B’07Hairstyling

Takia the Talented

A hairstylist whose work is the loudest thing in the room — so the identity had to match it rather than tone it down.

Client: Takia the Talented
Sector: Hairstyling
Departments: Branding, Graphic design
Delivered: Brand board, lockups, palette, type, watermark rule

The delivered brand board — lockups, watermark rule, palette and type specimen. Click to open it full size.

How it started

The line on the board says the strategy out loud: “Color Loud Enough to Notice.” That is a rare brief, because most identities are asked to be tasteful. This one is asked to be seen.

So the palette runs jet black against electric magenta, orchid purple and blush — and the mark pairs an illustrated profile with a script wordmark, which is a combination that only works if the illustration is confident enough to carry the script rather than compete with it.

The board delivers a full-colour lockup and a reversed one. For a stylist that pair covers almost everything: the full-colour version for a window, a card and a post; the reversed one for a black cape, a dark salon wall and anything printed in one colour.

What it had to do

An identity loud enough to be the point: a full-colour lockup, a reversed lockup, a five-colour palette with its codes, a high-contrast serif with a plain sans under it, and a watermark rule for the work photography.

An illustrated profile that carries a script wordmark without fighting it
A reversed lockup for capes, dark walls and one-colour print
A five-colour palette with codes, led by magenta rather than softened
A high-contrast serif with a plain geometric sans under it
A watermark rule so the work photography signs itself

The identity

Everything below is read off the board above: the two lockups, the five colours with their codes, and the type pairing.

PrimaryThe mark on Cloud White

ReversedThe mark reversed on Jet Black

Jet Black#000000

Electric Magenta#E4008E

Orchid Purple#602490

Blush Pink#E4549C

Cloud White#FCFCFC

Bodoni ModaDisplay

Color Loud Enough to Notice

Carries the headline and the short lines that have to land first.

PoppinsBody

Everything read at length: detail, captions and the small print.

Set for the unglamorous copy a brand writes every week.

The sketch sheet

Concept sheets drawn as art direction for this page — they show how the mark and its placements were worked out, and are not scans of the original client drawings.

Profile and flowThe hair is the mark, so it gets the attention: three profiles at different weights, testing how much line the shape needs before it stops reading. The script beneath is kept as a single looping ribbon at this stage — a placeholder for rhythm, not lettering.Concept visual

In the salon

Process visuals — art direction by Dalc, not photographs of client production. A stylist's brand is seen on a window and on a shelf, so we art-directed it in both places — neither image is a photograph of this client's salon.

Concept visual: hands squeegeeing cut vinyl lettering onto the inside of a salon window — Window vinylConcept visual

Concept visual: labels being applied to white hair-care bottles from a roll on a bench — LabellingConcept visual

The identity in use

Mockups made by our own team to show the identity applied — these are images we produced, not photographs of installed signage or products.

Salon wallMockup

Product bottleMockup

Salon capeMockup

Color Loud Enough to Notice
Takia the Talented’s own line, set in the type specimen on the brand board

In conclusion

A loud brand is only loud if it is consistent — otherwise it reads as noise. Fixing the magenta to a code and pairing it with a black that holds it down is what turns the volume into a decision.

Two lockups and a watermark rule give a stylist the full kit for a window, a cape, a bottle and a feed, which is the whole surface area of that business.

Lockups: 2 — primary and reversed
Palette: 5 colours, codes on the board
Type: Bodoni Moda + Poppins
Watermark: Rule supplied, shown on a gradient
Mockups: 3 shown on this page
Departments involved: Branding, Graphic design
Concept visuals: 3, made by Dalc for this case study