Saturday, April 30, 2011

My name's not "Edna".

Enda B

How do you go about freshening the image of a fashion store that appears to be named "Edna"? We all know "Edna" is not a name that's synonymous with fashion (unless you're a fan of The Incredibles).

Well, a good first step is to remove the capitalization.

enda b

When the first letter is capitalized it makes "Enda" read as a proper name, so your brain takes a short-cut and inserts the most common name it knows (Edna) with similar letters - sort of like auto-correct when you're texting... and we all know how wrong that can be! An additional advantage to using all lower-case is that the word now appears softer, friendlier, more youthful... and frankly, no longer like someone's stodgy old aunt.

Next, I develop a short phrase that says what enda b has to offer. Which is: head-to-toe styling using a thoughtfully planned out selection of established and emerging designer lines, personal shopping and attentive, warm and experienced staff. In short:

where everything comes together

Next, a talented stylist (Yvadney) pulls a selection of gorgeous S/S designer clothes and accessories fresh in the store for spring (DKNY, Elie Taharie, Nicole Miller, Michael Kors, PENNYBLACK, etc.), I book the perfect model (Lauren), and Fred shoots a lovely little campaign of casual-to-gala looks. You know, show the people what you've got. In store. Now. All at enda b... where it all comes together.

And for me, it also all came together - this was one of those incredibly satisfying projects where I had the fun of concepting the whole new look & logo, I got to produce, art direct and provide hair & make-up on a really fun shoot, and then I got to incorporate the shots in ads, direct mail, eblasts, signage and a brand new website.

Now that's what I love to do!

Direct mail - sorry, all 200 scarfs went the first day.
First of series of eblasts, this one
promoting PENNYBLACK (only at enda b, super sweet line!)
7' wide in-store banners
New website with lookbook gallery and blog.
www.enda-b.com
Photo team:
Liz Dungate - art direction, hair, make-up (and now you know what the fainting couch was for)
Fred Fraser - photographer
Yvadney Davis - stylist
Lauren Innes @ Next - model

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Productive mess

I love waking up to projects in mid-creation. I eat my breakfast while reviewing the progress, and obsessively plan my next steps... visualizing how it will all turn out. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't, but at that magic moment, everything is possible.


And I take just as much pleasure in other people's projects, like Fred creating the beautiful stained wood floor for our upcoming editorial.


Not to mention the fun of finding and making props to flesh out the set.


I simply love those days of inspiration and anticipation while a "productive mess" takes over our space, and almost feel a little sad when the project is complete and all the mess is cleared away.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Why wait?

I find I'm often waiting to see/get/show images from a shoot. I'm currently waiting for some advertising images to be published, some editorial images to be published, and some creative images to find their way to me. And sometimes the images never arrive and I just have to move on.

But recently I did a fun little creative with three great people, and I already have the images. And I don't have to wait for them to go "public"! Can you tell how happy I am? And the icing on the cake (speaking of icing, I made two large cakes, fully decorated and layered for a birthday party tomorrow... don't ask me about icing... but I ramble...) is that I also love the results.

:)


:: THE JOKE :: from evaan kheraj on Vimeo.



photography | Evaan Kheraj
styling | Luisa Rino
model | Taylor @ Richards
hair/make-up | me

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

What do I do when I'm not making people pretty?

Actually, most of the time I'm a designer/art director. I come up with visual concepts for ways to tell the story or promote the message of my clients in a compelling way.

I design identities, ads, direct mail pieces, annual reports, communications pieces, signage, web site interfaces, etc. In the best projects, I come up with a fresh and interesting concept, often sketching the ideas out beforehand. Then I produce the visuals: photography (art direction, propping, coordinating talent, styling) or creating original finished illustrations. Then I build the print files on the computer, ensure that the files are compatible for the print process they'll require, and finally attend the press check to ensure the printing meets expectations. When I get to the end of a project like that, it's pretty satisfying, let me tell you.

Here's a small sampling of what I do the majority of the time. :)