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DRESS FOR SUCCESS.
This project was done through a portfolio workshop; a weekend bootcamp where we met the client on Friday and had our brief written Saturday. Creative direction was finalized Sunday evening, and we presented to the client the following Friday. It was really intense, but super worth it.
WHAT’S THE CONTEXT? The nonprofit organization exists in a paradox. It prepares unemployed or underemployed women to enter Corporate America, yet Corporate America regularly discriminates against women. Especially Dress for Success’s common clientele: often these women are reentering the workforce after a variety of life altering circumstances (pregnancy, houselessness, incarceration, domestic violence, etc.) However, Dress for Success aims to change that culture, and by supporting the quarterly Closet Sale Pop Up, customers can help the clients achieve economic independence, stability, and mobility.
WHO IS THE AUDIENCE?
We are talking to Gen Z - true thrifters, young professionals, and high school/college students looking for quality, affordable clothing. Gen Z values inclusivity and diversity but feels fed up and wants real systemic change. The Closet Sale can empower Gen Z to take that social tension and actually do something meaningful.
WHAT IS THE KEY INSIGHT? The Dress for Success Closet Sale is helps shoppers do a good deed and get clothing at a good deal, but the benefits to the nonprofit is worth more than that. All in all, it’s good for you, and it’s great for her.
BRAINSTORMING STAGEInitially, the moodboard for this was based on those frustrations of participating in a paradox from a Gen Z point of view. Key focuses are feminine empowerment, supportive hands, bold zine stylization, and vibrant colors.
CREATION STAGEI was initially drawn to hand imagery, in particular the shot near the end of Thelma and Louise. Sketching it out wasn’t quite working though. I tried overlays, graphic styles, painterly strokes, but it couldn’t exist as a logo without looking like every other nonprofit logo out there.
The logo also had to be within Dress for Success’s existing color scheme, which left us without too many options. Due to the quick turnaround on the project, I had to work on the strategy for the brief while I was knee deep in moodboarding and logo sketching. Once we nailed the key insight, the creative direction came to us. “pop up!” was really crucial to add, that way it spoke to our target audience a bit more. Pop ups are for younger, trend-focused people, closet sales sound more like an estate sale or charity shop, and not in a cute way.
From here, we decided to really lean into the “Good For Her Cinematic Universe”, a subgenre of movies that play on tropes of feminine rage at unjust systems and discrimination. Based off the Lucille Bluth quote from Arrested Development, this loose grouping of tropes gave film scholars a new way to categorize and celebrate movies where a heroine gets even, even if its done in an unsavory way.
Gen Z is incredibly referential, and loves outfit inspirations from their favorite movies. This felt like a great way to use the existing language and themes found in good for her movies to speak in short-hand to our target audience: “find an outfit reminiscient of your favorite film character while supporting women that may be experiencing similar situations shown idn these films”. These are the flyers that spoke to that.
WHAT IS THE LESSON LEARNED?Unfortunately, the client didn’t go with our direction for the event. We learned how difficult the writing process for the creative brief was, especially on a time crunch. However, we walked away proud of the interconnectivity of the ideas - linking an theme that’s not only a meme but an entire subgenre of popular films to the mission of Dress for Success and it all relates to the target audience.
Madisyn Lane