Metropolitan Salon
When Holly Yarush agreed to take ownership of Metropolitan Salon in Barrington, RI she wanted to rebrand the upscale boutique with her own aesthetic while preserving some of legacy that the previous owner, Judith, had spent years establishing.
Holly wanted her new brand should reflect the seaside location of the salon and promote an atmosphere of comfort, relaxation, and fun for the clientele. She provided a Pinterest board with sophisticated typography, beach textures, and a coastal color palette of muted blues and greens, light browns and off-whites. The direction she wanted was clear, which actually streamlined the visual brand process. Sometimes I find it more productive working in a narrow channel rather than unlimited options.
I presented three concepts for Holly to consider — two of them centered around an “M” monogram and a third that incorporated a scallop shell illustration. One of the monograms combined a traditional, formal letterform with the playful flourish of flowing script. The other monogram incorporated soft, organic waveforms that resemble flowing water or cascading hair. I kept the color palettes confined to the coastal palette of muted blues and soft earth tones.
Even though the legal name of the business is Metropolitan Salon, clients often refer to it as Met Salon so I included this as part of the brand presentation. When Federal Express rebranded in 1994, the name was shortened to FedEx — one reason was because that’s the shorthand their customers used. Your brand isn’t necessarily how you perceive it but how your clients perceive you.
I always recommend to my clients that they “live” with their brand concepts for a few days or even a week and pin them up on a wall so they can see them multiple times a day. I’ve discovered that, while first impressions are important, the concept that clients ultimately choose is the one that grows on them over time. I also provide mockups so they can see each concept “in the wild” because, seriously, the only time you’ll see your brand isolated on a white background is on a presentation board.
Holly chose to move forward with the sea shell concept and she confessed to me afterwards that it was her first pick from the minute she saw it. So first impressions won the day this time.
Next, we moved forward to apply the new brand to a redesigned Met Salon website. Although the new website is small (just five pages) I worked with Atom Web Design to develop it on the Wordpress platform so it could easily be scaled in the future. I provided full-page designs, Atom provided all of the development expertise, and together we gave Holly and Met Salon a new look and a new marketing presence.
“Justin made the process so easy and stress free. I came to him with a ton of ideas going in all different directions and somehow he took all my ideas and formed the most beautiful brand. Everything looks beautiful and I am so happy with everything he did.”