We were first introduced to the work of Sean Hotchkiss back in the Summer of 2014, while working together on Faculty Department. Our first time meeting Sean in person was at the book launch at The Apartment by The Line. From our conversations at the launch, we definitely remember Sean’s energy and authenticity. Sean is personable and approachable with a dose of swag, and this is all apparent in his writing. We then learned of his prolific portfolio and impact on Mens fashion as a successful writer based in Brooklyn, New York. Yet Sean’s work extends beyond just words but includes creative thinking, art direction, and brand consultancy. Sean has become a good friend of the studio and it was really enjoyable to work with him on his new creative consultancy, Boy.
Branding
In regards to visuals, we felt that the most effective tool to embody these aspects of a classic, luxe yet casual brand would be in the typography. The look and feel of the brand identity needed to be minimal yet ‘classic’ in a sense, as though it has been around for awhile instead of a sterile modern look. Together with Sean, we decided to move forward with Graphik, designed by Christian Schwartz and Berton Hasebe (Commercial Type). Graphik proved to offer the right balance as a contemporary sans serif inspired and referenced from sans serifs of the mid twentieth century. With such a simple treatment of a wordmark, the details then becomes especially important. Between the bold and medium weight of Graphik, we felt the right weight for the wordmark would actually be in-between the two and proceeded to create a “semi-bold” weight. The boy wordmark was set in lowercase to take advantage of the balance created from the ascender of the “b” and the descender of the “y”.
