case study

Yanick Lapuh

project             

brand & website design project

duration             

18 weeks

Client Quote

As an artist, I had little interest in self-marketing but realized that I had to jumpstart my career so I contacted imageshaper for help.  In less than 6-months, I had a step-by-step business strategy to follow, a beautifully designed website and, a 2-day show of my work that turned a profit!

Simon had a unique gift for understanding and addressing my needs.  With a minimum of effort I was able to push my career forward and still had time to paint!

Exposing true talent …
Client need

Since the mid 70’s this amazing French artist has been a prolific painter, yet has been one of the world’s best-kept secrets. In 2002, he made a small rectangular painting, a repeating pattern of raised geometric shapes in the form of a ‘Y’, each one shaded in muted red, green and blue.  It hung on the wall of his studio for more than a year, another one of those ‘studies’ that would probably lead nowhere.  Then, one day, he decided to paint a thin yellow line on each of the shapes, which gave the painting a greater illusion of 3 dimensions, opening a door to a new series.

Challenge

The challenge was a much an emotional one as a branding one. Trying to get an artist to see the value in branding, marketing, exposure, websites, databases … is an anachronism. Most artists spend their time buried in their studio, immersed in paint, tools, sketchbooks, etc. Yanick was no different, yet he knew it was time. Anything that we were going to design HAD to reflect the essence of Yanick, his unique style and geometrical approach.

Solution/Approach

We started off with me asking him to draw his favourite shape. “It’s simple he said as he drew two interlocking triangles and overlaid a square. “That’s it,” he said with a wave of his pencil. “Can’t you do something with that?” So, that was my brief.

Assembling a small team, we started off by preparing a simple action orientated marketing plan, which involved all the necessary components, including:

• product definition to enable us to position Yanick and his work correctly
• critical issue assessment - what were the issues that had prevented him from showing his work in the past?
• visual ID which could be applied to stationary, show invites, website, media kit
• communication strategy for the initial awareness campaign

Features

The boldness of form, line, and colour were the dictating factors, which became the theme applied to all the materials. Everything was designed utilizing a rigid grid that embodied his new work.

The use of white space was an important feature for Yanick. His studio is clean and uncluttered. He works in an organized, structured manner, so space is a key element. The website was the pivotal communication piece, and it was important to get complete buy-in for the architecture.