Building Steadfast Records' Brand and eCommerce Presence

As the owner of Steadfast Records, I was eager to revitalize the brand and expand its reach in the music industry. I needed a comprehensive solution that encompassed rebranding, a consistency across channels, and a robust eCommerce platform. My goal was clear: to transform our brand identity, build a flexible design system, and establish a strong online presence.

Services

• eCommerce Website

• Brand Refresh

• Brand Collateral

• E-mail Campaigns

• Content Marketing

• Social Media Marketing

• Offline Marketing

The Challenge:

Revitalizing a Niche Record Label

Steadfast Records, a niche record label with a focus on hardcore and emo, was struggling to maintain engagement and sales in between album release cycles. We needed a cohesive brand identity that reflected our dedication to quality and authenticity. Additionally, our existing online store was outdated and not user-friendly, making it difficult for customers to discover and purchase our products. With a limited budget, the challenge was to create a compelling brand and an engaging eCommerce experience with a focus on discovery.

Research & Planning

The project began with extensive research into the independent music market, which included:

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Identifying the Target Audience

I focused on music enthusiasts, vinyl collectors, and fans of emo, hardcore and adjacent genre's

Identifying Peers & Competitioin

I analyzed other independent record labels with strong visual identities and successful online record stores.

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Based on these insights, I established the following design principles to guide the rest of the project:

Authenticity and Passion

Reflect the genuine passion for music and our commitment to the artists we work with. 

Visual Appeal

Create striking and memorable designs that stand out in the marketplace.

Functionality

Ensure the eCommerce site is user-friendly and encourages exploration and purchases.

The Solution:

A Comprehensive Design and eCommerce Strategy

Establishing a Visual Identity

I began by reimagining Steadfast Records' brand identity. This included refreshing the Black Cat logo, color palette, typography, and visual elements to better capture the spirit of the label and its artists. Steadfast Records was originally launched in the mid-1990s and was active for about six years. When I relaunched in 2017, I introduced the Black Cat logo. This logo became even more significant to me after losing my cat, 'Business,' who inspired the original illustration. I cleaned up the illustration, adding a thick outline that allowed me to introduce a second color for the lightning bolts. The new ‘Zapped’ blue became the primary bolt color, with the flexibility to adapt to specific releases or other contextual uses.

Packaging Design

Packaging design was a critical component of the project. While each release would have its own artwork, I wanted to establish a visual language that would resonate consistently across all releases. I created a center label template to be applied universally to label releases. This design was flexible enough to work with almost any color scheme or background art. I took inspiration from the center labels of records I grew up listening to, such as the red and gold of Columbia, the rainbow and sky of MCA, the maroon and silver of Capitol, and the consistent layout of Grand Royale.

eCommerce Integration

Understanding the importance of a strong online presence, I migrated Steadfast’s existing online store from the Wix platform to a new site built on Shopify. This included transferring customer data and hundreds of product SKUs. I then customized a theme and added functionality to show customers recommended products, related products, and an in-cart free shipping countdown. The new store introduced several new features, including a robust search experience, highly focused categories, streamlined navigation, a mega-nav with a featured product embed, and detailed product pages. These pages included photo galleries, variant selectors, an audio player to listen to the album on the page, and metadata fields for album attributes. The new site was designed to look amazing on mobile, be lightning-fast, user-friendly, encourage discovery, and facilitate easy shopping and checkout.

Branded Merchandise

To further promote the brand, I designed a range of branded merchandise, including t-shirts, stickers, coffee mugs, and buttons. All orders include free stickers to help promote the label and its artists.

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Expanded Inventory

I introduced a steady drip of new inventory, with highly focused, curated drops of new records. This approach brought in hundreds of new titles gradually, continually connecting fans with new music options.

The Results:

A Brand Reborn

My comprehensive approach enabled Steadfast Records to revitalize its brand and establish a strong online presence. The new visual identity and designs received positive feedback from both artists and fans. The eCommerce website provided a seamless shopping experience, leading to increased AOV and customer engagement. By leading Steadfast Records through this transformation, I demonstrated my ability to deliver end-to-end design and eCommerce solutions. This case study highlights my capability to build a strong brand and online presence, making me the ideal choice for businesses looking to revitalize their image.

Conclusion

Revitalizing Steadfast Records has been an exciting journey, showcasing my ability to create compelling brand identities and engaging eCommerce platforms. If you are looking for a freelance designer to revitalize your brand and build an effective online presence, I have the expertise and creativity to bring your vision to life. Let's create something amazing together.