honest by: a process booklet

Introduction

Research

Word Mapping

Mood Board

Sketches

Idea 1

Color Exploration

Removing The Box

Final Logo

Logo Applications

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Idea 2

Chosen Concept

Visual Language

Chosen Form

Form Refinement

Type Exploration

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Honest By is one of the first clothing companies that is 100% honest about who, what, where, and how their clothes are made.

All materials that are used are organic, and Honest by does not use fur or leather; instead, they use silk and wool that is recycled.

This is my take on Honest By’s branding and identity system, and this book explains my design process in designing for the modern fashion brand.

The challenge was to re–brand Honest by, a clothing company devoted to quality, and honest manufacturing. Honest by is a high– end clothing line, so the logo needs to reflect the core mission of the company, while remaining elegant and modern.

no. 7This is an example from a previous ad campaign. The brand is definitely high fashion.

While the current logo is clean, simple, and chic, it does not do the company justice. Aside from the word “honest,” it does not visually convey the brand to its fullest potential. The logo is typically seen in black without a box around it.

Before sketching and developing ideas, I did some research on Honest By’s current logo and branding system.

Based on observation, the brand currently utilizes a limited color palette in their clothing and in their branding. However, they are not afraid to use color when appropriate.

no. 8 Bruno Pieters; Founder of Honest By. Pieters is based in Belgium, and is best known for his avant garde and fine–tailored clothing .

Additional Ad Campaign. Notice the quality of the garments’ fibers, and the sense of “transparency” in her lean.

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Current website allows user to customize their shopping experience by selecting which color the page is. Color is used in a refined way, to emphasize the high fashion of the brand.

Honest By places strong emphasis on transparency by showing the behind the scenes of a photo shoot.

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Honest By’s clothing are highly refined, yet extremely ethical. The price of each garment is created with a formulaic calculation, thus ensuring the price is fair to consumers, and the workers whom help to produce the garments.

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I chose a set of words to base my logo on in order to keep myself focused on the message that the brand should convey.

After making lists of words that I felt best represented Honest By, I narrowed in on a few words that I thought made the company unique. The chosen words help to provide interesting results towards the visualization of the logo, but also best describe the brand in simple terms.

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clarity

calculations

contrast

simple

Below are a few words that I felt expressed the brand.

Clean

Kind

Considerate

Material

Fair

Truth

Innovative

Modern

Fresh

Raw

Recycled

Opportunity

People

Brave

Simple

Obvious

Natural

Production

Chic

Classy

Sleek

Progressive

Consumer

Fine

Vegan

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While gathering inspiration for my mood board, I was focusing on minimalist designs, and different representations of color and line. One thing I was getting inspired by was line value. Organically drawn shapes and dashed lines were reminiscent of thread.

This colorfully graphic image feels really modern, unconventional, and fresh, just like Honest By.

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Color seemed to evoke and inspire the emotion of the brand. I chose bright, fresh colors in my mood board to help in my designing process. I also found that Bold sans-serif typefaces that have wide tracking between the letters look very elegant and high fashion.

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Initially I tried sketching without considering my keywords in an attempt to find a solution organically. However, as more sketching occurred, the key words served an important role in my design process.

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For this concept, I was playing with the idea that chaos is created from a lack of knowledge about what consumers are buying and wearing. However, Honest By brings clarity to this chaotic and often misleading aspect of the fashion industry.

I was playing with organic and spontaneous shapes that were then grounded with clear, bold type. I felt that this would provide an interesting contrast within the logo.

Material was an issue for this concept as ink and graphite do not accurately describe fashion or Honest By.

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For this concept, I took a minimalist approach. I was playing off the idea of a swatch, or a tag, which eludes to the fashion industry. I also wanted the letters to look like an element from the periodic table of elements because elements are pure forms. I thought that this was an interesting direction for Honest By; however, the mark alone does not accurately represent the brand. Another issue with this concept was that a square itself does not help the client understand the concept behind the brand.

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My chosen concept was to merge math with fashion. I examined various mathematic symbols and played with the idea of juxtaposing them with sewing needles, thread, and buttons. The challenge was how to merge the two.

I ended up pushing this concept because it spoke to how prices are calculated so that workers are paid fairly. I also felt this concept would best convey my keywords (clarity, calculations, contrast, and simple).

These mathematic symbols are the basis for further sketching.

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honestby

The multiplication sign doesn’t quite work.

There is something interesting about the equal symbol, because it speaks to fairness, but this mark does not work.

Division! This could be interesting, because it can represent the different ways that the cost of garments are divided (which is information provided on the Honest By site).

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This is not really math related, but the “?” is interesting because Honest By takes the guessing and the mystery out of the shopping experience. But it can also be misleading.

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honestBY

honestby

h

b

h

bhonest by

Division doesn’t quite work because it tends to look unbalanced and it doesn’t fully describe the brand.

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h

b

hb

bh h

b

The percentage symbol has potential. Especially because it connects to the word “calculations.” Here I was trying to use common sewing language like the running stitch, needles, and buttons.

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X

The physical position and treatment of the button played an important role in how the form conveyed the brand.

I was really pushing and exploring how to best represent buttons visually. I liked the idea of thread in the buttons because the thread gave the buttons a sense of purpose while further speaking to material.

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While the percentage symbol works, the marks seem a bit disconnected. This swoosh merges the visual language of thread and references old–fashioned percentage symbols.

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This form best articulated the message of the brand, however, refinements needed to be made to make the mark more balanced. Additionally, the company is too new to rely solely on a mark, so type needed to be considered.

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Without thread in buttons or needle. With thread in buttons.

honest by honest by honest by

Final mark with thread in buttons; thread in needle.

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Looking more carefully at the forms of buttons and needles and made slight adjustments to the mark. I also surrounded the mark with a box and added “Honest By” to the bottom of the mark to give the logo more balance.

Thread is behind the button; needle more accurately rendered.

honest b y

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Here I focused on typography. After experimenting, I decided to go with a sans–serif because it is easier to read when scaled down, and when fully capitalized, a sans–serif grounds the mark better.

Scala Sans has the most elegance, and pairs nicely with the mark.

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In an effort to break away from the starkness of black and white, I experimented with a variety of different colors. The color needed to help convey the honesty of the brand, while still feeling contemporary.

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While the logo felt balanced within a box, I felt that the mark could be pushed more. By removing the box, the logo could become more flexible when applied to various branding materials. The logo can then also be broken down, giving it further utility.

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This logo and mark combination works the best because the type and the mark have a sense of balance, but also have contrast.

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I decided to make one button smaller because it gave the logo more contrast, and by rotating one of the buttons, the logo has a sense of movement, thus referring to innovation.

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I felt that light blue was the most appropriate representation of the brand because it speaks the most about clarity. I also feel that the color is clear and sophisticated, which embodies the brand.

I chose a sans serif for the text because it is easier to read than a serif, and in capitalization it fits nicely in the space of the logo. Scala Sans provided the best balance between the logo and the text.

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The Honest By branding is flexible and can broken down to either just a mark or a logotype.

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I re–designed the layout for Honest By, giving it a simple and modern look. Site users can see the newest products and news on the homepage, and hover over the image to go directly to that the product or to new content.

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Blue and black can be intermixed based on the needs of the particuar branding material.

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