The Sonder Story.

Coming into this term, I had a few things I knew I wanted to research and incorporate into this project, but I wasn't sure how I could combine them all. Between a clothing brand, NFT research, and website creation, the idea was sort of right in front of me the entire time. So, with Bethany's help, I landed on the idea for the Sonder Florist Co. In 2018, as I was about to graduate middle school, I made a clothing brand that essentially jumpstarted my curiosity for the entire space. I took my first looks at true graphic design and website creation from scratch. This brand was named, Sonder. (you can still look at the website I made here: https://sonderwebsite.vercel.app/home.html) Fast-forward to the beginning of this term, as I knew I was about to graduate high school, I wanted to return to the idea of this brand, and build on it, as finally a senior. It was a weird feeling, starting from the same name, but with the entirely improved skill set I was working with. I hoped to move past the corny rose my 8th grade self thought was brilliant. In the first few weeks of the term, I started with the overall concept of the v2 brand identity. Knowing that I wanted to insert this brand into the web3 space, which is notoriously filled with apes and just internet inspired trash, I knew I had to tread a fine line between that and the realistic fashion world. Therefore, I was most inspired by minimalist, higher-end brands like Nike ACG, Billionaire Boys Club, and CDG. After my research, I realized that my goal was to create a brand that would be a breath of fresh air for the web3/NFT space that would also bring a creative edge to the fashion space. This is mainly what motivated the idea of the florist co. (in addition to the .florist tld being very cheap) Building off the concept, I worked on the three different logos I landed with. I am actually very proud of the way these turned out. Each individual one was meant to serve a different purpose within the entire brand. The full type logo is sort of the main, most recognizble staple of the brand, the icon logo is easily applied and most scalable, and the last wordmark logo is sort of an alternative look. Once I had the logos, I could start on the clothing drop. I am honestly not sure why, but I chose to incorporate my worst art skill into the main aspect of the designs: hand drawing. In the end, I don't think it was terrible, but it is not the aspect of the project I am most happy with. Finally, once I had all my design assets in place, I could finish the website. For this website, I used Next.js and Vercel to host it for free, which was quite nice. I wish I had more time to implement the animations with framer motion. They would have made the website a lot cleaner and smoother to use. Additionally, I would have loved to go way deeper into the web3 aspect and actually mint my own NFTs. It was just a lot of information to get into in order to have a final product. Overall, I am really proud of my work this term, and I loved the idea of being able to compare my 8th grade design self with my self now. Sonder v1 was in a lot of ways what set me down this path, and I am very thankful for all the opportunities I have had to continue to grow and improve my skills in this space. So, I hope you enjoy Sonder v2, the Florist Co.