Before & After: With the project finished, it's a good time to have a quick look at the 'before & after' pics and to discuss some of the different aspects of the job. As you can see there is quite a big difference between what we started with and where we ended up.
Oxygen Hair Cutters is an upmarket / cutting edge salon that services what you could describe as an affluent area. The clientele isn't overly young and hip but isn't the elderly either. It's the middle aged, professionals and the like who enjoy a sense of style. The salon also holds bi-monthly art exhibitions with the style of art being modern, abstract and quirky.
The key points of the project brief were:
Create a newer fresher look throughout the salon that embraces the nature of the business and clientele. This was achieved by selecting a new colour palette: black, avocado, silver, donkey & grey.
These colours were then used throughout all communications, including re-painting areas inside and out, adding new lights and furniture pieces such as a new white counter, black work stations and silver mirrors all of which are on wheels so that the salon can be re-configured in almost anyway week by week - further adding to an ongoing sense of freshness.
Re-design the logo that will represent the name in a funky / modern way and to develop an icon / logo to represent 'oxygen' in a visual sense.
This was achieved by going through a heap of fonts and ideas and discussion with the owners until we settled on what they liked and felt right. The icon was meant to be curved and almost modern / organic bubble that could float somewhere between a chemical equation and glyph. Note that the mural elements were also brought into the letterhead to embrace the overall look.
Deliver Signage and identification using the new logo and colours that would re-establish a street presence and clearly communicate what the business was and other relevant info.
This was achieved by removing all of the previous signs and creating new signage that included the name in an 'etchmark' freeze across the windows. this had the added benefit of creating a screen for clients inside sitting in the waiting area and a sense on inclusiveness.
Below this was the 'hair cutters' wording as previously there was nothing in place to explain what the business was. The main rooftop sign was simple and clean and meant to be identity beacon able to be seen from afar. Inside the use of cut out letters added a new dimension to the job.
Create an innovative mural that picked up on the theme of the business that would also add some colour and movement to the interior. This would also work as a nice backdrop for the art exhibitions and provide something interesting for clients to engage with.
The mural was created using stencils, spraypaint and brush and worked in with the interior signage to create a visual from the front to the rear of the inside of the building moving across various background colours of the selected palette. The mural picks up on elements of the decor, signage, logo and iconography and only used the selected colours.
In the end this was a great project to work on with great people and demonstrates what 86 Creative can do across many mediums to deliver innovative visual communication solutions.
It was completed with little fuss and on budget and has received some really positive feedback. So if you've got a project that you think we can help with, why not get in touch, give us an email and we'll see where it takes us!
For more information on this project, please check out the previous posts which go through the work on a step by step basis.
Enjoy.
