced for the company at the end of the project for potential future use.
