The Challenge
This summer I was called upon to design a new luxury line for a novelty candle company in 11 days for an upcoming trade show. Eventually, after the trade show was over they'd need a new website with e-commerce capabilities, and they were sort of rebranding. Cool. 11 days. To design candles, packaging, trade show graphics, promotional materials, and a splash page touting the up-coming web site.
Where we started
Original site built in Wordpress but with a free theme, and no product photography on home page. No integrated e-commerce either, so sales were done via Shoplocket.
The materials we began with had some problems — photography was not professional, the messages were unclear and the concepts were a little dated. And the novelty food/alcohol candles just were too labor intensive to keep the price point rational and not appealing enough for repeat sales. The advertising did not look professional, and I only had a total of about 6 usable photographs to work with on the web site and in ads for outlets like People Magazine.
This was a typical trade show setup before the redesign.
SOLUTIONS
Apparently now they were going for something a little different, a more modern, sleek, simple luxury line. This line would need a brand of its own, which includes a logo. Which at that point I was thinking needs to be luxurious AND incorporate a "bear-bottom." So how do we do this?
The brand person suggested I do something with the letters BBC — so I totally jumped on that chance. The new line would become BBC: The Spa Candles, and were a line of more sophisticated scents and such, with an emphasis on simple, accessible modern luxury.
Simple, clean type and soothing neutrals inspired the labels. I took cues from nature, like wood grain, cork and sand.
The client wanted simple, clean and minimal, and had a TON of barware they could repurposed, so we used an old-fashioned for the full sized candle and a jigger for the votive.
Original color family I wanted to work with, and sketches for the product concept.
Simple, clean type and soothing neutrals inspired the labels. I took cues from nature, like wood grain, cork and sand.
I decided to frame the photography for the web graphics for the new line with elements from nature and the same neutral colors. I used Gotham as they typeface for the copy — it's clean, universal, and works at several different weights. I also wrote the copy and tried to place an emphasis on the type design.
Photography and colors were clean and simple. Typeface: Gotham. Advertising for the Spa Candle collection had this feel. More sophisticated and modern, with accessible luxury.
For packaging, we needed a very quick makeshift solution because the trade shows were coming up within DAYS, so we ordered plain white high wall boxes and finished them with a simple ribbon. We had wax seals made with the logo to seal the ribbon with. The result was simple, elegant, and classic, which was reflected in comments on their Facebook fan page.
Interim packaging — clean white high wall boxes, coordinating ribbon by scent label and wax seal.
The trade show setups also got a new look.
Pics from the new trade shows and signage. Facebook fans commented on liking the "classy new look."
Once the trade shows were over, I had to take on the task of creating the new web site that incorporated both the food and drink candles along with the Spa Collection. I integrated the 6 usable pics off the first site as dominant sliders for art, and built-in e-commerce. It was also mobile responsive.
The new web site featured product photography prominently and made products the focus of the site, and had integrated e-commerce for shopping directly off the site. *Note: The web site is now under different creative direction.
I wrote fun sliders with the 6 good images that retained the "whimsy" of the original concept but in a professional-looking way, since they were still selling the food and drink candles along with the Spa Collection. I also programmed the sliders with Revolution Slider on Wordpress and wrote the custom CSS.
Advertising also got a revamp. These were print ads featured in People and bridal magazines. I wrote the copy, found the visuals and designed the ads.
