About Me
Work
Air Louis
Perkele Font Family
The Path to Discovery
Impact Atlas
Herzog Sequence
DIVE
How To Make Taffy
Labor Collages
The Laws of Simplicity
Gardner White Center (Case Study)
Our department was approached by the client, Gardner White, and asked to make proposals for their Clearance Center (GWCC). They characterised the GWCC as a fighter brand, one they hoped to differentiate from other value-driven competitors without straying too far from the core brand. They supplied us with an in-depth quantitative market analysis, and we began a brand audit. Everything following here out was developed by myself, Reese Mallon, Quang Dao and Nic Mueller.
If you’d like to see the pitch decks we presented for a clearer look at our process, you can find them here.
Historic Research
Our team was tasked with researching the history of Gardner White in the audit. Gardner White’s image since the beginning was characteristic of Detroit: they’re a dedicated and resilient townie. They’re also quaint and dedicated to their community in a way that’s decidedly Midwestern, and you wouldn’t know at first glance but they’ve fought to be where they are.
The challenge was to rebuild their brand in a way that speaks to low- and middle-income families with sincerity and compassion. The true standout desire of our audience is to provide for their families.
Combing through the research, deeper qualities that stood out about GWCC customers is that they’re down for a deal but wary of a hard sales pitch. The brand couldn’t lean too hard on story-driven strategy, and it definitely can’t talk down. We had to balance that with the clients’ retailer status.
Next came personas and their touch points, so that we could begin to develop a strategy to channel our design work into fitting language.
With our brand pillars, promises, and statements in place, we were nearly ready to begin fleshing out our brand. We finished our preparation by looking to case studies that we felt connected to our brand language.
Exploration
In our initial client proposal, we sifted through our research, moodboards, inspiration and case studies to make a range of ideas.
After a review with the client, they reacted strongly to conservative type applications and arrangements. We proceeded under the name GW Center, distancing our brand from more generic connotations while grounding the brand in language that reflected our goal: honest value, right at home. (We had to ditch the name Studio unfortunately. While we saw it as connoting the humble beginnings of a studio apartment, the client viewed it quite differently.)
Final Delivery
GWC defines the space within your space, the place where life happens; this was our approach. Gardner White Center is the glue that brings family together. We set about creating the brand assets, copy, and style from the established language and built out our pitch.