Soleil Sign finals • side by side • 6-4-20

Click for Lightbox view.

Soleil Sign revisiOns • 6-3-20 (Plane BANNER revised)

G: (Below.) Re: your request to make the sign pop more. I made the sky less “smoggy” (for lack of a better word) and then I added a gradient – dark to light from top to horizon. I changed “best views” to “water views” (good one) and I warped the type so it stretches naturally with the banner fabric. Click either image below to get a bigger view. My opinion: the original artist would do a better job of adding the plane and banner, but short of that, I think this works. (It’s cornball, yes, but hey – this is Ocean City, not Kennebunkport or Martha’s Vineyard. Right?) Still, I recommend getting some “plane or no plane” opinions from your group.

P.S. I have the original sky saved if you prefer it. (Compare G with F.)

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Soleil Sign revisiOns • 5-30-20 (Plane added)

F: (Below.) You can click on this one for a larger view. As for proportion, this plane and banner (in real life) would be huge, but I think it’s okay to break physical laws in an ad like this. As for copy, I need some help there. If the plane banner said “ONLY 25 UNITS LEFT” and the sign is up for weeks or months, would that seem disingenuous? (Like an obvious come-on?) P.S. The plane I added is an illustration that, style-wise, is close to the original artist’s style. Ideally, you would ask the artist to add the plane, but I realize that would cost a bit more. (I do like how the plane color matches the awnings on the building.)

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Soleil Sign revisiOns • 5-29-20

The 5 comps below are all low-res / quick examples. I’ll dial things in when we pick a winner.

A: (Below.) This is what I sent you last night. I hate having no room for the logo or landing page CTA. But if we stick with a 3X6 layout, and we want to see the flag on top of the building and the corner entryway below it (with the orange awnings), there’s very little real estate left over for type.

B: (Below.) If we go with 4X6 instead of 3X6, we get more room, so we can include the logo and landing page CTA, as shown below. It’s less cluttered looking, too… everything doesn’t look so jammed in.

C: (Below.) Another experiment – an inset shot of the rendering to create more free space. It works, but I think I like B better.

D: (Below.) Here I took out the artist’s sky and substituted the blue/green color from our logo. For my money, this neatly ties everything together – and it’s a little more sophisticated. I love the brand colors, (the sky color the gold and the white) and I prefer this sky, but I know you like a sky blue sky. Maybe I could help it along by adding some texture to it (wisps of white clouds), but before I do that, see “E”.

E: (Below.) I like this idea, but it would cost a little bit more to produce: This 4X6 version below uses the tall corner turret (or whatever you call that thing on the near corner) as a violator… in other words, the tallest piece of the building below, with the flag on top, would extend above the actual sign. This would require a custom cut board, but that’s totally doable. And very cool. (Follow? If not, I can talk it on the phone.) P.S. Also, on this version, we could make a tiny flag, a real flag with real fabric, and hang it atop that flag pole, where is belongs. Or not. Just sayin.' (We could also suspend our bi-plane above the sign – now that’s fun.)

My opinion: I like D and E. And next, I’ll try incorporating your bi-plane-towing-banner idea with a fun CTA on it. But before moving forward, I do need your feedback on everything else: copy, layout, composition, the 4X6 size – everything.

Thanks Joe.

P.S. Don’t you want the Ernst name on this, somewhere?

Soleil Sign revisiOns • 2-23-20

#18

This is the sign we chose as our winner.

#19

You asked me to choose another sign to go with our winner, and this would be an obvious choice. The two look like they go together, like part of a campaign. (We could change the copy on top of the kid for this variation.)

#20

This could also be a companion to our winner. I like the consistency of the icons at the bottom of both. If you want the building rendering on both signs, then I recommend just printing the one sign – there’s no reason for a 2nd. (Right? Unless you have your artist make another rendering, say for example a rendering of the pool area or front desk.)

Soleil Sign revisi0ns • 2-19-20

#17

This is the one we are taking to finish. Copy edits to come. (See my email on 2/21/2PM for other items still needed – the Soleil logo at high-res and a much larger version of the building rendering.) There’s a lot going on here, but I still like it. My 2nd favorite is #14 below.

#14

Here, I did 2 things. I made the Soleil logo bigger, and I got rid of the bar at the bottom and made a fake beach (where none existed) so there’s one less element. The trade-off: this is cleaner, but the amenities don’t pop as much as before.

#15

Same as #14 but with a see-through bar added (in Soleil gold) to help the icons pop.

#16

And above with a thinner solid bar in Soleil gold.

#12

The example above has icons that are filled-in and 100% white – as as opposed to the icons below (#1 thru #11) which are line drawings.

#13

The example above has icons that are filled-in and 70% white – as as opposed to the icons below (#1 thru #11) which are line drawings.

#9

Here’s our kid. Corrections made, icons added. Scroll down for original. The icons at the bottom are growing on me. Didn’t like it at first.

#10

The front desk or concierge bell, corrections made, icons added. Scroll down for original.

#11

Are the towels more representative than the bell? Does this better convey maid service, luxury, etc?

Soleil Sign Comps for joe ernst • 2-14-20

#1

This is where I started. I wanted to see how much info we could get in, while still telegraphing “high-end / luxury resort.”

#2

The one problem with #1: the building sketch is too small + too busy. So I cropped to the most attractive angle.

#3

Building sketch larger. Angle changed, flag on top now even with the gold line to the left.

#4

Flipped building. I think this works best, compositionally. The building now has “presence.”

#5

Luxury brands often have a little “quirkiness.” (Like I keep saying: not your father’s Oldsmobile.) Plus the kid adds soul.

#6

This one loses a lot of info. (Less info than above, still more than the 446 signs.) Here I’m going for simple + beautiful.

#7

This adds the missing info back in. This is a lot to take in, but it works imo.

#8

Of all, this one is the “fastest.” It certainly telegraphs luxury. P.S. I also made sure all versions were color-coordinated with the Soleil brand. The kids shirt = the Soleil gold, the bell background = the Soleil gold and blue, and so on. That would still need some tweaking, but these comps come close.

Soleil Presentation for Joe Ernst • 01.08.20

Soleil Approach #1

Soleil Approach #2

Soleil Approach #3