Hydrofend™

Key Branding and Art Direction

Research showed that a major mindset within the target audience was preference for the familiar. To elicit the feeling that this brand has been around for a while, is credible and respected, I drew inspiration from brands in the Golden Age of Advertising.

After exploring many different forms a clear winner emerged, with an icon inspired by the first two letters of the name, and an abstract illustration of the key product feature: water rolling off of a draped surface.

Color was a key way that the retro-inspired forms of the icon and wordmark were given a contemporary twist. The core palette is a mere five colors, but the yellow-green color can be amplified or scaled back to change the energy level based on audience and application.

As I developed the visual language of the brand I began exploring how it would be expressed in ad layouts.

From the outset I knew that the project budget was slim, so I had to devise ways to accomplish production and photography that capably expressed the identity without blowing the budget. We needed photography of the product in application, but since our target audience was fabricators, not consumers, we could leverage the studio look to place visual emphasis on the product instead of distracting lifestyle elements.

The product has a range of uses, but boat covers was the strategic target.

I used Blender to sketch out the boat in a studio environment to clearly communicate with the photography team exactly what I had in mind.

The final ad layouts debuted in trade publications.

Additional Materials

In support of the product launch and ongoing marketing needs I developed a range of materials such as mailers, sample cards, spec sheets, and the like.