The
Pursuit
of
Style
Nordstrom
Nordstrom Rack Brand Refresh
Nordstrom Rack is a fashion retailer offering branded clothing and accessories for women, men,
and children at a large discount. In anticipation of an aggressive store expansion schedule, Nordstrom’s creative team enlisted Turnstyle to work on design revisions for the Rack's visual identity system to better reflect their current and future vision in-store and online.
Background
Nordstrom Rack carries more top-tier designer labels and brands than any of the leading discount retailers. Better brands equate to bigger value for customers. The Rack is also tuned in to today’s evolving consumer, offering services such a well-integrated multichannel shopping experience, easy returns, effective mobile apps, while also maintaining a significant social presence.
Strategically, our objective was to portray the Rack as: (1) accessible, not elitist; (2) confident, but not arrogant; (3) style-conscious, but not superior; (4) upbeat and fresh, but not trite or overly sentimental; (5) witty, but not self-deprecating.
Visual Audit
Turnstyle first reviewed and audited the existing Nordstrom Rack visual brand presence (online and in-store) to identify opportunities for improvement. Several things stood out: an over-use of multi-colored circles which at times felt juvenile and lacked sophistication, an unfocused typographic voice with a mishmash of typefaces and cluttered styling, and inconsistent photographic art direction.
Visual Identity System
Tactically, we focused and refined the various components of the identity system to establish a stronger, more cohesive visual foundation from which Nordstrom's in-house creative team could develop branded communications.
Logo
We adjusted the existing logo lockup by nesting the Nordstrom logotype more comfortably to the left of the ascender of the letter ‘k.’
Typography
LL Brown, a geometric sans-serif typeface available in multiple weights and stylistic variants, was chosen to bring a more modern typographic sensibility to the system. Brown was selected for its classic influences and friendly quirks that give it an approachable and fashionable appeal.
Color
A limited color palette was selected to help establish a more sophisticated and recognizable color space. Additional accent colors can be used to compliment photography or to designate seasonal campaigns.
Shapes
Fashion outfits all shapes and sizes, so we expanded the visual language beyond just circles by employing a variety of geometric shapes that intersect and overlap. These shapes and patterns serve to punctuate graphic compositions.
Photography
Photographic art direction focused on four characteristics: (1) an effortless and optimistic mood with diverse casting; (2) simple, natural and neutral backgrounds; (3) soft, open lighting; (4) intentional negative space and interesting crops.
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