Gusmanson’s charming identity for Odilia balances expressive colour with typographic elegance

The Hague-based design studio Gusmanson has created the identity for De Kwakel’s premier florist Odilia, seeking to mirror their premium service and champion the extraordinary variety of flowers on offer. Similarly brazen and bright, the typographically-led identity utilises the expressive forms of Colophon Foundry’s Brick as its primary typeface.

“We're positioning the brand as a curator of extraordinary flowers, who shares notes from her adventures with her fans,” Gusmanson's Co-founder Bas Breugelmans tells us, “Brick is bold and personal, which makes it stand out in materials and packaging,” exuding confidence and quality through its elegant construction. Alongside Brick is its sans serif counterpart from Commercial Type; Graphik. “We think the two work together well,” Breugelmans adds, with the latter providing a pragmatic and practical counterpart to the identity’s expressive execution.

Finding inspiration in Odilia’s practice, the identity’s colour palette takes its hues from the flowers on sale. “They’re warm and expressive shades from all over the world,” Breugelmans explains, capturing a spectrum that provides enough variety to convey Odilia’s eclectic offerings while maintaining a recognisable and ownable colour set. “We like that the palette lets us create a wide variety of combinations,” they add, “and makes it easy to highlight individual flowers with matching tints.”

Sitting in harmony with the identity’s composed concoction of type and colour is the work of illustrator Yara Ruby. Utilising the clean yet whimsical style of Ruby’s practice, Gusmanson collaborated with her to create the brand’s logo; taking the opportunity to further develop Odilia’s narrative. “The illustration amplifies the brand story,” Breugelmans recalls, “Odilia is a mysterious woman, travelling around the globe to find and collect the world's most extraordinary flowers,” he concludes, “and, fittingly, is a little bit wild.”

Odilia

Gusmanson