Props & Frocks Visual Identity and Website
BBC2's 'Alex Polizzi - The Fixer' sets out to help struggling family firms find a new direction and revitalise their businesses. A key consultant on the show was Karl McKeever from Visual Thinking - a client of ours for more than 14 years. Karl asked us to help create a new identity for this small, family-run fancy dress business when he realised that their previous branding no longer fit in with the company's bold new ambitions!
The Brief
The brief was to create an identity which had real impact and would be flexible in its application, but more importantly it needed to be exciting and carry some of the magic and fun of dressing up. Because the design was needed for the filming schedule, our ideas needed to be presented and then realised quickly - and because we were taking the family firm in directions they hadn't been before - we needed to make sure that our ideas hit the mark first time.
Our Solution
Fortunately, working to fast timescales is a familiar challenge for us, and helping find new directions for clients is what we do. We produced a range of initial concepts, which featured playful, friendly typography and a series of graphical devices which would complement the brand and provide countless opportunities to really make a mark on the store.
Through further refinement, we produced a final logo and devised a bold colour palette. The branding was applied to various items, including signage and promotional items – which all came together to produce a brand identity which had real life and would make the business unmissable!
The client was hugely pleased with the results, but the success of the new look highlighted problems with their existing plans to upgrade their website. Unfortunately, the existing web designers were struggling to live up to Props & Frocks' raised expectations, and with only a few weeks before the show went to air they came to us for a solution.
We therefore designed a new look for the website – independently from the TV production part of the project - but featuring the bold new styling and our now trademark functionality and user-friendly approach.
Karl also also asked us to look at the branding for another company in the series - see our work for Kettleys Furniture
