Written by Semi, Creative Director at Social Lite Communications
On March 26th Derks will be hosting their first instalment of a series of events titled the Red Seal Series. Derks occasionally hosts events to bring awareness to the Edmonton community of gentlemanly fashion and interest, and if you've ever been to one of these bumpin' nights, you'll know the events attract a stylin' and sophisticated crowd that enjoy a good time.
Sterling Derk, Director of Operations at Derks Menswear, provided us with the copy and included directions to incorporate a red seal in the end result of the creative for the event, and so the design process began. We already have a creative brand kit for Derks that includes the logo and fonts to be used, so those were a given.
We also have an extensive repertoire of photography of good looking guys and models decked out in Derks gear, and choosing the right guy was a no-brainer -Scottish instagram sensation and model, Chris John Millington.
CJM is right for several reasons but mainly because of his beard - Prairie Boy Supply Co, who also collaborated with CJM when he was in #yeg, will be demoing their products and giving away free hair and beard trims. Milli's beard had to be primo for the poster:
Next step: The red seal. This was a bit of a challenge at first because the overall feel had to be sophisticated and I was concerned that it would come off as cheese. I initially started playing around with idea of creating a 3D imprint of the Derks logo within a blob to suggest a Derks stamp within a wax but the more I played with it the more I realized that this was the cheesiest rout - the seal had to be real and in the end the simplicity of the end result is more sophisticated and clear.
But I still felt like I needed to incorporate another element that would uplift the design to the next level - something new. So I set out to create a 3D background that was a macro shot of an uninterrupted flow of red wax. First I created the 3D object to represent the flow of wax - thick and fluid with a slightly wavy surface that was also large enough to fit the space of a poster.
After I was happy with the look of the object I started treating the surface of the object to look like red wax. Luckily most 3D rendering programs have presets that emulate specific textures and I had the option of selecting a waxy surface so my only concern was the way it was lit. My photographic background made this part easy - but so did some great presets within the rendering software.
Now that I had all the elements it was time to create the poster for the store and web/social collateral:
Print and electronic displays are different in terms of displaying information, so the marketing collateral had to reflect those medias as well. The physical and electronic version were treated slightly differently to reflect this, but because all of the elements are the same, the consistency in branding remains the same. The following examples are the electronic versions.
Instagram:
Facebook (wall-post with 20% text rule and banner):
Then, after swift approval, they got sealed, shipped and delivered by our amazingly talented and informed team at Social Lite. We hope to see you at the event this Thursday, March 26! You can still RSVP to receive the full treatment: menswear@derks.ca.
