About the Client
The Client here is "Faith Hair Salon". It is a hair dressers salon in Lowestoft. Their local area is highly competitive for hair salons, with a handful of good salons on the same road. Simply looking good isn't enough to stand out here, this brand really needed to focus on something.
Previously the business was called "Cheveux boutique" and had been trading in a high street environment for a number of years before the owner at the time decided to go a different way and sell it to the current owner, Faith.
When she took ownership of the Salon, Faith was already a succesful hair dresser, who had already worked for Cheveux Boutique. She decided to put her own stamp on the business, chose her a new name for the business, then approached us about rebranding.
We talked a lot about what the business is and where it wants to be in the future. The key thing was to provide a luxurious salon experience, but in as friendly a manner as possible.
Challenges with Re branding an established business
As we have already mentioned, This was already a successful business, complete with loyal customers and a reputation in the local area. That being said, there were three major challenges that we faced.
One of the challenges in the local area is, since our economy took a downturn, if you board up a shop, even for renovation, the locals will start muttering about the business being closed and people will quickly find service elsewhere.
The other challenge, which is common to any rebrand when big changes are made, is that you run the risk of pushing away your existing customers.
The third challenge was the competition. There are a few hairdressers within a few hundred yards of Faith hair salon. They are good too, they offer a good service, a good atmosphere and have all pitched their prices well for the experience they provide.
So how do we overcome these types of obstacles? Here is how:
The first step was to have a close look at the competition and see where Faith Hair Salon was different, then really focus on that. What we found is the most successful of the local salons had build quite different atmospheres. What would make Faith Hair Salon stand out is a more friendly, down to earth atmosphere. The other salons were larger, with 5-10 people being seen at anyone time. Faith Hair Salon, at the time, would see one or two people at the time which made it more feel personal. That atmosphere was the key.
Remembering that a brand is your clients perception of your business, we decided to use that to solve our other problems by timing the rebrand to happen after Faith had had at least one cut with each of her regulars. She would tell the face to face that they were rebranding and let them see the new logo "which nobody else had seen".
This approach meant that Faith had not only retained her existing customers, but had picked up one or two more because they wanted to know what the excitement was about. By inviting clients to comment directly on the new logo or colour scheme, they feel a sense of ownership of the brand, which is ordinarilly very hard to acheive on a limited budget.
In short, we looked at Faith Hair Salon, the competition and worked out the approach we needed. Then we put the existing clients at the centre of the launch.
The New Logo
There is a lot going on with this logo, from the colour to the font choice and the scissors. Everything element here is doing a job, evne the spaces between the elements have been carefully chosen for a reason.
As an example, have a look at the two fonts I have chosen. The main font is quite a traditional font with a rich history in the fashion industry, being used regularly for things like magazine headers etc. The high street wher you will find the salon is one that very much favours a traditional atmosphere. The second, smaller font is again a font that has a rich history, again has a lot of use in the fashion and beauty industries, but is much more modern looking.
The two fonts combined make a logo that respects its traditions, but is looking forward. This is how we wanted the brand to feel.
The Scissors
When we started on this logo we were thinking alot about Faiths Clients. The clients she had were ideal and she just wanted to attract more like them. As a crowd they seemed to prefer a literal, matter of fact way of approaching things. This meant the logo had to be literal and show what the business was, so after trying a few different ideas we settled on the scissors.
If they were going to be any scissors, they had to be hairdressing scissors. Whats more they had to fit with the text in some way. Although we tried other things, it was quickly apparent that we wanted to substitute the capital A from the name, with the blade of the scissors.
That was only part of the story. For accuracy I took a photo of some hair dressing scissors, then traced over it in Adobe Illustrator. On the first run it didn't look right. There was too much detail and the sizing and proportions were all wrong. We removed all the little details and that then made it look unfinished. It took several attempts to get it right, in the end I got it to a size where the width of the blades complimented the width of the font, then stretched the blades out a little. Then it was about picking just enough detail to give it a finnished look without overdoing it.
Faith Hair Salon Website
As an existing business, there were good reviews on google. We wanted to use this, along with active social media accounts to promote the business. A lot of the effort towards search engine visibility was geared to take advantage of these things and encourage organic growth.
To see the site for yourself, click here.
There you will see that we used the fonts from the Logo as heading fonts and body fonts. The Green and Grey colour scheme is carried through the whole site, creating the same atmosphere you would find online as you would in the salon.
The feeling of this atmosphere isn't just about how the site looks, but in how it works. A lot of Faiths clients suggested they didn't like booking online, instead preferring to ring up. Because of that, there isn't an online booking facility as you would normally expect. Instead its a diary and a pen beside the phone in the salon. You can still email for bookings if you prefer.
The Retainer Advantage
Rather than going for a large one off fee for the Brand redevelopment, Faith opted for a monthly retainer contract. This included a few obvious things like hosting, maintaining and making alterations to the website. This could include things like a change of opening hours or updating prices and services.
There is also room in the retainer contract for me to create new assets for Faith to use, like appoitnment cards, a price list and posters to be displayed around the shop. I arranged the print where it was needed and let Faith know who was doing her prints, so she could order a reprint directly.
What Faith says about our service
So pleased with the work Andrew has carried out for me with my salon website. Very efficient and thorough service. He also designed my business and appointment cards and reworked the existing logo to make it work for me when I took over the salon. He is an amazing designer who is always available to answer any queries I may have, even though we are 200 miles apart! Highly recommend!
Conclusion
Branding for Faith Hair Salon was so much more than just a facelift. Faith had to really look at what her business was and what she wanted it to be. There have been a few benefits for Faith since the rebrand. She is getting the right clients and things are doing well.
The hard work hasn't stopped. For this effort to pay off, Faith Hair Salon must constantly monitor how the business is perceived. With help from Coton Design and Branding, they will be fine.
Contact us
If you have any questions about what we do or would like to know more, then send a message and we'll get back to you. We are always willing to offer help and advice with any kind of branding or design situation.
We are open for business during normal office hours.