Rare Book
Table of Contents Research 1.0
Introduction 1.1 Abstract 1.2 Target Demographic 1.3
Creative Development 2.0
Strength 2.1 Brand 2.2 Research 2.3 Mood Board 2.4 Development 2.5
Style Guide 3.0
Logo 3.1 Typography 3.2 Colors 3.3 Imagery 3.4
Final Designs 4.0
Website 4.1 Social Media 4.2
Research 1.0
Introduction 1.1 Abstract 1.2 Target Demographic 1.3
Introduction 1.1
Rare Design is a unique surfer style clothing company that focuses on nature. Rare Designs main competitors are companies such as Ron Jon Surf Shop, Cocoa Beach Surf Company, and Roxy. Although these competitors also crate surfer clothing, what differentiates Rare Design is the high level of artistic design that goes into the clothing, its intimacy being a smaller company, and how they truly care about the environment by helping with the preservation of beaches, and marine wildlife by using 100% organic materials and dyes, and by donating a portion of sales to the Save the Sea Turtles Organization.
History
Rare Design was inspired by Mary Lee on one of her trips to Cocoa Beach, Florida. Driving on the high way that lead to the beach she noticed billboard after Billboard for Ron Jon Surf Shop. They where placed at least one mile apart from each other for miles, and miles. There must have been hundreds of billboards marking how many miles away Ron Jon Surf Shop was. After driving for almost two hours, and seeing so many billboards from Ron Jon, she had to see what all the fuss was about. Mary was wowed by the Ron Jon Surf Shop building. It was an impressive three stories high, and it had sand sculptures of surfers on waves in actual size decorating the store front. There was also beautiful Art Deco architecture reminiscent of that of Miami Beach, Florida with the use of bold rounded heavy, moldings.
Disappointed Mary left Ron Jon, and as she stepped out the side exit, she noticed an even bigger store next door called Cocoa Beach Surf Company. Filled with new hope, she quickly went in expecting to find tons of cool products to see. She desperately wanted to buy shop something special to mark her trip to Cocoa Beach. Unfortunately that store was just as bad, if not worse than Ron Jon. It almost as if Cocoa Beach Surf Company was just an extension of Ron Jon. All she found was cheesy tourist souvenirs such as beach towels with alligators on them, and t-shirts with Florida written on them.
On the way home Mary was inspired to create her own surfer ideal surfer store. She put her artistic skills to good use and created Rare Design. Mary knew that quality is better than quantity, and Rare Design was going to be Mary was excited anticipating a thrilling shopping just that. She created an intimate store with people who Experience, but once inside was very let down when all cared about giving an extraordinary experience for she saw was boring clothing, and swim suits that were Shoppers. Rare Design would not only be beach clothugly, and overpriced. She felt that she could get better ing, but go one step further by doing what they can for merchandise at her neighborhood mall, and to top it off preserving beaches for future generations. She wanted the customer service was just as terrible. Ron Jon to help local artisans by selling handmade clothing. Rare Employees seemed disconnected with their customers, Design was everything that people expected from comand where more concerned with what time their shift was petitors, but that the competitors where not able to deliver. over, then with helping customers. There where many employees working that day, but not one of them cared.
Abstract 1.2 Rare Design is a Surfer Style clothing company. What sets Rare Design apart from its competitors is that Rare Design focuses on quality instead of quantity, and value making sure customers get an extraordinary shopping experience. Rare Design strives in finding unique products made by hand by local artist. Rare Design also goes one step further by doing what it can to help Mother Nature, and preserve beaches, and marine wildlife. One of the ways Rare Design does this is by using organic materials and dyes, donating a portion of sales to the Save the Sea Organization, and by bringing awareness to people by educating them on how they can live in harmony with nature. Problems in the economy caused small budding companies such as Rare Design they had to close their doors before they even had a chance to truly grow. Enviornmental problems continue, and people need more awarness, and probrams to help the enviornment. Rare Design needs a to make a comeback with a revialization campaign. The revitalization campagin for Rare Design needs to start by concentrating on creating a new and improved website where people all over the world can look through products, and make purchases, a video that shows how Rare Design does its share to help improve the envirnment, and finally a new marketing campaign that uses a wide range of media, such as guerilla markeign, and social media. These are the steps that will make Rare Design come alive again.
Objective Rare Design was a good idea, that was going to benefit not only people, but the world, but unfortunately the economy did not give Rare Design a fair chance. My proposal is to bring back Rare Design, and instead on depending on brick and mortar type of business that in todays economy is very risky, to create a new revitalized ad campaign complete with a new website, video, and marketing campaign.
Target Demographics 1.3 Rare Design is aimed at 20 to 35 year old women, who are artistic, and love the beach. These women are educated, and are either working toward a career, or have careers. These women have a variety of body shapes, some because they have had children. Women who buy Rare Design also are the type to recycle, and want to make a difference in the world.
User Persona: Hi, I’m Lori
Age: 29 Education: Bachelors Profession: Graphic Designer Income: $30,000 Hi, I’m Lori. I was born and raised in Orlando, Florida. I am the mother of a 5 year old boy named Joey. Now that I am turning 30 it is really important for me to find clothing that is tasteful, yet fun. I care about the environment, I am a vegetarian, and I drive an electric car because I want to do my part so my son can enjoy the world as much as I have. I listen to a wide range of music such as Classic Rock, Hip Hop, to Classical Music. On my spare time I like to pack up the car, and go to Cocoa Beach to do some surfing with my son.
SWOT Strengths:
Opportunities:
Weakness:
Threats:
Affordable Artistic Environmental Friendly
Low Budget Cannot be mass produced Low Availability of Materials
Help Improve Beaches. Working Together Improve Economy. Support Local Artists
Competition Copying. Running out of Financial Support. Low Local Support.
Creative Development 2.0
Mood Board 2.1 Logo Development 2.2 Competitive Survey 2.3
Mood Boards 2.1 There were many ideas being played with when creating the Mood Board for Rare Design. The first Mood Board was inspired by 70’s vintage, and looked like the page of an old scrapbook made on a summer vacation to the shore. Current trends show an interest in vintage fashion, and “where vintage shopping started as a necessity because of economic reasons, in the 1990’s there has been an aesthetic shift that helped rid thrift stores and flea markets of their stigma, thus becoming an acceptable source of fashion” (Delong, Heinemann, & Reiley, 2005). To reinforce the natural theme real flowers, feathers, and bugs were scanned on a flatbed scanner. The hand in the center represents how by helping people can fix damages done to the environment, and can live in harmony with nature.
The second Mood Board was made with the fun, and bright Harajuku style of clothing in mind. These bright colors associated easily with summer, and going to the beach to surf. Harajuku is Japanese for “rebel” and is a style where women dress like bright Goths, dolls, or Imitations of their favorite band. The rebellious nature of this style Translates with surfer style, and is a unique approach for surfer style.
The final Mood Board focused on nature. Pictures were taken of different natural textures such as wood, stone, flowers, and sand. There are no straight lines in nature, and imperfection is what makes it beautiful, so instead of compiling the images by cutting them out with scissors, using a ripping technique was more suitable, and gave the mood board a raw look that complemented the raw elements.
The font used in the mood board is by graphic designer Stella Björg called Holt, and it is named after a place called Uglyholt. Like other elements on the mood board the font is inspired by nature, and “in the letters you can find the animals and plants that live at Ugluholt. Representing the letter A isauðnutittlingur (common redpull), býflugur and bláber (bees and blueberries) decorate the B, Corvus Corax (common raven) is in the C, and so on throughout the alphabet (Björg, 2011).
Logo Development 2.2
When it comes to designing a logo for Rare Design, being able to go head to head with the logos of competing companies is one of the most important aspects to keep in mind. Other elements to keep in mind, that a designer should know to make a logo great is weather or not it is appropriate, because at the end “any logo you design must be appropriate for the business it identifies� (Airey, 2010). Because of this it is important for Rare’s logo to feel natural, and have elements that remind the viewer of the beach which includes water, and sand.
As the logos developed, and sketches where drawn out, the natural movement of wanter was kept in mind. Since Rare Design is a surfer style clothing company, a wave crashing over the “R” seemed dynamic, and more than appropriate. The sketches evolved, keeping the logo simple, and just using the “R”, with a really distinct wave started was the strongest design. Eventually the wave was became the “D” to include the “Design” in Rare Design. The final design colors encased in a slanted ellipse evokes the vision of a Ying-Yang. This was further enhanced with the ideal logo color palette of water meets sand.
Competitive Survey 2.3
Ron Jon:
Cocoa Beach Surf Company:
Roxy:
Out of all the logos the one for Ron Jon Surf Shop is the most iconic when it comes to surfer style fashion. “Founded in 1959 on the New Jersey shore when a bright young man named Ron DiMenna was just discovering the sport of surfing” it is amazing how it has become the famous surfing mecca that it is today (www.ronjon. com).
It is obvious that Cocoa Beach Surf Company took note from the Ron Jon. Not only do both companies focus on beach style clothing , but at Cocoa Beach, Florida they are located right next to each other.
The Roxy logo’s relevancy of the design makes it stand out. It is obvious how the Roxy logo was created by combining mirror images of the Quiksilver logo to create a heart. Since its creation in 1990, “Roxy has grown to be a large high-end apparel company for young women” (roxy. com).
David Airely describes an iconic design as one that “onlookers will remember after just one quick glance”, and when tourist are driving on 528 East to Cocoa Beach, Florida the multitude of billboards on the way make needing an iconic logo necessary. What makes this logo memorable is the Chinese style typography in the “Ron Jon”, and the red color which makes it pop.
Created by Bob Baugher in 1997 when he parted ways from the Ron Jon company, “he combines experience in the tourism industry” to create the company we know today. The colors used are very basic, and the large plains of red, blue, and yellow, combined with the bold block lettering make it simple and easy to remember. “Simplicity helps people remember your design. Consider how our minds work, and how it’s much easier to remember a single detail” such as the yellow “beach dude” holding a surf board (Airey, 2010).
Airey says that “any logo you design must be appropriate for the business it identifies” and being a beach style-clothing brand, the Quicksilver logo with its curling wave design makes it appropriate.
Style Guide 3.0 Logo 3.1 Typography 3.2 Colors 3.3 Imagery 3.4
Logo Usage 3.1
There are many aspects that where taken into account for the creation of the Rare Design logo. One of the major aspects was the popularity of the logos of competing companies such as Ron Jon Surf Shop and Cocoa Beach Surf Company. These logos are easily recognizable, and are popularly created into stickers
that are used to on cars, walls, stop signs, and other surfaces to. This type of vandalism could be useful to promote the brand, and to show how Rare Design is a different type of clothing company, one that is rebellious. Because of this is was very important in the designing process for the logo to be easily transferable into a sticker format.
The next major important aspect in the design of the logo was for it to represent the company. Rare Design is a surfer style clothing company, and because of this it is important to represent elements of the beach. After many designs, the one that stood out the most was the one where the Rare Design “R” was being crashed over by a wave.
After further development, the wave was able to be converted into the “D” for Design. In the ideal logo version with full color the wave is colored blue, and the “R” is colored sand to almost represent a Yin-Yang of the sand meeting the water.
The last consideration taken into account was for the logo to be easily re-sizable. Weather the logo was going to be silk screened on to the back of an XXL T-shirt, or embroider the size of a dime to a shirt similar to Ralf Lauren’s Polo logo, the Rare Design logo had to be easily visible to these sizes.
Logo Proportions The Rare Design logo was made with the beach in mind. The Logo was created inside an ellipse, and slanted at a 60 degree angle. The logo has an equal balance of positive and negative space, which helps when the logo is converted into other colors. The logo can also be sized into a wide variety of sizes, and still be easily recognizable.
Typography 3.2
The typography for Rare Design is simple and to the point. Fonts such as Arial, and Arial Bold can be used on the project at hand. Other Typoprapjy such as New Times Roman, Scripts, and Blackout are also not to be used with any projects that will be charged for Rare Design.
Color 3.3
Colors for Rare Design are inspired by nautre. Deep green, sap green, and greys are throught the image. The second Mood Board is just as beautiful. In that Mood Board you will find dark greens, and sap greens to look lke elegant. The second Mood Board is focused on the different colors of trees.
Imagery 3.4
Much like the color palette, the images are inspired by nautre. Pictures of grass, wood, and beach stand help with identify with yoru brand. Depending on the season, imagery can be changed to better suit the company.
Final Design 4.0 Motion Media 4.1 Advertising 4.2 Video 4.3
Motion Media 4.1
Just like in ancient times, where all roads lead to Rome, all the Social Media created for Rare Design has to lead to some type of Electronic Media. In the case for Rare Design the most important Electronic Media is the company website where customers can browse thorough all the clothing, and make purchases. “ Image and perception help drive value; without an image there is no perception”, and in order to achieve success it is important for the Rare Designs website to reflect their company tenants which are caring, artistic, and unique (Wheeler, 2009). With careful attention to design, and artistic elements Rare Design can have the website it needs to promote its clothing. “Today, every phone has a mobile app store that allows total beginners to download, install, and remove apps”, and this is why it is important for Rare Design to have a functional mobile app for people to use (www.geek.com). Not only would the website be important to have available as an application, but a game, or a real time view of the beach would also be beneficial to enticing potential customers.
Web Site
Advertising 4.2 As funding becomes available, advertisements such as billboards, bus stop benches, and postcards can be created. For these types of advertising all design guidelines must be followed to remind the target market the values of behind Rare Design. Not only will these advertisements promote the brand, but it will display the difference within the brand.
Guerrilla Marketing Rare Designs competitor Ron Jon Surf Shop chooses expensive marketing tactics to promote their brand. An example of this can be seen in with billboard advertising lining major highways leading to Cocoa Beach, FL . Billboards are placed every one to three miles leading the way. Repetitive marketing such as this makes the viewer want to give in, and go to Ron Jon just to see what all the fuss is about. When it comes to advertising people are “so overwhelmed with advertising everywhere that it becomes hard for creative agencies to make ads that stand out. Guerrilla Marketing is a great way to make unusual, surrealistic visuals and situations that passers by will remember�, and it does not necessarily have to be expensive (Designers Daily, 2011).
Video 4.3 The video Caine’s Arcade is a good example of the power of video. With this in mind Rare Design needs a video that people can watch to help them understand what makes Rare Design unique and important. In the video Rare Design can show how their company makes the clothing is created, how they choose their fabrics, and how they make sure that everything they do coincides with their values. Music for Rare Design should be just as caring as the company itself. “As competition creates infinite choices, companies look for ways to connect emotionally with customers, become irreplaceable, and create lifelong relationships. A strong brand stands out in a densely crowded marketplace. People fall in love with brands, trust them, and believe in their superiority. How a brand is perceived affects its success, regardless of whether it’s a start-up, a nonprofit, or a product” and the music should reflect these values also (Wheeler, 2009). An Example of music that reflect these values is the caustic version of May December by Mos Def. The link of this song can be found in this link http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=cyKvD3pqawQ. This song is spiritual, and is about Mother Nature, and the natural phases of the changing seasons. Its laid back melodic approach reflects the mood for Rare Design.
Video Story Board
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