Art-inspired BRAND DESIGN + COLLAGE for an
ICONIC FEMINIST LEADER, VISUAL ARTIST, + SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR
NELL MERLINO is a CREATIVE CATALYST and FORCE OF NATURE. Her LIFE’S WORK has been making women and girls more VISIBLE, VALUED, and HEARD.
In her latest endeavor, she’s guiding women through life, leadership, and relationship transitions using her POWERFUL METHOD for visualization and transformation.
When we met, Nell was at her “wit’s end… unable to activate her new business as an artist and transition coach.”
Like EVERY Trailblazing, Multi-hyphenate, Divergent Visionary, Nell was STRUGGLING TO EXPLAIN and SELL HER WORK…despite her brilliance and prolific business success.
My work with Nell began with several weeks of FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH:
LISTENING to her talk about each of her portraits,
EXPLORING her vision ‘birthing’ story,
READING a draft of her memoir, and
INTERVIEWING one of her favorite clients.
Next, we dove into copywriting and design, planning to ‘unearth’ her methodology as we went. The process was fluid, messy, revealing, and INTENSELY COLLABORATIVE. We met several times a week for nearly 3 months.
We ignored the traditional branding process, CURATING Nell’s BRAND and COLLAGES as an immersive experience.
We wanted her clients to FEEL the TRANSFORMATIVE NATURE of HER WORK from moment one.
Instead of creating a mood board, logo, and set color palette, I studied her portraits looking for the patterns, textures, and elements she was already using. I went back to her writing and conducted more research.
We pulled additional inspiration from her home, fashion, love of flowers, and most memorable life experiences.
Color hues, layered backgrounds, and dozens of symbolic brand elements were woven together.
The focus was always on creating an OVERALL AESTHETIC and FEELING, rather than rigid guidelines that would suffocate Nell’s artistic brilliance and MASK HER DIVERGENCE.
We made a lot of wrong turns. And learned from them.
We threw out heaps of interesting-but-hard-to-comprehend IDEAS, COPY, AND DESIGNS.
We checked in with her people to ensure we were reflecting THEIR DESIRES and EXPERIENCE.
We recreated, retested, and retweaked until it spoke to NELL AND HER CLIENTS.
In Nell’s words… “CAT HELPED ME CRYSTALLIZE THE MAGIC OF MY WORK.”
