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The Making of a Fragrance’s Logo

Creating a brand’s ‘symbolic face’

By: Pierre Katz

Agence Pierre Katz

A fragrance’s name carries rich meaning. It bears the brand’s values and it incarnates an archetype or an inspiration of its own: a certain type of woman, of man, a sensation, or an abstract idea.

Illustrating this richness of values and ideas by means of typography alone is the challenge of a graphic designer. Signs ennoble brands and give them character, they embody them in a singular style that reflects their own.  A brand’s or a fragrance’s logo is its symbolic face.

I did not have to invent the features of the ALAIA logo for the launch of the designer’s first fragrance, but Azzedine Alaïa, who is also a friend of mine, asked me to perfect the name if I saw fit. I think the ALAIA name is in itself a beautifully graphic name and its logo does it justice, but I thought that as a name for a woman’s fragrance and an incarnation of the Alaïa woman, it could use a little more elevation.

So I just slightly elongated the letters to make the name more majestic and slender. I redesigned the word ‘PARIS’ that was almost half the size of ALAIA, the name of the fashion house, which gave it too much importance. I reduced it and chose a different font that’s more transparent and very readable in the smaller sizes. And I created different rhythmic variations for the emblematic motif of the house depending on the size of each bottle.

The result is a slight change that gives the logo an extra touch of femininity and gracefulness, without defacing one of the most iconic names in the fashion industry. As the saying goes: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

I also designed the name for Jour d’Hermès, the latest feminine fragrance by Hermès, and the complete range of ABSOLU and Gardénia. This project bore different challenges, because it was a complete creation that needed to express what an “Hermès day” would look like [in French: “Day by Hermès” but can also be understood as “Hermès day”].

As it is also an ode to the light of day, the name needed to be very luminous, delicate and promising, so I was inspired to create a sophisticated character in a slanted version instead of an Italic in order to give it an élan, an energy. I wanted to give the name a bold spacing to make it breathe and increase its luminosity. The tall J also creates a rupture that is the beginning from which the rest of the name unfolds, like the beginning of a new story or a new day. In fact I treated Jour d’Hermès in a literary manner, as if it were the title of an epic novel. It’s the least you can do for a great feminine fragrance by the Hermès house.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Pierre Katz is a graphic designer and typographer, and creative director at Agence Pierre Katz (Paris, France). www.pierrekatz.com

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