Studio 97 Apparel

Studio 97 Apparel is a brand I created for one of my classes at Whitworth. I wanted to experience creating a brand identity, and also push past this point and develop the idea into a full company, with signage, bags, catalogs, and a website. During the early months of the fall, I spend a long time brainstorming ideas about what Studio 97 Apparel would be, and the direction in which I wanted to take it. 90’s fashion trends have been very popular this year, and as luck would have it, I was born in the 90s.

So, I came up with the idea for Studio 97 Apparel based on my birth year with the hope of creating a fashion retailer that targeted the market of people my age.

The first step in creating a brand identity is the idea behind the logo. I have always had an affinity for text-based logos, so I decided to go in that direction. Many of the most successful retailers have logos that center around the actual text of the name of the brand, so I decided that text-based solution would be the best route to go down. After much deliberation and many failed sketched ideas, I decided on the logo as it now stands. It contrasts a modern, sleek font with a secondary handwritten one. I thought this would be appropriate for Studio 97 because I wanted the brand to communicate sophistication and maturity, while still embracing its playful and unique identity, just as many people my age are trying hard to figure out how to do.

Additionally, I created a stacked version of the logo that is comprised of the numerals 97 along with an A that mirrors the forms in the numerals. All this is centered in a circle to create a unit. The function of this stacked logo is mainly for instances where the full horizontal logo exists in other places, like in the footer of the website or on the back of tags. I think the circle logo functions better as a symbol than the horizontal one, so I plan to use it in those instances.

After creating the logo, picking colors, and picking fonts, a catalog and website followed suit. I used mainly stock images in a template I created for the catalog and am currently creating the e-commerce site using Wix. If I were to take this project even further in the future, I would really like to utilize original photography. I think great photography can really set apart a business or design, so I would love to have the resources to be able to use original photos in the site and catalog.