While I was on a Road Trip last week, for long and complicated reasons I popped into an independent mens and ladieswear retailer in the Yorkshire Dales (which shall remain nameless because I think the owner is a friend of a friend of a friend…).
I understand that the business changed hands relatively recently and the shop front was certainly looking smart and fresh with a fairly subtle identity (which I’ve covered up so you’ll have to trust me).
Then I saw this in the window:
No, not a 1970s knitting pattern, their new brochure. And this is the leaflet I found inside the store:
Somewhere, some kind of designer (however much of an artworker or printer they might really be) thought that this was an appropriate reflection of a relatively upmarket business (tasteful stuff aimed at an older market, with summer dresses at around the £100 mark).
And perhaps worse, somebody inside that business signed off the design work and thought it was OK. Sometimes I wonder if we get the design we deserve.
Trying to cram all that information into a little leaflet maybe meant that the look of it had to suffer. But if you can appreciate fashion, surely you can see a visual tram smash when it’s put in front of you for sign off?
To quote the Chuckle Brothers. “Oh dear…Oh dear oh dear.”
Perhaps you can suggest they look for a bit of inspiration from the Joules brand – consistent messaging, strong branding, clear positioning across all their communications.