Borders GROUP
Brand Guidelines / Fall 2018
Borders GROUP
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Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s
Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. Borders GROUP
— G. K. Chesterton, writer – 3
Table of Contents
01
02
Research And Strategy
Logo Development
10 / The Chosen Brand And History Research
46 / Logo Ideas
14 / Competitive Analysis
48 / Logo Development
18 / Brand Timeline
50 / The Main Logo
20 / Brand Mission Statement
52 / Logo Proportations
22 / Six Audience Profiles
54 / Logo Sizing
34 / Brand Grids
56 / Logo With Clear Space
38 / Pinterest Boards For Keywords
58 / Alternative Logos 62 / Unauthorized Uses
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Brand Standardization
Brand Extensions
68 / Color Palette
76 / Applications
69 / Typography
80 / Extension: Souvenirs and gifts
70 / Business System
B ran d G u id eline s
04
Ta b le of Con tent s
03
Borders GROUP
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82 / Extension: Ebook Reader 84 / Extension: Book Club and Talks
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Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
Borders GROUP
Research And Strategy
Step 01_
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Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.
— Jhumpa Lahiri 8 –
Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
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The Chosen Brand And History Research
Description Borders Group,Inc. was an international book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Borders Group reflects the life death of American bookstores. The chain’s flagship store was in downtown Ann Arbor, at the corner of Liberty and State Streets. It was identified as “Borders #1”, because it was the flagship store. Then the Borders brothers’ inventory system tailored each store’s offerings to its community. In 1967, a sister company, Book Inventory Systems was founded to serve as a wholesaler for and provide the brothers’ custom inventory system to regional independent bookstores.
Brand History Borders Group was founded in 1971 by brothers Tom Borders and Louis Borders during their years at the University of Michigan. In 1975, they bought out the stock of Wahr’s, an 80-year-old bookstore that was ending business at 316 South State. In 1992, Borders was acquired by Kmart. On July 7, 2010, Borders opened an eBook store to allow books to be downloaded. The company announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 16th, 2011. Borders USA closed the doors of its remaining stores on September 18, 2011.
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Borders GROUP
011
B ran d G u id eline s Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
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Borders GROUP
1971—Founded
Reading is borderless.
1975—Bought out the stock of Wahr’s 1976—Book Inventory Systems founded
Keywords
1997—First international store, opened
Clean; Modern; Quiet; Organized; Not
in Singapore
affected
B ran d G u id eline s
Brand Soul
Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
Timeline
2010—Ebook store opened 2011—Defunct
Brand Mission Statement Our mission is to make people’s reading
Future Possibilities
convenient, easy, create the atmosphere to encourage more people to read.
The new versions of the bookstore could be: the main part of selling is online. The bookstore is a place to hold some book events. Inside the bookstore, it can combine with a cafe or other relaxing areas and places.
Competitors Atlantic Books, B.Dalton Bookseller, City Light, amazon books
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Competitive Anaalysis—Direct Competitors
Chapters Indigo Chapters Indigo, knowed as “!ndigo”, is Canada’s largest book, gift and specialty toy retailer. Indigo mergered Chapters in 2001, but they run seperately. It runs an app for shopping physical books, but it doesn’t have ebook reader.
Powell’s Books Powell’s Books is a chain of bookstores in Portland, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. It has an online website selling books, but it doesn’t have an app or ebook function.
Books-A-Million, Inc. Books-A-Million, known as BAM!, operates and owns the second largest bookstore chain in the United States, operating 260 stores in 32 states. The company also owns American Wholesale Book Company, but it doesn’t have the app function.
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Borders GROUP
and owned bookseller with 11 locations in California. The history of the bookstore can trace back to 1851 making it The West’s Oldest Independent Bookseller. It doesn’t
B ran d G u id eline s
Books Inc. is an independently operated
Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
Books Inc.
have app, but it has lots of local events.
Tattered Cover Tattered Cover is one of the largest independent bookstores in the USA. It is a bookstore chain in Denver, Colorado. It has online website selling books, but it doesn’t have app.
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Ancillary Competitors
GoodReads Goodreads is a “social cataloging” website that allows individuals to freely search its database of books, annotations, and reviews. The company is owned by online retailer Amazon.
Wattpad Wattpad is a community for readers and writers to publish the new user-generated stories in different genres. Wattpad aims to create social communities around stories for both amateur and established writers and readers.
Deseret Book Company Deseret Book (About this sound listen) is an American publishing company that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. Deseret Book publishes under four imprints with media ranging from work explaining LDS theology and doctrine, LDS-related fiction, electronic resources, and sound recordings. It owns a convenient ebook app for customers to read books on their phone.
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Borders GROUP
Future Competitors
the largest number of retail outlets in the USA, and a retailer of content, digital products, and educational products. In 2017, the company operates 633 retail stores in
B ran d G u id eline s
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the bookseller with
Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
Barnes & Noble
all 50 states in USA. It owns publishing, food service, community involvement, and an e-book reader called “NOOK”.
Amazon Kindle The Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. The Devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read magazines, newspapers, ebooks, and other digital medias via wireless networking to the Kindle Store.
Google Play Books Google Play Books is an ebook digital distribution service operated by Google. Users can purchase and download ebooks and audiobooks from Google Play, which offers over five million titles, with Google claiming it to be the “largest ebooks collection in the world”. Users may also upload up to 1,000 ebooks in different file formats.
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Brand Timeline
In 1975, they bought out the stock of Wahr’s. Also they hired Michael Hildebrand and Harvey James Robin.
1975
1971
1976
Borders operated a Borders recruited
mall based toy store
Robert DiRomualdo
called All Wound Up,
to lead the company’s
which sold toys and
expansion.
novelty items.
1988
1994
1992 1995
A sister company,
In 1995, The book
Book Inventory
store chain, renamed
Systems (BIS) was
Borders Group Inc.
founded and served as a wholesaler.
The original Borders book-
Borders was acquired
store was founded in 1971
in 1992 by Kmart.
by Tom Borders and Louis Borders at the University of Michigan.
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Borders launched a loyalty program
Borders launched an online retail pre-
B ran d G u id eline s
Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidation sale.
Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
which is called Borders Rewards.
sence for the first time at Borders.com.
1998
1997
2011
2006 2001
2008
In 2001, Borders Group
In 2008, Borders Group
contracted with online
opened its first of 14
retailer Amazon to sell—
concept stores on Lohr
a relationship blamed
Road. Severing ties
for making Borders late
with Amazon, the com-
to the emerging web
pany launched a new
retail segment.
Borders.com.
The company owned its first international store in Singapore.
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Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
The new Borders wants to be a seeker and helper to spread and share knowledge.
New Brand Soul 20 –
Borders GROUP
Brand Mission Statement
To work diligently to provide multiple con-
Reticulated: All the functions of the brand
nections between customers and reading,
are constructed and arranged to service
attempting to meet different demands for
in one spirit—spreading and sharing know-
accepting knowledge and getting informa-
ledge. It improves the speed of gathering
tion, focusing on enhancing customer’s
information together and spreading faster.
reading experience.
The main thing of the brand is “book”, but
B ran d G u id eline s
Five Keywords
Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
New Brand Mission Statement
it covers more people, not just readers.
Repositioning Statement
Friendly/soft: It welcomes different groups
Borders Group eagers to be a seeker and
that we provide.
helper to spread and share knowledge, providing multiple methods to create convenience for people with limited budget and time, also provide the platform to help people get the book related information. We used to focus on book retail, providing
of people to join by using multiple methods
Reliable/organized: Because the brand is for spreading and sharing knowledge, the visual system of the brand should show the feeling of reliability. Bright: Well lighted bookstores make custo-
online and local bookselling, but it narrows
mers feel more comfortable and relaxed.
our audience. Now we are broadening our
The visual language that makes people feel
target audience and mission by bringing
bright can make customers have a better
more services online.
and unique experience.
The new services are including e-book (app
Changeable with systematic: Because the
and e-book reader), local events and social
brand will bring book events to the public,
platform (potential brand extensions).
the themes and the outlooks will change
We are helping people to get information and knowledge, facing to business people
with different themes. However, the overall visual language should keep the same.
(online preference) and local people (offline preference).
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Audience Profiles
Demographics Name: Sofia
Needs from the brand: Convenience, maybe can use it in phone
Age: 27
Expectations she has about the brand:
Gender: Female
She wants something looks modern and
Education: Bachelor’s degree in
young, so that she might want to share
Communications
with her girl friends.
Relationship Status: Single Profession: Work in a TV station Income: $ 68,440
Story Telling
Brand she cares: Sephora; J.Crew
Sofia is a represent of urban modern female. Most of her time is using for work and social. She is good at using frag-
Interests And Lifestyle
mented time to read and learn, or in other
Interests and things she likes: reading love
words, she sometimes has to use the
story novels; short-distance travelling
fragmented time to learn. As a result, she
Social life: Hang out with girl friends to shopping, museums, bookstore, cafe, etc Social media preferences: Instagram, facebook
need something that can easily carry with her, and eaily using. She also wants to take part in some events that she can go with her friends. These may not take too much time, so that they can go shopping or eating later.
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Borders GROUP
Sofia
B ran d G u id eline s Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
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Tom
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Borders GROUP
a community to share
Age: 76
Expectations he has about the brand: He
Gender: Male
wants something local and something can
Education: Bachelor’s degree in French
he can get information about it easily
Relationship Status: Married Profession: Retire Income: $ 10,230
Story Telling
Brand he cares: Safeway; AMC
Tom is a person that prefer staying outside
B ran d G u id eline s
Name: Tom
Needs from the brand: Personality setup;
Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
Demographics
his own house. He gets information like
Interests And Lifestyle
coupon from his social medias, newspaper and advertising. He seldom plays or has
Interests and things he likes: Playing
fun with his own phone. Phone is just a
chess, planting flower, reading, going
media that he get information. He likes to
to cinema
take part in some local events. He doesn’t
Social life: Playing chess with other senior,
like a place that is too noisy.
go to some quiet places with his wife Social media preferences: MySpace, Stitch, Facebook
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Demographics Name: Mike
Needs from the brand: Reliable information sources, books introductions
Age: 46
Expectations he has about the brand:
Gender: Male
He wants the brands is reliable so that he
Education: Master’s degree in Global trade
doesn’t need to spend lots of time to
Relationship Status: Married
choose books.
Profession: Manager Income: $ 124,530 Brand he cares: Mercedes-Benz; Kicking
Story Telling
Horse Coffee
Mike is at the life stage that enjors his life very much. He loves reading, and prefer
Interests And Lifestyle
he still needs the updating books’ informa-
Interests and things he likes: Football
tion to help himself to choose books. He
games, reading
seldom goes to bookstore or library, and he
Social life: Most of his spare time is
usually buy books online.
accompanying with his daughter and
Sometimes he picks his daughter’s books
his wife
online. However, if his daughter asks, he
Social media preferences: Linedln, twitter
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physical books instead of ebook. However,
will take her to the bookstore to choose the books by herself.
Borders GROUP
Mike
B ran d G u id eline s Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
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Lily
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Borders GROUP
children books
Age: 32
Expectations she has about the brand:
Gender: Female
She wants to choose books for her child-
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Media
ern, and a great place to play with them.
Relationship Status: Married Profession: Housewife Income: $ 6,070
Story Telling
Brand she cares: Amazon; Whole Food
Lily is working hard to be a great mother.
Market
She wants to give a better education to her
B ran d G u id eline s
Name: Lily
Needs from the brand: Multiple choice for
Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
Demographics
children. And now she is kind of confused
Interests And Lifestyle
about children books online, because there is a hugh amount. She wants something
Interests and things she likes: Planting
can help her to pick.
flowers, cooking
Also, she often takes her children to book-
Social life: Staying most of her time with
stores and museums to help her daughter
her children, sometimes go to a family trip
developing reading habits.
Social media preferences: Instagram
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Demographics Name: Justin Age: 21 Gender: Male Education: Studying in Web design
Expectations he has about the brand: He doesn’t like reading books, however, he needs to read for his courses. He wants the ebook is cheap that he doesn’t need to spend on it a lot.
Relationship Status: Single Profession: Student Income: $ 5,240 Brand he cares: Adidas; XBox; Nike
Story Telling Justin is a young energetic male. He has a Kindle, but it was brought because Justin thought that it might help him read more.
Interests And Lifestyle
Actually, it can not.
Interests and things he likes: Night clubs,
All he needs for books and reading is the
basketball games, video games
required books. He really wants them as
Social life: Hang out with friends oftenly, usually night clubs and restaurants Social media preferences: Instagram, facebook, twitter Needs from the brand: Affordable for the required books that teacher asks
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cheap as possible, but in good quality as well. He prefers the book that can be read by phone, or by Kindle.
Borders GROUP
Justin
B ran d G u id eline s Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
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Emily
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Borders GROUP
her work
Age: 37
Expectations she has about the brand:
Gender: Female
She also wants a platform to share ideas
Education: Master’s degree in Religious
directly to the audience
literature Relationship Status: Married Profession: Writer
Story telling
Income: $ 72,970
Emily is a famous writer that spends most
Brand she cares: Netflix; Starbucks
of her time at home or at cafe to write.
B ran d G u id eline s
Name: Emily
Needs from the brand: A place to share
Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
Demographics
Her books are about religious literature.
Interests And Lifestyle
She is invited to give presentations, meet her fans, etc. Usually she doesn’t want
Interests and things she likes: Cats,
this kind of events go too big, she wants to
watching criminal/thriller/suspense series
have a chance to have a discussion rather
Social life: Spend most of her time with
than a presentation.
her husband, sometimes chatting online
Also, she wants a platform that can share
with the publishing
her short stories.
Social media preferences: Facebook
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Brand Grids
Brand Grid For Current Brand Borders Group has the characteristics that most of the bookstore has. It shows quiet and warm, but it makes people feel lonely.
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Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
BORDERS GROUP
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Brand Grid For The New Brand Strategy The new Borders Group will focus more on communication function. It is going to connect different kinds of people by multiple solutions. It should show friendly. It encourages people to take part in.
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Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
BORDERS GROUP
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Pinterest Boards For Keywords
Keyword—Reliable / Organized Because the brand soul is sharing and spreading knowlege, it should make people feel it is reliable and trustworthy.
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Borders GROUP
brand. Bright gives people a feeling of relaxing, confident and comfortable.
B ran d G u id eline s
It shows the environment and style of the
Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
Keyword—Bright
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Keyword—Reticulated The brand is creating multiple methods to connect people with reading, spreading and sharing knowledge.
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Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
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Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s Log o D evelop m ent
Borders GROUP
Logo Development
Step 02_
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Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
A book is a dream you hold in your hand.
— Neil Gaiman 44 –
Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s Log o D evelop m ent
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Logo Ideas
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Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s Log o D evelop m ent
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Logo Development
Logo Combination For the logo, because the brand started from selling books, I determined to take book as my logo element. Take the feeling of a cube. Also express the feeling of two books layering together. And I combine B and G which are the letters in the original name—Borders Group.
+
B&G
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Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s Log o D evelop m ent
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The Main Logo
Borders GROUP
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Borders GROUP
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B ran d G u id eline s Log o D evelop m ent
Borders GROUP
Logo Proportions
Borders GROUP X
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Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP Logotype
B ran d G u id eline s Log o D evelop m ent
Symbol
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Logo Sizing
Height
Vertical Signature
2M
Borders GROUP 11 Inch
Borders GROUP 1 Inch
Borders GROUP 1 CM
Borders GROUP
5 MM
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Borders GROUP
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Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
B ran d G u id eline s
Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
Log o D evelop m ent
Horizontal Signature
Borders GROUP Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
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Logo Clear Space
The logo size is based on the width of the lines. It is a combination of BG which is the first letters of Borders and Group. The the look of it was inspired by a semi-opened book.
X
10X
6X
Borders GROUP 11X
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X
Borde
Borde
Borders Borders
Borders
B ran d G u id eline s
Borders
Log o D evelop m ent
Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
Borders
Borders GROUP Borders – 57
Alternative Logos
The logo should be applied in different applications. Here is the samples for the alternative uses. In full color, use blue logo with black wordmark. If it is one color job, use all black. In dark background, use all white.
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Borders GROUP
Full Color Logo
Borders GROUP
B ran d G u id eline s
Log o D evelop m ent
Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP Borders GROUP – 59
One Color Logo
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Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP Borders GROUP
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Borders GROUP
White Out Logo
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Borders GROUP Borders GROUP – 61
B ran d G u id eline s
Log o D evelop m ent
Borders GROUP
Unauthorized Uses
To make the brand be consistency, some logo treatments are wrong and please do not use them in anywhere.
Borders GROUP
DO NOT outline it.
Borders GROUP
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DO NOT skew it.
Borders GROUP
DO NOT outline the type.
DO NOT rotate it.
Bo GR rd OU er P s
DO NOT use it in different colors.
DO NOT use gradient.
Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
DO NOT only use the vertical wordmark
B ran d G u id eline s
DO NOT mix the logos
Log o D evelop m ent
DO NOT make shadows
Borders GROUP Borders GROUP
Borders Borders GROUP GROUP
DO NOT change the typeface
DO NOT change the proportion
DO NOT overlap the logo
Borders GROUP borders group Borders GROUP
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Borders GROUP
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Step 03_
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B ran d G u id eline s Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
Borders GROUP
Brand Standardization
Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.
— Rene Descartes 66 –
Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s Res ea rch An d S t rateg y
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Color Palette
The main color is the same as the logo color which is the Pantone 2995C Blue. The blue gives a feeling of energy and knowledge. For highlighting, yellow is used to engage and show friendly.
Main Color PANTONE 2995 C RGB: 0/167/225 CMYK: 81/12/1/0 #00a7e1
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Secondary Color
Secondary Color
Pantone 7548C
Black
RGB: 255/198/0
RGB: 0/0/0
CMYK: 0/23/100/0
CMYK: 0/0/0/100
#ffc600
#000000
Borders GROUP
Typography
digital feeling to the brand. To combine Blender, Din and Trade Gothic are used for the book layout.
B ran d G u id eline s
B ra n d Sta n d a rd i zat i o n
The logo typeface is Blender which brings
Logo Typeface Blender Pro Medium
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
(.,:;?!£$&@*) 0123456789
Layout Title Typeface Din Medium
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
(.,:;?!£$&@*) 0123456789
Layout Bodycopy Subtitle Typeface Trade Gothic Bold
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
(.,:;?!£$&@*) 0123456789
Layout Bodycopy Typeface Trade Gothic Regular
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
(.,:;?!£$&@*) 0123456789 – 69
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Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s B ra n d Sta n d a rd i zat i o n
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Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s B ra n d Exten s io ns
Borders GROUP
Brand Extensions
Step 04_
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Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP
Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.
— Jean Rhys 74 –
Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s B ra n d Exten s io ns
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Brand Applications
To compete with the future competitors, Borders Group is going to have mobile app. For the purpose of being convenient, they should be accessible.
Mobile App
Borders GROUP
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Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s B ra n d Exten s io ns
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Bookstore Sign
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Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s B ra n d Exten s io ns
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Brand Extensions
Souvenirs and Gifts Like many cafe and bookstores, Borders Group is going to sell their “logo” and “style” in souvenirs products.
80 –
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Borders GROUP
B ran d S ta n d a rd s Gu i de l ine s / Re s e arch And S trate g y
B ran d G u id eline s
B ra n d Exten s io ns
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Brand Extensions
Book Club and Talks It is like a music live. Borders Group will invite many famous writers to come and share their books and thoughts. They will give small speeches about books. It is a method to share knowledge.
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Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s B ra n d Exten s io ns
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Brand Extensions
E-Book Reader It is a trend that e-reader is going to take the place of real books. It saves money, saves space, and people can customize their own reading page. It has a larger access to millions of books.
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Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s B ra n d Exten s io ns
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Borders GROUP
Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s
B ra n d Exten s io ns
Borders GROUP
Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.
— Vera Nazarian – 87
Borders GROUP Designed by Chuxin (Becky) Liu Student ID: 04566237 https://www.mybordersgroup.com
GR 604 The Nature of Identity Semester: Fall 2018 Instructor: Thomas McNulty Project: Rebranding A “Dead” Brand Credit: unsplash.com
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Borders GROUP B ran d G u id eline s
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sredroB PUORG
Designed by Chuxin (Becky) Liu