Weaving Branding Throughout Your Designs

Do you want instant brand recognisability? Here are ways you can grow your swimwear brand by weaving branding throughout your swimwear designs.

Iconic companies from the last century all have immediately recognisable branding. Coca-Cola has its signature red with a voluptuous glass bottle, Nike has their swoosh tick and ‘just do it’ slogan affixed onto leggings and tees alike, and Burberry has their beige heritage chequered print. All of these brands have achieved success in that their company name immediately conjures images of their branding and is forever linked within the consumer’s mind. They have weaved their branding throughout all areas of their company, including their product, which is essential to creating a strong brand narrative. Nike has become so visually discernible that consumers can see a pair of shorts embossed with a simple swoosh tick and immediately know that the product is Nike, without any other branding giving it away. Similarly, customers at a supermarket will see a dark soft drink with red branding in the aisle and assume it is Coca-Cola. Copycat and off-market cola brands have been using this red on their products to associate their own brand with Coca-Cola for years, demonstrating the power of strong branding.

Here at London Contour Experts, we understand the importance of a strong brand narrative that is unique and easily transferable across multiple channels of your business. That is why we highly recommend incorporating a signature print, illustration or colour from your brand marketing and weaving it into your products for that desired immediate recognisability. Similarly, you can also take inspiration from your products, such as a key colour or trademark print, and incorporate it into your branding, such as socials, website and packaging. Let’s explore current brands on the market and how they are achieving iconic status by utilising their signature print, illustrations or colour throughout their entire business

Print

Print is usually the easiest avenue to take if you want your branding to be carried throughout your products because you can create simplistic and effective designs using your brand’s logo, icon or signifier and imprint it onto your products. A fairly new brand which has achieved cult status in a handful of years is Marine Serre. The young French brand was founded by a designer of the same name in 2017 and showcased its first show in early 2018, in which the runway was littered with skin-tight contourwear such as catsuits, tops, leggings and sock-boots all adorned with an upside-down crescent moon print, the brand’s signifier. In only four years, the moon print is now immediately recognisable after influencers and fashion darlings picked up the trend and posted snaps across social media. Serre states that the moon print reflects her brand’s values, noting that “The moon […] is an icon, an emblem, an image, a representation, a flag, a language, a metaphor, an object of what we believe in crossing boundaries, hybridity, and freedom.”

She adds that “there are people who think the print is quite radical, and there are others who don’t know anything about politics and think it’s just cute. And this is exactly what I love.” Serre’s decision to incorporate her brand’s signifier throughout her debut collection and beyond was instrumental in building brand recognition and unique identity whilst reflecting the values within the consumer’s mind. This print’s swift ascent to icon status illustrates the importance of a focused marketing strategy and the power of print. At LCE, we have an expert team of graphic and product designers who work together to craft one-of-a-kind prints that can be woven throughout our client’s products and marketing to achieve cult status and recognisability.

When our teams at LCE began working with swim and lifestyle brand BAÍAH (coming very soon!), their signature print, present throughout their branding, packaging and products was inspired by a wallpaper that the founder became besotted with when she was staying at a luxurious hotel. The print can be found on the brand’s packaging and accessories and is mirrored by a similar textured print on the fabric used for the garments. The print invokes BAÍAH’s brand values of travel and luxury as well as sustainability because we used earthy tones such as orange and blue, and the lines of the print mimic the patterns and ripples of the sand and sea. Both the LCE team and the brand’s founder felt that this print was simple yet strong so we decided to weave it seamlessly throughout the branding to create a cohesive visual brand identity.

Illustration

Crafting a bespoke illustration which ties in with your branding is an effective way to inject personality into your brand and help define your brand’s style within the consumer’s mind. Nube, a sustainable activewear brand based in the US partners with artists and designers from around the globe and tasks them with devising illustrations motivated by the climate crisis to inspire customers to take action. Their overall brand mission is to support its community by providing a canvas and a platform to spark conversation around climate change. By cleverly intertwining their custom illustrations within their brand values, Nube can create a strong visual brand narrative centred around sustainability, and although they do not have one staple illustration woven throughout their products, their unique approach is their USP and their bold designs spark conversation around change.

London Contour Experts is fortunate to employ talented designers with a knack for illustration, and we have helped many brands create not only unique illustrated designs for their products but also hand-drawn icons for their websites. When we began working with IMAARA, an underwear brand focused on sustainability and period pants, we created a straightforward line drawing illustration of the iris flower. We chose this as not only are irises the founder’s favourite flower, but they are also purple, which is one of the more prominent colours used across IMAARA’s visual branding and packaging. Also, we were drawn to the iris flower due to the ancient Greek goddess of the same name who exemplifies faith, valour and wisdom, which are all values of importance to the brand, as well as a celebration of femininity. Hand-drawn illustrations in both branding and product align your brand as being human and relatable, whilst also being unique to your brand; no one else on the market will have the same illustrations as you and will truly help you stand out from the crowd!

Colour

A signature colour or colour palette is easy to create but difficult to make iconic. Many brands today are recognised solely by their signature colour, with some heritage brands now having their colour registered and attempting to be owned by the company, such as Tiffany’s robin egg blue or Hermes’ tangerine orange. Colour is a powerful tool within branding and marketing because different colours subconsciously infer different meanings and emotions, and so it is an effective way to influence your customers or to reflect a certain aspect of your brand. For example, pale green is associated with nature, indicating freshness, youth, growth, renewal and abundance. Therefore, a lot of beauty brands such as Simple, Garnier and Lush use a light green within their branding to subtly let their consumers know who they are and what their values are, which in this case would be a natural and gentle approach to skincare.

Lingerie brand Savage X Fenty also uses colour subtly throughout their branding, opting for purple which can be found throughout their website, socials, logo and many of their products, including their debut collection. Purple indicates strength, wealth and luxury as the original dyes used centuries ago were rare and expensive, so only the most elite could afford purple robes. Other connotations of purple include creativity, pride and mystery as well as nature and femininity due to the abundance of flowers displaying purple petals. Savage X Fenty is known for its message of empowerment, freedom of sexuality and celebration of the female form which can all be reflected by the use of purple. The colour has become so vital to the brand’s identity that they now have a feature on their website called ‘Purple Reign’, showcasing all of their purple products (of which there are a lot!)

We understand the importance of colour within both branding and product here at LCE and our team of experts can assist you in selecting the most appropriate signature colour and palette for your brand. When post-mastectomy lingerie brand, Valiant, came to us for a brand refresh, we didn’t want the brand to become unrecognisable to past consumers. Therefore, we carefully crafted a bespoke colour palette inspired by their first collection of undergarments. Using the bright turquoise, joyful pink and lime green which reflect Valiant’s values of mindfulness and growth, we entwined them throughout all areas of branding; from socials to the website, even creating a bespoke abstract print for Valiant’s packaging which used these colours. By helping the brand use what it already had and repurposing it, we helped strengthen its brand identity and create a more cohesive narrative simply by using colour.

Considering your branding when designing your products is vital for any successful brand to truly stand out. Ensuring your branding is woven and noticeable throughout your products strengthens your values and will be more recognizable to your consumers, in turn resulting in loyal customers. LCE are experts at executing cohesive branding as our marketing and design teams are all in-house and work very closely to ensure your brand is a standout.

For more information on our services, including our bespoke prints and illustrations, click here!

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