Agency: Interbrand
Role: Creative Director
Scope: E-commerce platform branding and UI principles
E-commerce concept
Condé Nast Digital's ambition was to create a content-rich e-commerce platform across the whole range of their digital publications (Vogue, GQ, etc), ensuring consistency and control of the shopping experience across its audiences while boosting cross-selling opportunities between the magazines. The challenge was to define a brand, a name, a visual expression and an experience that would connect with a wide base of readers and would allow them to shop 'within their story' while being taken to a different platform altogether. The project purpose was to establish the core principles for what would eventually become Style.com.
A brand that breathes style, fashion and tech.
Creating a brand that can reconcile audiences as varied as GQ's or Glamour's required a careful positioning, audience and competitor mapping. The name (Montrose is Condé Nast middle name) was key to develop the concept, so was a consistent approach to art direction and unique UI language that could extend all the way to physical delivery. We identified a unique language through typeface, colour and layout.
A thoroughly strategic yet visually rich brand process.
Full naming and brand identity creation aimed at keeping alignment with all publishers under the Condé Nast umbrella. The finely crafted moodboard was used by all creative partners to keep, the colour exploration led to the impossibly intense accent blue, inspired by Yves Klein signature artwork and a vast typographic exploration was carried out to deliver functionality and style. Various brand marks were explored leading to a pared down centred logotype.
Brand definition mood-board – 'Style revealed'
Colour exploration
Type exploration
Logo exploration
Multiple entry/exit points. One platform.
In parallel with the look and feel work, we built core user flows (by Condé Nast product team) into hi-fi storyboards to assess the various brand journeys and the continuity across various personas. This informed a high level IA principles for the site, as well as as recommendations for the platform's brand assets and UI elements that would inevitably be shared by all publications.
Mag to platform user flow: From publication (1) to Platform (3) extending to further purchase opportunities (5).
Platform to Mag user flow: From site visit (1), shopping (3) and to Magazine (5) via targeted content (4).