Universal Works

We were set the task of developing the visual identity of the brand to appeal to a wider audience. At present Universal Works has a very clear raw and industrial visual code, however they appear to be targeting the primarily the older man through the use of the model in their website visuals. This is something that the Brand Director and Sales Director did not want as they believed their garments would appeal to men of all ages, whether 18 or 54!

This was the big issue which had to be resolved; for a brand with 'universal' in the title, it wasn't appearing to be very universally accessible. As a group, we decided that the best way to identify the target market was to ask a sample of men of all ages who they believed the designs were aimed at. Critically however, we removed the face of the model. Our results concluded that by concealing the age of the model, the participant selected their own age or similar age group. This was evidence that the garments did appeal to all ages, so clearly the breakdown in communication was occurring by showing the face of the older model.

It seemed obvious to us therefore that if the face of the model was alienating segments of the market, we should simply remove it. Our innovative marketing strategy which followed incorporated the idea of a mask to disguise any particular age range and therefore allowing the viewer to identify themselves with the clothing worn, rather in the same way we do with mannequins in shop windows.