A Brand Revival for Iris Salon, a Hospitality-Forward Hair Salon

If you have ever started and ran a business for a handful of years, you might be familiar with the experience of when things start to feel “off”…

You can’t quite put your finger on it, but things just don’t feel as solid as they once did. Perhaps your target audience has shifted, your offerings have evolved, or maybe you are experiencing some love lost for what once set you on fire. Whatever it might be, you can sense that you are no longer exquisitely aligned with the business and brand you once created.

Before we go much further, let me first say, “this is normal!”.

What I have found in my own experience as a small business owner and with many of our clients is this: You start your business with so much excitement and eagerness that you just hit the ground running. Completely understandable…you are inspired, ready, and maybe even in a financial position where you just NEED to get going, and so you do. Some time goes by, and then that off feeling might start to creep in. Don’t panic, this is fixable and honestly, in my opinion, such a great sign…you have evolved, grown, shifted into a bigger expansion of your business, and it makes perfect sense that the brand you once created to match your business no longer fits your new model.

This was exactly the case with Steph, Owner of Iris Salon, which led her to reaching out to Golden Creative (and we are obviously so glad she did!). Steph has been the owner of her salon, located on the north shore of Boston for years and had recently taken it over as a solo owner. Like many others, she could sense that things had shifted within her brand, and before we got into any logo designs or website changes, she and I first started with Brand Development, where we spent three months together, diving completely into her brand. We rediscovered her WHY, her values, the unique qualities that set Iris Salon apart from her local competitors, and uncovered so much truth about the salon’s target audience. We got deep, and we unlocked her personal hangups, what might be holding her back, and addressed those fears we all have as business owners.

This work led to a brand revival that now feels so much more aligned with the grown up version of Iris Salon. Yes, we changed her color story to be more reflective of a more mature business. We sourced and paired new font families to do the same, and we altered her logo, not entirely, but enough to stand out. But more importantly, Steph became so much more aware and grounded in the root of her business. This reflective time spent allowed her to think differently about her process, her operations, the way she will train her staff, and her brand voice-all critical aspects of a brand, because THESE are the things that clients really notice and care about.

Take a look at the visuals we designed to match Iris Salon’s evolved brand.

We didn’t stop there! Once the Iris Salon brand visuals were finalized, we got to work on the website development + design…this was an exciting upgrade, where you can really start to see the brand development and design work come to life. At Golden, we are firm believers that a potential or existing customer’s user experience on a website is a great way to indicate what they will experience when engaging with our client in real life. We want our clients’ websites to look beautiful, flow seamlessly, and feel really reflective of the brand. It’s often the first chance for connection, so a website is so important when making a first impression.

Here is a glance at the website we created, as well as a little before and after!

Lastly, we provided Steph with Virtual Photoshoot Support, which guided her and Illume Photography as they captured the perfect photos to tell their new brand story…check out some of this fun imagery!

We say this all the time, but a reminder that you deserve to LOVE your brand and feel confident about the story you are sharing with your dream customers. When things feel off, follow that instinct!

We absolutely LOVED our time with Steph and Iris Salon…it was such a joy to work alongside her as she uncovered the next exciting phase for her business through authentic branding, storytelling, and connection. We’ll be over here rooting for Steph every step of the way!