Project Overview

Spectacle Society is a woman-owned business located in Detroit, MI that sells independent eyewear, with an anticipated opening date in the Fall/Winter of 2020. The collection of unique eyewear is curated by founder Tina Arroyo, ABOC. Spectacle Society emphasizes quality, personal style, and old-fashioned customer service.

The design system uses a library of different illustrated components: head shapes, mouths, hairstyles, and of course, eyewear. By creating various combinations from this library of assets, a community of unique people who wear glasses emerges. This reflects Spectacle Society’s conviction to celebrate everyone’s uniqueness with the eyewear, showcasing a diverse community of eyewear users that include consideration for race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, ability, etc. These illustrations are a primary element of the brand’s story-telling, and subverts the common tropes in the eyewear industry that rely heavily on generic fashion photography.  

Spectacle Society’s core messaging is a flexible system that uses multiple phrases that sound as though the brand is encouraging and empowering their customer. The message plays on the words “spec” to reference Spectacle Society. Other messaging references inclusion and a sense of belonging to the Spectacle Society community.

The unique color palette is not only unexpected and memorable, but references diversity in a critical and playful way. Rather than relying simply on skin tones that range from white to black, the use of the color blue ensures that the strategy pushes past stereotypical references to race and ethnicity (much like the multicolored characters in the tv series Doug from the 1990s). 

Project Goals

• To create a brand identity that is inclusive, and that empowers all clients to feel their best in their eyewear

• To develop an easy-to-use design system for the business owner to implement day-to-day

• To reflect the high-quality eyewear products and customer service, while remaining approachable

Project Challenges

• Covid-19 impacted Spectacle Society and how they will work with their customers, so health and safety-related iconography had to be added to the original set of illustrations. These icons, such as masks, had to remain friendly and welcoming.

Project Impact

• In December 2020, the project received international design recognition, winning a Creative Communication Award in Brand Identity / Branding.

• In March 2020, the project received international design recognition, winning an Indigo Silver Medal in Branding.

• The project received international design recognition, earning an Honorable Mention in the 2020 Graphis Design Annual.