NEWS
Brown Shoe Company Branding Explained & Sneak Preview
See, this right here is why we love this community: Pose a question one day, receive a sneak peek at brand guidelines and usage the next (that we've been green-lighted to share with all of you). This is the sort of social interaction we've been aiming for the entire time in the evolution of the Egotist.
Rob Fieldhouse, Creative Director responded to the logo claim very swiftly yesterday providing the creative explanation and background for the new mark along with some usages in posters, print ads and the new web site.
"The color version you found is an internal construct sent to Alive as placeholder during the earlier stages of development. This color version is used only as an internal graphical device to describe the alignment of our extensive and varied brand portfolio with our 3 key consumer platforms: Family, Contemporary Fashion & Healthy Living."
"The new mark which is used only in warm gray or reverse white will be officially released for public consumption with the re-launch of our corporate website over the weekend. While the old Kiku Obata mark was iconic, the brown men's heels no longer reflected our diverse, exciting, and predominantly women's brand portfolio."
The brand mark acts as the primary identifier and the unifying element at the heart of our identity system. It embodies the integrity, collaboration, fashion forward thinking, and continuous innovation of Brown Shoe Company, Inc.
Ironically, the creative team over at Brown Shoe already had this information ready & assembled for next monday when the new site will be rolled out featuring the new identity.
We feel that this insight behind the logo and the shift towards more feminine fashions makes sense. Everyone can critique a new identity in the beginning, but only time can determine if it becomes an accurate representation and voice for the future of a company.
What are your thoughts now that you have a look behind-the-scenes?
Here's a breakdown of the leaked color logo as well.
The Brown Shoe Company brand identity evolved from a strategic research process that resulted in a clear vision of what our company represents. The foundation of our company is built upon integrity and it is our firm belief that how we do business is more important than how much business we do. This philosophy, combined with our ability to continuously innovate, leads to our brand mark’s single net impression: innovating, creating and inspiring new traditions in footwear.
This juxtaposition of tradition and innovation is reflected in the new Brown Shoe Company mark. Each twist represents our tradition and craftsmanship in the footwear industry while the helix B-shape represents the DNA of our people; it is their collaboration and continuous innovation that evolve our company. The four distinct sections of the mark communicate our corporate mission and our three strategic consumer platforms: family, contemporary fashion and healthy living. These platforms are a vital aspect of Brown Shoe Company, which is why our brand portfolio and brand mark are both tailored around this commitment.
Inspiring people to feel good and live better…feet first!
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I understand the reason for the change as they need to reflect and connect to the current (and future) state of the company. This is solid and important reasoning. The visuals that support the identity are nice. I am still thinking on the "b" shape. Admittedly, I was a fan of the "old" logo. This is a big change...and, as you pointed out, time will vet this out.
As a member of the previous brand identity team at Kiku Obata, I'm sad to see the old logo go - a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I can still recall the countless weeks/months of sketching and presenting and refining and presenting and critiquing and presenting... "Change the name, change the ticker, change the color. Make it simple, make it classic, make it work." Incredible experience I will never forget.
And while I certainly understand the new direction the company is taking, I feel like this logo works really hard to tell us many stories. And from experience, it could be many leaders wanting their voice heard in a company they are truly invested in, I get that.
I look forward to seeing how this unfolds and congratulate the team on a tremendous job - no easy task. Would love to know who the writer(s) and photographer(s) were - nice work.
Ugh. If an identity needs an explanation to be understood or appreciated then it's not a success. This new kidney bean / heart / ribbon could represent nearly anything. And as for the rationale, what company doesn't have many parts that forms its business? The Kiku version was classic, simple, memorable, and not to mention a wonderful use of visuals uniquly appropriate for its industry. Sorry Brown Shoe. An update to the typography and possibly the shape of the heel icons would have been a much better strategy (btw, women's heels come in many shapes so the existing illustrations are not necessarily out of synch). At least the heel version will live on in the award books.
The only thing missing is the chain and a Kay's logo. Perhaps we could throw in a catchy line, like: "Your Heart is an Infinite Love of Passion."
I'm a fan - the new mark delivers sophistication and beauty, while also feeling friendly and inclusive.
Creating a mark that succinctly describes such a varied house of brands (Vera Wang vs. Famous Footwear) is a challenging task. While Kiku's B-shaped heels were simple and clever, they always felt masculine and a little clumsy.
It's tough to balance fashion and sophistication with a friendly, approachable attitude, given that the two sides are often mutually exclusive but I think this mark succeeds in achieving a difficult objective. It's classy. It's elegant. It has just enough wiff of cool. Personally, I find Gotham to be a little over-used these days in the world of identity design, but it's a timeless face and it works well with the graphic. If nothing else, it's a better alternative than other possibilities such as Bryant or Futura.
More important to the company's success will be the creative done for individual brands. Few people will care who owns Vera Wang or Via Spiga or Naturalizer; after all, how many folks know who's behind Tide or Dove?
Although the mark looks nice, it feels very generic.
Of all the qualities that it's supposed to embody, the only one that it successfully communicates to me is continuous innovation.
Just my two cents though.
I have to put my support behind the original mark as well. While the new mark does offer the ability to blend several meanings into one concept, it simply fails to connect on any real level to the business it represents. Perhaps the original logo could use an update, but conceptually it is so much stronger. From a technical standpoint, am I the only one who detects a spacing issue around the O, particularly between the O and the W?
I guess it’s just a trend. Not plagiarism, right, Rob Fieldhouse? >:-(
Papeterie Haute-Ville
Buntisch ver. 01
Buntisch ver. 02
snap
As someone mentioned above the logo is almost an exact copy of Belcorp, I wonder how the people at Brown Shoes would feel to know that the creative agency, whom I assume they paid handsomely, sold them stolen goods? Belcorp is one of the largest (if not the largest) cosmetic manufacture in Latin America, with a growing global presence and recently entering the US market, the launch of their existing brand was in 2008. http://www.belcorp.biz . How the creative director thought this might escape notice is beyond me. I would love to hear Rob Fieldhouse chime in here.
We could be wrong, but we thought it was done internally.
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