An Eye on the Forest

I occasionally sit-down and create a "Portfolio Cheat-Sheet" as shown above. A single page of various cropped thumbnails of my design/illustration/product work that will usually accompany a resumé or go to a client for a quick visual reference.

I've never really been a designer that focused on one style or genre (perhaps supporting my abject obscurity), but find inspiration in variance. If you poke around this blog a bit, you'll see I have worked in a variety of industries that are seemingly quite disparate.

Because of the variety of projects, I find it a good exercise to thumbnail the work to gauge where I am leaning stylistically at a given moment. Work that has just been completed, mixed with the past helps me to see the "common threads" as well as where I may want to go next.

Cropping the images, aside from just arousing inquiry, helps to keep anyone from focusing too much on what the object is verses "reading" the visual "feel". In other words... something like not focusing on the trees, but to see the forest more clearly.

-rm

12 of Hearts

Since Valentines Day is approaching, I figured I share something "hearty". Shown here is an e-gift card I designed for an Agraria Valentine's promotion using the patterns I created for their fragrance packaging during my time there as their Executive Creative Director.

-rm

X-MAS

This Christmas card was the last thing I did for Agraria. It features a variety of ingredients in the many potpourris that Agraria makes ...in, as you can see, the form of a Christmas tree. I am personally partial to the shiminin shticks.

-rm

Little Luxuries

I worked with GuestSupply to build a Hotel Amenities program for Agraria. I designed a new bottle to have some visual connection to Agraria's number one selling item AirEssence, and all other packaging items followed in the style of the core product line.

The hotel line will usually be some kind of mini replica of the retail line or at least allude to it through various branding elements. Agraria's existing bath line at the time (as far as the bottle design was concerned) was something that needed attention...or shall I say it wasn't the best match for the brand. The amenities program opened the door for me initiate a change to the retail bottles as well. So, in Agraria's case, the retail bottle design would mimic the amenities design.

Due to the success of the amenities line and the brand exposure it provided, I created a much bigger bath and body line for retail including new bottle designs for bath, cologne, and liquid soaps that unfortunately I can not show here for the reason that they have not made them yet. Hopefully they do, some day. Anyway...

The Agraria amenities program was launched with the Lemon Verbena fragrance at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. For that launch, I also provided original designs for the vase, soap dish, and tray accessories for the rooms (shown). This was followed by the Palazzo in Las Vegas and an exclusive collection of the Golden Pomegranate fragrance for the Montage in Beverly Hills.

-rm

PS. I hope you appreciate that fabulous piece of onyx that I lugged around town for that shot. I ended up making a charming little table for the office. The guy who sold it to me did say I could bring it back but it was too pretty (heavy) to drag back to the valley.

photography: Elio Tolot

Luxury Bath Bars

Agraria has eight core fragrances. All products in the line are divided into two sub-collections. The Nob Hill Collection with four fragrances and Santa Barbara Collection with four. This originally made for a nice, neat merchandising set up when the collections were launched.

The challenge was that Agraria would develop individual skus in various fragrances (based on demand). This combined with a sales strategy of only selling full collections, resulted in a very uneven retail presentation. The two collections strategy didn't accommodate dropping fragrances that didn't perform, promote those that did, or build an awareness for any individual fragrance.

I planned to change this strategy by building an identity for each fragrance. It could exist in the current brand structure but eventually would shift the entire product line to accommodate a clear interest in shopping by fragrance.

It started with the Bath Bar. I designed eight unique prints for the eight fragrances. I used each print as a paper wrap for the bar and sealed them with a gold logo buckle and green ribbon band...as you can probably see for yourself.

-rm

Re-Tale

Nowhere is a product brand message more important than at retail. This image was part of a presentation that I created to defined the brand direction. This included mission statements, strategies, plans of action, brand element evolutions, and new product concepts.

My sketch here was not only to define details of a build-out but to assist in visualizing how new products and some key branding changes were all connected. The owners were also keen on securing boutique space at a number of key accounts like Harrod's, Saks Fifth Ave, and Neiman Marcus and this assisted in communicating the ultimate goal.

-rm

And Ads

I took a slightly different approach to the advertising for Agraria. The campaign was more product specific than before, monochromatic to re-enforce the fragrance identity and added impact, and slightly alluded to the original Nob Hill branding by creating the asymmetrical banding. The upholstered environments are designed to re-enforce Agraria's "home" fragrance position and sense of tradition and refinement.

-rm

photography: Elio Tolot

Catalog

As described on the previous post (Weaving The Web) the re-branding of Agraria also included the catalogs, their primary wholesale sales tool. The 2008 catalog, shown, was reformatted and cleaned up with refined typography, product specific spreads, visual tie-in to the web, a quick reference page of all product categories for sales reps and a more conceptual cover.

The cover, as any cover should, tells you about what is new and what the focus of the season will be all in a way that defines the brand point of view. The season that this catalog represented saw the launch of the Villa boxes (see post Come On-A My House) filled with Agraria's signature Bitter Orange Potpourri. The theme being orange, the end papers were an orange damask print that I designed for Bitter Orange packaging (more to come on that subject). This further enhanced my strategy to begin focusing on fragrance specific branding within the line.

-rm

Weaving The Web

Shortly after arriving at Agraria, I went about the task of overhauling all collateral. At the time, they had an ad created by one designer, a very amateurish catalog was done by another, and the web site (which looked like an Amazon-style commerce site) by yet another. Quality judgements aside, there was no consistency of brand message.

The process started with the web site. The web site was the primary brand communication tool that was direct to consumers. I started with a creative direction/style guide based on the key branding elements that existed, elements that needed to be "played-up", and new elements to better enhance the brands position.

One primary element was consistency of photography across all branded materials. The styling, lighting, angles all needed to be better defined. I created the inspiration board shown above and then did a series of tests with photographer Elio Tolot. We concluded with the long landscape, still life format shown in the web pages below.

With a "luxury" positioning, it was important to take the "hard-sell" off the site. I added a formal entrance (the logo landing page with a revised signature caning pattern) at the front and de-cluttered the home page to have a single (slide show) image with a clean row of highlight boxes to promote new lines, events, and press.

Green was an important element in all packaging so I used a dark green to create a more intimate mood for the site. The darkness also allowed the images to take center stage. I created a more stationery-like format to formalize the feel and used the "crest" logo at the top in gold for a crowning touch.

In the year following the redesign, sales and traffic doubled on the site.


-rm

Come On-A My House

One of the more challenging and satisfying projects was designing and creating the Agraria Villa Boxes (shown). Inspired by 18th century architectural models, I designed the series of three boxes as a vehicle for one of Agraria's signature products, potpourri.

The shot above, a deliberate stylistic departure from other Agraria photography, was the original shot for the 2008 Agraria catalog cover (shown in a later post in its final form). I was going for a more abstracted look that would compliment the interior product shots.

-rm

photo: Elio Tolot

Charlotte Moss

Following the success of the Michael S Smith Collection (see post Agraria 1.), I had designed a home fragrance collection for interior designer Charlotte Moss.

I wanted this collection to be a real departure from Agraria's more masculine aesthetic. Primarily because of Charlotte's trademark feminine style, a desire to exercise my love of 18th century decorative arts, and not since working on Barbie have I been able to revel in the world of "pretty" in such a satisfying way. Oh, btw, the pink is for the peppercorn in the fragrance...I swear, nothing to do with Barbie.

Shown above is Left Bank Perfumed Candle, AirEssence, and votive candle trio in a photo by Elio Tolot whom I worked with on all Agraria photography. This is one of two fragrance collections that was created for Charlotte.

As on all things Agraria, my role was "soup to nuts"... all details of concept, product definition, packaging, collateral, photo art direction, styling, etc.

-rm

photo: Elio Tolot

Perfumed Tassels

Product and Packaging Design

Agraria 1. The Beginning

In 2006 I took on a new client, Agraria San Francisco. My relationship with Agraria lasted about 3 years so I feel I need to give a little background before posting what is a large body of work created for them.

Agraria is a luxury home fragrance company probably best known for their potpourri, diffuser oils (AirEssence) and perfumed candles. The company was founded by Stanford Stevenson and Maurice Gibson in 1969 and they sold products exclusively in their Nob Hill shop, but in the 70's expanded to stores like Henri Bendel and Bergdorf Goodman in New York.

In addition to the enthusiasm toward the unique and rich fragrances, the founders were so particular about to-whom and where they sold their products that over the years it stayed a bit of a "well kept secret" for the Park Avenue crowd. The current owners purchased the company in 2004 and quickly re-branded, added some new products and went about building the business and maintaining their luxury status.

When I met Agraria, they did not have any in-house design or creative direction for the brand. The new owners were not from creative backgrounds as the founders had been so they commissioned a design firm to create the re-brand in 2004/5 and Agraria was managing the brand but was understandably struggling with brand extensions and creation and integration of new concepts.

In 2006 Agraria commissioned me to design packaging for a new line of products for interior designer Michael S. Smith. Having just read his book "Elements of Style" I was excited to do the project.

Some work had begun on the product definition so I focused on packaging but stayed close to Agraria's existing package structures and formats. I stuck to the format not only to save money but to maintain some visual brand connection while allowing the line to be independent. It was Agraria's first co-branding venture and the launch was very successful.

Following this project I would then design three other product lines for them in addition to an overhaul of the website. I was then asked if I would join them on staff and in June of 2007 I became Agraria's Executive Creative Director.

-rm

Spin The Bottle

Green Gold was the name of a small recycling company out of Bakersfield, California. The name is as it implies... drop off your discarded bottles and cans to any of the trucks stationed throughout the city and receive cash.

The locations of the trucks were not permanent so the fleet needed to be recognizable, friendly, approachable, clean and optimistic.

When approaching the design, the name obviously demanded the color choice. I used a variation of greens from cool to warm in order to imply a transformation. I went with a sunny yellow because it is fresher and happier. The logo type, with cyclical arrow "g's", feeds right into cog wheels or what may seem like flowers using radial formations of classic plastic and glass bottle silhouettes.

-rm

Westfield 3. Relaunch

The last project I designed in the Westfield series was a brochure to promote and pitch their airport properties. See Westfield 1. Global Icon and Westfield 2. Fashion Focus for more info. This brochure was a sales tool first distributed at the trade show mentioned in Westfield 2.

The Westfield group, as mentioned in previous posts, revitalizes existing properties and this brochure focused on the airport retail environments that they do so well.

The booklet features my illustrations and map icons to visually tie-back to the other trade materials and trade show space. The content features statistics, location demographics and descriptions, maps of the various airport retail environments that Westfield was actively leasing.


-rm

Westfield 2. Fashion Focus

As part of the project described in the previous post Westfield 1. Global Icon I illustrated a series of "fashionable shoppers" to be blown-up to approximately 11 feet high and applied to the walls of the structure. These illustrations were used in all aspects of the trade show including collateral materials and on the cover of WWD.

Shown above is one example of the illustration style in the form of an early concept for the overall project. This early concept featured "cut-out" images in clean whites and neutrals with bright accents of signature red.

Shown below are the illustrations using the final Westfield palette. For their final application, the illustrations were manipulated in many ways including a variety of pattern fills and overlapping typography.



-rm

Westfield 1. Global Icon

Another project with Axiom was for their client Westfield. The Westfield Group is a retail property group (world's largest) operating 119 shopping centres in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. They buy aging/failing mall properties and overhaul them. They do this exceptionally well, from my own consumer point of view, so I was excited to work on the project.

The first project was to refresh Westfields trade environment (booth) at their retail properties show in Las Vegas. The trade booth was very corporate and didn't really feel like their properties which are warmer, modern/fashion-forward, and inviting. The change was to be primarily a surface change and not a total rebuilding.

I generated a few overview concepts featuring new palettes, illustration styles, graphics, display techniques and finishes that were applied to elevations from their existing trade booth. The overall palette shifted back to focus on their primary corporate colors (red and grey) to ensure they would have instant brand recognition at the show.



Once the project moved to the development and production team, I focused on creating artwork that would be applied to the concept. One such project (the feature of this post) was a wall that featured a map of the world that highlighted Westfield's global property locations. I developed the map starting with a series of icons (shown) I illustrated to describe the many features of a Westfield property ie; shopping, dining, etc. The icons would then form the continents of the map (shown).

-rm

Branding Panda

I worked on a number of projects in 2006-2007 with friend, Brent Watts of Axiom. He is super-talented (I don't throw words like that around lightly) and has a pretty well established clientele in the entertainment industry. So, I was delighted when he asked me to collaborate on a few of his studio projects.

He does a lot of style guide development so the first project was for DreamWorks' KungFu Panda. This film was a candy store of beautiful imagery and was to be a rather large style guide. My challenge was to create all the branding/packaging guidelines.

Before the commencement of the project we met with co-director John Stevenson who told us the story. That sounds so simple, but when someone is really good at storytelling it really is more of a transcendence. To further enhance the experience, the room was wall-to-wall with amazing artwork; character studies, maquettes, drawings and paintings in various Asian styles of architecture and breath-taking landscapes. It was a real privilege to be soaking in it.

In the same way that the film visuals were explored, I went about my own explorations in packaging and graphic design. I had a lot of familiarity with the more classical Chinese art forms but focused in on the KungFu film poster genre.


I experimented by creating a number of posters mimicking some classic Bruce Lee KungFu film posters (shown at top). The posters were then boiled down to a variety of branding formats (shown here). A new logo from film marketing department, multiple graphic styles and packaging structure explorations later, we had arrived at the look shown below... Strong red, dynamic angles, and flexible pattern blocking.


-rm

Dreamgirls. Ain't No Party

The Dreamworks/Paramount Studio's film Dreamgirls was heavily promoted about a year ahead of the launch. It was one of those trailers that didn't say to much except "coming in... summer of 2525". It was actually, I think, very nicely done. You can see it on YouTube. You may remember, it was all very blue, side lit silhouettes, stage lights, and the iconic song "And I'm Telling You".

It was months before it's launch and, I was engaged to do a style guide for the film. I was thrilled to work on it. The goal was to create a consumer product packaging program, art and elements to use in developing product related to the film.

The teaser trailer was the lead for visual inspiration. Actual footage of the film was so closely guarded that I was never able to see it during development, but I did receive some beautiful photos. Perhaps even better, I also got to tour the wardrobe. It was a fun combination of vintage and of course the original pieces including the performance gowns, etc. ...the fun stuff.

I can't really say for sure, but clearly there was an in-house/production reluctance to do licensed product for the movie. There were lots of contractual limitations with talent likeness, two major studios involved...blah, blah, blah...messy. The project was whittled-down to packaging guide lines only and the branding look followed the recognizable blue theme of the trailer. The end result was a bit more "basic" than I might have hoped but this one was more about the journey then the finish line.

Shown above is one of the graphics elements of Jennifer Hudson as Effie that might likely have been a t-shirt graphic and like many more never saw the light of day. The small inset is a sample of the packaging style. The only licensee (using the packaging), that I know of, was Tonner who created a line of collectible dolls. If you happen to like dolls, and I'm sure you do, the detail is pretty great on them. Especially the red fringe dresses. ...which btw, ended up on the movie poster (the real dresses) thereby diverting from the branded blue of the previous marketing. Don't ever underestimate the power of a pretty dress.

-rm.

Gift Cards

In 2006, along with other projects (shown on previous posts), Old Navy was interested in building their gift card program to feature individual card concepts and styles. This was in contrast to the usual application of graphic themes from the apparel collections of the given current season. Alas, they ended up going with the later direction and none of the concepts were produced. Above are just a few of the many gift card concepts that I created at that time.

©2010 Richard Manville

Jean Therapy

As the Old Navy Dog Supply project (shown in the previous post) started to wrap up, exploration began on refreshing the branding for Old Navy denim. At the time, various styles and cuts of jeans each had their own branded look. The goal was to create a denim "store-in-store" including men's and women's sections. All jeans would have a consistent branded look and an easy to use system to quickly identify the gender, cut, style, and size.

I generated design explorations for this labeling system. The ones I'm showing you here were not chosen but are solutions I still have a fondness for.




The Belt Tag: This concept picks up on some of the style attributes of the Dog Supply branding through the use of typography. Every cut and style is clearly legible and color coded with men and women's palettes. The "belt" folding format of the tag allows for use of both sides of the tag, reducing the need for additional size labels. Like I said they didn't go for this one, but I love it.

Trompe L'oeil Tags: A very different concept just to show the range of exploration. This one plays to Old Navy's playful persona and slight retro quality. As you can see, the concept features the clothes pin as a uniting visual element with more distinct style variation in color and typography between men and women.


©2006, 2010 Richard Manville

Putting On The Dog

I worked on a number of projects for Old Navy in 2006-2007. As part of an overall effort to revive the brand I was engaged to work on a number of design development explorations.

My favorite, and the one to come to full fruition was Old Navy Dog Supply. The concept was an in-store boutique featuring a variety of pet accessory products from dog tags to dog beds.

My mission was to create the style guide for their in-house team to use for creation of all branding and product development. This included all original artwork, logos, elements, textures, palette, typography, patterns, along with some explorations of suggested use of the elements like the tag explorations shown above. You may notice, the original concept name was changed from T&T (Tried and True) to Old Navy Dog Supply due to potential trademark issues.

You can see below some examples of how the design direction was ultimately applied and interpreted in the form of final product.



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