Branding, Illustration, Copywriting & Product Design

THE POTATO SACK

BRAND DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION ADverTISING

It is said that a good designer can re-brand and upscale almost everything… Here you have a triumphant makeover of the potato sack, a new fashion trend which evolved from being a symbol of frugality and simple country life to the sophisticated brand of luxury goods for modern urban dwellers with self-irony and love for everything authentic and true-to-nature.

This branding project is a celebration of my design abilities. It demonstrates the varied skills I possess, from copywriting the brand’s philosophy, to researching the almost 100-year-old history behind the potato sack dress, to drawing the coat of arms and hand-printing the pattern, to designing the logo, on-line presence, finalizing the Potato Sack identity in the brand book, and to crafting the final products and packaging.

PRODUCT DESIGN

Every Potato Sack bag reflects the brand's heritage, showcasing in a screenprinted format the varies incarnations of the potato sack over the past century, which I had to research in depth for this project. Marilyn Monroe and the Man’s Revenge ad, Cleopatra Playsuit and the faded-away image of pioneer farmers, historical potato bags prints and my own coat of arms, the bags represent quaint story behind the brand, with the name that says it all: it is just a potato sack… with a bit of a twist!

LOGO

The Potato Sack goods proudly wear their logo: intertwined letters P and S. The combination of two letterforms makes a powerful and memorable statement whether used as an element of a fabric pattern or depicted on its own on store signage. The Clairvaux LT Std typeface reflects a sense of wholeness, uniqueness and tradition with a touch of whimsy, which combined represent the values of the brand.

COAT OF ARMS

To emphasize the rich history behind the idea, the Potato Sack brand has its own Coat of Arms. The gold background signifies sunny fields that give life to the natural fibres of the potato sack textiles. It also represents the precious quality the brand's products. The potato plant depicted at different stages of its development symbolizes the combination of laborious craftsmanship with an artistic sense of ease and beauty. The swag featuring the brand name serves as a seal of uniqueness, quality, and authenticity.

STATIONERYAll stationery products had to combine a sense of urban modernity and style with the homey feel and tradition goodness of the potato sack through texture, colour, and image choice. The whole package delivers a message: we stand for an upsc… — **STATIONERY**
All stationery products had to combine a sense of urban modernity and style with the homey feel and tradition goodness of the potato sack through texture, colour, and image choice. The whole package delivers a message: we stand for an upscale brand with an original character and artisan flare.

PACKAGING

The Potato Sack packaging has the signature colours, texture, and feel of the brand. For the merchandise tags, I chose sourced retro countryside-style images as well as a decoration of hemp, cotton and leather cords.

For a cohesive look, the logo-covered wrap paper was screenprinted too.The paper bags bear the same logo and crest and were printed on brown paper on a letterpress machine.

brand book

The concept of the brand, its history, and the elements of its identity were explained and visualized in the book. To keep it cohesive with the texture of the products, the hardcover was screenpinted on fabric. All illustrations, collages and graphics were created by me.

ADverTISING

A number of typographical posters were developed that bear the trademark typeface and logo of the Potato Sack brand. To unify the entire advertising campaign under one idea, “Belong to the circle of urban dwellers”, i.e. a “club” of cool owners of the Potato Sack, I also created promotional editorial posters that were screenprinted by hand.

The editorial posters are all based on the ironic metaphor of the brand: upscaling a mere potato sack and turning it into an object of desire. I appropriated existing high-end fashion images and added a twist: the original luxury goods were replaced with Potato Sack products, bringing into life the motto “There is a true potato sack in everyone.” The posters were split into CMYK layers and screenprinted on professional lightly-coloured paper in order to give them more down-to-earth, hand-made look.

WEB & MOBILE UX DESIGN

The Potato Sack branding is complete with web and mobile UX design.