In collaboration with: Emmy Singer (Messaging + Website Copy), Kelsey Brasher (Brand + Web Design), Stephen Jones (Creative Direction), and Heather Allaman (Shopify Development).

Poplar Point began as a spark of an idea. Two couples, both with military ties, wanted to make high-quality outdoor quilts and find a meaningful way to give back to veterans. But when they came to me, nothing existed yet. No brand, no name, no product samples, no messaging, no clarity around who they were building for.

They had a vision, a storefront lease in Nashville’s Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood, and a long-arm quilting machine.

This is exactly the kind of project where brand strategy becomes the foundation for everything else.

The Challenge

Their entire story revolved around “giving back,” but they had no clear mechanism to do that. Their product direction wasn't developed. Their audience was undefined. And midway through the project, they expanded to incorporate curated goods within their store front.

At the same time, the founders had a very specific heritage aesthetic in mind. They needed a brand that could bridge personal taste, audience expectations, and a mission that deeply mattered to them.

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The Strategy

We began with a brand insights workshop in their newly leased store, still full of moving boxes, and surfaced critical misalignment around:

• What they were actually selling
• How the give-back piece would work
• Who their audience really was
• What made their quilts different

Through research and team alignment, we clarified:

Their position: high-quality, durable goods rooted in heritage-level craftsmanship
Their audience: outdoor and bushcraft users, plus a design-savvy retail customer
Their differentiator: real craftsmanship and meaningful support for veterans (not lip service)
Their message: Built for the every day and the unexpected.

We also helped them take immediate, meaningful action by connecting them with Quilts of Valor, giving them a way to honor veterans while the business took shape.

The Name

Naming was central to this project. Through lots of exploration, our team landed on Poplar Point. Poplar, because of its the Tennessee state tree and is known for its durability and for its use in heritage products like furniture. Point gave the business a sense of a place and represented the "third space" they wished to create with their store front.

The name stuck out among several great options because it felt timeless and rooted in a specific place.

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The Visual Identity

The strategy set the foundation for the entire identity system, which Kelsey Brasher (brand and web designer) and Stephen Jones (creative director) brought to life beautifully. As a veteran, Stephen’s voice was essential. He helped us see the brand through a lens we couldn’t access on our own.

The brand identity is one of the strongest strategic-to-design translations I’ve worked on. The logo features four poplar leaves forming a quilt-block symbol, and the palette, textures, and layering all pull from outdoor gear, military-inspired tones, and heritage craft.

The Website + Early Brand Touch Points

We structured the Shopify site around the strategy and our early focus on making the quilts the centerpiece of the launch. We also provided direction for packaging, tags, and brand activation ideas, giving the founders a cohesive system they could build on as they shaped the store experience.

The Impact

Poplar Point grew from nothing into a brand that feels lived-in, grounded, and heritage-rich. The outcomes were all about clarity and alignment: a real give-back model, a unified founding team, a name and identity that feel timeless, and messaging that reflects who they truly are. Their grand opening was full of energy, and the brand resonated right away. It’s one of the strongest zero-to-one projects I’ve been part of and a reminder of how powerful strategy is in shaping the creative work.