Fashion Retail Academy Rebranding

A refined brand guidelines for a consistent identity

THE PROJECT

Fashion Retail Academy is a vocational training college in London, founded as a National Skills Academy in 2005 by M&S, Next, Experian, F&F and Arcadia, with funding from the UK government.

Fashion Retail Academy approached TAKEOFF to address their branding challenges. Their previous rebrand left the internal design teams with overly complex and confusing brand guidelines, resulting in inconsistent brand materials and a diluted identity. This is where I stepped in to help them regain clarity and cohesion.

Key skills:

Branding · Visual Identity · Typography · Problem Solving · Print Processes · Client Management

Client: Fasion Retail Academy

Agency: TAKEOFF Studios

THE SOLUTION

As the Lead Creative for this project, I worked closely with the client to fully understand their concerns. After reviewing their existing materials and guidelines, it became clear their brand identity was becoming diluted due to their overly complicated and bloated guidelines. 

Key issues included:

  • The typography too difficult for the internal team to replicate (and from a personal typographic view, an incorrect usage of the typefaces)

  • Although colours were considered, there was no clear direction on their application or hierarchy, leading to inconsistent usage.

  • The absence of guidance on photography resulted in out of home campaigns that didn’t align with the brand identity.

I began by developing a desired visual style for the brand. Once this was approved,  I simplified and refined the brand guidelines to make them clearer, more user-friendly, and actionable than the previous iteration. The updated guidelines provided a cohesive direction on typography, colour usage, and photography, ensuring a consistent brand identity across all materials.

Since implementing the new guidelines, Fashion Retail Academy has successfully launched out-of-home advertising that aligns with their refined brand identity.