in store hanging signage

The idea came out of researching 80's icons and noticed the huge chunky chains that Run-DMC immortalised. All I could think of was hanging these in store but they had no purpose until I looked into 80's chains a bit more and found the famous if a little cheesy '$' chain and a few word chains. I'm going to develop this idea a little further but the plan is the hang signage such as the men's, women's and 'pay here' signs buy chunky chains.

visual identity

Relevant to two of my briefs really sleek simple design, sophisticated type and a cool trendy graphic element.

swing tags

Another example of some vintage swing tags, again different era of vintage but still a nice selection of type and colour.

swing tags

Quite a boutique feel to these, different decade than mine but still ideas to work with, good simple line illustrations topped of with a time relevant font.

Swing tags

Really simple typography not the biggest fan of the image/type but the layout is good.

Dear Sue identity swing tags

Good presentation of products and some nave imagery used on the swings tags, simple but effective.

Womenswear hang tags

For the hang tags I wanted to stay away from just slapping the logo onto a tag so I've opted to explore a more creative idea. For the womenswear tags I going to possibly use the shapes similar to theses new wave earrings and model my tags on these.

Everything 1980's

After last thursdays crit I've re-evaluated the blue rinse project and my approach. I surrounded myself with everything 1980's and below is a small collection of images and themes that I've been looking into. Everything from music to idols to architecture. Everything about the re-brand has to be thought out including instore furniture, wallpaper and even the music that is played.

research into apparel sites

Apparel Website analysis

Urban outfitters: They have such a well designed and consistent website and style throughout, bespoke typography and a clean cut composition. It's easy to navigate and remains quite simple and I think that is where it's success lies. Plus I really like the full screen images on the home/flash page, grabs attention quickly and sets the mood for the rest of the website.

American Vintage: Again quite simple but with a totally different style to UO's website, really clean professional images on the home page that automatically change. Similar browsing to UO as well in terms of layout of products. Not too sure about the typography though, quite lifeless.

Beyond retro: Immediately you have a sense of theme to the company from the start. They have a clear and tailored aesthetic and it echoes the brand and the products they sell. When you start to deconstruct it however it's quite simple which is good as it lets the clothes have a voice and the surrounding illustration when browsing the collection is brilliant it continues the theme but not intrusively.

My Vintage: A really plain and lifeless layout to the site, predictable navigation too predictable maybe. I do appreciate the photography though, it holds everything together and saves the website from being a complete fail.

Adore Vintage: stripped back minimal website which allows the content to shine, again good photography and even though the clothing is displayed on mannequins they're done quite well. And the homepage/flash page is fantastic, a really impressive vintage feel.

Vintage kit: I only put this one in because I enjoyed the illustrations, it's mainly a children's vintage apparel store but the theme is pretty cool and relevant to the nostalgia of the shop.

Peekaboo: Great 1st image, straight away theres a stylistic feel to the site and a professionalism which makes you take the store seriously. standard rows of images for browsing the collection but it's successful as the images are only positioned 3 across and are larger than most other sites. 

Style and the City: The only redeeming quality of this website are the photographs that greet you on first look, the back drop is plain and soulless and the typography is awful plus the photographs of the clothes though better than blue rinse photographs are still poor.

The Packhouse: Though not an apparel store I put the Packhouse in because it was stylistically interesting, minimal and I like the nostalgic and ages feel to the photography used.

More 1980'S patterns

80's colours/patterns

80's/retro typography

high street and vintage store logos

Retro/vintage typefaces

visual research into Vintage type from different eras

I wanted to explore different typography from past eras and their context. I strayed a little away from just fashion and tried to research eras in general such as advertising. I came across some very interesting designs and something that connects them all are the worn tired colours that sit saturated compared to contemporary web + prints colours.

More Jessica Hische

There is something nostalgic about Jessica Hishe's type here, the flourishes and shadow strokes really give the typeface a personality from a past decade. Maybe something to try in my design for Blue Rinse.

vintage floral wallpaper

I had an idea where I could see vintage floral patterned wallpaper partnering the logo and being part of the store brand somehow. I'm still not quite sure if i'm going to go with this idea but it was worth sourcing some images to get the ideas flowing.

jokers crown london