GV&Co.
Services brand POSITIONING, copywriting, ART DIRECTION
designed at montana steeleGV&Co. is a luxury build firm servicing Toronto’s most desirable neighbourhoods. They occupy a niche category in the home design space—they are not architects, interior designers or developers. They are tastemakers—experienced creatives with strong industry connections that they leverage to provide exclusive, holistic design and build experiences for their high-end clientele.
GV&Co. is booked for the next five years. The challenge was not to get them more business—it’s clear they are booked and busy. What they needed was to clearly communicate their roles within this unique sector. Through brand positioning and art direction, I worked with GV&Co. to do just that, translating their services into a visual system that conveys the business’s purpose and values in a sophisticated and clear manner.
Curated with Integrity
The word ‘curation’ kept coming to mind when brainstorming how best to describe GV&Co.’s practice. It summarizes their unique position as industry professionals who connect their clients with the highest standard of bespoke services. The word ‘curation’ also denotes an exclusive, personalized, thoughtful experience. There’s an implied intentionality, which is then driven home with the addition of ‘integrity’.
Trusting some one with your home is an intimate, vulnerable experience and GV&Co. do not take that lightly. They are committed to their clients’ vision and peace of mind. “Curated with Integrity” is a succinct way of communicating both GV&Co.’s role as a design and build firm, and the values they hold.
Expanding the Brand
GV&Co. came to us with an established logo and brand blue. They weren’t looking to change either of these things, but wanted a more fleshed out brand language to elevate and complement their existing elements.
After solidifying ‘Curated with Integrity’ as their brand statement we agreed on a moodboard to ensure we were on the same page aesthetically.
I started by expanding GV&Co.’s colour palette. The existing blue is rich and indulgent, but far too dark to be used in large swaths. By integrating a taupe and pure white into the brand language, the palette is more balanced while retaining its sophisticated feel.
We decided on a traditional 3-column, 18-grid field structure for print applications, and a looser but still gridded approach for digital. This adherence to the traditional Swiss grid system is a sleek and confident addition to GV&Co.’s brand language. It is timeless and classic, just like their work.
Primary Visual Elements — Photography & Video
Despite GV&Co.’s large body of work, we had very few photos of their projects to work with. The inherent exclusivity of their services promises privacy for their clientele, who may not want their homes posted publicly.
This created a challenge for me while developing brand photography guidelines. If we couldn’t show GV&Co.’s work, we had to instead communicate their style through stock photography while maintaining a luxury, bespoke feel. The imagery couldn’t be literal, but instead had to communicate a feeling, a mood, an aura. It would be elevated, aspirational and artful. Three categories were born from this ethos: Textural Photography, Sculptural Photography, and Subtle Video.
Secondary Visual Elements — Domestic Wonder
In addition to the three photography pillars established, I developed a way for sculptural and textural images to interact in an artful manner.
By placing sculptural product photography with visually similar textures found in natural landscapes, we’re challenging the boundaries of how we look at domestic objects. Linking interior spaces to natural wonders gives greater weight to the practice of home design.
Art Direction for Web
Working with a web developer, I designed GV&Co.’s website to mirror the gridded style we solidified in print applications. This unique approach allowed us to leverage our photography and video styles on every page. Above is a scroll-through of the homepage, featuring the new brand colours, photography and video standards.
We were granted permission to use photos from four of GV&Co.’s projects, one of them being Smythe’s boutique in Rosedale. Below are excerpts from the project page, which can be seen in full here.
