Kastel

Brief
Choose a blue-collar shop in your neighborhood and brand it (within 3 weeks), setting it apart from others in its category.

Disciplines
Concept, photography, graphic design, identity design

What sets apart one hardware store from another? Good service is important, but hardly a unique selling point in the field. Equal service to all genders certainly is.

Household hardware is usually a very masculine business. People who repair things are expected to be repairmen and to perform as such. Experience has taught my friends and I that if we walk into a hardware store, we'll probably receive some patronizing comments doubting our competence alongside the service we came for.

During an observation in his shop, I noticed how people's perfomed masculinity (or lack thereof) didn't change how he was interacting with them — he was giving all genders equal service.

In a business that’s perceived as hyper-masculine, that’s something to go on.

The equals sign

is used as inspiration for the logo, then echoed throughout the project's photographic language.

As mentioned before, the shortness of this brief meant I could only go so far with my explorations.

Having had more time, I would have gone further with 3D/2D combinations, as seen in the bathroom signage.