Case study · November 2026

A leather-handbag house, built from brief to inbox.

A prospective French leather house asked for a brand and a way to sell it online. Resolut is building the concept pitch, one gate at a time, and this page follows it: the brief, the images, the brand kit, the design kit, the lookbook, the website and the email pack. It is updated at every gate. Each part shows the real thing or a screenshot of it.

Prepared by Resolut.

A tan leather tote bag with a gold wordmark on a stone ledge in front of a bordeaux velvet curtain.
The cover image of the brand kit.
7chapters approved
65approved images
8products: four shapes in two colours
14emails designed, none sent
34decisions logged, plus 9 corrections
0real customers, orders or sales

This is a concept pitch. The brand, the shoppers, the orders and the prices are invented, and nothing is for sale. “Made in France”, “full-grain”, “genuine leather” and “handcrafted” are the prospective client’s own words, and none of them has been checked.

Open the work

Everything below is a real page you can open.

Each link opens the thing itself, not a picture of it. Nothing is for sale, and nothing here is connected to Klaviyo or any shop.

Brand kit

Who Saint Séverac is: the wordmark, colours, type, voice and range. Five pages.

Open the brand kit

Design kit

The parts a site, a shop and an email are built from. Four pages.

Open the design kit

Lookbook

Her day, in forty-one pictures. A web page and a twelve-page PDF.

Open the lookbookOpen the PDF

Website

Four pages: home, shop, product and story. Opens on a film.

Open the website

Email pack

Fourteen emails, five flows and a campaign, with the flow map. None sent.

Open the email pack

Social pack

Nine posts, three stories, five reels, four ad designs. Concept only, nothing posted.

Open the social pack

The images

All sixty-five approved pictures on one sheet.

Open the contact sheet
What the client asked for

Eight things, one at a time.

The work is gated. Nothing starts until the stage before it has been shown and approved, and each stage ends with a written decision.

01 · Brief Approved 29 Oct

For all that she is.

She is the everyday woman with a full life: work, family, a passion, a few hobbies. The idea is that the bag carries all of it, and the brand holds her life. The mood is warm, French-inspired, unhurried and quietly luxurious. The voice is poised and warm, never loud.

Four shapes, two colours

The work tote, the everyday shoulder bag, the weekender and the crossbody, each in Tan and in Bordeaux. Eight products, a small enough catalogue for a shop, emails and flows to use, and each shape tied to a part of her day.

Ten tensions, flagged

The review found ten, including calm images against a hectic story, a French name that must not imply “made in France”, and the family missing from every picture. Each one was settled or carried forward in writing.

No research, on purpose

Resolut chose to skip competitor and market research. The cost is stated in the brief: it makes no claim about the market, price levels or whether the idea is unique.

What the brief decides

  • Customer. A woman of about 30 to 45 with a hectic schedule. Market: United States, in US dollars.
  • Tone. Poised, warm, unhurried, quietly confident.
  • Price tier. Upper-mid, with invented concept prices from $195 to $395.
  • Name. Saint Séverac. The accent stays. The wordmark is gold, in Cormorant Garamond.

What the brief refuses

  • Allowed, as the client’s words: made in France, full-grain, genuine leather, handcrafted.
  • Not allowed: handmade, vegetable-tanned, vegan, sustainable, ethical, eco-friendly, traceable.
  • Never: invented reviews, sales numbers, ratings or press quotes. No fake urgency. No claim about what fits inside a bag.
  • Assumptions: ten, marked as such. Nine are confirmed. One, the trademark check on the name, is still open.
02 · Images Approved 2 Nov

Sixty-five pictures, none of them photographed.

The images are the product, because the bags do not exist. So this stage was set up as a small production line: one pilot bag finished completely, a lighter recipe for the others, and every picture checked against the same list before it was kept.

Two work totes side by side on a stone ledge, one tan and one bordeaux.
The two colours of the pilot bag.
An open tan tote seen from above with a notebook, glasses, keys and a child’s drawing around it.
Her working day, in the bag.
An open bordeaux tote seen from above with sheet music, a book, flowers and a child’s glove around it.
The rest of her life.

What was made

GroupImages
Work tote, the pilot24
Everyday shoulder bag10
Weekender10
Crossbody8
Family lineup, all four shapes1
Added for the lookbook12
Approved in total65

Counted from the approved folder. Two further crossbody pictures were rejected and are kept apart, not counted.

Decisions that shaped it

  • Pilot first. The tote got a full set of 24 before the other three shapes got ten or fewer, so the cost of a mistake was paid once.
  • A contrast lining. The tan bag is lined in bordeaux and the bordeaux bag in tan, which ties the two colours together.
  • One scene, one bag. Every bag has its own lifestyle scenes, with none reused. The first plan reused three; it was caught in review.
  • A gap found and filled. The idea was “she has a family”, yet no picture showed one. Twelve images were added, including hands-only family scenes.
  • One tool for the set. The first test came out with the wordmark in a sans-serif and at a lower resolution, so a single tool made the whole set, which keeps the bags consistent.
A woman’s hand and a child’s hand each holding one handle of a bordeaux tote in a bright hallway.
The family scene that was missing. Hands only, no faces.
A bordeaux tote on a cream boucle armchair beside a window with a Paris balcony.
Bordeaux looks richest on cream.
A tan weekender carried out of a hotel lobby at dusk.
The weekender, for time away.
See all 65 approved images

What every image was checked for

  • The wordmark is spelled SAINT and SÉVERAC, with the accent on the first E.
  • The shape, handles, brass-tone rings and stitching match the master.
  • The colour matches: Tan is a cognac-brown, Bordeaux a deep wine red.
  • No faces, and no extra text or logos.
  • Believable scale, especially for the weekender and the worn straps.

What went wrong in the pictures

  • The accent. Lettering is the usual failure, so the exact spelling was specified for every picture and each one was read for it.
  • Grain. Wide shots show a creased pattern, and close-ups show a natural pebble. Accepted and flagged, not hidden.
  • Straps. A worn-strap test was run before spending on the other scenes. It passed.
  • Setting. Two pictures still read as Tuscany, not France. One was accepted, and one is cropped out of layouts.
03 · Brand kit and design kit Both approved 2 Nov

One for people. One for building.

The brand kit says who Saint Séverac is: the wordmark, the colours, the type, the voice and the rules. The design kit turns that into parts a website, a shop and an email can be built from. Both are real pages, reviewed at every step and checked rather than assumed.

The brand kit cover: a tan tote against bordeaux velvet with the wordmark and the line For all that she is.
The brand kit wordmark page, showing the three-line gold wordmark pressed into tan leather.

Screenshots of the real brand kit: five pages in 02-brand-kit.

Open the brand kit Wordmark Colour and type Voice and imagery Range and craft

The wordmark

Three lines, always centred, with the accent never dropped. Gold on dark, a deeper gold on cream, and a heavier, darker small cut below 140 px, because thin gold letters disappear.

Six colours

Tan, Bordeaux, Cream, Ivory, Espresso and two golds. Cream is the calm, Bordeaux the depth, tan the warmth. Tan and gold are never used for small text.

Words and claims

Words to use, words to avoid, and an allowed and not-allowed list for claims. No countdowns, no stock warnings, no deadlines. She is never told to hurry.

The brand kit colour page showing the Tan, Bordeaux and Cream swatches with their hex values.
The design kit collection grid with shape and colour filters and four product cards.
The design kit button states: default, hover, focus, active and disabled.

The brand kit’s colours, then the design kit’s collection grid and button states: four pages in 03-design-kit.

Open the design kit Components Shop patterns Email and motion

The design kit covers

  • Colour, type and spacing tokens, with allowed text and background pairs.
  • Buttons, navigation, product cards, a colour selector, forms and a footer, each in every state.
  • Full shop sections: home hero, collection grid, product page, cart and checkout summary.
  • An email layout that survives email apps, and slow motion that switches off for anyone who asks for less.

Each kit went through one fix round

  • Brand kit, four fixes: two lines that said what fits in a bag were reworded; craft captions were softened; layout slips on the cover, the wordmark panel and the range grid were fixed; the “no faces” rule became “no faces in close-up”.
  • Design kit, four fixes: an invented delivery offer was replaced with “to be confirmed”; product cards were aligned; email padding was evened out; section titles got room to breathe.
04 · Lookbook Done 2 Nov

Her day, in forty-one pictures.

An editorial page and a twelve-page PDF, in chapters: mornings, work, a passion, rest, time away, the range and the making of the bag. It uses only the approved images, each one once, and no face anywhere.

Six pages of the lookbook: the cover with a tan tote and the wordmark on bordeaux, then the Mornings, A passion, Evenings and The range chapters, and the closing page.
Six of the twelve pages. The footer line of each page is cropped out here.
Open the lookbook pageOpen the twelve-page PDF
  • Checked. All 41 images are used once, there is no face anywhere, and the page carries no prices and no fit claims.
  • Changes agreed on the way. A chapter menu, the sofa pictures grouped by shape of frame, and a CSS crop of one image, with its original file left untouched.
  • Two versions. The same lookbook is a web page and a twelve-page PDF.
  • Not claimed. The pictures are concept imagery. Nothing in the lookbook says the bags exist or are for sale.
05 · Website Approved 3 Nov

A site that opens on a film, not a template.

Four pages built from the two kits: home, shop, product and story. The home page opens on a short film that loops, then moves through her day as she scrolls. The shop shows eight products with a colour selector, and a bag drawer that holds sample items.

The home page opening screen: a film of a woman in a station hall carrying a tan weekender, with the wordmark, the line For all that she is, and a product card for the work tote.
The home page opens on a looping film, with the wordmark, the idea and one product card.
The story page making section: a film of a craftsperson’s hands stitching a leather handle, with the three steps beside it.
The making section: one 22-second film in place of five still pictures, with three steps beside it.
The shop page with shape and colour filters above a grid of bag pictures.
The shop, with filters for shape and colour.
Open the website Shop Product page Story
Three phone screens: the home page opening, the making section with the film and its steps, and a product page with the tan work tote.
The same pages on a phone, 390 pixels wide.

What was decided

  • Not a template. The opening film, the chapter-by-chapter menu and a pinned “her day” scroll replace the usual banner and grid.
  • Films from the approved pictures. The opening film is about seven seconds and loops. The making film is three clips of about eight seconds each joined with soft dissolves, ending on the gold wordmark.
  • Only three steps, because the film shows three. Choosing the hide, stitching, and the finished bag. Cutting and edge finishing are not shown, so they are not described.
  • Sample bag, honest labels. The bag drawer holds sample items, delivery reads “to be confirmed”, and the page says nothing is for sale.

What was checked, and what was not

  • Phone, in a test browser. Four pages at 390, 375 and 360 pixels wide: nothing scrolls sideways, every link and button is at least 44 pixels high, no readable text is under 12 pixels apart from the small wordmark, no errors, no broken pictures.
  • Reduced motion. For anyone who asks for less movement, the films do not play and a still picture shows with a Play button.
  • Weight. The home page loads about 2.5 MB at first and about 6 MB if scrolled to the end. That was measured with test copies of the films, so it is a rough figure.
  • Not yet done. The site is not live. It has not been tried on a real phone or in real Safari, and Low Power Mode on iPhone is untested.
06 · Email pack Approved 3 Nov

Fourteen quiet emails, five flows and a campaign.

The designs and the HTML for every email in the proposed Klaviyo programme. Each is a 600-pixel email built the way mail apps need it, in the brand’s colours, with safe fonts and a name fallback. Nothing has been sent, scheduled or connected to Klaviyo.

A flow map: Welcome with three emails, Browse reminder with two, Cart reminder with three, After the order with three, Win-back with two, and one lookbook campaign, each arrow showing the wait before the next email.
The flow map. A wait is counted from the email before it. This is a proposal, not a live programme.
Open the email pack overview
All fourteen emails side by side, each with a bordeaux header and the wordmark, a picture, a short headline, a few lines of text and one button.
All fourteen emails, cropped to the top of each. Names and prices are samples, and the greeting shows its name tag.
Open any one of the fourteen emails
Welcome 1, the ideaWelcome 2, the makingWelcome 3, the rangeBrowse 1, still thinkingBrowse 2, the detail that holdsCart 1, your bag is waitingCart 2, full-grain, made in FranceCart 3, a last quiet noteAfter the order 1, thank youAfter the order 2, looking after leatherAfter the order 3, how it carriesWin-back 1, a note from the atelierWin-back 2, what we have been makingCampaign, the lookbook
Welcome email two, The making: a picture of a craftsperson’s hands on a hide, three short steps and a Watch the film button.
Welcome email two, full length. The making, in three short steps.
Welcome email three on a phone: two product pictures stacked one above the other, then a Come into the shop button.
Welcome email three on a phone. The product pair stacks into one column.

Built the quiet way

Georgia and Arial, simple tables, every style written inline, no scripts, no web fonts. Each file is 8 to 12 KB. The wordmark is text for now, and a real send would use an image with its alt text.

Every greeting has a fallback, so a missing name still reads warmly. No subject starts with a name tag.

The rules every email follows

  • No discount codes, no “only a few left”, no countdowns, no invented reviews or ratings.
  • Allowed product words only: made in France, full-grain, genuine leather, handcrafted.
  • Prices are concept prices, and delivery reads “to be confirmed”.
  • Sample order and product blocks are labelled as samples.
  • An unsubscribe and a postal address placeholder in every footer.

What was checked, and what was not

  • Checked in a test browser. All fourteen at 600 and 390 pixels wide: no sideways scroll, no broken pictures, every button at least 44 pixels high, and a forced dark view that stays readable.
  • Not checked. Real mail apps (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail) and Klaviyo itself, which has not been touched.
  • Before any real send. The pictures need public web addresses, every link needs its real page, the care wording needs the leather house, and the placeholders need real details.
  • What a real programme would track. Opens, clicks, orders and repeat purchase. None of these exist here, and none is claimed.
07 · Social pack Approved 4 Nov

Posts, stories, reels and ads, none of them posted.

Nine feed posts, a profile grid, three stories, five reel covers and four ad designs, all built from the design kit, plus five short films made from the same scenes. They are designs only: no account exists, nothing has been posted, and no ad has been run.

Nine feed posts in a three by three grid: the line For all that she is on espresso, then pictures of mornings, work, a passion and rest, and the work tote, shoulder bag, weekender and crossbody each on its own.
The nine feed posts, 1080 by 1350. The first is the brand line; the rest use only the approved pictures.
Three stories and four ad designs side by side: the line on espresso, four shapes in two colours, the lookbook, then two feed ads and two story ads.
Three stories, then four ad designs: two for the feed, two for stories. Story text stays inside the safe area, away from the top and bottom of the screen. The ad copy is within the usual limits and the price shown is a concept price.
Five reel covers, each a bag scene with the gold wordmark centred: Her Day as a double exposure of two scenes, then the architect, gallery, florist and walk scenes.
Five reel covers. Her Day is a double exposure of two scenes that appear in the film.
Open the social pack overviewOpen the profile grid

The five films

  • One 18-second film, Her Day, where four scenes overlap as double exposures. Four 10-second films, one scene each.
  • Each ends with our own straight zoom into the logo on the bag, then the line fades in: For all that she is.
  • The clips come from an AI video tool, so the zoom is ours: Flow’s own zoom twisted the logo.
  • They play on the overview page. Web copies only, no sound.

What was checked, and what was not

  • Checked in a test browser. Every piece at its exact size, no broken pictures, and story and ad text inside the safe area. The overview page fits at 390, 375 and 360 pixels wide.
  • Fixed after review. Reel covers, small text, one post that showed the bag’s contents, and one ad’s wordmark position.
  • Not done. Nothing was posted or uploaded, and no real account exists. The pieces have not been tried inside the real apps.
  • What a real programme would track. Reach, saves, clicks and sign-ups. None of these exist here, and none is claimed.
What comes next

Proposed, not built.

Nothing below exists yet. Each starts only when the one before it has been shown and approved.

The catalogue and the demo shop

A catalogue of the eight products, and a Shopify demo store that shares the site’s shop page. The demo shop will send only view, add-to-cart and checkout events, never orders. The website also still needs to go live. Proposed, not built

Email in Klaviyo

The five flows and the campaign above, built as drafts: Welcome, Browse reminder, Cart reminder, After the order and Win-back. Sent only to four approved test inboxes, with safeguards so no fictional shopper can ever receive anything. Proposed, not built

Measurement in Mixpanel

The questions and events are planned first, before anything is built. A real programme would track things like sign-ups and repeat purchases. None is claimed here. Proposed, not built

What this case study does not claim

No results, because there is nothing to measure yet.

It claims no sales, conversion, open rates, revenue, customer outcomes or testimonials. It makes no claim about the market, or that the idea is unique. All prices are invented. Every number on this page is a count from a folder or a log. The process shown for the atelier is a concept, to be confirmed with the leather house.

Corrections to our own process

  • The first images were credited to the wrong tool. It was corrected, and the brief now says so.
  • The first scene plan reused scenes the tote already had. It was caught in review, and every bag now has its own.
  • A sample line, “Complimentary delivery on every order”, was an invented offer. It was replaced.
  • Two kit lines said what fits in a bag, which the brief forbids until there are real dimensions. They were reworded.
  • Our own prompts used “made by hand” for how the bag is made, but the brief allows only “handcrafted”. It was caught in review and changed on the website and in the emails.
  • Two email lines were weak: one said “on its way” while delivery is still to be confirmed, and another read awkwardly. Both were reworded.

The full record is kept in the project’s decision log: thirty-four decisions and nine corrections.