Prench Branding project in the showcase on the 11th floor

Now that the Spring ‘08 semester is [for the most part] over at Parsons, I can finally take my headphones out of my ears, stop worrying about if I have enough money to give the MTA, and reflect on the highlights of this semester. One of my favorite projects by far this semester was a branding project for Julia Gorton; who happens to be my favorite teacher I’ve had at Parsons thus far.

The project began by adding our own 5 words to a list; imagined or straight out of Websters. We had to choose a word from the list that wasn’t our own and brand an entire company around this word. I chose “Prench.” The shortest way to describe my brand approach was Nylon magazine but as a retail store. For the first week we had to design logos; a letterform, a wordmark, and a pictoral approach to our brand. We also had to define our customer base and write up a mission statement:

PRENCH was created with the intention of pioneering a unique direction in women’s retail fashion, blending avant garde and classic aesthetics to create an arena for up and coming fashion designers to sell their garments alongside both accomplished and underground labels. Prench is guided by a dedication to providing our clientel with unique, modern, and posh clothing, accessories, and housewares. Our retail atmosphere is devoted to encouraging up-and-coming designers and giving them the creative outlet to display and sell their clothing.

I designed a catalogue/magazine specimen which included featured items and the featured artist of the season, I used photos from various editorials and also from facebook (of luc!). By some stroke of luck I came across an excellent black bubble mailer that this magazine could be mailed in. I designed a letterhead based off of a French airmail envelope. I designed 3 melanine photoplates using one of my favorite spreads from W magazine. But my favorite piece I designed was a matchbook housing a gram of Cocaine (sugar) to be mailed out to the years best customers as a holiday perk.

I plan on spending more time on this project during the summer; better construction, more items, and a stronger presentation overall are my goals.

Related posts:

1. Where has the time gone?
2. W Magazine Info Graphic
3. Questions Answered: What to Major in if You Want to Work for Magazines
4. Yosiell Lorenzo for Project Detonate
5. PSA #2: End of Summer, Beginning of Fall 08