For Humans, By Humans
Design by Humans, my favorite t-shirt store of the moment, is celebrating their 2 year anniversary. In internet years, that’s about 20, and they’re celebrating with a huge sale! The sale goes on through 7/26, and now that I’ve purchased everything I wanted I’m happy to direct as many people to their store as I can. I don’t know where else you’re going to get a beautiful, human-designed, comfortable t-shirt for $5.
While they mark their birthday with a sale, I thought I would mark their birthday by taking a look at their logo and packaging, both of which struck me as quite clever.
The logo is simple, capitalized type distinguished mainly by the 2 dots above the U in “human.” It is sometimes paired with a mark as well: the same dotted U, tilted slightly and placed in a circle. The circle is integral to the design - suddenly the glyph becomes a happy face! This smiling human character hidden within the mechanical, minimalist type adds a playful touch that matches the quirky humor of the name; It’s like a little wink to the person viewing it.
Design by Humans and Yogen Fruz – friends forever, or a lawsuit waiting to happen?
While I am a fan of the umlaut as happy-face in the logo, as clever as it is, it’s not exactly unique. Yogen Fruz, a chain of frozen yogurt shops that recently started popping up in my area, uses a very similar design. I’m not sure which design came first (probably Yogen Fruz, as they’ve been around since 1992), and I do think they’re both excellent logos (the umlaut fits well with the vaguely Euro/German sound of “Yogen Fruz”). Let’s just hope this doesn’t become a trend.
I’m ambivalent about the typeface used in the DBH logo. Apparently all-caps Gotham is the new black. Gotham has become the go-to font among graphic designers ever since some presidential candidate started using it. In this logo design, Gotham does what it does best – it makes the type look clean and fresh. However, I can’t help wondering if all this Gotham we’re seeing is going to start looking dated in a few years (I love Meta as much as the next guy, but its ubiquity in the 90s makes it feel a bit behind the times). And while I agree with the masses that Gotham is a beautiful, impeccably well-crafted typeface, on principle I’ve sworn to use it as little as possible. Like Helvetica, it is simple and perfect. Like Helvetica it articulates clean design and clear messaging. And like Helvetica, I will never ever use it unless a client specifically asks for it. I figure there’s enough of it out there in the world already without me adding more.
Design by Humans packaging – your t-shirt says hello.
When you order from Design by Humans, as I recommend you do, they send your shirts in a black plastic envelope with a big clear window in the shape of the smiling umlaut. The packaging is simple and clean, and best of all it lets the design of the product – the tshirt inside – really shine. What a great way to show off your product! Anyone who sees it will have an instant sense of what this company is about. As you can see, I bought a shirt with a bird speaking in Futura on it – because that gives people an instant sense of what I’m about.
So keep it up DBH! Great work so far, and many more years ahead!