Problem
Penny Calvert had fashion retail business Flaiver almost ready to launch, but had no brand or visual identity to communicate it to customers.
Response
Building on the idea of collections of colour, a distinctive logo and visual identity was developed to give the retailer a memorable and identifiable look.
Result
The business has successfully launched online, with the identity garnering specific praise and attention from customers and distributors for being distinctive.
Flaiver is a start-up women’s fashion retailer, launched by managing director Penny Calvert in 2009. Although Calvert has already chosen the name Flaiver as a way of reflecting the different ‘flavours’ of the clothing collections, the business lacked any kind of visual identity. So Calvert approached Paul Cartwright Branding, initially with a view to creating just a logo.
‘In some ways I knew what I wanted – I knew I wanted it to be colourful, for example – but in other ways I wasn’t sure what I was after, so Paul had to be incredibly patient,’ says Calvert. A preliminary conversation covering ‘likes and dislikes’ and ‘positive and negative’ associations of other brands and different visual material eventually led to a creative brief from which three logos were developed, all based on the idea of overlapping colours. A ‘kaleidoscope flower’ motif was eventually chosen and the logo was signed off in a couple of stages, says Cartwright.
‘The final identity looks a bit like a Spirograph pattern and features every colour, tone and shade because they are all overlapping. This gives us a lot to play with as we go on to develop other elements, which is really useful,’ says Calvert.
From this logo, other materials were designed to ensure that all Flaiver’s customer communications are consistent. These include mailing envelopes, tissue paper, swing tickets, woven labels and bags, as well as corporate stationery, such as compliments slips, letterheads and business cards.
‘Because we are a start-up, you have to smack people in the face a bit and stand out from the crowd. I think this identity does that in a very elegant way. And without being asked, people have said that they love the design and concept because it is very distinctive,’ says Calvert.
Organisation type
Online fashion retailer
www.flaiver.com
Graphic design services used
Identity, packaging materials, corporate stationery
Designers
Paul Cartwright Branding www.paulcartwrightbranding.co.uk