While working as Multidisciplinary Designer at Polypod back in 2008, I spent months dedicated to branding a development site on the shores of Odessa. While the project came to a halt after completion due to political situation, it was highly loved by the engaged client who took great delight and pride in seeing it through its development process to completion.
The concept
With the concept of mermaids as symbols of the connection between land and sea, the brand of the coastal Ukranian development started.
After months of market research, travels to Kiev and Odessa, and workshops with the client, the brand was named as a spin off from the words Ajur (in Ukranian meaning lace) and Azul (in Spanish which refers to the blue color of the sea).
Additionally, lace is a traditional hand craft in Ukraine and synchronized swimming is a high-end Ukrainian water sport.
The brand thus emerged from those concepts and visuals, as it embodies 8 characters of mermaids and mermen floating together in a synchronized swimming act, representing diversity within unity. Intricately woven, the result is the shape of the sun, which also connects to an image of the shore and vacations.
Luxury, modernism, and a strong sense of community were the main feelings that the brand aimed to reflect.
The main brand
8 sub-brands that represent each section of the development
were created based on familiar celebrities and Ukrainian personalities
were created based on familiar celebrities and Ukrainian personalities
Branding the beach stretch
The process of brand positioning and development
After researching the Ukrainian market, we decided on the visual direction of representing the log in the format of 'lacework' and 'synchronized swimming' both symbols being highly representative of Ukrainian culture.
Sketching that I produced of possible mermaid visuals
Trying out more fine-tuned visuals of a mermaid
Landed on more abstract figures and developed their persona types
