After almost 3 years of working on this amazing project with the most amazing ladies I can finally announce that it is finished and an amazing new product has finally launched.
I learned so many invaluable things from the beautiful women who created this product and from my time working on this branding project. I thought I would share a few of those things with you here because a brand is about more than a logo or color palette or even great collateral pieces. A brand is the heart of a company and the heart of this company and of this product is massive.
This project initially started in April of 2014. Almost 3 years later the founders of this product have successfully launched after experiencing so many small business challenges like a mandatory a name change due to trademark issues, lawyer difficulties, a crazy long scientific lab process of perfecting the ingredients, finding the perfect bottle, finding the perfect fulfillment company and the list goes on. And these women never gave up. And they were patient. And they were kind. Throughout the entire process of 1 step forward and 3 steps back they kept the end goal in mind, to provide an amazing product and a seamless customer experience.
Waiting is hard. Delays are hard. Disappointments and frustrations in business are inevitable, but these women showed me what it looks like to handle problems with grace and to push forward to create the best product possible.
I want to be a business owner like that, one that stands for grace and kindness and the best I can offer.
And now, let’s meet the tangible, visible brand elements of this amazing new product: Stranded.
BRANDING INSPIRATION
From this inspiration and our consultations we narrowed down our brand adjectives to the following words:
DESCRIPTIVE BRAND WORDS
- minimal
- feminine
- whimsical
- organic, natural
From there we began the logo creating process. The end result is a custom font used to mimic the organic, natural and whimsical feel of a woman’s handwriting. It feels feminine while still achieving the minimal look we were hoping for. We introduced hints of watercolor for an additional organic, natural element.
BRAND ELEMENTS
CUSTOM ILLUSTRATIONS
We worked with Kari Joy to create these gorgeous illustrations for the brand. Each girl, the blonde, brunette & red-head were give complete personalities and story-lines prior to the creation of these illustrations. And one of my favorite elements of this entire brand were the “Instructions.” See below!
Such a unique, creative and aesthetically pleasing way to present the mandatory “how to use” information. Kari Joy we are so grateful we were able to work with you on this project! Your work is just stunning!
COLLATERAL
The collateral was so much fun to work on! We worked together for months on the perfect bottle (mostly Lauren & Anna working with their fulfillment company but every now and then I got to have a vote ;)) and on the perfect way to package this really great product. The end result is a custom box that fits up to 3 bottles. The box has different branding elements on each side and my favorite is the bottom that says “yes!” as in, “finally, the perfect hair powder to meet all my dry shampoo needs!”
We created two different box insert cards, making sure to include a sweet letter from the owners as well as those perfectly feminine and whimsical directions for how to use. All of the collateral, including the bottle label is printed on a lovely linen paper, bringing in subtle natural texture.
SHOP SITE
And then we created a super minimal, easy to use online shop. Our goal was to make the product be the focus while creating a seamless and effortless shopping experience for the customer. I think you should go take a peek! Visit Stranded: www.thestrandedshop.com
Lauren, Anna & Brittany, working with you on a project of this magnitude was a dream. Working with women with hearts as big as yours was invaluable. Thank you for all that you taught me along the way and for choosing me to work on something so important! Grateful for you all!
