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SASSY Volume Two: The Visual Development Guide
rebranding sassy
volume 2: the visual development guide
“In actuality, women are complicated, women are multifaceted— not because women are crazy, but because people are crazy, and women happen to be people. The flaws are the key.” —Tavi Gevinson, Rookie editor-in-chief
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In this Issue 1
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Retro Sassy
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Signature Sassy
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Sassy Solutions
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Heart & Soul Fearless Empowering Multifaceted Sussing Out Solutions 3
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Every Side of Sassy
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Unique, Just Like Everyone Else Geometric and Feminine Colophon
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RETRO SASSY
REFLECTING ON LATE 80s AND 90s MAGAZINE DESIGN AND BRANDING 9
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SIGNATURE SASSY An American teen magazine aimed at young female fans of alternative and indie rock music, Sassy was a force to be reckoned with from the very beginning.
This design lasted only fourteen months before the magazine was sold. This would prove to be the beginning of the end for the magazine. The New York office was shut down in November 1994 and the magazine went on a three-month hiatus while a crosscountry move (and a full overhaul) occurred.
The magazine was founded in 1988 by Australian feminist Sandra Yates and run by twenty-four-year-old editor-in-chief Jane Pratt. While other teen magazines strayed away from taboo subjects like STDs and suicide, Sassy embraced it all with a feminist-minded tone. Pre-internet, it was one of the few resources teen girls (and boys) had to frank and factual discourse on political, social, emotional, and sexual health issues.
In March 1995, the magazine re-emerged, completely mainstreamed and unecognizable; loyal readers referred to it as “Stepford Sassy”. The logo was reworked three times post-sale, a reflection of the flailing and confused nature of a publication which had once been so self-assured and effortlessly cool.
Sassy looked as different as it sounded. While other teen magazines were unsophisticated and mostly black-and-white, Sassy was extra-wide and full-color from front to back. Art Director Cheryl Collins, who had worked on Sassy’s Australian precursor Dolly, came up with the now-iconic brushed-ink logo because she wanted something hand-drawn and not too fussy. The original logo lasted five-and-a-half years before an unsuccessful redesign in September 1993 by Collins. The result was an uninspired, smoothed-out version of the original script, held within an oval shield on boring white-backgrounded covers. 10
retro sassy
MAR 1988 – AUG 1993
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retro sassy
MAR 1995 – JUL 1995
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retro sassy
MAY 1996 – DEC 1996
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“Create your own style…Let it be unique for yourself, and yet identifiable for others.” —Anna Wintour, Vogue editor-in-chief
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SASSY SOLUTIONS EXPLORING POTENTIAL DESIGN DIRECTIONS FOR THE BRAND 19
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HEART & SOUL Sassy’s mission is to create a space for every teenage girl to think, speak, and act for herself. With that idea at the heart of the brand, the next step was to distill Sassy and discover its soul. After considering a long list of words and sentiments that best describe the essence of Sassy, the three most viable directions were:
“You are in control of your life” “A community of support” multifaceted “More than just a pretty face” fearless
empowering
With the words set in place, the search for the perfect icon and accompanying graphics began. What follows are multiple brainstorming sessions, made visual. Think of it as design stream-of-consciousness. Every possible connection and crazy idea was pursued and drawn out. And drawn again. And then looked at from another angle and drawn a few more times. 20
feminist one voice up and sp your life shine spre breaking s just a pret authentic traditiona back insp wins emp confidenc free siste smart atti communi leader con solidarity out you ar
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powerful leader confident value o e fearless solidarity support speak peaking out you are in control of powerful empowering let your ligh ead your wings the world is yours stereotypes the 3D woman more th tty face real women multifaceted city brains, beauty, brawn redefinin al community of support i have you piring each other celebrating wome powering modern feminism givin ce giving girls a voice setting girls rs support each other gamechange itude outspoken brave inspirationa ity find your tribe feminist powerf nfident value of one voice fearless support speaking up and speaking re in control of your life powerful 21
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FEARLESS
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FEARLESS
You are in Control of your Life
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A Sassy girl is self-assured and confident in her abilities. Many natural elements embody fearlessness. Lions and wild cats have been associated with this trait and featured in heraldry. Fire and sparks evoke a sense of persistence and burning even in the most difficult conditions. Triangles were extrapolated from that idea, as it is the chemical symbol of heat and change. Compasses call to mind adventurers, those who bravely explore the unknown.
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FEARLESS
You are in Control of your Life
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EMPOWERING
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EMPOWERING
A Community of Support
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A Sassy girl is both empowering to her peers and empowered by them. She seeks a community of support, a sisterhood of likeminded indivduals who lift each other up and celebrate each other’s wins. Empowerment brings to mind heroes like Supergirl and Wonder Woman. Silhouettes of strong women and feminist symbols were explored. Shields call to mind protection that a group can provide. Links and connections represent community.
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EMPOWERING
A Community of Support
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MULTIFACETED
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MULTIFACETED
More than just a Pretty Face
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A Sassy girl is well-rounded and more than one thing at once. She takes pride in her quirks and acknowledges the intersectionality at play in every person’s life. Diamonds, which are incredibly strong, become more beautiful the more facets that are cut into them and are, after all, just dirt under pressure. Prisms, stained glass, kaleidoscopes, briolettes, mirrors, and geodes are all derivatives of the diamond concept. The flexibility of the term “multifaceted� led to more than double the number of solutions as the first two directions and became the obvious winner.
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MULTIFACETED
More than just a Pretty Face
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MULTIFACETED
More than just a Pretty Face
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MULTIFACETED
More than just a Pretty Face
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SUSSING OUT SOLUTIONS While a Sassy girl may be complicated, the path to a visual solution that would best suit her was not. From the get-go, it was clear by sheer volume and variety that the multifaceted aspect of the brand’s soul was the most viable. What follows are refinements of various options within the idea of “multifaceted”. There is a focus on geometric shapes, particularly triangles, and ranges from the very literal drawings of diamond logos to the more abstract. Finding a way to incorporate the letter S was a natural progression.
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EVERY SIDE OF SASSY
LOOK-A-LIKE LOGO STUDIES AND FINAL REFINEMENTS 47
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Heap Analytics
Video IQ
Volcom
A digital analytics company that tracks users interactions on websites and in iOS apps.
A defunt video surveillance analyticcs developer acquired by Avigilon in 2013.
A lifestyle brand that designs, markets, and distributes boardsports-oriented products to young men and women.
Look-alike Brands
Heap Analytics
Video IQ
While none of these brands are directly competing with A defunt video surveillance A digital analytics company mytracks concept for Sassy, their vi- analyticcs developer acthat users interacsual language definitely could. tions on websites and in iOS quired by Avigilon in 2013. There is a focus on anything apps. diamond-like, geometric, triangular, and sunbursts.
Carnyx Communications Volcom A Marketing CommunicaA lifestyle brand that detions firm located in Toronsigns, markets, and distribto, Canada. utes boardsports-oriented products to young men and women.
Arconic
Central Institute of Tech.
Thames Jubilee Pageant
A manufacturing company that turns metals into engineered products for various sectors.
An trade school in Perth Australia.
A 2012 boat parade on the River Thames in London as part of the celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
UNIQUE, JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE
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Some say that no idea is completely original, since every new idea stems from an old one. And then there Central Institute of Tech. Arconic is the phenomenon of multiple discovery, where two An trade manufacturingcome company or more peopleAindependently up with the same school in Perth Australia. that turns metals into engiidea at the same time. neered products for various In corporate marketing, sectors. creating a unique logo is key to distinguishing a brand. But the likelihood that a logo is truly unique is slim to none. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so important to find as many look-alikes as possible at this stage. Knowing connections that an audience might make when see a logo is important because there < 14they > is still time to useWhile type, none color,ofand other style treatments these brands directly to set it apart fromare the rest. competing with
Look-alike Brands my concept for Sassy, their visual language definitely could. There is a focus on anything diamond-like, geometric, triangular, and sunbursts.
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Logo Options Drawn from the idea of Sassy girls being, at their core, incredibly mutifaceted, these logo options are influenced, by the visual imagery of crystals, diamonds, stained glass, and geometric shapes. The ideas of “Broken, but OK” and “Diamond in the Rough” is what I was striving to achieve.
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go ogo Options Options
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GEOMETRIC AND FEMININE With look-alikes fully explored and logo options winnowed to the above five digital versions, the best option ended up being the most straight-forward. The idea of prisms and diamonds remains, but in a softer way that echoes the contradictions and polarities that live inside every Sassy girl. She is made of many different parts, but remains balanced. The final logo combines equilateral triangles, and the S monogram, all with a touch of feminine roundness. Introducing the new Sassy.
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“We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead.” —Beyoncé
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COLOPHON Š 2016 Jazmine Diaz jazmine.diaz@gmail.com www.jazminediaz.com This book is a non-commercial project for educational purposes and is not intended to represent the Sassy brand. Academy of Art University Nature of Identity professor Hunter Wimmer design Jazmine Diaz photography Petra Collins, Bailey Kopp, Rob Nycity, Isabella Bubola, Deirdre Malfatto, Nick Dinatale school course
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 Jazmine Diaz.