It is important to uncover the history that drives their purpose and use that as a building block, a calling card that speaks to their soul and expresses to everyone who they truly are and what they do: Make it Memorable
Together, we created a bold and purpose-driven brand strategy, an inspiring name and slogan, beautiful brand design, an elegant and intentional logo, a meaningful and user-friendly website, and a short film to express their story to their customers.
Brand strategy
Business Naming
Slogan
Brand design
Logo
Font
Colour
Video
Web
“Their memories are in our hands.”
-Prendah
It’s a film about a family overcoming trials, sticking together, and delivering a loving service to their customers. The film takes you through a journey of personal stories and relationship with their clients. Since the business was changing its name and reintroducing itself to its loyal clients, we knew we had to tell the story of the business — the story of a family. Helping people Make it Memorable is their purpose.
Initially, we were commissioned to do their website, however, after a thorough needs assessment, we determined that they were in need of a brand strategy. A discovery session enabled us to find their true mission and vision. Everything they do revolves around memories. Their business helps people capture life’s most precious moments in creative and inspiring ways. It was the base upon which we built their whole brand: Make it Memorable.
One of the only things that brands can truly own is their name. In the case of this client, they couldn’t own their former name, Sooter’s — as they inherited it from the former owner. We needed to focus on what really matters. What matters for the owners and their family is a year: 1996. It was a time of new vision and a new lease on life. The Custom Photo Lab speaks to just how customizable and varied their services are. They capture memories in all shapes, sizes, and types. You make the memories, they help you keep them.
The slogan “Make it Memorable” is special because when their clients come in they’re not printing photos — they’re cherishing memories. When they come in for a frame — it’s a place to put memories. The owners are driven by their story of resilience, faith and fate. It’s a story they can own together with their customers.
To keep the logo simple, clean and true to who they are we added frame corners to subtly emphasize an important piece of their history as a family company. The colour of the framed corner changes for each location. The thicker font used for 1996 shows that, while they are technical, they are also current and relevant. We used a Sans Serif font that was very thin and technical for the Custom Photo Lab text to signal their appreciation for traditional and modern photo processing.
We needed to keep brand design simple in architecture but still bold – which was achieved through colour. To illustrate “Make it Memorable”, we used a widely varied colour palette. The four main colours used represent one of their different stores — each location has a colour that it can truly own.
As for the colours selected, yellow speaks to joy and hope that memories bring. Tangerine speaks to the value that 1996 offers to their clients — keeping these precious memories in unique ways. Olive Green speaks to the richness and quality of their product and compliments the fact that they are experts at what they do. Blue speaks to trust — you can trust them with your treasured memories.
We wanted to create a website that captured the soul of 1996 — it’s full of stunning imagery. It had to be colourful and diverse because the things they create are colourful and diverse. In that vein, we created a photography strategy for them, which they executed and we turned into design. We’re proud of that collaboration. We incorporated a simple layout so it was easy for users to discover and use their services.
1996 Custom Photo Lab is a family-owned photo lab that specializes in creating highly customized pieces. Their customer-first approach means that all you need is an idea, and they will be more than happy to help you Make it Memorable.
A new brand doesn’t come without challenges — after all, they are re-introducing themselves to the world. We are excited to partner with them on their marketing and advertising moving forward to make sure that everyone knows there’s a place that Makes it Memorable.
A new brand doesn’t come without challenges — after all, they are re-introducing themselves to the world. We are excited to partner with them on their marketing and advertising moving forward to make sure that everyone knows there’s a place that Makes it Memorable.
