We were approached by Yolanda Lewis, co-owner of Oak & Rose, a start-up modern luxury nail salon opening soon in Georgia. They were in the process of seeking out funding for this new venture and wanted to legitimize their new business with a professional brand identity. They wanted something clean, simple, and modern that they could easily grow with as they continue to build their new business.
Their only hold up was how to create a brand for their two target audiences – men and women.
They wanted something that would be feminine enough to showcase class and grace, while still masculine enough to be bold and strong. Two unique perspectives to address their two unique clients for the same brand.
This is not the first time we’ve been approached by someone who felt that they had more than one target market and wanted to find a way to speak to all of them. But instead of thinking of them as “separate markets” we refocused how we defined their “ideal client” and what characteristics and personality traits made them an ideal patron of Oak & Rose, aside from their gender.
We Asked:
- Who are they?
- What is their fashion style?
- What is their ideal lifestyle?
- What other brands do they like?
- What do they value?
- How does this align with the Oak & Rose brand?
This provided us with a different way to look at the ideal client or target audience, shifting our strategy in how to design a brand identity to best fit this client’s needs.
It was no longer a single individual we were speaking to, but a couple.
Her & Him as a Single Unit:
- A modern couple, looking for a luxury way to enjoy some personal self-care with their significant other in a way that both can relax and enjoy themselves.
- They work hard to afford their upscale lifestyle and have long-term goals for financial stability and luxury living.
- It’s hard to find time to spend together during their busy schedules on top of finding personal time to take care of themselves, and the Oak & Rose provides a place to do both.
- They value their relationship, quality work, custom experiences, and the personal touch that comes from in-person small businesses like Oak & Rose.
- She’ll have champagne, while he might have a whiskey.
- They are the yin to the other’s yang and the light to the other’s dark.
So with this new breakdown, we were able to create an identity that could feed into the world in which this ideal “couple” existed and build up a visual presence to support them.
The Final Brand
Often times, when just thinking about genders or age groups, it can feel like we have multiple target markets when really we only have one. It’s the commonalities or value points of connection that we have with our ideal clients that bring them together and make them someone we want to work with.
A designer doesn’t just offer you a set of visuals, they offer you clarity…
Commonalities, core values, and motivational points of connection are what dictate those deeper values that create the ideal client. It’s those qualities we want to focus on during design work in order to best communicate those values to our clients and bring in the perfect business.
And they offer your target audience/ideal client/target market clarity too. Clarity that tells them that you are the right person to help them/ solve their problem/ tell their story.
