My friend Jules Wyman tagged me in a Facebook post in June 2017. The 'Owl & Monkey' where looking for artist to exhibit in their shop on Heslington Road in York. I gave Helen and Matt a ring and popped in to have a chat after that, my arm literally just out of plaster from a broken wrist.
It's a fabulous shop, a treasure trove of beautiful things for your home and life, including cards, vintage finds and locally grown flowers by Ducks and Daffodils. How could I resist. They loved my linocut prints and we set a date for an exhibition in November 2017. They like to support local artists and have a new artist each month, with a 'Meet the Artist' evening. You'll find pictures of my recent exhibition at the bottom of this post.
Later on in July, Helen asked if I'd be interested in working on their re-branding and marketing materials. "Yes! I'd love to", came my reply. I really enjoy working with like minded people with similar values. I loved their way of thinking, their vision for their business and of course all the lovely things in their shop.
Helen and Matt established business online in 2009. In Jan 2017 the opportunity of the shop became available. Their logo and marketing materials that didn’t have the look and feel they now wanted. They asked me to create a fresh colour palette and style that reflected their business, to be used across all platforms.
I started by gathering information about their customer and vision for their business by sending them a 'client questionnaire' and following up with a chat on the phone.
In terms of creative direction, they like grey, white and natural colours with pops of strong colour, pared with organic textures, industrial, upcycled looks with an urban feel.
Working closely with them, I started off by creating mood boards, so that I could show them palette and art style direction, tuning into what they wanted before starting on the design work. I had lots of ideas and created five different directions. I presented my ideas to them and one really stood out. We all agreed.
I started by creating a palette refresh for the logo. Then I created design elements that could be used as a tool kit across all their marketing materials. I hand drew illustrations for their loyalty cards, scanned in ripped masking tape, photographed blackboards and created Polaroid style frames for photographs. I wanted to create an eclectic scrapbook style.
The design elements and style guide has been used across business cards, loyalty cards, postcards, stickers that I've designed.
For the loyalty cards I hand made stamps from recycled corks and vinyl lino for them to use each time a customer makes a purchase.
I like to recommended and collaborate with other local York creatives. Nick and Mark at Nima Consultancy created their website based on the style guide and Helen at Ink Gardener created the copy for the marketing materials and website.
I've loved working on this with Helen and Matt and hope you pop in to see their lovely shop soon.
Owl and Monkey
16a Heslington Road
York YO10 5AT
See more of my graphic design work.
Creating a handmade stamp to be used on their loyalty cards.
Sticker design
Branding and style guide for Owl & Monkey
My exhibition at the Owl and Monkey in Nov 2017
