01
Brand Language
The Project This was a group project for which my classmates and I were to create a brand and individually design products for it, taking into consideration the parameters we set up for ourselves in creating the brand language. The brand which we created was to be based on Viktor Schreckengost’s work. The brand was intended to carry on the legacy of Viktor.
01 viktor’s legacy//history
The Legacy of Viktor Schreckengost Every adult in America has ridden in, ridden on, drunk out of, stored their things in, eaten off of, been costumed in, mowed their lawn with, played on, lit the night with, viewed in a museum, cooled their room with, read about, printed with, sat on, placed a call with, enjoyed in a theater, hid their hooch in, collected, been awarded with, seen at a zoo, put their flowers in, hung on their wall, served punch from, delivered milk in, read something printed on, seen at the World’s Fair, detected enemy combatants with, written about, had an arm or leg replaced with, graduated from, protected by, or seen at the White House something created by Viktor Schreckengost. Called an “American da Vinci” by so many that discover him, the breadth and depth of his work is staggering by any measure. A pioneer of modern American industrial design, prolific sculptor, painter, and ceramist, his works are sought by and held in major private and public collections across the United States and around the world. His accomplishments have been recognized through dozens of awards including the National Medal of Arts awarded by the President of the United States, the country’s highest award in the arts. Schreckengost’s crowning achievement was his creation of the first industrial design education program in America in the 1930s. For nearly 70 years, he trained generations of leading industrial designers. The impact on the country’s economy far exceeds $200 billion. His impact on the quality of our lives is immeasurable.
51//Wendy Birchfield
01 competitive landscape Karim Rashid::
Mark Newson::
elite radical in your face sculpture
simple versatile organic sculptural elegant
Crate & Barrel:: D.I.Y feminine domestic perceived luxury traditional
Ikea:: D.I.Y simple universal functional design for the masses
Eames Office:: original pioneers
After researching Viktor’s work and his history, it was necessary to research other brands and decide where we wanted Viktor’s brand to live in relationship to other successful brands on the market. We evaluated and researched all of these brands and decided which of their attributes were appropriate for our brand and how we were going to make it unique.
53//Wendy Birchfield
Martha Stewart:: upscale quality utilitarian crafty
Apple:: clean minimalist soft squares
Dyson:: precision mechanical aesthetic innovative cutting edge
Cost High
Ive
Utility
Low
High
VIKTOR
Low Brand Goals:: //Economy over luxury //High perceived value yet accessible //Innovative but for mass production //High brand width //Balancing form and function with an emphasis on sculptural and emotional aesthetic After establishing these goals for our brand, we were able to place Viktor on a positioning map with the competing brands.
01 the brands essence//concepts
Pragmatic
v i d i u d al n I
e ssive r p x E
Reach es Acc sible
We established the essence of the brand as “reach.” We chose this word because it can be interpreted in alot of
“Every child should have a pedal car and every housewife should have a nice dinnerware set” -Viktor Schreckengost. Reach can indicate this idea of reaching for something new and various ways and encompasses much of what Viktor stood for.
innovative. It can also evoke the idea of reaching many individuals. We chose the adjectives: expressive, pragmatic, accessible, and individual as words to go along with the term reach, i.e. expressive reach, accessible reach, etc.
55//Wendy Birchfield
After the research phase of the process, we began concepting. Within my concepts, I mostly focused on houseware products that related to Viktor’s work aesthetically and conceptually. I also generated some logo design concepts, as well. The logo concepts are abstractions of Viktor’s initials and also reference some of the forms found in his ceramic work.
01 chosen direction//three lines After evaluated the products that my classmates and I were interested in pursuing, we established three different lines for the brand.: kitchen, home decor, and ride-ons. We chose one of the four adjectives to put emphasis on within each line. For instance, a kitchen product should be pragmatic above expressive, accessible and individual., thus, pragmatic is the term we put emphasis on within the kitchen line. We also chose color palettes and a form language that evokes the feeling we wanted our audience to perceive from each line.
The concept I pursued as a final direction is a tea set that is coated in a heat sensitive glaze. When the water inside of the kettle and cups is hot, a graphic appears on the outside of the vessel, indicating to the user when the water is at a good drinking temperature.
57//Wendy Birchfield
Victor Schreckengost Color Swatches
RIDE ON
Kitchen
PRAGMATIC STABLE STRUCTURAL SIMPLE CLEAN NEUTRAL COLORS
Home Decor EXPRESSIVE ORGANIC EMOTIONAL SCULPTURAL WARMER COLORS HOME DECOR
HOME DECOR
KITCHEN
Victor Schreckengost Color Swatches
RIDE ON
HOME DECOR
KITCHEN
Ride-ons INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER ACCESSIBLE SATURATED PLAYFUL UNIQUE FRESH
Victor Schreckengost Color Swatches
RIDE ON
HOME DECOR
KITCHEN
01 final design//function
Tee.
Tee combines the tea kettle and the tea pot. It is sold with a metal dish which sits on the stove, protecting the kettle from high temperature, but still allowing the water to heat. The kettle then functions as the pot when it moves to the serving tray. Tee is the German spelling of tea, thus the name refers back to Viktor’s studies in Vienna.
59//Wendy Birchfield
Cold Tee is coated in a heat reactive glaze. As the water inside heats up, the color on the base of the kettle fades upward as a secondary indicator that the water is hot. The wooden whistle causes the kettle to make a more low-pitched “train -like� sound, rather than a typical high pitched sound.
Hot
01 function//color ways Ready to serve
Time to reheat
The cups are also coated in this heat reactive glaze, indicating to the user when the tea is at the right drinking temperature or when the water needs to be reheated. The lip of the cup is designed in such a way that it is comfortable for the user to drink from all three sides, whether they are righthanded, left-handed, or want to drink from the front of the cup. This form also lends itself nicely to act of pouring which is why the form also functions well for the kettle. 61//Wendy Birchfield
For the final presentation of the brand and all of the lines, each of us created a package for our product and had them on stage as we presented.