For the identity the name needed to reflect the key ideas of what it is to be a Depop seller, in a way that would be attractive for a young consumer.
To keep in-line with the clients needs, it needed to incorporate her name as it is a personal blog, but the design felt to take it to the next stage of professionalism (if she wishes to progress beyond the app in the future), it would be good to have a formal tone.
Thus, ideas of homeless clothes, recycling and individuality were played with to form an identity that spoke to and intrigued the target audience.
Conclusion - Re:Mass
RE:Mass
Definition
Dictionary result for re
1. about; concerning. (like in an email)
2. once more; afresh; anew.
3. with return to a previous state.
4. in return; mutually.
"react"
Mass
- synonymous with wholesale and universal
- play on words with name
- “involving or affecting large numbers of people or things”
The name incorporates the eco-conscious approach to Depop, and the idea of rehousing old clothes in a way that is both more sustainable and allows young people to have more control over both the marketplace and their own originality. They can REINVENT themselves however they want knowing that the next person cant just come and pick up the same product from the rail. This name unifies all these ideas of why Depop it such a great outlet, as well as your [Danielle Mass] role within the community (by using your name and identity) in a clever play on words.
The design then explored the wide variety of words beginning with the prefix 're' to form a strong brand message that an audience would associate with the seller. Due to its context, the variety meant that this semantic could be widely adaptable to many promotional signs, messages and notices.
Using the online resource the design was able to find a website that listed all words beginning with 're' in order of that amount of letters the word had. This was a useful tool for coming up with promotional ideas that would compliment the new identity.
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| Email to seller |
Client communication:
If the design was going to go with a different name to what the seller initially envisioned, it wanted to present it to the client in context and ready to go, so the client would be more inclined to get on board.
After showing the client, she was initially hesitant, as she had a clear idea of what she thought she wanted. However after replaying the video and asking around for others opinions, the client came back extremely satisfied as was happy to continue with this concept and under this rebrand; Re:mass.
This demonstrated. that when an idea is backed up by research and makes sense, it becomes an easy pitch to sell, and that's what happened here.
Initial videos & subsequent logo design:
Introduction video - simple stripped back B&W, with a popular and catchy song chosen that enhances the typographic treatments due to its beat.
The design played around with various speeds, until the final intro video was legible and flowed with the music. It is clear how much sound aids the reception of a video, and so it was important to find the right track to promote the new brand.
The song selected was 'Jain - Makeba', from the list of most popular songs for advertisements. It was then cropped down to find an appropriate section that focused on beat rather than audio.
End result:
Without music:
With music:
Accompanying video -
The design screen grabbed pictures of what the client was selling to try and mock up some ideas for another promotional video. Using Depop's advertisement layouts of bold text over the imagery, as well as the square format onto a poster / instagram post format (1080 x 1350px), meant this would be a promotional video to be sharing on instagram to redirect consumers to the Depop page. This meant the visual language was more relaxed, speaking to the younger target audience.
Examples of sellers stock:
Outro experiments:
Outcome without music:
Final video with music:
Type
- Monserrat - a friendly and neutral typeface that comes with a wide selection of weights. This is a useful attribute when selection a brand typeface, as it needs to be malleable over a variety of outputs. This means the 'Mass' of the typographic treatments can vary, reflecting the concept on the brand name. Monserrat also compliments, and is similar to, the existing Depop typeface (GT America Expanded), meaning it will work well mirroring Depop's branding guidelines.
- GT America Expanded - The Depop typeface. This was chosen as the secondary typeface to accompany Monserrat. Keeping the new identity in-line with Depop's means the viewer will find it more reliable,
Colour
The design chose to keep it simple - black, white and red. This allowed for variations (red on black, white on red, black on red, white on black etc) for moving image outputs, and also, once again, kept in-line with Depop's brand.
Form
The frame for the design used a simple square format as to be transferrable across multiple social media platforms
Layout
The design wanted to keep it fun and interactive, as well as reflect the Depop visual language, so it would be translated to the consumer that this page had been Depop approved - adding authority and a trustworthy element, making the consumer more likely to purchase from this page. Thus type over imagery was played around with, as well as repetition and a grid.
Profile Picture:
For the profile picture, the design went back to the findings from the research to ensure the outcomes reflected the target audience and appropriate tone of voice. The upside of using black and white for the branding meant the logotype was easily adaptable onto a variety on coloured backgrounds.
The visual language of Depop sellers is not high-brow design. It's a collection of young bloggers essentially, so their profile pictures are colourful, playful and youthful.
The design thought a way to maintain the authority of the new branding yet achieve the appropriate tone of voice to the audience, and attract people to the profile, would be to create a series of profile pictures that relate to the textures, colours and surface patterns of the unique clothes being exchanged on this online community.
This way, the flavour and fun of second hand clothing is kept in the branding, in a malleable and long-lasting way. The seller can update her profile picture constantly to new things, depending on the colour scheme of the newest clothes, or even simply her mood. This maintains the personal, blog-like aspect of Depop within the design outputs, whilst keeping a level of professionalism, and a clear brand identity.
Motion video for sharing:
Communication with client:
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