BRANDING AND COMMUNICATION IN JEWELMINT, WEST ELM, IKEA
jewelmint - http://www.jewelmint.com
I'm a frequent blog-reader, and out of nowhere this company started popping up all over the internet and I fell in LOVE. In short, it's a hybrid between a consumer-based brand with extreme flexibility and dynamics as well as sustainability and recession-resistance. Essentially, a user opens an account with Jewelmint and takes a "style quiz", narrowing down the user's specific style, personality, color preferences, lifestyle, etc. On the first of every month, the creators of the site (actress Kate Bosworth and her stylist Cher Coulter), sell a small selection of unique jewelry based on your specific style. Each piece costs $29.99, and the jewelry is created by them based on their travels, experiences, associations, and celebrity knowledge. Each user has a unique "showroom" with selections matched to their aesthetic.
Alright, that's the jist of Jewelmint.
After having read the David Reports on Design Trends and Sustainability, the first brand that stood out as using design as a central role in branding and communication was Jewelmint. I'm not just referencing the actual jewelry (since anyone can open an online-store and sell stuff they make); Jewelmint is unique in its brand through design and so much more. First off - each user feels a personal tie to their purchases. Each piece has a one-of-a-kind essence and it was specially offered to them based on their unique identity. This is the brand's connection to its users. Secondly, each product Jewelmint sells will always maintain the same pricepoint (except maybe during promotions when the price drops even lower), while the actual retail value of the jewelry exceeds $100 in most instances. This gives the brand merit. Another touchpoint Jewelmint utilizes is that for every piece of jewelry they sell, they create a story behind the piece - including a youtube video of the jewelry piece's process of creation, an essay by the creator detailing the inspiration behind the piece, and a list of outfits or instances/events the jewelry would stand out the most at. The involvement of the process with the user makes you feel unique to the experience, and takes away from the standard "shop online" to the idealization of a lifestyle including that specific product. This is how they use design as a brand. Consumer-created brands seem to be a trend of the future, so in this sense the process of communicating the brand-identity to the user is ahead of its time, while the actual products usually stem from tried-and-true trends of the past, as well as outlandish inspiration and exotic originality.
COOLTURAL (sensorial, local, tribal) - The key points behind this terms include trends with personality, honesty, and story-telling qualities. As the article details, society doesn't want to feel lost in the crowd anymore. They want something special, which in turn makes them feel special. Jewelmint accommodates this trend by A) telling a unique story about each of their products, and B) using user quizzes to individualize each member. This gives their users unique profiles, creating an authentic experience with artisan inspiration.
RATIONAISSANCE (stylish, function, iconic) - One characteristic to Jewelmint is that it prides itself on a large range of inspiration. Combining keepsakes and experiences from around the world, Kate Bosworth and Cher Coulter create products that stand the test of fleeting trends and "age with grace" while reflecting their time and offering a unique twist on iconic fashion. All the words the David Report uses to describe Rationaissance - positive, playful, colorful, economic, female, simple, sophisticated, homage - all pertain to the products Jewelmint prides itself on.
RESPONSIBIZ (holistic, sustainable, ethical) - Key associations with this trend include affection, authenticity, aesthetics and compatibility. Responsibiz associates the brand with the "creation of meaning" and products that last in design and quality. Jewelmint makes a conscious effort to bring to light disasters and those in need around the globe, and actively donating proceeds from their products sold to relief efforts. In this way the user feels good about the company's brand-identity, and the personal fulfillment that comes with wearing their jewelry creates unique merit.
SENSUCTIVE (narrative, engaging, emotional) - The key point behind a brand being "sensuctive" is its ability to bring experience-based emotional design to light. The article details how it speaks to our subconscious and "flirts with our dreams" - and exudes a spiritual value. I think the pure uniqueness to the Jewelmint brand gives it a sensuctive element. Whenever I hand-select a piece, I not only feel like I'm consuming (yet again); I feel like the company exudes such specialty that I'm making a commitment to love this item and cherish it. It might sound silly, but each item is so delicately designed and has very limited distribution that my overall mood changes because I feel just as special as the product I wear.
west elm - http://www.westelm.com
This is a brand that, once again, sells a lifestyle based on communicating that specific lifestyle through design. Many of the examples used in the David Report refer to furniture design, so I thought it appropriate to mention my personal favorite home furnishings store. To those who aren't fully aware of what West Elm is, it is a an upscale retail store that specializes in the "cozy" and "sophisticated" home. Many of their designs pride themselves on being hand-made with outlandish inspiration, as well as being the creations of design schools such as Parsons and the Pratt institute. West Elm design is contemporary and keeps up-to-date with current trends, and mixes classic composition with patterned and unique "lo-fi" accents.
West Elm's merit, in my mind, stems from their catalog and showroom setup. In this way they manage to sell a lifestyle instead of individual products. Each season a large production takes place when their top designers and photographers rent out apartments in large, urban cities and photograph scenes within the home. They have simplistic value, and instead of being perfect and pristine they harness a "lived-in" quality with unmade beds and half-drunk coffee cups. Users fall upon the scene in their catalogs and instantly transport themselves to that cozy environment, imagining the home in the picture is theirs.
Moving away from the qualities of the brand, I'll focus on some specific, designed products and how they help branding and communicating in the marketplace. Take the Parsons Desk, for example, as seen here. This desk is so simplistic - it is the most basic, geometric desk anyone could fathom. Yet somehow it can only be found at West Elm. They've embraced the clean lines and purity of the design, and boast that it was designed in collaboration with Parsons New School for Design. The scenes in which it finds itself in the catalog make it stand out as geometric against its organic surroundings. This gives that particular product merit, and the aforementioned scene connects the user to the product; "That could be my cozy study if I buy the Parsons desk!" Therefor, design has become the West Elm brand. Another line of West Elm products, designed by artist Lourdes Sanchez (seen here), mix her fame for textile prints with a bare wall that loves white space. Her famous colorful textiles have transformed into small swatches of wall art inside large, white frames. In a small set, they decorate a white wall while paying homage to the negative space and bringing attention to the quality of the prints. Each is frame is so unique that the brand-identity of West Elm has been transformed into one that embraces trends and focus' on smaller elements that can utilize large spaces. It's an intriguing concept that devote shoppers adore. They've manifested the designs of a famous artist and made them tangible and personable.
COOLTURAL - West Elm's ability to create a story and a lifestyle and package it as a design brand makes it special and authentic. The designers are constantly updating their collections, featuring new artists, and rebranding their line every season. Each houseware object has a feature that makes it stand out, such as a ink splat or a fine silver line, unique to that product from that brand. It should also be mentioned that West Elm products are quite upscale and expensive; this makes each piece that much more of a treasure.
RATIONAISSANCE - West Elm boasts that they borrow inspiration from a plethora of facets; in this way, the design behind the brand has a universal timelessness. Using long-lasting materials while creating clean designs that reflect the "now" as well as the the past and the future, the brand-identity exudes itself as functional and iconic. They are certainly about keeping up a simplistic composition, while at the same time putting focus on the smaller things (such as wall art or textiles) that can change over time. In this way, the brand design can afford minor tweaks to the "small" things but maintain the overall brand-identity as being long-lasting and timeless.
RESPONSIBIZ - In many ways West Elm, especially as a large brand, has a responsibility to reduce its effects on nature and display visible social and moral values. A portion of their brand, known as the Green Elm Tree Label (found here) sells home furnishings that are organic and "green-made", while at the same time lend design to key elements of nature such as plants, animals, and raw wood. In this way West Elm is taking an ethical stance and the quality of their organic products make them sustainable. The vicious cycle of replacing your consumption with more consumption is a trend among brands that don't value objects that last in design and quality. West Elm designs products that are "responsibiz", timeless, and made to last. They even state on their website, "We don't pretend to have answers, but we do believe that design can make a difference. And we love a challenge" As I've learned from the reading, apparently art asks questions and design offers answers - so maybe West Elm was a bit off when writing that first part - but design certainly can make a difference!
SENSUCTIVE - West Elm's "sensuctive" nature finds merit in how they communicate their designs to the marketplace. The "lived-in" qualities of the showroom and catalogs offer a narrative and evoke a feeling of personal moments and memory. People I know who adore West Elm love their design for that exact reason; there's a nostalgia associated with the brand that feels very personal and unique. You feel like you've been there before, and even though you can't pinpoint where the comfort comes from, you feel at home. I think West Elm's strongest quality is its sensuctive nature; their design really is communicated as an "intimate moment when we're living life to its full" (David Report, Issue 10, Oct.2008, pg.33)
