Brief All brands are built on their values. The personalities that make them tick, but how we interpret these values is changing. Brands are not fixed entities, they are developing organisms that grow by interacting with their customers through events, online platforms and Social Media channels. Brands are much more relaxed about varying their visual identities – think about Google’s pop-up logos. They are not looking for a consistent monotone, but a theme with engaging variations; not a slogan, but a story; not a message, but a pattern; not a set formula, but constant experimentation. ByALEX is a new British lifestyle brand. Since launching in 2011, its furniture products have been sold at John Lewis in the Uk and through Kate Spade Saturday in Japan and the US. Later this year ByALEX will be exhibiting at a leading Interior Design fair to launch new products and to build awareness of the company. The core brand elements have already been created: registered tradmark and a typographic look. The aim of this workshop is to emmerse yourself in the values, then interpret them to design the exhibition stand, supporting display graphics, giveaway bags and a digital platform to promote the event. The ByALEX values are Purity and Playfulness. The best outcomes will be imaginative illustrations of these themes.
Company Values Purity
Playfulness
Brand Case Study: Absolut Looking into existing brands enabled me to get a better sense of how brand values can be built upon. Absolut Vodka - Brand value: Purity - Purity of the filtered ethanol. - Example of an ever-evolving brand identity. - Playfulness within their advertising. - Invite artists, designers and the public to participate in projects. - Consistant logo and instantly recognisable bottle shape. A Vision of Purity Simon Schubert (2011) no ink or paint, 100% shadows and light. below
Dan Tobin Smith & Riton (2009) Glass, fluid I was in shock when I stumbled upon this as it was an exact representation of an initial idea of mine. below Paul Graves (2010) Mirrors, lights, photography. bottom Other brands I looked at included Evian, Sony and Alessi.
Alessi
Competitors Conran
Habitat
Haye
Muji
Muuto
Initial Thoughts & Ideas Group Brainstorm
Scientific filtration experiments
contrasting colour and furniture Projecttion/Poster idea using only logo
Anti gravity, everything on ceiling ‘The Twits’
Nature within Design
I wanted to incorporate the idea of nature into my outcome in some way so looked into how nature had already been used within design. There are theories dating back hundreds of years that aim to show how the patterns in nature relate to design techniques and they still get used in contemporary design. Architecture showed a strong influence for example the Bird’s Nest Stadium, Beijing. I became interested in the juxtaposition created when putting man made and nature next to one another, which can be seen clearly at the Guggenheim Bilbau and The Eden Project.
Purification within Nature From my initial ideas and research I wanted to focus in on the filtration and purification processes within nature which led me onto photosynthesis, the process plants use to produce their food and respire using light and co2. A vegetation takes in Carbon Dioxide and gives out Oxygen it has a slow purifying effect on the atmosphere surrounding us, providing us with clean air to breathe. Plants are also able to clean the soil that surrounds them through absorption of the dangerous chemicals that have entered it and their ability to transform them into less harmful ones.
Though this efficiency they are able to completely fend for themselves when it comes to breathing, feeding and generally staying alive. Rife in swamp as it is left to as hey is so much biodiversity, fits in with the odea of purity being unadultereated and unchnged but maybe not into other connitations of the word purity This led me to want to design an exhibition area where people can enter and actually breathe cleaner air which would mean creating a swamp like environment but that looked as if it had grown out of an abandoned bedroom. It would hopefully be an experience that they remember when they leave.
Dinkies
In a world of suffocation... The audience that ByAlex primarily target is what they consider DINK-IES Double Income No Kids 25-55 Moved to city Own home Disposable income High Achievers It is possible that these people have - high levels of stress - polluted air from living in a city - little vegetation in surrounding areas In a busy world the ByAlex furniture provides a form of simplicity. The stool is a clean design for a chair having been filtered down to the bare minimum. Amongst all the different furniture designs on the market, the ByAlex furniture is what it is, it needs nothing more and nothing less.
...We need something that will make it easier to breathe.
Outcome The idea for the exhibiton came from the desire to bring the filtration processes from nature into the home and living space. The aim is to have real growing moss in the exhibit so that the purification of the air surrounding it is actually happening as the visitors come and go. Within the whole show it would create a calm green area in an otherwise bustling environment. The transition from nature to living space is represented by the fact the moss and foliage is growing onto and around the furniture itself, also combining natural and man made elements of the exhibit. The greenery on the furniture is a way of representing the purification of the interior in which it is placed because it brings an element of simplicity into a place there may not have been before. A persons surroundings absorb and dilute the stresses caused in everyday life and these stresses on the mind and body are only made worse by mess and disorganisation.
By having this clean simple furniture around it would begin to alleviate some stresses that have arisen by the time they get home as they have not got the added chaos created by complicated items of furniture. Having the furniture my trigger the purification and filtration of ones life as they may invest in more items and throw old ones away. And it is this out with the old/bad/ stress and in with the new/good/simplicity notion that draws a parallel between the extraction of harmful chemicals that occurs within plants. There are also hidden health benefits when one comes into contact wth nature. So basically the message I am trying to put across is FILTER YOUR LIFE. That way you don’t have to deal with added pressure of living in a cluttered, chaotic environment and instead transfrom it into a sactuary of sorts that actually helps to alleviate the stresses that have built throughout the day.
Outcome & Feedback I wanted to keep the paraphernalia for the exhibition show very clean and simple, in keeping with the furniture itself, uncontaminated and nothing added, so no ink. My inspiration for this came from the work Simon Schubert did for Albsolut where he created imagery by using only folds in paper. Along this same theme I decided to emboss an example poster. As one of the aims was to create an evolving brand identity I decided that this poster would be consistant enough for customers to recognise the brand but could be customised in a way that reflected the current theme in place at the different shows and events.
The feedback I recieved after pitching this idea was mainly positive but it raised some important questions, the main one being
‘Does moss growing on furniture illustrate purity? Does it make it look like it needs to be cleaned?’ I could see completely what the concerns with my outcome were. At first glance it looks as if I have just covered furniture in moss to make it look all naturey and green. Without prior knowledge the concept behind the stand does not achieve the desired effect. The feedback about the poster however was very encouraging and it was suggested that I look further into this idea.
Under the Microscope After realising that I had inadvertantly made my outcome a bit too cliche and green I needed to find a more effective way of showcasing the furniture. I felt like the concepts and ideas behind my outcome were strong but they weren’t quite there yet so I took a couple of steps back. I took a deeper look into photosynthesis and where within the plants the processes actually occur. I found lots of imagery within scientific books and journals and found the magnified images of plant cells intriguing.
They were so precise and delicate yet random at the same time. I saw the potential to use these patterns as stencils to emboss for poster designs. I chose to based my designs on the leaf cell patterns and also Xylem and Phloem patterns within Pine and Birch as that is the material the furniture is made from. So I am also making a subtle reference to the start point from which the materials have begun their journey.
Final Outcome For my revised outcome, I’ve kept it simple by having just a plain white space for the furniture to be displayed within. The back wall has been embossed with the stencil of the stool and the pieces of furniture will be set out along the front. I still need to somehow project the filtering quality of plants on to the living space so decided to have roaming projections of colourful magnified plant cells which will roll all over the white set, white furniture and people who decide to explore the space.
Final Outcome
Lighting Without the evolution of moss growing onto the furniture I neede to find another way of showing the transiton between nature and the living space and the people. I still wanted to keep the uncontaminated theme so was reluctant to use ink of any sort. The idea of using projections had played on my mind before but now I had the opportunity to include it.
Exhibition Designs By researching existing exhibiton display designs I was able to open my mind to range of possibilities in which an open space could be used and manipulated. There is so much scope for materials and colours and layout, and even though there are obviously going to be limitations as to what can be achieved, we have not been given specific ones to consider and have been encouraged to be as creative as we like.