Merci boards re

The Brief Merci is a store bringing together the best of the world of fashion, of design, of household goods with welcome refreshment areas in the heart of the historic district of Haut-Marais, Paris. Merci is a commercial enterprise "like the others" founded by shareholders "not like the others". Merci's aim is to bring together, under one roof, products and customers who traditionally have not had the chance to meet. Small budgets, or large projects: there's something for everyone at MERCI. Merci calls this approach "The One and The Other".

Create three pieces of promotional material for the store Merci.

Initial Research I looked at the stores ethic and style by reading through there website. There was little branding applied but I managed to find a few of there already printed pieces of material. I also looked at it's location to get a feeling for the store atmosphere and surroundings. On the website it states its in the historic quarter with a special energy and very much a creative area (Key words: the district echoes Merci spirit, eclectic and open). Then using airbnb I looked up that district as an area to visit.

It seems like it has quite a lot of vintage charm still but with new modern function. There seems to be lots of creative outputs such as concept stores in the shape of fashion and restaurants as well as galleries.

Strategy Statement Using 'The Advertising Concept Book' by Thames & Hudson, that I looked at to help me with the campaign areas of my briefs, I created this strategy statement. The book helped me approach this brief with the right questions as the brand has already been created therefore I had to approach it as a client asking for a promotion concept.

The Brand I wanted the concept to work alongside the name of the brand. The name means ‘thank you’ in English therefore I defined the phrase. On the website they use the word merci to thank different things but one was ‘to life’. This I felt would be a good approach to target the audience as it is the brand ethos.

Initial Ideas I had seen this map previously as wrapping paper and it inspired my designing because it's not only appropriate style to the store but also relevant because the store is in the heart of Paris. I then incorporated this map into the designs for the promotional material as a way to show the location of the store. I then chose three pieces of promotion which would of be appropriate: mail-out, look-book and handout.

I then followed my initial sketches altering them slightly as I found that the type over the map wasn't very legible. I tried to incorporate speech marks into the design as it was the voice of the company. I also tried a location icon to represent the physical point on the map where the store was located. I realised I was kind of going in circles and although it worked better and solved other problems, it wasn't really achieving anything. It was at this point that I realised I’d rushed into digitally designing and hadn't really thought through my ideas yet. I hadn't created a concept in which to work on and because of this it was confused and unfocused in a direction and purpose.

Redirection Therefore I went back to the drawing board and evaluated what the store was from the strategy statement I had made and what the word 'merci' meant and what it meant to the brand. I needed to focus down my idea into a direct concept. I did this by looking at the store interior, its products, the surrounding area, Paris the city and design. From this I decided to go with the statement of 'merci to life' but expand upon this and make it a concept. The word merci would go before everything such as merci to designers names or merci for coming etc. Simple yet I think it can work very effectively with the store attitude and style.

I then developed this idea and came up for a purpose of the promotion. I wanted to show how the concept could work across different promotional aspects of the store rather then 3 promotional formats for one objective. The three aspects I’ve chosen to promote are the exhibitions and event held throughout the year, hows there’s something for everyone and the designers. These then I chose the best format for each which are a mail out invite, postcard/handout and a look-book.

Design Development After redirecting this brief so it was more focused and functional I started to develop my new designs. I wanted the logo 'merci' to work as the concept and have phrases following. Therefore I attempted numerous ways of doing this. Ideally I wanted to use there serif typeface with there sans serif logo to in keep with there branding. I was finding it hard to create a good balance between the two and for it to have a flow from the logo to the phrase. I felt the best way to achieve this was to place it underneath as when alongside each other it didn't look right.

Sourced Material I sourced information and images from there website. They are photography based rather than illustration so I maintained this style of visual throughout the promotional material. I did all designs in both English and French as although the store is based in Paris it is also international online.

Design Decisions I sourced inspiration at look-books and editorial design for my look-book as I wanted it to reflect the really trendy and stylish aspect of the brand. I wanted it to be really clean and simple with the emphasise being on the photography. To give the brand a voice I selected small phrases from the website as it was important to give the brand a tone of voice for audience as they are very personal and open on ethic.

Imagery I went through all there images online and selected key aspects of the home-ware range to create sections in the look-book across the different rooms.

Final Resolution I printed on a textured card stock as I wanted to incorporate there rustic,earthy, homely yet quirky edge. I felt this different kind of stock would stand out and be appropriate for there brand as they experiment with different materials and textures in there products. I didn’t want to over do the concept so I kept it simple and just applied to the three different avenues to demonstrate how it can be applied to different aspects of the store services.

This brief taught to work with a brand already established and not one that I have created. This created new challenges for me to overcome. Due to the distance of the store it was also impossible to see the brand for myself and experience so it meant I had to explore alternative avenues to understand the brand and get a feel for it’s environment.