Kiku Obata & Company

Based in Detroit, Art Van Furniture is a leading home retailer in the Midwest. We were commissioned to develop the brand identity and packaging for Rise, a new collection of bedding featuring 37.5 technology – a natural fiber that regulates body heat and humidity, originally created for performance apparel and used by brands such as North Face and Adidas. In an exclusive partnership with 37.5, Art Van set out to launch an upscale collection of “performance” bedding that helps active individuals achieve a more perfect sleep environment.

While this collection of 37.5 Tech bedding was the foundation for the new brand, we established a strategy where a greater diversity of products – all related to healthy sleep – could be introduced under the Rise brand name over time. The new brand, with the tag-line “Sleep smart. Live smart.”, represents an intelligent, yet nurturing modern sleep lifestyle. We oversaw all brand development – creating the identity, customer facing messaging, icons to explain the science behind products and packaging. Typography, icons and colors were designed to carefully balance cues of performance along with softer, more comforting cues of good sleep. We developed a brand guide to help the company’s internal design team launch the new brand across different media.