Project Overview

A unique amalgamation of bespoke gifting, floral artistry and corporate offerings, V by Vie offers a highly curated collection of premium goods. Vie, meaning life in French, forms the core of their mission – they aim to elevate your daily life with joyful items that are beautiful, yet functional.

Project Commissioner

V by Vie

Project Creator

Vie Studio

Project Brief

As with many businesses, the retail offerings of V by Vie underwent developments and change within their first few years of operation. Our brief was to expand their branding system to highlight the different services that they offer; their floral artistry collection, bespoke gifting range and their corporate packages. Each required a distinctive look and character, while still aligning with the overall V by Vie brand. Within the existing brand, the core aspects included the creative and artistic nature of the creators, and the welcoming personality that they had cultivated.

Following the development of the brand identity, packaging collateral and stationery applications were required, as well as the expansion of the visual identity into the online space.

Project Innovation/Need

Within all these moving parts, we took inspiration from the brand’s mindset; we honed in on the small details. For the primary brand icons, we added intricate elements to speak to the bespoke offerings of the brand. The whimsical graphic devices that accompany the icons represent the artistic side of the founders, and are easily adaptable and interchangeable. These creative touches are furthered by the brand elements. Each being artistic and clean, these perfectly encapsulate the core values of V by Vie.

The final stage of our rebranding process included their online presence. Sitting within the lifestyle retailer sector, it was essential that we find a voice for V by Vie. We created a photo shoot system that stepped away from the lifelessness of plain product shoots, striking a balance between being designerly while still being attractive to customers.

Despite applying a macro lens for much of the rebranding, these facets came together to form the overarching brand. In this way, the brand identity extends beyond a simple logo, but rather, is a culmination of considered elements that illustrate the nuances of V by Vie.

Design Challenge

Within this multi-faceted business, one of the key challenges was highlighting each individual service while maintaining a strong common thread between each. An additional consideration was the range of suppliers that V by Vie was home to. As their range included both in-house and external brands, the visual direction of the brand needed to be versatile.

We found our solution by choosing to emphasise one of the core parts of the brand; the iconic ‘V’. Within the 3 brand icons, we featured this brandmark in order to link back to the main brand. To create the individual personalities, we condensed the key factors of each offerings into small details; whimsical floral illustrations for the flower line, gift ribbons for the gifting range and uniform, dashed lines for the corporate offerings. We also assigned a unique colour palette for each line, deriving from the existing colour scheme in order to work cohesively together. In all, the boldness of the ‘V’ mark was a strategic move, one that created a bold impression on our customers and reinforced the brand overall.

Effectiveness

Our rebranding strategies were successful in solidifying the branding of V by Vie. In bringing their different offerings back to a central visual identity, they were able to pose as a more reliable and established brand. Their online customer base expanded from a local demographic to an international level, and their online sale numbers saw a 50% increase. Their social media presence was also strengthened, and the unique photoshoot style we curated was well-received on various platforms.

The effects of crafting a unified brand persona carried through to larger scale projects. V by Vie were given the opportunity to extend their floral artistry line into bespoke floral installations, collaborating with exciting venues for their interior décor.