Cherkas

Branding

2022

Cherkas is a watch brand launched by one person, that needed to create a brand story and identity. The problem the company faced in 2021 originating from Russia and having an anti-war attitude was to find the right self-presentation on a global market within a new shaking reality. My goal as a brand/identity designer was to find a proper brand message that would reflect company values and to develop a visual language and design identity.

Audience

Together with the client we were able to define the target audience and through the series of exercises, we were able to define the focus group: wealthy people with a high level of emotional intelligence. People who value personal attachments to things with a good story and sophisticated design.

Competitor Analysis

As the market is quite wide and the client had a deep understanding of it, we had to conduct very detailed marketing research, understanding competitors' positions and brand messaging. The main outtake is that more expansive brands have not only perfect quality clockwork and posh design, but they also have brand history and well-thought narrative, the story that they sell.

Focus

By matching the audience with competitors on a number of scales I was able to define the key tone of voice. It was a good starting point to understand how the brand story should sound and what should be the tone of the visual voice of identity. We also could tell which areas are quite occupied with competitors, and whom among reference businesses we have a close relation to.

Brand Commitment Matrix

The next good exercise helped us to define the company mission and vision via understanding the aims and beliefs of the target audience, responding to it with brand values and company online, and formulating the purpose. This approach is extremely useful to create a brand narrative that would address the commitments defined.

Narratives

My journey through the Cherkas brand came to a conclusion with four brand narrative directions. The client was happy to pick the one with the tagline «That quality time you give to yourself».
'Personal time is everyone's personal business. This is part of life when you can focus on yourself, on your personal plans, ambitions, and goals, leaving public roles for a short time along with uncomfortable jackets. This is a time of personal experience, self-realization, and honest dialogue with yourself'.
The direction was supported with a mood board and visual design and identity references.

Logo

The name of the company has some family roots, as well as an image of the sun used. The founder's grandfather had a family name Charkas and used to live and work in the North. Low sunlight is a well-known image of Russian North, where days are short in summer and one can experience polar nights in winter.
My task was to find and match the watch metaphor with the sunrise image, and create a convincing look and feel for the logo. The sunbeams forms half of the clock face, the other half is hidden above the 'horizon'.

Brand Message

Brand message turned out to be bold and striking, closely related to the target audience defined. It was tested with the representatives from the focus group and it worked well. It intrigues, touches the ego, and sprang off emotions. And this matches perfectly with the product design and its inner philosophy.

Vasily Kuybar

I approached Stas with the task of developing a logo for a new independent watch brand.

I would like to note Stas' involvement and depth of immersion in the subject. In the process of working on the logo and our communication there were touched not only visual, but also philosophical and marketing aspects of the company's development, which helped me in further work on the brand.
In addition, I am grateful to Stas for his excellent sense of style.

CHERKAS WATCHES CTO
Founder & Creative Director