Jessica Pizzol

Graphic & Motion Designer

Based in London

Jessica Pizzol

Graphic & Motion Designer

Based in London

Robert Dyas
Brand Work

Robert Dyas is a UK hardware retailer founded in London in 1872. It sells a range of housewares, small electrical appliances, gardening products, kitchenwares, DIY, and consumer electronics throughout 93 shops, mainly in Greater London and South East England, as well as online. I joined the company as in-house designer at the end of 2022, when the company went through a rebranding and a restructure of the marketing strategy.

Date:

2022-2024

Role:

Graphic and Motion Design

Company:

Robert Dyas

Industry:

Retail

Brand Design

Signage Design

Motion and Video

Social Media

Packaging

_Contest

Robert Dyas has been serving numerous UK high streets for 150 years. However, as the years passed, it lost its character and the brand grew old and dusty. The brand operated with no official brand guidelines, and the colours and graphics changed many times over the years, making the shops look different and decreasing the brand recognizability. Even if the customers somehow decided to enter the shop, cluttered shops and repetitive trade-lead campaigns didn’t make the in-store experience engaging.

_Objectives

Our objectives as an in-house studio were to clarify who the brand is, implement the revisited key brand assets and create and develop the brand visual identity across every single business touchpoint: from print marketing to POS, from digital ads to social media, from packaging to motion pieces. Our desire was to improve the in-store experience and make sure all new marketing channels clearly communicate with our new tone of voice -warm, wise and witty. To help the entire business embrace the new visual identity, we created asset libraries, guidelines and ready to use templates. From a marketing perspective, the objectives are raising brand awareness and implementing an omnichannel strategy.

_Identity

Robert Dyas is the shop where you can have a friendly chat and get tips on fixing minor household problems. We offer everything you might need, from kitchen appliances and DIY tools to garden essentials and tech gadgets. Our customers love us for our approachable and friendly nature. We don't take ourselves too seriously; while we may not be glamorous, we are practical and provide great value at a good price.

_Key Elements

Robert Dyas sells an incredible range of products, perfectly visualised in the brand logo icon, where numerous icons represent the wide range of categories you can find in store. The use of icons as brand assets has become a great way to clarify and organise the in-store experience, improving way-finding and signage. However, as we want to be less corporate and more fun, in less strictly functional touchpoints, the icons are swapped for quirky hand-drawn illustrations of the same products.

Knowledgeable content and quirky details are now a red thread in everything we do, including on the digital platforms. As human connections and helpful staff is one of our strengths, we use our people as brand ambassadors, both on social and in recruitment, and we invest in partnerships centred on people's wellbeing.

_Outcome

While the project is still ongoing, after less than two years of brand work and a change of marketing strategy, brand tracking results show us there is an increment in brand awareness and campaign recognition. The last opened store is scoring great returns and high footfall, and customers and loyal clients give us great feedbacks on the overall shop experience unprompted.