Third Place Books
rebrand of local bookstore company
The challenge and ultimate goal of this project was to rebrand an existing organization. Third Place Books is a Seattle neighborhood-based social business that strengthens the local community and economy by creating thriving gathering and retail spaces that bring together residents of diverse backgrounds around literature and learning. Third Place Books is a general interest bookstore with 3 locations in the greater Seattle area. Third Place Books offers spaces to browse, linger, relax, read, eat, laugh, play, talk, listen, and just watch the world go by.
Third Place Books is based on the writings of sociologist Ray Oldenberg that suggest that to lead a rewarding life, each of us needs three places. First is the home. Second is the workplace or school. Beyond lies the place where people from all walks of life interact, experiencing and celebrating their commonality as well as their diversity. Third Place Books built upon this idea when creating their business model by providing community spaces for unmediated social interaction and hosting over 1000 events per year for local Seattle communities. Providing that third space.
PROJECT SCOPE
The scope of this project involved extensive user research, competitor research, researching the current company brand and creating a brand promise, brand position, mission statement, brand attributes/values, brand essence and entirely new look and feel for a brand that's been growing since it launched in 1998.
The new brand identity consisted of print collateral including business cards, postcards about events, posters, a bookmark, book cover sleeve, calendar program, wrapping paper and crafting brand guidelines. Additionally, designing a newer and more modern logo, a give-away notebook, pencils, tote bags, a website homepage, app design and wayfinding including store banners, store signage and a neighborhood book mobile.
Our goal was to create a friendly, communal, informative, and forward-thinking brand. A brand that reflected a community built around books and the ideas inside them. A relaxed gathering place for reading and discovery.
This was a 10 week project that I designed in tandem with the wonderful Adam Kendall Woods. Our logo design drove the rest of the rebrand. It was designed with three upward-moving roofs (for the three spaces one needs in life) and informed our brand redesign with a look based on movement using triangular shapes and semi-abstract arrows.