[AAU GR604] Max Factor Visual Strategy Guide (student project)

01

Maxfactor Visual Strategy Guide

EMILIE GARNIER / 03983865

02

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

03

“There are a number of invisible forces at work that determine which members of the opposite sex we become interested in — and which ones we don’t.”

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

04

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

05 05

“Plants and animals display traits and receive multiple signals related to some basic physical quality or attribute and science shows we are not very far removed from animals in these respects.”

—Cathy Holding, Writer New Scientist

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

06

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

07

“This is in line with the Darwinian theory of mate selection, it seems that people are closer to animals than they might care to admit, and they are also intrinsically unaware at a conscious level of what truly attracts them to another person.”

—Carolyn Gregoire, Writer The Huffington Post

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

08 08

Contents

01

02

Brand Overview

The New Brand

Brand History 014

The Transformation 026

Timeline 016

Visual Shift 028

Initial Brand 021

Positionning 030

The Evolution 022

Visual Strategy Strategy Guide Guide Visual

Maxfactor Maxfactor

09 09

03

Strategy Development Persona Development 035 Competitor Analysis Strategy 043

Maxfactor Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Strategy Guide Guide Visual

010 010

Visual Strategy Guide Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor Maxfactor

011

Brand Overview

Brand History 014 Timeline 016 Initial Brand 021 The Evolution 022

Maxfactor

Maxfactor

Visual Visual Strategy Strategy Guide Guide

012

Maksymilian Faktorowicz

Brand History

Max Factor is well recognized for his role as a makeup artist in Hollywood specifically within the Motion Pictures industry, and although this seems to be a great accomplishment and has propelled him into being considered the father of modern makeup, being a mere makeup artist that enhanced movie stars’ appearances for the screen was not his actual motivation nor his end goal.

The purpose of his work went much deeper than that, Hollywood provided him with the perfect opportunity/ stage/outlet to conduct his work, to experiment and perfect his formulas. Due to his origin, Max Factor grew up helping his father in his laboratory, as an adult he was an apothecary’s assistant, then he became a chemist. This trajectory and point of view as a chemist formed the base and is what sparked his interest in the creation of cosmetic products and formulas.

Factor studied human anatomy with a focus on facial features, he studied the face in an objective fashion as structure/proportion/symmetry and collected data of how these properties interacted with each other and how and why they amounted to a harmonious whole.

Visual Strategy Guide

He invented an apparatus, constructed specifically to measure the proportions of the female face and used it to record data and anatomical facts of the human face.

Basically he conducted a study of aesthetics applied to human anatomy/ the study of beauty through scientific method.

In this particular time, cosmetics were not an everyday amenity at the reach of everyone and anyone as we know them today. It took innovative thinking and methods, to create and concoct these products. Although these products were destined for cosmetic usage, the operation ran as a chemistry lab with experimentation and user testing to obtain the right mixtures of chemicals which were destined to serve a determined function (i.e: hydrogen peroxide, salicylic acid, emollients...).

•

What the brand does: Create formulas and substances destined for cosmetic usage.

•

Who they do it for: Females of all ages

•

Why they do it: To improve the aesthetic of the human body

Maxfactor

013

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

014

Brand Timeline

1918 1932

18 72 Max Factor is born in Lodz, Russia under the name Maksymilian Faktorowicz.

He release his study and findings in Color Harmony, released as pocket size book publications.

Max Factor dies at the age of 66. The family decides his name should live on so his son, Francis takes on the name Max Factor, Jr.

He invents and coins the term “makeup”, and releases his new set of formulas “Society Makeup” which made these products available to everyone.

Max Factor creates a chemical solution which would improve aesthetic appearance via the new Technological advent of Technicolor Film.

19 14

1938

1920

Visual Strategy Guide

Max Factor builds a Beauty Calibrator to measure the dimensions of a person’s facial structure to within 1/100th of an inch.

Maxfactor

015

2001

1 940 1958

A new indelible formula was created for lipstick.

Creation of an innovative application tool, the mascara wand.

Launching another first; Max Factor introduces 12 hour long-lasting non-transfer lip color, “Lipfinity�.

Between 2006 and 2008, one is sold every 9 seconds globally; becoming another iconic innovation..

Max Factor Rebrands.

Created the chemical solution that enabled the combination of air based compounds (such as powder) and lipid based compounds (cream).

Max Factor Museum opens.

2017 Max Factor launches its ultimate glamour tool, Colour Effect Flipstick; an innovative, double-ended lipstick that allows women to become their very own lip artist by mixing, matching and personalizing their own lip colour.

19 8 4 1 953

2012 Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

016

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

Fig. 0a 017

1914 Max Factor creates a chemical solution which would improve aesthetic appearance via the new Technological advent of Technicolor Film. (Fig. 0b)

1918 He creates Color Harmony Principles, the basis of this theory and practice was to coordinate shades to complement a woman’s natural complexion, eye, and hair colouring. (Fig. 0a) 1932 He invents an apparatus that is used to measure the proportions and contour of the female facial features.

With this apparatus he gathered data and studied facial proportions. (Fig. 0c)

Fig. 0b + c

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

018 018

Emilie Garnier / 03903865 / Nature of Identity Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

Maxfactor

019

Initial Brand

elite + innovative In its origin Maxfactor was innovative, makeup was something completely new that no one had ever seen or had before, it was an advanced chemical invention that only an elite few would have the importunity to use. It made the elite few glamorous, elegant and extremely attractive.

* Marlene Dietrich An icon like no other, the German-born actress and cabaret performer Marlene Dietrich had a self-confident style that combined femme fatale elegance with dramatic glamour.

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

020

Fig. 1a

The Evolution

In its origin Maxfactor was innovative, makeup was something completely new that no one had ever seen or had before, it was an advanced chemical invention that only an elite few would have the importunity to use. It made the elite few glamorous, elegant and extremely attractive. But as the years went on, the brand fell into this essence of faux-glamour, overly directed toward “domesticated women.�

faux glamour + domestic

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

021

MaxFactor

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

022

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

023

The New Brand

The Transformation 026 Visual Shift 028 Positionning 030

Maxfactor

Maxfactor

Visual Visual Strategy Strategy Guide Guide

024

The Transformation

The Brand Soul A scientific study of human attraction.

Rebranding Objective Maxfactor will go far beyond creating cosmetics products, there is potential for expansion in this scientific/ laboratory setting which actually goes back to it’s origin. The scientific study of human attraction and sensuality is still very much alive today and is a current interest and concern, and it would be interesting to see what that would look like with today’s technology or the technology of a near future, while staying true to the spirit of science, chemistry, scientific experimentation and innovation.

Audience Spectrum There will be a shift in audience from women of all ages to people with a specific interest in human attraction.

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

025 025

The Brand Soul “The science of human attraction.”

The Mission Statement

“Our mission is to study human attraction through scientific method.”

Maxfactor

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

026

Fig. 1b

Visual Shift

The revived brand will transcend the idea of attraction limited to the physical qualities and attractiveness of the female face and go beyond that. Nowadays being attractive to the opposite sex entails much more than that, the physique is still a factor but also intelligence and personality, a person is viewed in a much more holistic way and transcends the physical attributes they have to offer.

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

027

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

028 028

Positionning

face In the past the Max Factor brand has focused solely on the female face, as the expression of beauty, feminine sensuality and attraction, therefore limiting the brand to one small aspect of beauty. The rebranding proposes a repositioning of this focus, from only the face and physique to a new conceptualization of female beauty, a more holistic vision of the person as whole.

A holistic view on attraction which is created by the equilibrium of Mind, Body and Soul.

body

Fig. 2a : before

Visual Strategy Strategy Guide Guide Visual

Maxfactor Maxfactor

029 029

mind

soul

Fig. 2b: after

body

Maxfactor Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Strategy Guide Guide Visual

030

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

031

Strategy Development

Persona Development 035 Competitor Analysis Strategy 043

Maxfactor

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide Visual Strategy Guide

032

Persona Development

A persona is depicted as a specific person but is not a real individual; rather, it is synthesized from observations of many people. Each persona represents a significant portion of people in the real world and enables the designer to focus on a manageable and memorable cast of characters, instead of focusing on thousands of individuals. Personas aid designers to create different designs for different kinds of people and to design for a specific somebody, rather than a generic everybody.

For the Max Factor brand the developed personas focused on their physical traits, but more importantly how they feel about their physique and their overall thoughts and attitudes toward sexuality and attraction.

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

033

“A persona is a way to model, summarize and communicate research about people who have been observed or researched in some way.�

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

034 034

24

T

The Self Conscious Socialite

Tiffany Fischer Age 24 Female Non-Profit Event Coordinator •

•

•

•

She works for a non-profit organization, and is in charge of organizing galas and events that are held in order to receive grants and funding.

She is in charge of organizing all of the personnel at work, but also all of the people that are hired to create the actual event (stages, rentals, catering, lighting, sound, music, flowers, etc) Besides actually putting the show together she also has a big role in greeting guests and the people from whom they receive the grants.

These types of events are held to quite high standards, and put her under a lot of stress and pressure.

Visual Visual Strategy Strategy Guide Guide

•

•

•

Although she puts on a good face and is naturally friendly and quite social she often feels quite self-conscious of herself.

She often finds herself surrounded by wealthy women, who have a much less stressful lifestyle and have easier access to exclusive cosmetic products and treatments, fashion, exercise, spas and relaxation, while she is running around on zero sleep, coffee and second hand clothing.

She doesn’t really have time for her personal life, and doesn’t have time for relationships.

Maxfactor Maxfactor

035 035

19

Mi

The Microbiologist Adventurer

Minji Kim Age 19 Female MIT student • •

• •

Minji is a first year microbiology student at MIT. When she was a child she loved going to the zoo and her favorite channel was the discovery Channel She has a specific interest in studying pheromones in plants and insects.

Her father was an avid traveler/adventurer, and once a year since she was a young child they would go on a trip. The trips were rough, outdoorsy, adventurous and usually involved a lot of hiking and camping.

• •

•

Her favorite trip was when they went to the Amazon.

Her father had an impressive collection of rare butterfly collection in his home office, that she would would always sneak into.

She has never had a boyfriend in her life, she’s the only one if her friends that doesn’t have any sexual experience.

•

Maxfactor Maxfactor

Visual Visual Strategy Strategy Guide Guide

036 036

22

Ka The Young Model

Katie Johnson Age 22 Female Model • • • •

Young 22 year old model, from San Luis Obispo.

She usually books most of her jobs in L.A, and New York.

She does both but she prefers shoots for fashion more than runway gigs.

She didn’t grow up being considered or thought of as an “unusually attractive girl”, in fact she comes off as quite ordinary, in her daily life. She wears glasses and no makeup.

•

Visual Visual Strategy Strategy Guide Guide

•

•

•

She is known for being photogenic and having an extremely “versatile face” which photographers, fashion designers and makeup artist really enjoy working with. Her specific quality is that she is easily transformable to any desired look, and with her attributes it has proven to not be very difficult.

She wakes up and goes running, does not eat carbs and regularly drinks and consumes cocaine.

She’s very active and social within her industry, she avidly attends parties, clubs, and goes out all over LA, and socializes with young people in similar

Maxfactor Maxfactor

037 037

46

D

The Startup CEO

Daniel Reyes Age 46 Male CEO •

Just became the CEO of a hot new start-

•

up which keeps growing at a fast rate.

•

He has a fast paced job and has to travel to other countries every few months.

•

His day consists mainly of meetings, face to face, video and phone calls.

•

He starts off the day with a big meeting with all if the team leaders, he initiates and guides the meeting.

•

Maxfactor Maxfactor

• •

Once every two weeks he organizes and guides social gathering events on fridays for the whole office to participate in, because of the companies increasing size the number of people keeps growing with 100 people in the main office.

The company just moved to a larger location, which has just been remodeled.

He’s filipino, was raised by his first generation parents who only spoke tagalog at home. He went to an all white high school and was always much shorter than most of the boys, and never got involved in sports or any other physical activities.

Visual Visual Strategy Strategy Guide Guide

038

26

M

The Fitness Junkie

Mark Perez Age 26 Male Fitness Instructor • •

• •

Young, part cuban he lives in downtown Miami.

He works out every single day and his body is very important to him and is something he takes pride in.

He follows a strict paleo diet.

He works out every single day, he either goes to the gym to lift weights or goes for long runs on the beach.

•

•

•

•

Visual Strategy Guide

He was raised by his mother, with 5 brothers, they led a very humble life.

His mother often worked two jobs in order to support the family, she still managed to prepare breakfast and dinner for the family but usually prepared fast, convenient meals which were cheaper but also high in sodium, fat and sugar.

He travels around the country teaching extreme fitness classes, to all levels of people.

He also teaches yoga and pilates, to groups and one-on-one classes.

Maxfactor

039

35

A

The Skin Perfectionist

Alyson Smith Age 35 Female Aesthetician •

•

•

•

Alyson is from Seattle, she was the only girl in the family, she was raised with 4 brothers.

She is specifically interested in holistic, natural and non-western medicine.

She believes in wellness from the inside.

She has a specific focus on skin and helps people with improve their bodies. She mainly works with skin conditions.

She uses the latest tools and technology and is very active within her industry, she always attends the latest conferences and always keeps up with the new literature and demos.

•

•

•

She believes that all skin conditions should be addressed and treated, and that everyone should follow routines and regimens.

She’s very careful with what she ingests into her body, she doesn’t drink caffeine, rarely drinks alcohol, avoids cholesterol and fatty foods.

She rarely wears makeup and only uses and recommends products without parabens, fragrance, and stripping agents which is detrimental to the skin’s overall condition.

•

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

040

Competitive Analysis Strategy

The analysis seeks to identify weaknesses and strengths and allows you to assess and implement effective strategies that will improve your competitive advantage.

For the Max Factor brand, current competitors were analyzed, which consist of other cosmetic brands of a similar price point and caliber. Adjacent competitors were also analyzed which broadened the spectrum to brands that focus on “improving your appearance� which therefore make you more attractive, such as luxury cars, haute couture, fragrance and lingerie brands, and also more medical/dermatological brands. The last phase was to analyze aspirational competitors, which adds perspective in regards to which brands and why the rebranded max Factor would aspire to approximate on some level or another.

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

041

“Competitor analysis is a strategic technique used to evaluate outside competitors.�

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

042

Fig. 3a

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

043

Current Competitors Current competitors for Max Factor would be in the category of makeup and cosmetics geared toward women.

Makeup is defined by a substance that is applied to the face to enhance someone’s appearance or to make the face look more attractive.

Max Factor differentiates itself from other makeup brands, because Maxfactor is about working like a laboratory, a scientific laboratory. It’s about scientific research and processes that approach the chemistry of human attraction.

Maxfactor

•

Revlon

•

Almay

•

Covergirl

•

Maybelline

•

Olay

•

L’Oreal

•

NYX

•

Neutrogena

•

Rimmel

•

Elizabeth Taylor

Visual Strategy Guide

044

Fig. 3b

Adjacent Competitors Adjacent competitors would fit in the category of brands that focus on “improving your appearance�, being more attractive like cars, fashion, fitness, skin etc.

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

045

•

•

•

•

Luxury vehicle category BMW+Porsche: sleek beautiful cars, that are pricey beautifully designed and making feel like they have a more attractive allure.

Fashion category Channel+Louis Vuitton+Dolce and Gabbana: : beautiful expensive clothing that make us feel more elegant and therefore more attractive.

Fragrance category Givenchy+Hugo Boss: activate people’s senses and create a more primal instinct of attraction through scent.

•

BMW

•

Givenchy

•

Chanel

•

Nike

•

Porsche

•

Victoria’s Secret

•

Hugo Boss

•

Skin Ceuticals

•

Murad

•

Louis Vuitton

Lingerie category Victoria’s Secret: sensual lingerie for woman, make them look and feel beautiful and sexy.

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

046

Fig. 3c

Aspirational Competitors Aspirational Competitors for Max Factor worth analyzing after the rebranding and repositioning of the brand, would be brands that combine the sense of pure attraction with science and technology behind it (i.e: Tesla).

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

047

•

•

•

Fashion Category Urban Outfitters+Calvin Klein: beautiful expensive clothing that make us feel more elegant and therefore more attractive.

•

Apple

•

Beats

•

Nike

Vehicle Category Tesla: an iconic sleek, black, aesthetically pleasing car design which is also elitist and costly which alludes to status and power but yet is smart, green and ethical, a perfect combination of beauty and science.

•

Urban Outfitters

•

Tesla

•

Dove

•

Calvin Klein

•

Aerie

Product Design Category Apple+Beats: beautifully designed high tech products, which translates to attraction through possession.

•

The North Face

•

Mod Cloth

•

Active Category Nike+The North Face: physical activity and fitness which will improve your physical performance and body image.

•

Innovative Category Mod Cloth+Aerie+Dove: brands that are portraying attraction and the female body in a new unconventional way, which is more natural and real.

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

048

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

049

“We’ve just started to understand that there is communication below the level of consciousness, [...] my guess is that a lot of our communication is influenced by chemosignals.”

—Bettina Pause, Psychologist Scientific American

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

050

Sources

Bettina Pause, Psychologist Scientific American Carolyn Gregoire, Writer The Huffington Post Cathy Holding, Writer New Scientist

Photography: Greg Allikas Marcus Goldhahn Fabian Oefner Agata Serge Jennie Marie Schell Gianna de La Torre Jordi Benitez Hutlon Archive Getty Images

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

051

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

052

Colophon

This book is a non-commercial project for education purposes and is not intended to represent the Max Factor Brand.

All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, recording, photocopying or otherwise, without prior permission of Emilie Garnier

Copyright Š 2016 Emilie Garnier

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor

053

emi.k.garnier@gmail.com www.behance.net/emigarnier Design/ Emilie Garnier Course/ Nature of Identity Instructor/ Hunter Wimmer Academy of Art University

Maxfactor

Visual Strategy Guide

054

Visual Strategy Guide

Maxfactor