alexander fitch
portfolio of work
Dunn-Edwards DURA
Client: Dunn-Edwards Corporation
In collaboration with: Jessica Mycek, Isabella Broglia
Dunn-Edwards DURA is a new brand of ultra-premium painted aimed to help take the guesswork out of color and product selection so DIYers can design their spaces their way. This sub-brand was created from scratch and I was happy and excited to design the branding (including brand style guide), packaging, contribute to the development of the Dunn-Edwards DURA website, and original photo content in collaboration with the Brand Creative Manager and Manager of Innovation and Consumer Strategy– a small but mighty team!
Gallon/Quart Packaging Design
The first order of business was to create packaging design design for gallon and quart-sized paint cans that were colorful, fun, and would appeal to the DIY crowd in addition to standing out amongst the competition. After presenting several designs to the target audience via consumer research, a design was selected as the most effective and I was able to expand the design across several different paint types as well as create a visual system to notate sheen, interior versus exterior versus multi-purpose, and where to note talking points and product benefits.
I also created an icon system to be used across all paint can labels to easily call out dry time, recoat time, coverage, cleanup, and applicable substrates to improve the user experience of these paint cans compared to other Dunn-Edwards paint cans. Formatting and organizing vast amounts of health/safety/instructional copy and keeping careful track of barcodes, SKUs, and QR codes were all necessary as a one-man design show for this project.
Paint Sampler Packaging
Perhaps my favorite part of this project was coming up with the design for the 6-ounce paint sample jars. This was no easy task as we had to not only source the packaging, but design it to fit an oddly-shaped container. I was able to convince the powers that be to allow the design to be printed with transparent hexagons and design elements to showcase the color inside the jar, much to my delight, so the packaging would help reinforce the color when consumers purchased multiple samples and, quite honestly, because I knew it would look amazing. As with the gallons, I worked hard to balance and manage multiple SKUs, QR codes, barcodes, and large amounts of copy in a relatively small space.
Print/Customer Experience Materials
As Dunn-Edwards DURA is an online paint brand, we had to consider what to include in a paint/sampler shipment to make the customer experience really count, particularly because painting is known to be a pain in the bahunkus and our goal has always been to take some of that pain out of the process. Thus, I designed several cards and backing to Dunn-Edwards DURA’s “SimpleSample” peel and stick paint samples that offer some pre and post-painting/sampling tips and tricks to take some of the guesswork out of painting and add a bit of personalization.
Photography
A large component of this project was generating original photography assets to be used across the Dunn-Edwards DURA website and social media channels. In addition to still-life flat-lays and color mood boards, I traveled to various properties (in collaboration with an AirBNB manager/designer) to take photos of interiors painted with Dunn-Edwards DURA that also fit the aesthetic we were going for. Whereas my duties were specifically about photography (including lighting), I enjoyed assisting with the staging of these interiors, and due to the nature of some of the properties, I enjoyed being challenged by some photos needing vast amounts of retouching. A recent project also involved generating photo assets for a new “Color of the Week” series to be used on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. As before, I was in charge of assisting with staging the photos, taking them, and editing them.
Brand Guidelines
The final piece of this puzzle was establishing a brand guidelines document. In collaboration with an agency, I designed, wrote, and otherwise created a set of standards that can be distributed to other agencies, freelancers, and interested parties including logo guidelines, the brand color palette, the packaging color palette, typography guidelines, photography guidelines, the brand’s voice and persona, product information, and more.
