A selection of hand lettered logos
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A selection of hand lettered logos is a book showcasing a series of experiments in an effort to show the relevance of hand lettering within logo design. Several renowned brand logos that use common, standardised typefaces have been redesigned to produce alternative logos that are more suitable and unique to each brand, taking into consideration the specific values of the company. For a brand to be distinctive from similar businesses, a unique logo can separate them from the crowd. Custom lettering can provide this by steering away from familiar typefaces. The comparison between the two logos is followed by a selection of experimental sketches, before displaying an enlarged hand rendered version of the logo with visible structure. As an investigation into purely typographic elements of each logo, certain visual elements and the colour palette have been kept the same.
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AIRBNB Airbnb is a company which acts as a platform for people around the world to share their homes and share other people’s, both as hosts and as travellers, creating connections between people globally. Airbnb’s core values have a massive focus on belonging anywhere, and for their customers to feel at home wherever they stay. The business was originally started up in 2007 by three friends hoping to earn some extra cash, who rented their home out to the first Airbnb customers. Relationships with people are one of the most important parts of life, and Airbnb strives to bring back what is essential to becoming a community - interaction with others like ourselves, communicating and sharing as humans and as individuals.
AIRBNB
CONCEPT The hand drawn version consists of two continuous lines, separating ‘air’ from ‘bnb’ to highlight their services related to travel and hospitality. The continuity represents the ongoing travel that Airbnb can provide through their accessible online booking service which allows customers to browse easily to choose their destinations. Their entire brand is focused on a growing community and connecting travellers around the world in a place they belong. Rounded corners and open counters give a sense of space and suit the brand’s existing logo image, the belo.
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INNOCENT Innocent launched fifteen years ago in 1999, after selling smoothies at a music festival and gathering votes from those who bought them, decided to give up their day jobs to make smoothies. It is now the UK and Europe’s number one smoothie brand, selling healthy products made from natural ingredients, ranging from smoothies to juice, veg and noodles. Their brand promise states that everything they make will do good and taste good. The company also does good for other people and the planet. 10% of the companies profits are given to charity every year, and they take responsibility for the impact of the business on society and the environment. Their work with people face to face proves their aim for human connections to see first hand how they can improve their methods of production.
INNOCENT
CONCEPT Taking the rounded edges from the typefaces on their promotional material and products, I was able to create a unique composition which includes connections of letterforms within the word. Two ‘n’s have an extended foot looping under and supporting other characters in the logo, and the curved aesthetic runs across the whole logo keeping the negative space between forms open and engaging, reflecting their healthy products in a cheerful way, suitable for all ages within their target audience.
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INNOCENT
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L AVA Z Z A Coffee company Lavazza proudly uses raw materials to produce quality end products, and has been established for over 120 years since the late 1800s, with the commitment to achieving excellence in the production of coffee. The brand’s history is marked with several innovative concepts, starting with the idea of blends which they introduced at the beginning of the 20th century and contribute multiple blends to choose from today. Their slogan “Italy’s favourite coffee” reinforces the brand’s country of origin. The business is still run by the Lavazza family, handed down for over a century from the founder, Luigi Lavazza. “Quality is not “controlled”, but “built”. It is an active process repeated every day that involves everybody and is an intrinsic part of every phase of production. Quite simply, it is the only way of working that we know.”
L AVA Z Z A
CONCEPT Taking inspiration from script hand writing and lettering as well as existing Italian brand identities, an original composition and letterform combination was produced which highlights the brand’s services more appropriately than a thick, block, uppercase font. The flow of the word represents the steam and swirls of coffee production and aesthetic, and the varied size letterforms split up the pronunciation of the word.
ITALY始S FAVOURITE COFFEE
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L AVA Z Z A
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L AVA Z Z A
ITALY始S FAVOURITE COFFEE
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L AVA Z Z A
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LUSH Lush is a British cosmetics business with a global brand, launched in 1994 by six cofounders. The company is centred around helping people feel better about themselves, others, and the world around them. Valuing people and the world in which it operates is a major factor of the business: a staunch believer in ethical buying, it supports charities and actively campaigns on issues it believes in, from animal testing to the environment. The brand has a unique visionary approach which informs the way it invents, ethically sources and creates fresh beauty products by hand. This handmade approach is the polar opposite to the mass-produced beauty businesses that influence how we buy cosmetics today.
CONCEPT The reasoning for my alternative version for the LUSH logo stemmed from a handmade approach to lettering using organic strokes and marks, not unlike the company’s core values and use of organic ingredients in their products. It was important to retain the natural flow of each letterform rather than modifying the end result repeatedly to achieve a fabricated design.
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LUSH
FRESH HANDMADE COSMETICS
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PA N D O R A Pandora designs, manufactures and markets hand-finished and modern jewellery made from genuine metals at affordable prices. The company was founded in 1982 by a Danish goldsmith Per Enevoldsen and his wife Winnie, who started Pandora’s journey locally in Copenhagen. They often travelled to Thailand in search of jewellery for importing, and as the demand for products increased, their focused shifted to wholesale. The first in-house designer joined the company and Pandora began to focus on creating its own unique jewellery. The brand is committed to promoting and encouraging responsible business practices from the sourcing of genuine metals and gemstones to the crafting and marketing of their jewellery, showing corporate social responsibility.
PA N D O R A
CONCEPT Following the brand’s concept of their charm bracelet, the hand lettered logo has slightly uneven line weights across each letterform, adding emphasis to certain areas to give the impression of depth and a wrap around effect. The chunky handwritten style works as an individual alternative to the above typeface, and is appropriate to the brand’s unique jewellery for each person based on the possibility of each charm bracelet being completely different. The crown element remains to reinforce the existing brand and maintain the reference to jewellery products.
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PA N D O R A
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PA N D O R A
U N F O R G E T TA B L E M O M E N T S
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SCHUH Schuh is a footwear retailer with stores in the UK and Ireland. Their primary customers are mostly in their late teens or early twenties, and the company is predominantly a branded shoe stockist, selling over 80 brands, including: Converse, Vans, UGG, Nike, Adidas as well as its own schuh label. As a shoe shop their aim is to have products to suit every individual, hence their large stock choice of different brands and sizes. Founder Sandy Alexander noticed a lack of fashionable footwear retailers outside of London, so opened the very first schuh store in Edinburgh, his native city. Schuh describe their concept as follows: “To provide aspirational but accessible fashion footwear, sold in a unique and exciting retail environment at prices which represent value for money and sold by friendly and knowledgeable staff.” The business was operating independently until 1986, when it was acquired by a public company.
SCHUH
CONCEPT Keeping the linked element in the ‘s’ I was able to maintain aspects of the existing brand, though the rounded letterforms fit together more efficiently to suggest the fitting of a shoe. The middle letterform extends the foot to slide under the ‘u’ and connects the word together without linking the letterforms. The stride away from uniformity within the word suggests that the brand accommodates a variety of customers with different needs. To maintain the brand’s identity and to relate to the target audience, the colour palette remains the same.
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SCOTCH Scotch Tape is a brand name used for certain pressure-sensitive tapes manufactured by 3M as part of the company’s Scotch brand. The Scotch brand and Scotch Tape are registered trademarks of 3M, who used the Scotch name until the early 1990s when the tapes were branded solely with the 3M logo. The brand also relates to human practice and production, as tape is used manually to fix, mend or attach things together which are done by the individual. This hands on element is key to the purpose of the brand, as it’s favourable reputation promotes the durability and security of the brand’s products.
CONCEPT Taking into consideration Scotch’s reputation as a high quality, durable brand, I used their primary and most well known product of sticky tape to mold the letterforms in the logo. The angular edges connote strong and sturdy characteristics, and the crossbar of the t overlaps the ascender of the h to symbolise the product’s purpose. Again, colour scheme is kept the same as the original, though I have left the texture of clear tape showing through the colour so it is more obviously created from this material.
SCOTCH
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SIMPLE Simple was born in the UK in the 1960s and was the first UK skincare brand to formulate a cleansing product that contained no colour and no perfume; designed to care for even the most sensitive skin. The Simple soap was even recommended by doctors for those prone to skin irritation. The brand doesn’t use any harsh, artificial perfumes and colours that negatively affect your skin; instead they use only the purest possible, skin-loving ingredients. As a brand they don’t over complicate things, and believe good skincare should fit around the individual. “After all, there’s more to life than the bathroom mirror.” Simple is focused on providing high quality, organic skincare products which makes the brand a customer orientated and caring business.
SIMPLE
CONCEPT Keeping the smiling curve as a main feature in the alternative logo, I was able to connect this into the type by using hand rendered processes. The letterforms are open and organic, not unlike the values and products that the skincare company imparts. By linking both aspects of the logo together it unifies the stamp into a symbol that represents the organic qualities of their products.
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SKYPE “Skype keeps the world talking. Call, message and share whatever you want for free.” The message on the website’s homepage states that Skype is for doing things together when you’re apart, and keeps the world connected. It’s services make it simple to share experiences with the people that matter, wherever they are. This reinforces the focus on human interaction via technology. Skype was founded in 2003 and is now a part of Microsoft, highlighting the connection with technology as a key aspect of the brand. The company now provides services to call mobile and landlines, video call, message, and share screens, making it easier than ever to stay in touch with the people in your life. They aim to enable people to connect in more ways that transform and enhance their lives.
SKYPE
CONCEPT Taking the cloud element from the existing logo I altered the type to connect through a continuous line, encompassing representations of a cable and a cloud in one integrated image, merging the modern elements of communication. The continuous line reflects Skype’s mission to connect people around the world, and with their free services this has the scope to become used more frequently, keeping users in constant connection with one another.
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S TA R B U C K S “To inspire and nurture the human spirit, one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time.” Starbucks’ opened their first store in 1971, and their core values include creating a culture of warmth and belonging, where everyone is welcome; acting with courage, challenging the status quo and finding new ways to grow the company and each other; and being present, connecting with transparency, dignity and respect. Starbucks is performance driven, through the lens of humanity. Their belief that businesses should have a positive impact on the communities they serve is evident in their commitment to buying and serving the highest-quality, responsibly grown, ethically traded coffee to help create a better future for farmers.
S TA R B U C K S
CONCEPT I developed a handwritten style for the alternate logo which links all letterforms aesthetically, keeping each character unique and in it’s raw form. An added element to the hand drawn version is a subtle suggestion of a star within the joins of the k. Inspired by the campaign Starbucks introduced (involving staff writing the customer’s name on their drink with each order), this gestural aesthetic conveys a typical form of handwriting.
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S U B W AY Subway was founded in 1965 by two men in Connecticut but didn’t franchise out until ‘74. They are committed to providing a wide range of great tasting, healthier food choices while reducing their environmental footprint. “Consistently offering value to consumers through providing great tasting food that is good for them and made the way they want it.” Subway’s unique experience allows customers to pick out the ingredients of their own sandwich and see it being made in front of them by the employees. This way they know exactly how their sandwich is being made, how much and what it consists of, which both add to the individual customer experience. The ability for each person to choose specific ingredients and engaging with the person making the sandwich adds a personal touch to the whole experience.
S U B W AY
CONCEPT Building on Subway’s bold brand, the alternate logo was hand drawn in paint marker to solidify the strokes and keep a bold aesthetic. This fits with the brand’s ideal of fast, fresh service - a meal on the go. The italicised slant is also similar for this reason.
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TED TED is a nonprofit organisation devoted to spreading ideas, originally starting up as a conference discussing Technology, Education, and Design. The brand still has this aim though today covers almost all topics - from science to business to global issues - in over 100 languages, and mostly provides their content in the form of short, powerful talks. Independently run TEDx events help to share ideas in communities around the world. The global community welcomes people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world. Their website is an archive of free knowledge from the world’s most inspirational thinkers, and has gathered a community of curious individuals to engage with ideas and with each other. TED aims to make great ideas accessible and spark conversation.
TED
CONCEPT Due to TED’s nature of sharing ideas human to human through visual video conferences and live talks, a quick hand style seemed appropriate for the brand to contrast with their use of Helvetica and the primary medium of video and web content. The bold colour works well to reinforce the brand so I maintained a solid block of colour rather than including texture of the pen marks.
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TED
Ideas worth spreading
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ZARA Zara is an environmentally aware company that saves energy and produces less waste. It is distinctive from other high street clothing brands as it has a slightly higher quality reputation and brand identity. They use ecological fabrics and 100% organic cotton which instills their interest in the environment. The brand sells products for men women and children with an equal spread across all audiences, as well as branching out to accessories, perfumes and home products.
CONCEPT By using a flat nib calligraphy pen to create a high contrast in line weights, the stems following the same direction are highlighted. The forward slanting diagonal lines mark the stems of each character and are the prominent visual, creating a unique pattern that can be applied to the whole brand as a distinctive image. The parallel aesthetic represents the uniformity of precision, which links to the brand’s reputation of high quality products in all sales areas including clothing, bags and home. ZARA
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Ellie Heywood designs and images subject to copyright 2015 Š all rights reserved