Brand Positioning With Print: How to Create a Product Lookbook
Alex Braica is a talented Portland-based designer who’s known for his artful skill at stripping away the unnecessary and drawing attention to what matters most. His clients include established iconic global brands like Nike, a while brand like Harkavy Furniture is on its way to becoming one. Their first task for Braica? A product lookbook.
wood and welded steel CORTADO coffee table and LADDER BACK dining table
Clean and Simple
When furniture builders, brothers and surfing friends Dylan and Wesley Harkavy received an online shout-out by the high-design social influencer Design Milk for their handcrafted, wood and welded steel CORTADO coffee table, they were inundated with inquiries. Among them was a request from Dwell Magazine to participate in their Los Angeles design show.
“They needed a lookbook for the event,” Braica said. “In essence, it had to serve as a paper-based showroom for both their furniture and ideology.” Since they shared a love for clean, simple design and longboards, Braica told them he’d help – and bring a premium online printer like Smartpress along.
Stylish Standout
Even though their furniture was already being celebrated by design enthusiasts as far away as Dubai and Australia for its “brutal modern” style, it was clear that “we needed to stand out in an expected sea of paper handouts at the event,” Braica said. Dylan agreed. “I’ve always been into photography,” he said, “So I knew I could do the product shots, but we needed Alex’s help to differentiate us [and] brand us.”
“The goal was to provide some insight into the Harkavy Furniture process, ideology [and] story, and get people excited about what Dylan and Wesley are creating.”
Product photography shot for lookbook by Dylan Harkavy
Icons that represent the full line of Harkavy furniture
Hammering Out the Details
“I knew I needed to showcase the whole furniture portfolio – there were some 22 pieces, in a way that made sense,” Braica continued. “I had to make something that would stand out in the same way their meticulously designed and handcrafted collection did, that would be easily digestible among a convention center full of paper handouts.”
With Perfect Bound Booklets, Braica found the premium look and feel he needed. Plus, with Smartpress’ online printing services offering everything from paper stocks and weights to UV coatings and black and full-color ink, the booklet printing process was easy.
“In the end, I decided to represent the clean lines and function-inspired design of their work by introducing a strong grid and eliminating unnecessary content,” Braica said. And it’s that design that made the professional, clean binding of a perfect bound book ideal for this online printing project.
“In my mind, the most important thing was framing their design-driven furniture in a way that highlighted the thoughtful moments that set it apart.”
“It’s why I used lots of white space and detail-oriented photography to bring attention to those moments. And why I did a stylized illustration pattern for the inside cover,” Braica continued. “Each of the icons represents a different piece of HF furniture, offering a sneak peek at what’s inside and another moment to take it all in.”
An Inspired Collaboration
“The goal was to provide some insight into the Harkavy Furniture process, ideology [and] story, and get people excited about what Dylan and Wesley are creating, and I think we did that,” said Braica. “People genuinely loved the lookbooks and the furniture. I can’t tell you how many times I heard, ‘Wow, the furniture is beautiful.’ Which is exactly what we wanted the print piece to do — frame the product in the best possible light.”
From Craigslist to First Dibs
“Basically we’re two brothers who love to design, build and create,” said Dylan. “Every piece we make is a shared collaboration. Someday we hope our pieces will be as recognizable as a Herman Miller or an Eames.”
Given their drive, passion and talent, and Braica’s thoughtful and intuitive branding to help tell their story, we expect that day to come very soon.
Hint: Get more inspo for your product lookbook:
