Challenge
A private label brand, Schön originally consisted of toilets and bathroom fixtures. After several years of neglect, it was resurrected to sell high-end, professional-quality stainless steel sinks designed for residential use.
The brand identity had to be established from scratch and the project required an integrated B2B2C approach in the development of a new logo, website, technical documentation, packaging, and customer-facing brochure.
Brand Identity
The first step in launching the brand was to develop a modern, sleek logo and establish guidelines that included a color story, typography and brand messaging. The resulting logo included a new tagline - Simply Modern - a nod to both the visual aesthetic and ease of maintenance of the product.
Brand colors, consisting of a medium gray (Pantone Cool Gray 8C) with a pop of red (Pantone 704C), reinforced the modern palette popular in upscale kitchens during that time.
Pantone Cool Gray 8C
RGB [136, 139, 141]
CMYK [23, 16, 13, 46]
HEX #888b8d
Pantone 704C
RGB [158, 42, 47]
CMYK [8, 97, 76, 31]
HEX #9e2a2f
Website
The dual-purpose website was designed to provide information critical to showrooms and online retailers, as well as provide document downloads for builders and installers.
The overall look and feel of the website was clean, minimal and functional. Straightforward menus leveraged standard design conventions for easy site navigation.
Product listings were logically categorized and included multiple images, customer-ready descriptions, key measurements, components, and downloads for installation and care instructions, DXF files and warranty documentation.
Because Schön would be sold through both online retailers and kitchen showrooms, the entire product line was photographed, 360°. Select views were then used to highlight important features of each product.
Product descriptions were written for consumer-facing applications, making the brand especially appealing for online retailers, who could easily plug in existing specs, copy and images with minimal effort.
Documentation
Installation and care instructions, complete with diagrams, were provided both on the website and within product packaging. Instructions were developed from observation and consultations with subject matter experts. The corresponding illustrations were hand drawn and digitally converted.
Packaging & Collateral
Branding for product packaging was kept flexible to allow for the various sizes and shapes of sinks. Additional considerations took into account that some product was packaged at the distributors, while others were boxed directly at the factory. The final solution was to create a wrap label, two per box, that would brand all sides, regardless of the size or shape of the container.
Consumer-facing collateral used the same color palette as the website for consistent branding. Key measurements and descriptions were included for product comparison. A matte finish with spot gloss on the red portions of the logo gave the brochure a high-end feel and reinforced the luxury aspects of the brand.
© 2022 by Nikole Kauer. All rights reserved.