Reflection of a Creative Journey

Branding for a self funded handmade brand.

Project by Stephanie Ip

January 2019

Sutai Bu is a self funded handmade art and textile brand inspired by nature. Exploring the natural beauty and structures of living things, applying fundamental design concepts into interactive and functional products that encourage thinking of possibility. A brand without an identity is like a person without a soul. This project is one of the many parts of building a brand, and it will continue to evolve as the brand grows.

Naming a brand is like naming a baby with a slightly different purpose. A brand name can be completely literal in spelling out what it sells - for example, Burger King. Or, it can be representative of the founder, stimulating curiosity with a story behind the brand. No matter what the name is, it should paint a picture of what the brand stands for.

Being an American born, Hong Kong raised, and part Japanese-blooded independent thinker, my unique last name and cultural background had given me an identity on paper. However, it is my thoughts, values and personality that characterize who I am. With this in mind, I picked two words that not only represent my cultural background, they also provide an idea of what the business sells, and most importantly, sound interesting enough to promote interest.

Sutai Bu is a play on the two words Sutairu and Bu. Sutairu means “style” in Japanese, and Bu means “fabric” in Chinese. Together, it means Fabric with Style - a name that captures the essence of who I am, and what I am passionate about.

Looking beyond the Asian sounding English characters of Sutai Bu, how else can I paint a picture for the brand?

My Chinese last name in fact has a deeper meaning than most common Chinese last names. Ip (IPA: [ɕiɛp]) means “leaf” in modern Chinese. It is a perfect symbol of me and nature. And so, I began writing out the character with a Chinese calligraphy brush. After multiple rounds of iteration, I filtered out the ones that had the best balance of strokes within the Chinese calligraphy grid. Finally, I picked the one that looks the best with the perfect harmony of conformity and elegance.

Colors ignite emotions. Picking a color for the logo that resonates with a certain demographic can isolate the brand from getting noticed. Instead of picking a palette of bright and bold colors, I have taken the simplistic and organic direction of black, white and colors found in nature.

Dressing up the logo with the appropriate font is equally important in the process of this project. Both Chinese and Japanese have a rich history of calligraphy with the use of animal hair brushes and sumi ink. A typeface that embraces these characteristics will germinate the entire look and feel of the logo.

Summing up Sutai Bu’s value proposition and main goals the brand is looking to achieve in the coming years, I picked out a few key words and whipped them into a simplified 6-word tagline, starting with a verb and ending with a descriptive noun:

Finally, putting all the parts together in a style guide for internal and external use, making sure the design details are well communicated. Exporting all the appropriate file formats for the compiled logo, organizing them under appropriate marketing folders for all sorts of brand identity usages, such as brand labels, business cards, product hangtags, and marketing event fixtures.