TONGWANG

Brand Identity, Packaging Design


在今年9月，Projject 有幸受到TONGWANG品牌邀请，着手于整体品牌形象的重塑工作。即日起，TONGWANG 品牌形象全新发布。


关于 TONGWANG

TONGWANG 是一个成立于2019年的独立设计品牌，专注于结构解构的实验性剪裁、细节处理和灵活可变的轮廓造型设计方面。不断探索服装版型的多样性和面料工艺的完整性，是品牌的主要精神价值。品牌希望在快速发展的消费市场中，对服装的各个部分进行更合理的利用，从而创造有品质、考究且独特的日常着装。

自品牌创立以来，TONGWANG 在时装设计领域显露出兼具对先锋派设计理念与技法的传承，和因无意克制而自然流露的实验性、不确定性、趣味性。这样的独特风格让TONGWANG 设计呈现出一种弱化规则的、时而跳跃且持续变化的状态。无论在面料的选择、衣物与人的关系、或在对剪裁和版型的思考上，品牌始终专注于对事物本质的思考。因此，在品牌的一系列看似始终围绕着最基本的技法、工具和规则的创作中，结果往往千变万化，无一不令人着迷。


从解构到“重构”

TONGWANG在成立初期便奠定了独特的气质与设计思路，品牌希望藉由更完整的形象识别来承载未来多样化的设计理念，并能更有效地在逐渐多元的受众群体中树立清晰的品牌认知。Projject 团队对包括品牌lookbook、设计理念、灵感来源以及现有的品牌形象元素等资料进行了系统性的整理和研究，试图寻找一个贯穿品牌的核心设计语言。最终，团队为TONGWANG品牌定义了品牌形象内核：重构。

相较于在“解构”中更多对于破坏性的表达，“重构”则偏重于对事物本质的分析与再创造——并不是大刀阔斧或急于领先的改革，而是在表达一种更为轻松有趣，和对“改变”本身可能性的着迷状态。


品牌重塑

Projject认为，自信的品牌视觉形象是一种美感表达与理性思考的平衡，具备个性化的表达与不过分张扬的细节表现，让品牌在具有鲜明的识别度的同时，有着成为经典品牌的潜力。团队从品牌表达、服装作品、版型设计、生活美学等方面出发，以“重构”作为全新品牌形象的核心设计语言。


设计

在过往TONGWANG的服装系列中，丰富的材质纹理与冷静的几何形态并存，一种情绪上的不稳定性被自由挥洒在富有美感的面料和服装造型之上，这让团队最终确定了以能够表达利落感的元素塑造字形标志。新的字形logo以干净利落的手法切掉字母笔画开端和连接部位，构成果断、有力量感的字体形态，并取缔了原字形中的圆角转折，以尖锐切角简化标志造型，传达自信的品牌精神。同时，在原有笔画粗细变化的基础上，经过精确计算的字体粗细度比例与倾斜角度，为标志增添更多先锋和动态的视觉感受。

版型研究与实验性剪裁是TONGWANG的品牌核心价值，团队在设计过程中回归到服装制版环节：最基本的裁剪动作会因手法和理念不同，表达出完全不同的结果，因而颇为简洁且变化丰富的弧线也就自然而然地成为了团队首选的设计元素。图形标志元素(logomark) “W”,也应运而生。

“W” 代表 WANG, 相较于以首字母为符号的更为普遍的做法，TONGWANG试图更多让品牌与设计本身与穿着的人进行对话，以避免设计师本人对人们的观点产生过多影响。“W” 使得品牌在设计探索与品牌发展上具备更高的自由度，也预示着品牌将会在传统时尚行业与更多元的领域间尝试更多表达方式。

新品牌形象采用BW Gradual作为标准品牌字体，BW Gradual由西班牙字体设计师Alberto Romanos创作， 在筛选过程中，团队发现这款字体在结构上与TONGWANG的新字形标志有着相似的实用主义风格的几何结构，以及透着些许怪诞气息的有趣细节。在字形的视觉传达方面，锐利的弧线与纯粹的几何形态让字体被用作标题时非常引人注目，同时，字体连接部分的陡峭弧度使得字体保留了一些近似手写风格的细节，这让BW Gradual在作为内文使用时，能具备舒适的阅读感受。

服装吊牌的设计灵感来源于TONGWANG设计师所一向坚持的可持续性与环保理念，团队以 ”零浪费“ 理念来制版并设计成衣的手法转移到对纸张和印刷的处理中：将品牌符号的形态调整到一个特定的尺寸，恰好可以拼成一整张全开尺寸的特种卡片用纸，经过裁切，会得到与品牌图形元素形态一致的吊牌，和一张椭圆形的吊牌，我们将这种椭圆形的吊牌用于TONGWANG出品的配饰系列。真正实现将“零浪费”的设计理念。

TONGWANG 品牌形象的更新，是品牌成立来非常关键的一步改变，Projject 为TONGWANG 的品牌形象建设提供了更为清晰的表达方式和设计工具，愿新的品牌形象系统能够帮助品牌继续在传统服装设计技术的传承、新材料研究和新设计理念中继续探索。


Projject has worked on the rebranding for fashion brand TONGWANG. “TONGWANG is a young independent fashion brand founded in 2019 which is focused on experimental cuts, delicate details, and flexible silhouettes. Exploring the diversity of clothes patterns constantly is the aesthetic and spiritual value of TONGWANG. In this overstimulating market, our vision is to make good use of each part of clothes that maintain quality over time. ”

TONGWANG has always shown enthusiasm towards avant-garde design philosophy and traditional pattern making techniques, the brand naturally expresses experimental, uncertain, and dynamic characteristics. TONGWANG focuses more on occasional playfulness and constant change within design language, therefore, this unique style makes fashion principles less significant. From fabric choices, the relationship between wearer and wear, and the thinkings on clothing patterns and pattern making, TONGWANG always goes back to discuss the essence of things. Although TONGWANG seems like creating from basic techniques, using fundamental tools and rules, the result is always full of spontaneous surprises.


From Deconstruction to “Reconstruction”

TONGWANG has been generating a unique personality and design philosophy from birth. Projject was tasked with completing a visual identity that has the power to carry out a more diverse fashion design language, as well as the ability to communicate the brand recognition more clearly and effectively to a broader audience group in the future. We looked through the current brand lookbook, collection concepts, design inspirations as well as existing brand elements, to find a core brand language that appears throughout. Finally, Projject defined the brand core as “reconstruction”.

Contrary to a destructive expression of “deconstruction”, “reconstruction” discusses more about the essence and the recreation of things. This is less about building revolutionary change, this is more about fascination towards the possibilities of change.


Rebranding

Projject believes a confident brand visual identity balances aesthetics expression with rational thinking; a highly individual yet highly personal expression, that avoids being exaggerating in details, has the ability to become a distinctive identification. Such identification has the potential to become ever-lasting.


Design

Previous TONGWANG collections tended to collide abundant fabric textures with calm geometric shapes. This collision creates an uncertain emotional expression, and the emotion happens rapidly yet freely during the reconstruction process. Contrasting emotion inspired us to continue building a decisive yet agile logotype. The new logotype replaced the round corners in the original logo, then precisely cut the beginning and the connection parts of the alphabets, to form a confident, decisive, and influential look. Meanwhile, through rationally calculating the thickness and reclining angles of each alphabet stroke, the new logo expresses an avant-garde and dynamic visual perception.

Pattern studies and experimental cuts are the most crucial value of the brand. TONGWANG always start a design process from pattern making. The same fundamental cut can proceed to quite different results, because of various hand techniques and different design concepts. Simple yet dynamic curves appeared throughout the brand’s patterns, which naturally became the design element we chose. Logomark “W” carried on with the same concept.

“W” symbolizes WANG, compare to a more popular usage of the designer’s initials as logomark, TONGWANG tries to avoid influencing the brand’s audience with a strong personal image. “W” shines a more imaginative brand prospect, this also suggests TONGWANG will try to explore different design expressions inside and outside the traditional fashion industry in the future.

The new visual identity used BW Gradual as the standard brand typeface. BW Gradual is designed by Spanish typeface designer Alberto Romanos. We found this typeface has a functionalism and geometry structure, as well as subtle whimsical details, similar to TONGWANG’s new logo. From visual communication points of view, titles with sharp curves and pure geometry shapes look exceptionally attractive. Moreover, the steep curved connection parts of alphabets create details similar to hand writing style, this makes BW Gradual comfortable to read when used as content.

Hangtag design followed the sustainability and environmentally friendly brand philosophy of TONGWANG. We studied pattern making techniques and used this technique to create a zero-waste hangtag design. First, we adjusted the brand symbol to a specific size, then lay out the symbol to create a repetitive composition on an A0 size specialty paper. After that, we cut the paper into hangtags that have the same brand shape element, and the leftover paper became an oval shape. TONGWANG will use the oval shape hangtags in the accessories collection. Nothing got wasted.

Rebranding is a crucial change to the brand. Projject creates a new brand identity system that tells a vivid brand story, meanwhile will assist the brand to keep on exploring the inheritance of traditional fashion techniques, materials studies, and new design inspirations.