REVEL
YACHTS
Building a sanctuary at sea — crafted from Italian design
and powered by American bravado.
Creative & Art Direction, Branding, Visual Identity, Social Strategy
The brand challenge was to develop the balance between sanctuary and escape, luxury and horsepower, and build a brand that leans on legacy but looks forward.
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Through strategy and research, thumb-nailing, mood-boarding, and stepping into a world where the horizon never ends the final brand mark is solid yet airy, technologically advanced yet accessible, and something that will continue to influence the yachting world for decades to come.
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Our voyage of discovery began with a deep dive, (haha!), into the world of luxury yachting to reach the insight that Revel Yachts is a rare boat one has to experience to understand; it was clear our goals were to:
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Provide an overarching master brand strategy to umbrella Revel Yachts’ current and future offerings.
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Push beyond the list of product offerings and emotionally connect with audiences.
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Break through and get noticed in a dense, competitive market.
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These goals set the heading to develop the strategy, brand promise, character, voice, and pillars - establishing a sturdy hull to navigate creating the visual identity.
Creating an identity for a brand that seeks to telegraph the emotion of being on the water and the prowess, a specific lifestyle, and that honors the history, while building the future of yachting was an incredible challenge to receive.
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The client shared their preliminary logo and some of the comments they liked about it such as:​
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Emphasis on the “V” is interesting and memorable
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Font is clean and open, but perhaps too simple
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Stacking words makes for a nice lockup
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We found our opportunities to be:
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Incorporate more emotion
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Implied movement
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Prioritize Revel
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Proprietary font = ownability
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Explore iconography beyond the “V
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After spending time looking at competitors, exploring the idea of "freedom on the water," and wrapping it all up in powerful luxury some early themes became apparent like the horizon and wave-like shapes.
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After many rounds of internal and client collaboration, a final mark was chosen for its sense of power, radically different typography for the space, and a symbol derived from the font itself flying high above the wordmark.
​​All engines were "GO" — until we hit a metaphorical reef.
A mark that looked similar to ours came up on a reverse image search — it was in a different industry and not exactly the same font but close enough that a conversation needed to happen to chart our next course. We agreed while there were similarities the Revel Yachts mark execution was rooted in sound strategy and one final tweak to ensured ownability that this was a yacht company able to handle the tempest with agility and grace.
Introducing Revel Yachts — a brand new yacht company designed by Italian craftsmen, driven by American ingenuity, and constructed by those who are most at home on the water — built to journey from a moment to a memory.
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The symbol is a burgee: a flag bearing the colors or emblem of a sailing club, typically triangular and was born directly from our logotype.
Social media is essential to success and it is vital when building a brand that a balance of brand awareness and product development are tactfully on display.
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I took the brand strategy and extracted elements of execution and application for social media including voice and tone.
The goal was to create a feed that evokes emotions of serenity, freedom, and power while showcasing the lifestyle once can expect aboard a Revel Yacht.
