Roots
BRANDING, LAYOUT, USER EXPERIENCE
Roots is an interior design studio specializing in contemporary interpretations of historic British design. Sourcing heirloom-quality furniture, hardware, paints, trims, and from the foremost craftspeople and firms in the UK and across the world, Roots has earned its reputation as an authority in contemporary design among London’s upper class.
In designing an identity for Roots, I considered their worldly style, pursuit of perfection, and heritage. Nineteenth-century British academic works, like Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, provided visual reference for Roots’ identity.
Image courtesy of Wellcome Library through Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence
Capitalization implies familiarity, but lacks interest. Additionally, it may cause confusion with the Roots clothing brand.
Lower case use in logotype is associated with casual, modern brands, which does not align with Roots’ image.
Sans- and slab-serif fonts fail to convey Roots’ heritage.
Didone fonts have too much contrast for legibility in smaller sizes.
All caps, serifed typefaces project the establishment and history that Roots is known for.
With a category selected, I began searching for an appropriate typeface. I selected Iowan Old Style for its balance between traditional and contemporary features, mirroring Roots’ design philosophy.
A minor kerning adjustment balances the optical distance between
the R and the first O with that of the second O and the T, forming the
Roots logotype.
A set of branding guidelines was created using historic academic texts as a reference.
Using the branding guidelines, Roots’ stationery set is defined: a paint chip, a business card, a comp slip, a letterhead, and a layout for seasonal flyers.
Roots’ website is clean and simple, letting the product photography shine, while subtly hinting at Roots’ heritage themes through color and style.