Branding & Corporate Image

Retail Design: 99dollarGuitars^®, Inc.

99dollarGuitars^® is a retail chain based in Northern Nevada. Pictured here is the flagship location. The concept is to provide a high-end feel in a store that features guitars and related items selling for very little money. The owners wanted a store design that is easy to duplicate, low cost and able to be deployed very quickly. Stores typically occupy around 1400 square feet, including lesson space.

The final design (pictured) features an open beam ceiling painted a very dark purple that feels more like black but with a warmer feel. Also, bright lights tend to produce a lot of glare against black for people wearing glasses. Complimenting the open ceiling, the store features a gorgeous, high gloss, epoxy coated concrete floor dyed black. The color scheme includes a combination of brick reds and charcoals. And, light fixtures feature barn doors and scrims to give a hip, backstage feel.

Logo Design

For 99dollarGuitars^®, we worked with artist, Mike Cowan to design a logo that would appeal to younger, would-be players, but also with a softened, punkish look that their parents could relate to. The final design shown here achieves that goal well. It also is easily adapted to single-color printing, which is important when producing brochures, etc. to be reproduced on a copier.

We follow several rules when designing logos. First, as mentioned, a logo should reproduce using a single ink color. Complicated logos using complex gradients and finely detailed outlines can be difficult to see in single colors and/or small sizes. We try to avoid fine details in general. In addition to disappearing in small sizes, they often show up as just a blur, particularly in lower resolution reproductions.

Also, it is generally preferable to use bold typefaces that are easy to read from any distance. Fine type becomes nearly impossible to read except in very close proximity.

Retail Package & Label Design

Retail package and label design is an art all its own. The JoeGuitar^® brand guitar polish labels are high-gloss and can be applied mechanically or by hand, depending on the requirements of the manufacturer.