THE CHALLENGE
Eighty-Seven West had the look and the product. What they needed was a brand system built to last, something that could evolve without losing its edge. The challenge: create a flexible foundation that could grow with them. 87W wasn’t after a quick hit. They were building long-term creative infrastructure.
THE SOLUTION
I worked with the 87W team to create a campaign and a cohesive visual system tied to a clear, confident brand voice.
To make sure the brand felt right (not just looked good), I used brand psychology: the science of how people emotionally connect to visuals. Contrast: we used soft portraits next to sharper product shots to create balance and keep the brand from feeling flat. Simplicity and repetition: clean, repeated elements like logos, color pairings, and type choices help people recognize the brand faster. Emotional cues: every design choice was made to spark a feeling, whether that’s calm, confidence, or curiosity. When a brand makes you feel something, you remember it.
MY PART
As Creative Director, here’s what I did:
✔ Helped name the brand, 87W, a nod to Chicago’s longitude and its role as both origin point and cultural influence
✔ Created a complete art direction strategy that positioned 87W as a timeless, enduring lifestyle brand with emotional depth
✔ Styled and color-graded assets to feel cohesive across diverse lighting conditions and subjects
✔ Designed product and portrait shots that serve multiple functions: hero images, web banners, social-ready assets
✔ Built a visual narrative rooted in balance, where editorial photography met structured product visuals to reflect the brand’s duality
✔ Applied principles of branding psychology to ensure consistency in perception across every touchpoint
✔ Elevated 87W from a logo and some merch to a living, breathing creative system with values and vision
✔ Developed a color palette that could flex across textile applications like leather and silk, expanding their hues with a range of refined tones fit for fashion, not just branding
WHERE IT’S HEADED
87W is positioned to grow from a Chicago-rooted lifestyle brand into something people recognize and connect with on sight. The brand system is built to flex across new product lines, collaborations, and markets without losing the emotional depth that makes it stick. As 87W expands, the goal is to keep that balance between timeless and current, exclusive but approachable. The visual foundation is strong enough to evolve with the brand while staying recognizable. If it lands the way it’s designed to, 87W won’t just be another fashion label. It’ll be the one people feel something about, the one that makes them stop and look twice.
