Precision Design Source | Product Guides

Precision Design Source Product Guides

Graphic Design | Print | Branding

Precision Design Source is a design studio that provides design consultation, interior layout planning, and product logistics for luxury custom and production home renovation projects.

With so many products not updated properly within the last few years, the company was aiming to revamp our branding by redesigning six outdated product guides that showcased discontinued textures, colors, and styles, and inconsistent layout styling.

TIMELNE

Jul 2021 - Oct 2021

ROLE

Graphic Designer

TOOLS

InDesign | Photoshop

ASSESSING THE CORE

Identifying the problems

The initial designs of the brochures had multiple layout issues in displaying the products concisely and simplistically.

Several sample photos were mixed with different sizes without intention. With the amount of randomly sized assets, focusing on the textured samples was distracting and hard to read.

Establishing Goals

My goal was to recreate our brochures using minimalist design qualities while ensuring the products can still make a bold statement. To capture the essence of a simplistic, professional design, I aimed to design with a focus on accessibility.

Goals

Eliminating jargon so readers can focus more on being inspired by the product photos
Simplifying the layout into a grid format so that customers can easily see our products without distractions
Reformatting the textured grain samples so that they are accurately consistent with our offerings
Ensuring the text is more legible by removing any odd color combinations (i.e., blue background with gray text)
Remove any unnecessary design elements, such as gray borders or shadows

THE DESIGN PROCESS

The Mood Board

As I flipped through each brochure, I noticed a pattern with the layout— it was consistently bulky and tight. The prior product guides were initially filled with unnecessary clutter, had inconsistent layouts, and did not have a clear visual hierarchy.

For my mood board, I searched for interior design examples that utilized white space for typography and product photography. I reshaped the design direction to focus more on linear compositions and heavy visual focus.

Sketching out ideas

To start redesigning the guides, I took note of the issues that needed to be addressed, and approached my redesigning plan with modernity and minimalism in mind. I sketched up a few set of thumbnail iterations to get the creative thought process jogging. With a vague direction in mind, I’m able to digitize my work more cohesively and diligently.

Iterations

With so many product types to account for, I drafted different variations for all six product guides so that I could conclude the most optimal and minimal presentation.

One of my iterations used blue rectangular boxes for the sample names to live in. However, the concept was scrapped as the blue boxes and bulky paragraphs felt too hard to read and distracted the reader from processing the textures and colors.

Final Deliverables

The negative space was emphasized by removing chunks of jargon and other distracting elements, such as outlined boxes and heavy color blocks. A standard flow from reading left to right and an emphasis on white space around the group of product styles serves as a guide for the reader to focus on the items more clearly.

Product Guides | Matte & High Gloss (Exterior)

Product Guides | Matte & High Gloss (Interior)

TAKEAWAY

Although challenging, creative problem-solving was one of my favorite aspects of working on Precision’s product guides. Redesigning the brochures was one of the first significant branding projects assigned to my team, and it allowed me to learn about the company’s foundation and products more intimately.

Some challenges that I faced while designing new iterations included planning out multiple solutions to accommodate the different products.

Things I could have changed:

If I were to tackle another marketing collateral project, I would take the time to view and collect physical brochures and pamphlets to get a better idea on layout, paper texture, and sizing experimentations.
If the project allowed for more time, I would have loved to add more iterations and variations. While the interior pages of the guides changed drastically, I felt that I could have experimented more with the cover layouts.
I removed a good chunk of old verbiage and excess imagery, and added more white space than the previous versions, however, I would have still liked to remove extra text or include bullet points to maximize legibility and clarity.