The Simple Kind is an ethical clothing company that I have long admired, as it seeks to inspire consumers to purchase clothing more thoughtfully, exposes the injustices in current fast-fashion industries, and works with an organization to employ women in Latvia who have escaped human trafficking. Basically, they are saints. I was thrilled when it's founder Molly asked me to be involved in the rebranding process, starting with a redesign of the logo itself.
The Simple Kind has a clear aesthetic in how they present their products and their online presence: mid-century modern inspired. The original rendition of the logo captured this vibe perfectly, so they weren't looking to change the concept in any way, they just wanted the already beloved logo to get a bit of a facelift and address some technical concerns. I began the project by noting where I saw room for improvement.
Although I was going to present the client with options to choose from, I wanted to start a version that followed as closely with the original as possible. I finessed the lettering so that there was more consistent sizing and negative space, but I preserved a lot of the flourishes to letters that the first artist had created.
In the end, I presented the client with five sketches to choose from. Some followed closely with that first redesign, and some were entirely new approaches, based on script styles I found in the initial research phase for the project.
The client chose option 5, swapping in the stars from the first three. Now, to vectorize!
While a digital sketch and a vector can look extremely similar, it's actually a completely different image-making process, and a lot of time goes into really ironing out all of the critical details when the final vector version is drawn. After seeing the final vector, the client requested some texture to be added to bring back the vintage vibe, and we also decided to remove the stars.
The mint color in the background changed slightly in the final discussions, and I opted to provide the client with a full color palette that complimented the two colors in the logo.
We announced the rebrand on social media with a fun animation, utilizing the stars that we had cut from the previous draft!
The client and I were both very excited about the final product, and although I'm proud of the logo, I'm even more proud to be supporting such a good-hearted company. I would not be disappointed if more projects like this landed in my inbox!
The original logo for The Simple Kind was drawn by Nathaniel Smith, who's talent for creating authentic mid-century modern illustrations can only be explained by time travel (or maybe he just does a lot of research, we'll never know). His work can be found at: nathanaelrosssmith.com