Let's start from square one: I didn't actually set out to change our brand this year, but I'm absolutely thrilled it happened! I had decided before we opened that we needed to make certain growth goals by year three, and in order to jump from our year two sales to my year three goal, I decided I needed to invest in certain website upgrades and marketing work. When I initially researched potential names I didn't come across anything similar, but since then I've discovered there are lots and lots and lots of local, regional, and national brands using "wild" as part of their name, and "wild flowers" has become a much more popular way for folks to describe their style of floral art. I felt like our name was holding us back and making us more difficult to find. And since I was already investing in website work with a company that also does branding I decided to take this enormous leap of faith (and finances) and do both together.
My guidance for the Aeolidia team was that the name be totally unique and not include anything on a list of words I've commonly seen in floral work, and yet still evoke the sunny, charming, garden-like floral oasis vibe that we've built. When the copywriter sent over the first draft of possible names, Lemon Terrace Florals very clearly stood out to me as both completely unique and completely capturing the vibe of our shop and work. The imagery of a lemon is juicy, ripe, and always sunny. The idea of a terrace evokes the terraced garden style and also a literal sunny, urban terrace with cute little potted plants and a sweet, colorful café table, both images that I love to have associated with our floristry.
When it came to the branding the name naturally led to certain colors & illustrations. I wanted the colors to be more vibrant than the wild flower colors as I am just personally over muted colors after hiding indoors for the majority of the pandemic. There's a lot of variety and the plan is to rotate seasonally and always be able to create new images, graphics, and cute merch & collateral with them. And the illustrations! Omg. What florist can resist some majorly cute botanical illustrations? Not I, friends. In addition to the main illustration of the lemon branch they are a clematis, hellebore, and baptisia, because I didn't want a rose, peony, or poppy that are popularly used. I loooove the way the illustrator captured the unique magic of these gorgeous stems and the way they bring movement to our floral designs.
The new website is still forthcoming (we're planning a launch later this year), but I hope you've enjoyed this little deep dive into how our new brand came to light. Do you have any questions? Do you have a favorite element that you hope to see on some merch soon? Let me know!