Project Overview
Great Dane is Australia’s premier emporium for Scandinavian design. To mark the company’s 10th anniversary and announce its move from vintage furniture to cotemporary and custom made, Hoyne produced an audacious large format A2 full colour magazine. It has become a collector’s item amongst Great Dane devotees.
To get maximum value from a limited budget the campaign focused on one application - a high- end publication in the style of a Scandinavian designer magazine. Key elements included bespoke typography with hand-crafted elements, photography as unexpected art pieces to inspire and surprise, finely-crafted intelligent copy, talking directly to an exclusive style-savvy audience, plus cross-endorsement from design authority figures for added brand credibility. Emphasis was placed on the fact that customers would not see the same collection anywhere else in the world.
Hoyne combined believable lifestyle images with hand-sketched design elements and attached a tag line reflective of irrefutable Danish logic - “Buy well and buy once.”
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Creative Direction: Andrew Hoyne, Dan Johnson
Design & Typography: Domenic Minieri
Finished Art: Jamie Grima
Copywriting: Jacquie Byron
Photography: Susan Grdunac
Illustration: Floodslicer, Jane Reiseger
Project Brief
Great Dane, Australia’s premier emporium for Scandinavian design, was established in Melbourne in 2002. When it came time to celebrate the company’s 10th birthday, coinciding with its move away from vintage to new and custom furniture, Hoyne suggested producing a high-end informative magazine. This would present the brand’s evolved offering to a new style-conscious audience.
Great Dane’s focus is thoroughly modern where contemporary Scandinavian design and newly hand-built classics take centre stage in stores. In many ways Hoyne’s creative approach mirrored Great Dane’s handcrafted approach to creating unique contemporary furniture, suggesting the brand has evolved but core brand values remain the same.
To get maximum value from a limited budget the campaign focused on one application, a high-end publication in the style of a Scandinavian designer magazine.
Bespoke typography, distinctive photography and computer generated images, original interviews and editorials, plus cross-endorsement from international design authority figures added to brand credibility. Hoyne combined lifestyle images with hand-sketched design elements, complementing the message that Great Dane customers will not see the same collection anywhere else in the world. In addition, a tag line was developed that is an expression of irrefutable Danish logic - “Buy well & buy once”.
Project Need
Medium sized, privately owned furniture companies in Australia are not in the habit of producing striking, collectible A2 magazines with original photography and stories. Great Dane’s magazine, titled A Great Life, was designed to be a genuinely entertaining and informative read and a publication that clearly positioned Great Danes and leaders and experts in the industry.
Key elements used to create a chic, professional magazine included bespoke typography with handcrafted elements, artistic photography, interviews with local and international design aficionados and columns from designers and style leaders, believable lifestyle images combined with hand-sketched design elements and computer generated imagery.
Design Challenge
The new Great Dane campaign was based on developing a finely nuanced understanding of this particular style arena. From a messaging point of view one of the most challenging tasks in the campaign was to help potential customers make a series of mental transitions in their understanding of both Danish furniture and of the company itself. All of this had to be done within an extremely limited budget.
The first task was to get customers thinking about Scandinavian rather than Danish furniture. No longer focussed on a single country of origin, customers now needed to be introduced to and seduced by Scandinavian furniture - with all its associated lifestyle and branding cues.
The other challenge lay in highlighting the new custom-made and made-to-order furniture collection Great Dane would now offer without alienating loyal clients more accustomed to buying vintage and restored pieces from the company. These customers needed to buy in to the new product offering but still feel they had made good previous buying decisions with Great Dane. They needed to envision how the new pieces would sit with their existing furniture, in all kinds of homes, and continue to shop at and recommend Great Dane.
Even from a practical or visual level the new furniture created completely new territories. Clean, simple, crisp and stylish, the new collection contrasted dramatically with the previous heavy, utilitarian and dark wood furniture.
Sustainability
Only local suppliers were sourced. The print run was of a limited number to keep material usage and carbon footprint as low as possible.
Printing was undertaken by Lindsay Yates who have Forestry Stewardship Council Certification.
The publication was printed on Sovereign Offset. Sovereign Offset is Forestry Stewardship Council certified and considered to be one of the most environmentally adapted products on the market. Containing fibre sourced only from responsible forestry practices, this sheet is ISO 14001 EMS accredited and made with elemental chlorine free pulps.
Graphic Design - Publication
This award recognises traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching information style to audience.
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