Troubadour - a very cute and cozy vintage book, vinyl and records store, that opened almost a decade ago. The store attracts its customers with a pleasant jazz atmosphere and unique and rare books, and has recently gained popularity thanks to the so-called new method of attracting customers. “Blind date with a book.” You buy a book, but you don't know which one, all you get is a brief description. So the store develops and gives its warmth and peace to its regular and new customers.
Attracting the audience with interesting activities is always very important, especially for stores like Troubadour, because as everyone knows - everything new is well-forgotten old, and now books and vinyls have started to gain popularity among the younger generation. That is why there are so many such bookstores now, and everyone can find something special for themselves. All these businesses and brands are very similar to each other, because their target audience and products often coincide, so it is necessary to distinguish something other than these factors, which is design.
Troubadour never paid much attention to its branding, and this was also a problem, because customers will not appear by themselves, and the design and logo is a very important component, it is what attracts the first eye of the customer and gives a brief description of the store or brand itself. That is why I decided to create branding for Troubadour, because such a wonderful store cannot go unnoticed.
The main task of the rebranding was to reflect and show the calm and pleasant atmosphere of the store, with which it so attracts and inspires its customers. The main design challenge was to combine music and books, as these are the two things that Troubadour specializes in, and the colors and fonts were chosen to convey the vintage vibe of the brand.
Discussing ideas, target audience, competitors with a client. Receiving wishes from the client regarding the project.
Creating sketches based on wishes and ideas and presenting them to the client for further work and feedback.
Creating a product relying on feedback, ideas and clients needs. Obtaining a final opinion.
Presenting the final product and seeing how it works in real life.
Since this project was a school project, I unfortunately did not have the opportunity to cooperate with the store itself and its owner, so the client in this case was my professor.At the beginning of creating the design, I looked through many articles about this small store and had the opportunity to visit it to feel all the atmosphere and build the branding of the company on it.
I wanted to create something simple and something that would be easy to remember and notice, and at the same time I tried not to lose the very essence and atmosphere of the store.
Also, in order to understand what Troubadour's competitors are, I visited other similar stores and analyzed their branding so that Troubadour could stand out not only with the content it sells, but also with its design.
After creating a large number of sketches, I worked on improving them, and choosing colors and fonts that would best suit the illustrations I created.Since I did not create this project with a client, I was able to choose my favorites myself and work with them.
For the Troubadour logo, I used two colors, black and bright red, to keep it clean and minimalistic. The main color - red, represents the middle of the vinyl, which is depicted on a logo. It attracts the attention of the buyer, or just an ordinary passerby, and makes a reference to the vintage of the store.
There are two fonts that are being used for a logo: Abelition Soft and Monarcha. Monarcha can also be used as a print typeface for a company. It can be used for print copy or headlines. but the leading font of the logo is Abelition Soft, that gives it the vintage style that I wanted to show and convey.
Since this project was my first creation for a real brand, I think I am completely satisfied with my work. Everything that I wanted to reproduce and show in the logo, and in the brand itself, I succeeded and I believe that it would be perfect for Troubadour.
