Threads
A logotype for a youth clothing retailer, drawn as a continuous looping line in copper brown and extended into an animated version.
- Role
- Graphic design, motion design
- Deliverables
- Static logotype, woven graphic elements, animated logotype
For Threads, I wanted the wordmark to communicate the brand's connection to clothing through the construction of the lettering itself. Instead of adding a separate sewing or textile symbol, I explored whether the letters could behave like a single strand of thread.
The challenge was to create a connected form that felt expressive while keeping the name readable.
- Existing logotype research and analysis
- Letterform sketches
- Vector logotype development
- Supporting graphic elements
- Animated logotype
Forty logotypes, sorted
I photographed storefront signs and sorted them into four groups by letterform: serif, sans serif, slab serif and decorative. Under each I noted the mood the lettering gives off, like retro, rustic, fancy or friendly. That gave me a map of what already exists, and where Threads could stand apart.
One continuous line
I filled a sheet with sixteen sketches of the name: lowercase script, title case and outlined capitals. The lowercase versions that loop and cross themselves felt most like thread, so I tested how far a stroke could bend before the word stopped reading.
The sketches with swashes and outlined capitals looked like every storefront on my research sheet. The lowercase ones that loop through themselves looked like thread, which is the one idea the other signs didn't have. So the final is a single line, with the loops inside the letters instead of flourishes on top. I stopped bending the line at the point where "threads" would stop reading as threads.
