CISCO
Cisco is a leading furniture design brand unwavering in its commitment to ethically made products. Since 1990, Cisco has been using sustainable materials and building methods to create furniture that is as healthy for it's customers as it is for the planet. Each timeless item is built with pride by local craftspeople at their headquarters in the heart of Los Angeles.
DELIVERABLES:
Brand Strategy, Interactive Design, Logo Design, Package Design, Photography, Art Direction, Catalog Design, In-Store Design, Advertising
THE BACK STORY
We met Cisco Pinedo in 2008 at the Highpoint Furniture Market. We fell in love with his brand and found that we share the same passions for community, culture, and craftsmanship. Shortly after our visit to his showroom he invited us to Los Angeles to visually redesign his digital/retail presence.
VISUALIZING A BRAND ETHOS
We immersed ourselves in Cisco's world and found that the driving force under all of his work is the sustainable lifestyle promoted by his equitably-sourced ingredients and building methods. We took this core value and developed a brand strategy that would tie together his visual identity under one ethos. We began by consolidating the branches of Cisco under a common logo to streamline the visual identity. We added a small, clean leaf to the "o" of Cisco to quickly and simply show the environmental consciousness of the brand.
IDENTITY
Cisco started as a wholesale business and over time he began to leverage several verticals in the furniture market. This resulted in a dislocated core brand image. Cisco Brothers (wholesale), Cisco Home (retail), Cisco Trade (designers), Cisco Prints (fabric/art), and Cisco Studio (micro-retail). Our goal was to identify the core message that all these verticals hold true and communicate that visually.
IDENTITY SOLUTION
We centered around "Cisco" for all branding, sales tools and advertising. This allowed the brand to speak with one voice without confusing their customers and business partners.
WHY SUSTAINABLY MADE FURNITURE IS WORTH THE HIGHER PRICE
A primary issue Cisco was facing in his stores was that customers were turned away by the high price point. Why should a consumer spend more on furniture made by Cisco rather than in a lower-priced factory? We knew that the artisanal spirit and high quality manufacturing practices made the products unique, but how could we visually tell this story to potential customers? In conversation with Cisco and his team, we identified 14 facets/ingredients of sustainable furniture design and turned each one into a simple, clean icon. We integrated these icons into package, sales tools and in-store designs, thus transforming the customer experience of the brand. When a customer walks into a store or looks at a product online, a series of icons instantly tells the story of the product's ingredients and building methods. These icons represented the first iteration of visual storytelling for Cisco.
RESOURCE CENTER
After positive reception by consumers, we soon learned that people wanted to learn more about sustainability. We decided to dedicate a section of the Orange County Cisco Home store to telling the story behind each icon with interactive videos, fabric samples, and process descriptions.
REPRESENTING A LIFESTYLE
With the founding of a new store on Melrose avenue, we wanted to show the community that Cisco Home is a part of the fabric of Los Angeles. We considered repainting the wall, but found that it would be extremely expensive to sandblast the wall and paint a fresh slate. Our creative director, Leo Estevez, took to researching and decided that an old school ink transfer graffiti technique would do just the trick. We designed a simple MADE IN LA logo, printed it, and transferred it onto the side of the new store’s wall. We liked its simplicity, and soon found that Angelenos would too. Both Racked and LA Mag featured the wall in lists of “Best Instagram-able Places in LA.”
DIGITAL MEDIA THAT FEELS AS GOOD AS THE PRODUCTS
During this re-design process we created an immense portfolio of package and marketing design, photography, and a fully redesigned website. We have been in continued partnership with Cisco over the past six years tweaking, adjusting, and creating new visual imagery across all platforms.
