jonathan louis furniture
White label furniture manufacturer gets a brand makeover to reflect its fashion-forward home decor.
Brand Identity | Website | Social
A B2B furniture brand was ready to freshen its look and become a source of home decor inspiration to consumers nationwide.
Jonathan Louis is a national furniture brand with a mission to create stylish, custom pieces that are well-made and affordable. And they do just that. Today, this family-owned company is an industry leader in manufacturing for countless retailers across North America, including Living Spaces, Z Gallerie, and Macy’s.
While their products are in high demand for their modern designs and high level of customization (100s of fabrics to choose from!), the brand name was largely unknown to consumers because of their white-labeled identity at retail stores and their outdated website which was difficult to navigate and catered almost exclusively to wholesale distributors. Johnathan Louis was ready to step into the limelight with a fresh face matching their modern aesthetic and become a vibrant consumer brand that shoppers ask for by name at retail showrooms across the country.
objective
Our task was to launch a refreshed brand identity that accurately reflects their style, quality, and 40-year heritage including a redesigned website that is delightful for both dealers and consumers. As Senior Art Director at their advertising agency, Fraser Communications, I was tasked as lead for this brand revamp - determining and crafting the brand’s image across web, social, print, and packaging.
MY ROLE
Creative Lead, Brand Design, Senior Art Director, UI Design
CREDITS
Fraser Communications, Agency
SunnyByte & Ripe, Web Dev
Previous identity
DISCOVERY
To understand the landscape of the crowded furniture market, we conducted a competitive analysis, exploring and uncovering insights to help Jonathan Louis and Fraser develop a brand identity that stands out and embodies its unique characteristics.
Fraser then conducted focus groups to gain a clear picture of the brand’s ideal consumers – who they are and what they expect, desire, and value most in regards to shopping for furniture. We distilled the research into key insights that informed the positioning strategy and brand identity traits that I directly infused into the logo and identity.
Brand Attributes:
Timeless Style: A wide variety of contemporary, on-trend products
Creative Expression: High-end customization at affordable prices
Legacy: Family-run, American business of almost 40 years
Hand Crafted: High-quality and expertly crafted by hand
Strategy
Your style. Your statement. Forget cookie-cutter furniture: Jonathan Louis offers a creative canvas for individualism. The fabrics represent the paint, and the consumer is the artist. The result: one-of-a-kind furniture centered on self-expression.
Logo
The bespoke watercolor icon – an evolution from the brand’s legacy green – conveys artistry; the script “JL,” as if a personal signature, feels spontaneous. That it extends outside the circle alludes to the energy of creativity, where one always thinks outside the box (or in this case, the circle).
BRINGING THE NEW BRAND TO LIFE
With an inspired brand purpose, I redesigned and reconstructed brand collateral – tags, fabric swatch cards, stickers, stationary etc. – that consistently communicates Jonathan Louis as the canvas for creative expression.
Social Media Content Creation
Jonathan Louis’ social channels serve as a visual catalog of inspiration – and Instagram, a hub for home décor, stands out as the brand’s sweet spot for showcasing a medley of helpful ideas ranging from fabric trends and couch care tips to choosing the perfect snacks (and cozy sofas, of course) for the big game. I designed fresh content each month reflecting Jonathan Louis’ brand personality.
Website redesign
Fraser designed and produced the new JonathanLouis.com website, which includes exciting new features like JL Shop – the brand’s first foray into direct-to-consumer e-commerce via shoppable pillows and fabric yardage. As the lead creative of Fraser, I partnered with web developer SunnyByte to reconceptualize the entire site. I had a hand in all steps of developing the new user experience from the site map, user flow, and wireframes, to redesigning user interfaces.
The site won the MarCom Platinum Award for 2018 Website Redesign.
Trade show Creative
The High Point Market is the largest furnishings industry trade show in the world. Bringing more than 75,000 people, it is the perfect place for Jonathan Louis to showcase their newest collections. Twice per year, I designed digital invitations and printed “Trend Cards” to complement the Jonathan Louis tradeshow and showcase the featured trends in their showroom.
Results
Following the launch, Jonathan Louis was so thrilled with the reception of the new brand identity and increased web traffic, they hired our agency to create an all-new sister brand, Design Lab, featuring an exciting custom furniture design app for the ultimate retail shopping experience.