For a Media Arts and Design course, I developed a brand refresh for a local company over the course of the quarter. I selected Literati Bookstore, an iconic indie general bookstore in Ann Arbor, MI. The process ultimately resulted in a redesigned logo.
The process began with research on the brand DNA of Literati. Conducting research using Literati's digital presence, I determined the core values of the brand: community, connection, and reliability. Literati demonstrated their commitment to bringing the Ann Arbor community together through social media, online language, and programs such as their organized adventure group Literati Tours. At the center of their community relationship was their typewriter, which sits in the basement of the brick-and-mortar shop and is available for anyone to type a note. Literati collects all of the notes left on the typewriter, and have compiled them into a book and painted them on the walls of the store. It is a key brand identifier of the bookshop, which is why it is incorporated into their current logo. In my refresh, I wanted to ensure that I maintained their representation of connection to the Ann Arbor community and include an element of the typewriter motif. The brand audit also included research on Literati's competitors, to better understand what makes them unique and what other bookstore logos existed. The Brand DNA presentation can be seen here.
To begin the rebranding process, I identified three updated brand values to guide the logo development and feel: inquisitiveness, intimacy, and community. The playfulness of "curing brainrot since 2013" (exhibited throughout their digital media content) also remained at the center of the rebrand. I then developed several sketches of potential logos and iterated on tight compositions. Eventually, I decided that the logo's connection to the Ann Arbor community would be a rotund squirrel—they are all over downtown Ann Arbor and are quite friendly, due to being fed by the students at the University of Michigan. The squirrels are well-known in the local zeitgeist, and more broadly on social media and in the news. I thought they were a perfect representation of a cornerstone of the Ann Arbor community. To connect more to Literati's name, I decided to put a monocle on the squirrel. This was to reference the images of well-educated men gathered to discuss books that were evoked by the term "literati." There were dozens of iterations of the squirrel mark, with the most essential included in the Style Guide presentation. In order to incorporate a component of the essential typewriter motif, I opted for a typewriter-style typeface. The final logo included both the squirrel mark and the "Literati Bookstore" text. The Style Guide presentation included here offers detailed visual insight into my creative process.
