OUGD603 / Extended Practice - Florist Branding: Creating context.

OUGD603.

FLORIST BRANDING.

CREATING CONTEXT. 

One of the things I have learnt that I like to do when working on a brief, which I discovered in working on my methodology, is to create a really strong contextual background for my project so that I always have points to refer back to, to compare if my designs work for my context. A richer context also, obviously, helps in the development period, I find that having a selection of visuals to draw aesthetic elements from really helps. 

Location and space:

Dark and deep colours create a sense of intimacy - not only regarding luxury but, usually flowers are provided in an intimate situation, and so It seems a deeper colour pallet will be more appropriate. Dark colour such as black within colour psycology also translate to ideas such as elegance and authority, which provides you with the idea of luxury and knowledge. 

I think it is important to, as shown above, have minimalist shop front/ signage designs, but against that shown above, I think it should also be minimalist in terms of flower display, or have no outside flower display at all. As previously mentioned and discussed in the guardian article luxury branding should aim to pull customers into a private circle, Therefore I feel that having flowers displayed on the inside of the windows, will keep the service and products somewhat secretive and make those feel whom pass the doors of the florists, part of a circle. 

I also think that having a warm lit dark interior, will also air some kind of mystery, that will draw people in and enhance the atmosphere of a special and luxurious place. 

Atmosphere:

The use of dark colours and pops of white as shown above with warmer lighting helps to increase that feeling of intimacy that should be experienced when choosing flowers. Therefore in order to reflect both the darks of the exterior and interior, the branding should work to mirror this.  

In terms of Floral arranging the image above seems too staged and heavily placed, the arranging of flowers have no dynamic or Rhythm and simply look placed across a range of shelves. The flowers also appear too spaced out, alongside the glossy shelves and fake wall behind, everything appears to look very cheap instead of luxurious and poorly done. For that reason it is important when developing my branding design to consider working heavily with matte textures as they appear much more luxurious.   

I feel that as shown above, the mix of dark colours such as black, with warmer lighting, bus also a mix of textures such as a couple of wood elements seen above, helps to balance luxury with botanical. It is important to remember that although it sounds silly, Flowers are an object of nature, and so reflecting this in some natural materials (such as wooden shelving over black gloss shelving) helps to rekindle the aesthetic of luxury with nature. And overall complements the aesthetic of the flower more. 

Mixing textures or adding textures could be something to consider in my designs if I am going to use a very simple and minimalist colour pallet, the use of texture makes things appear more tactile and less sterile. Although the design will be minimalist, I want to avoid the branding appearing sterile. 

Possible branding indicators:

I came across a couple of luxorious flower brands, NB and French brand Maison des Fleurs and found that the aesthetic of both brands are very minimalist. I find that the minimalist designs work very successfully, the most important way in which they work is that they support the flowers rather than fight with them for attention. I think that is important, the beauty of the design lays with the quality and execution of the actual product, where the logo work is there to put a name to the product. The lack of 'design' and need to sell the product through extensively attractive packaging that works just as aesthetically hard promote the quality of the product. There is a belief that the product is enough and does enough without this, leading us to believe that the product is more luxury. 

Therefore this is something to consider within my work, The packaging / brand as a whole should be there to support the brand, and work more towards being simple, than fight the flowers (actual product) for attention.