Module 8 - Field Journal

A Modern Day Corporate Identity Solution

After learning about corporate identity and visual systems this week, I chose to investigate a more recent example, and find out, from a designer’s perspective, how a solution was developed.  I came across a corporate identity case study that involved the rebranding of the Martha Stewart Collection.  Unlike the Olivetti, CBS and New Haven Railroad examples, the Martha Stewart Collection had an established corporate identity program.  However, because of legal troubles involving its figurehead Martha Stewart, a failed television program and subsequent business losses, the company decided to reinvigorate the corporation by creating a new visual corporate identity.

Stephen Doyle, of Doyle Partners (New York) was hired for the assignment.  Excerpts taken from an online AIGA article entitled, “Case Study: Rebranding Martha Stewart” (www.aiga.org/case-study-rebranding-martha-stewart/) outline the strategy, and considerations he used when creating the new design:

1.             Examine the brand value statement – Doyle says that the “brand value statement is a very helpful guide for shaping a new identity…We paid close attention to whether or not our design was an actual embodiment and visualization of some of the words of the statement.”


Original brand value statement:  The handmade, the homemade, the artful, the innovative, the practical, the contemporary, and the beautiful
            
We are not just about lifestyle, but about essential tools for modern living.  Not just about the how-to, but about the why-to.  We aim to inspire the creativity that can transform homemaking into domestic arts, or a simple dinner into an occasion-filling our lives with a little more quality, a little more permanence, a little more lasting beauty.  We are not just a company, but a laboratory for ideas and a community celebrating the art of the everyday.

2.             Words embodied in the visual design – these were taken from the brand value statement, “…the handmade… the homemade…the beautiful…more quality…more permanence…more lasting beauty.”

3.             Developing the logo: “Martha Stewart” or “MarthaStewart” ? Should there be a space between “Martha” and “Stewart”? Some of the staff believed the lack of a space could help transform the person’s name into a corporation.

How would the one word read in press releases and newspapers?

Most importantly, how did the consumer see the subject – as the woman or the corporation?

4.             Aura of a name – a name “can nurture tremendous power”.  Doyle believed that the words “Martha Stewart” carried a lot of emotional weight and that adding anything to the them as part of the logo design would diminish its effectiveness.

5.             Creating a distinctive and proprietary way to present the words – Doyle started with the words making a “circle” shape, symbolizing a homemade wreath.  He later called the symbol a “coin” shape, symbolizing “quality, permanence, and lasting beauty…subtly suggesting that this company was valuable, dependable, and bankable.”

6.             Graphic design elements – Doyle started with the letterforms of Trajan, but settled on a version of Optima.  The advantages of Optima:

Letters could be reproduced in miniscule applications, (buttons or tacks).

Letters would maintain handsomeness when shown carved or embossed.

Letterforms were drawn repeatedly to grow away from rigidity, adding a handmade, homemade and artful quality to the letterforms.

Reasons for selecting aqua blue as part of the corporate identity, an integral part of the program, is not mentioned in the article.

Logo ideas during development:

Here are before and after images of the Martha Stewart Collection logo.  It is used on everything involving the company, from photo album punches to the corporation’s website, www.marthastewart.com.:

New logo in use:

Website

Lighting Products

Rug Products

On book spines

Was the new visual corporate identity successful? Criticism varies.  Here are a few: 

Positive - "To a certain extent, when I experienced the brand while shopping, the blue/green colors take an equally weighted role in establishing Martha's new brand -- in partnership with the type treatment circular logo. The clean design aesthetic of the collection's consumer items is open-ended, simplistic design at its best, and really lets the packaging color take the brand the step further that it needed beyond the logo."

Negative - "I disagree with this design as the lettering is too close and the ability of the human mind to word play could find displeasing words in this circle it needs to be more clear at first clance leaving an imprent more recognisably"

My impression of the design is that it's "ok". The letterforms are contemporary, well spaced.  The round shape to me represents the "world" of the corporation's products, and the color is clean and beautiful.  However, I think the circle could cause viewers to see other words in the logo.  Perhaps a sybol using the initials "M" and "S" would have worked better to convey the "MarthaStewart" name as a corporation. 

For those interested, I also discovered a very informative graphic design article that details the design strategy, or  identity architecture for a brand extension, (different products within a brand). The article written by Rob Wallace, titled, "Blood, Sweat and Tiers: Building Optimal Brand Identity Architectures" is also located on the AIGA website, (hhtp://www.aiga.org/blood-sweat-and-tiers-building-optimal-brand-identity-arch/).  It describes a design formula using hierarchy of color, shapes, numbers and words in developing the architecture. I found it to be very informative, and potentially useful for future design projects. 






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Sources:

www.underconsideration/martha_stewart_circling.php

www.underconsideration.com: