Chapters
Reviving an Outdated Brand
Creating the Perfect Tone
Client Work
Reviving an Outdated Brand
While Leisure Hut Screen Print and Embroidery just reached its 50th year in 2022, the original owner retired and sold shortly before in September of ’21. I was brought on to the team soon after as the sole designer. Despite the business being an established part of the community, the brand itself was in much need of a revival. It seemed the original owner had never placed much emphasis or work into the brand's image in the first place and it was in need of some TLC. Anthony (the new owner) and I were adamant on reviving the business and creating a distinct identity that properly symbolized this new era of the business and our values. One that clients, new and old, could better connect to and form a strong relationship with.
I had a lot of work to do. With no properly trained designer before myself, the brand relied on boring stock photography and horribly outdated typography straight out of the 00’s. For a business that designs and decorates apparel, there was no emotion or sense of direction in the visuals at the time. I wanted to emphasize the fun and self expression that Leisure Hut offered in its garment and decoration design. My plan was to modernize the brand with bold, flat graphics, clean typography, and an energetic color palette that complimented that message. I set out to create some sort of mascot as well as a homage to the decade the business started and to further capture that energy.
Creating the Perfect Tone
The brand needed to be accessible through satisfyingly clean space and typography paired with a bold, recognizable LH symbol. I started sketching out the idea of a cartoon mascot that was a screen printing squeegee. I drew inspiration from retro style cel animated cartoon characters; another slight call back to the business’ founding decade. We named him Squeeg, pronounced (Skwee*juh). The name was perfectly simple and matched that playful energy I was going for. The one problem with it was that there was his name wasn’t easy to pronounce when reading; it became sort of a running joke. I decided to play into it and sometimes have pronunciation beside his name. I gave him a fun backstory of being Leisure Hut’s real owner who isn't around a lot to add to his comical nature. He became the start of the icon set I created to display our services. That set became a background pattern set at a low opacity as to not overcrowd any space but be a nice subtle detail.
Nailing the color palette down was a challenging step in this process. In the first few iterations I found that various blues didn’t bring the energy I was looking for. This being Leisure Hut’s 50th year, I found inspiration in decor pulled straight from the 70’s such as warm floral rugs and overly-patterned wallpaper. This led me to land on the vibrant green and muted orange that brings life to the palette. This brought just what I was looking for with its pop and ties to LH's past. When paired with the bold graphic style, it conveyed the timeless, clean energy I wanted to capture.
Starting in the 3rd quarter of 2022, we celebrated Leisure Hut's 50th year of business by making limited time throwback designs that referenced a staple of pop culture from each decade of business. At the start of 2023, we launched the new visual identity along with a new website. While we had the website built and SEO handled by an outside source, I was point-of-contact with said company and supplied them with front-end mockups to reference when creating the website. With the visuals done and improvements made to other parts of the business as well, we launched Leisure Hut into a new era. One that we captured the exact energy and emotion that defined the business. As of September of 2023, the work that we put into the brand and the business as a whole has brought sales up 160% from last year.
Client Work
Apart from updating the visuals of the brand, there was still plenty of other work to be done. I started with implementing a streamlined SOP and workflow for the design position. I defined tasks and internal operations, set up a proper filing system, and worked with the screen printing and embroidery departments respectively to improve the quality of our work.
Next I broadened the range of design services offered from Leisure Hut and set out to connect with our clients better. On top of the normal apparel and merchandise design services, I started offering branding, logo design, and digital and print design services. True to the values of the brand, I wanted our clients to enjoy and take part in the process. Through this, I formed some great relationships with local businesses, schools, organizations, etc. With the change of ownership and new visual identity, I wanted to make sure that existing customers knew that while we have a new face, the heart of the business is still the same and that they could count on us. Some of my favorite work was logo designs for local businesses.
The Frozen Lounge is a local adult slushy/drink bar that had recently opened up when they came to us. I helped explain the importance of brand recognition and visual identity after they showed me the current logo they were using. As soon as the first client briefing, I had the sketch in my head of an iceberg sitting on top of a cocktail glass with a cool blue palette. I refined it and presented it to the customer and they now proudly use and wear the design. It was always gratifying to be able to help someone bring their ideas to life then see it as a physical, finished product.
