120 Grit
Jump to:
120 Grit is a company that sells kits to make outdoor wooden furniture online. 120 Grit was founded in the spring of 1973 when Arnold Zimmerman decided to make some Adirondack chairs for friends of his in a small town in the Ozarks of Missouri. A large part of 120 Grits operation is selling their products online to people who are savvy with a toolbox and have a do-it themselves attitude.
This project consists of creating a logo that represents the gritty nature of this company. Another important portion of this project is the design of the boxes that the furniture kits come in. Just as important is the design of the website that all of the furniture is ordered from. Of course, how would you know about the site without the presence of advertisements that capture the spirit of 120 Grit. Lastly is the additional assets section where I explore some of the non-furniture products that 120 Grit could sell.
BRANDING
Research
To find inspiration for this logo I searched for logos from construction companies and outdoors related activities. Many of the logos I found made use of the color brown. Other logos that served as inspiration had to do with nature, utilizing mountains and wood textures in their logos. I knew that the name 120 Grit would need to be explained well because its something that most people don’t have an understanding of. In a sense, if you know, you know. The name 120 Grit has an interesting story and meaning. 120 grit is a type of sandpaper that you use to smooth out wooden creations. When you build outdoor furniture, you don’t usually sand it past 120 grit because it doesn’t need to be smooth if it’s going to be outside and deal with weather conditions.
Sketches
When sketching for this logo I wanted to import this meaning into it in a way that a savvy woodsman or woman would appreciate. I played around with incorporating iconic tools like hammers and sanders into the logo to emphasis the woodworking angle.
Iterations
I wanted to create a logo that conveys the message that this is an outdoorsy type of company. Right away I started using a profile illustration of an Adirondack chair for the logo. The Adirondack chair is the thing that the company is famous for. For the color I wanted something that was earthy and reflected the values of the company. I landed on the pale brown because it appears calm and has an earthy association. To reinforce the idea of strength I played with the idea of 120 Grit sitting underneath the chair in a block shape. In some of those variations I incorporated the year the company was founded.
Final Logo
In the end I decided to stay with the slightly desaturated brown color. For the main logo I decided to keep the chair above the name of the company. This way the name is essentially holding up the famous chair. I also decided to keep the founding year in the main logo because it’s an important piece of history pertaining to the company. The other variations of logos can serve other uses when the main logo can’t be used applicably. The main logo is pretty tall and when shrunk down the year becomes hard to read. So, in other cases the logo with the name and year can be used well in a horizontal fashion where the main logo might not work. Same can be said for the Icon logo of the chair. I enjoy using the orange color as an accent with the brown color found in the logo.
Color Pallete
#663333
#cc6633
#cccc99
When developing the brand guidelines for this made-up company, I laid out the importance of the 3 colors to be used. The primary 120 Grit brown and Adirondack orange being the two most important colors used throughout the project. The sandpaper color being important for the background.
Typography
The typefaces in this project are all sans serifs, I choose to have the typeface Bebas Neue as the title typeface because of its tall stature and almost stencil like form. It reminds me of stencils you would use to cut out blocks of wood. Helvetica pairs nicely with Bebas as a body copy font that is easy to read.
PACKAGE DESIGN
Research
The package design for 120 Grit is meant to cover the boxes that the furniture kits would be shipped in. The furniture would be sent in pieces in a pretty large flat box. When researching for the design of this I looked for other pieces of packaging that had modular designs, lots of shapes and even gutters between objects. These were all things that were portrayed well in the logo for the company. I also considered things like the use of recyclable materials and what that might look like. I thought about what the designs might look printed on top of the cardboard in which the furniture kits would come in.
Sketches
With my research in mind, I started to do some sketches laying out the different types of information like the parts, instructions and contents of the package. In my sketches I thought it might be a good idea to layout the different parts of the furniture on the box to give people an idea of what they now have in their possession.
Dielines
The dieline for this package creates a simple box that all of the parts would fit into like a game of Tetris. I decided to make the primary color of the packaging the brown from the logo. I choose the secondary orange to contrast the brown color and made the text white so it would stand out against the brown. I made two different dielines, one for an iconic Adirondack chair. The other for an outdoor cedar bench, made in the same layout and style.
Final Packaging
The manual has all of the necessary information like how to build the chair and the dimensions of pieces. It also has Spanish subtitles like other parts of this project do. All of the design has the reader in mind.
The package design should be very information heavy; it needs to include everything from an illustration of the completed piece of furniture to the size and dimensions of each piece used to create the specific piece of furniture. The packaging is designed very heavily with the customer in mind. The customers of 120 Grit are primarily craftsman and wood workers who are huge into the numbers and specs of projects. The packaging has all the information one of the customers would want to know and then some. The package shows the dimensions of each piece along with Instructions. It certainty provides information well. Along with all the numbers is a distinctly outdoor style using the craft like paper and the Adirondack mountain range design at the bottom of the box. The box also has spanish translations.
The package design should be very information heavy; it needs to include everything from an illustration of the completed piece of furniture to the size and dimensions of each piece used to create the specific piece of furniture. The packaging is designed very heavily with the customer in mind. The customers of 120 Grit are primarily craftsman and wood workers who are huge into the numbers and specs of projects. The packaging has all the information one of the customers would want to know and then some. The package shows the dimensions of each piece along with Instructions. It certainty provides information well. Along with all the numbers is a distinctly outdoor style using the craft like paper and the Adirondack mountain range design at the bottom of the box. The box also has spanish translations.
OTHER PRODUCTS
In this section I explored some of the other things 120 Grit could produce to accompany the furniture they create. On this page there are primarily clothes and non-woodworking products. The shirts have the 120 Grit logo on them and come in the three 120 Grit colors. Other things include a mug that you can use to fuel your gritty adventures and a shot glass to toast your finishing of a hard day.
The other Items include the designs for the buckets of stain and nails that can be sold with a chair kit or separately for use on another wooden piece. The Stains come in different colors and sizes and have a preview of what the stain looks like when applied to a nice, finished piece of wood.
The other thing on this page is the Basic Toolbox that has the essential tools required to build any of the products. All of the products share in the brand style of 120 Grit, utilizing the same color schemes and visual elements.
The other Items include the designs for the buckets of stain and nails that can be sold with a chair kit or separately for use on another wooden piece. The Stains come in different colors and sizes and have a preview of what the stain looks like when applied to a nice, finished piece of wood.
The other thing on this page is the Basic Toolbox that has the essential tools required to build any of the products. All of the products share in the brand style of 120 Grit, utilizing the same color schemes and visual elements.
ADVERTS
Billboards
Sticking with the concept of information heavy I designed a poster that reflects this concept. The poster shows the basic specs and info of the Adirondack chair that 120 Grit sells online. The blocky grid this poster uses is very orderly and clean like a woodworking plan and the package that the chair comes in.
The billboard also has a similar design, advertising the Adirondack chair. The modular layout is something that a woodsman would appreciate. Like the package design the outdoor adverts also have the name of the chair in Spanish. Also like the package design the billboard and the poster make use of the three primary company colors.
The billboard also has a similar design, advertising the Adirondack chair. The modular layout is something that a woodsman would appreciate. Like the package design the outdoor adverts also have the name of the chair in Spanish. Also like the package design the billboard and the poster make use of the three primary company colors.
WEB DESIGN
Research & Sketches
When researching for this site I look at other furniture ecommerce sites, like all other ecommerce sites they make use of good photography of products for hero images to draw in users. The furniture sites however utilize many sub navigations for the categorization of their products. The 120 Grit catalog however isn’t very expansive, mostly consist of outdoor wooden furniture.
In my sketches I tried to mimic these features. I focused on the display of features pertaining to the products. For example, the 120 Grit product pages has to convey a ton of information since they are a very hands on product. I knew from the offset that the 120 Grit site would have to be very information heavy to convey necessary information.
In my sketches I tried to mimic these features. I focused on the display of features pertaining to the products. For example, the 120 Grit product pages has to convey a ton of information since they are a very hands on product. I knew from the offset that the 120 Grit site would have to be very information heavy to convey necessary information.
Web Pages
Like everything else in this project, the website has a strong grid feeling. I used some nature images to convey that this is an outdoors type company. The website is very information heavy like most furniture companies are. The color scheme helps tie the brand to other assets of 120 Grit. The website is very grid oriented. I built the site so to be very web responsive like all of the other sites I made. The site works well on all sorts of different devices.
Home Page
About Page
Products Page
Product Page
FAQ Page
Checkout Page
Cart Page
To conform to other ecommerce sites, I used bold imagery across the tops of the pages like photos of the Adirondack Mountains and wooden planks. I also used the main products page to serve as the way to find different types of furniture. I also put the headers of pages in boxes to act like planks of wood laid out across the page. The best way I figured out to display the level of information necessary for the site is to use separate dropdown menus. For example, the site features an expansive FAQ section to answer any and all questions users might have. The same functionality found on the FAQ page is utilized on product pages to show different levels of info.
