Overview
Building a salon brand, from identity to photography to booking, that feels like a place to exhale.
Services
Art Direction
Year
2023
The Braided Life was a salon built to reimagine the beauty industry through education, community, and play, for clients who had sat in the wrong chair. Their founder, Milly, wanted a place where people gather, not just get braids. The experience in the room was already there, but the brand wasn’t. Over a couple of months, her previous branding had come together piece by piece, so the logo, colors, and content didn’t speak the same language. I partnered with Milly to design a new visual identity to help The Braided Life feel warm, welcoming, playful, and unmistakably its own. Then, extended it across Instagram, an online booking experience, brand guidelines, and art direction for two photoshoots.
I created the new identity rooted in the salon’s values of community, liberation, and play, because every touchpoint, from the logo to the booking page, needed to feel like the same place.
The previous logo sat in one heavy typeface, with every word at the same volume, so it couldn’t communicate the warmth or joy the brand wanted to convey. I designed the new logo to keep that weight, because a brand built on self-expression should stand tall. The bold, blocky letters around it stay as the foundation, a nod to community holding eachother up. The TBL submark is inspired by slicked edges, a wink to the community and proof this salon knows hair down to the last detail.
I art directed two shoots to put the brand’s heart for community, liberation, and play on camera. The first was an artistic studio shoot built from the identity itself, with palette-matched backdrops and wavy shapes, soft and refreshing. The second was campaign-inspired, built on the slogan “One Rule: Do You,” and shot on a rooftop in loud color so liberation and self-expression could take over the frame.
"Working with you made me feel warm and understood, both as the founder from the inside and as a client looking from the outside. The logo is spot on, the mood board is EVERYTHING, and the mission, vision, and purpose is clear. This is definitely a level up from the ad hoc branding we've been doing."
Milly Fotso, Founder, The Braided Life
Credits: Kayla Davis — Photographer