In-depth case study analysis of brand building.
This project focused on conducting research into the clothing market, the effects of fast fashion and investigating the competition to effectively design a branding solution that could employ various strategies to stand out. The goal was to achieve a unique design solution for a fictitious company titled "Sworn Apparel" that focused on a specific niche and demographic. Creating a thoughtful brand guideline was needed to fulfill all deliverable components that made sense regarding its target audience while balancing core brand principles.
A personal goal for this project was to create a fully fleshed-out guideline or booklet that worked in a smaller form factor to appease a double demand regarding the need for digital and physical print. Furthermore, all aspects of the design for the brand book would have to follow stringent rules outlined in the company MVVs to represent the brand's approach to consumer needs and demands and take into consideration a heavy amount of research.
- Research.
- Market analysis.
- Target audience analysis.
- Graphic toolbox.
- Logos, Variations, Audience, MVV's, Typography and Competition.
- Brand guideline/book (In digital & print)
- Photographic headshots of products mocked-up.
Sworn Apparel is an eco-conscious company focused on the future of sustainability and practice. "Better Changes Start With You" is about relating to one another with a shared goal of taking proactive approaches to improving the planet. By utilizing and exemplifying bold typography and eco-friendly materials found within the products sold within the company, they serve as a reminder of the power that remains in the people. The Sworn Apparel brand reserves the usage of colour within its products and only applies colour when specific goals are reached. These goals are environmental, political, and social and help showcase unified achievement by releasing specialized singular-coloured pieces/articles of clothing. This marketing company strategy helps connect with its core audience, which cares about the same values the company stands for. It employs business strategies of transparency, which in turn helps build brand trust and loyalty and showcases how it partners and plans to set out to achieve eco-friendly goals through social media campaigns.
The target market for the apparel consists of a younger audience demographic between 18-35 as its primary focal point. It seeks to establish a connection within this audience as research highlights a growing trend of activists among youth and the ever-increasing existential crisis brought on by climate change. By relating to this audience, the brand stands for something more than just apparel; it seeks to catalyze political change within North America.
Lead designer & creator: Greg Gulyas
Models: Brittney G, Scott C, Hannah H, Julian M.
Software: Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop.
Hardware: Fujifilm X-T4 with 16-80mm lens in a studio environment.
The process for this project primarily came from working with on-the-fly sketches and creating the logo, layout and design through systematic and thoughtful ideation. Iterating on the design through over 50+ logo variations helped to finalize an ideal candidate. Crafting various layouts, grids, and structures helped implement the organization of the content and how best to pair it with powerful imagery. With careful planning, time management, and organizational skills, the requirements for completing a full-fledged mock company brand guidelines relied heavily on preliminary research phases and figuring out through market analysis how some companies within this niche faired.
The result of this project is an apt design that represents the company's goals, voice, tone, mission and values from the ground up. The final design is highly functional and remains adaptable for future revisions while speaking toward the future goals and intents of the company. The consistent and tight direction with strong research foundations helped showcase and emphasize the unity the company seeks to represent. It outlines all crucial details within a brand guideline and is completed in digital and printed formats. The brand guidelines contain all operational rules needed to run a company/brand and reference internally regarding structures about all aspects of the company, including but not limited to its logo usage, voice/tone, purpose, values, target audience, and imagery usage.
Reach out to me at gulyasdesign@hotmail.com if you want to discuss projects, scope, liaise, or if you just wanna chat! That’s cool too!
