Justo Botanica’s handmade and printed labels date back in some cases to the 1940s, when owner Jorge Vargas’s stepfather ran the shop.
Justo Botanica’s handmade and printed labels date back in some cases to the 1940s, when owner Jorge Vargas’s stepfather ran the shop.
My infatuation with hand-drawn type began about five years ago while visiting Justo Botanica, in New York City’s El Barrio in East Harlem. I’d ride my bike over to visit with Jorge Vargas, the shop’s proprietor and neighborhood herbalist, and before long, I’d find myself photographing or buying many of his fragrant remedies, prayer candles, and oils.
Fast forward to the present and I could probably open my own shop with the amount of stuff I’ve picked up at Justo. My intention was not to ward off evil spirits, though that certainly couldn’t hurt. I was enamored of the hand-drawn type that Jorge and his stepfather before him created for their packages. On a random visit, he asked what I thought of the idea of using digitally designed labels for his products, as a local graphic designer suggested that he do. I was aghast. Jorge was amused by my reaction— and probably a bit confused, since, after all, wasn’t I one of those graphic designers with a fancy computer?
Justo Botanica’s earnest, often crudely handwritten and illustrated packages are right up my alley. I love the completely unselfconscious way in which they were created, and are then marketed in the shop. Jorge uses a two-color, hand-cranked printer—I couldn’t tell you what it’s called— and photocopies to create his artwork. And while he laughs off my horror at the thought of “going digital,” I think he takes great pride in the heritage and authenticity of the work he’s created by hand.
Another collection of hand-drawn packaging that I photographed, and then bought (of course), was from Jamie Oliver’s Jme line of home products. While its creator, Pearlfisher, had no sketches available for this project, I felt the book would be incomplete without its inclusion. Pearlfisher was tasked with creating a new brand and lifestyle concept for celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, which would transport the Jamie Oliver brand from the restaurant to the home. The strikingly original packaging for this eclectic lifestyle brand reflects the specific function of each product, while the bold Jme logo holds the collection together. As Pearlfisher describes it, “Using the idea of taking the Jamie Oliver experience from the kitchen to the home, the hand-drawn design was inspired by...hand-drawn labels on the jars of homemade jam and the fresh produce found at farmers markets.” Tasty.
“From passing trend to established métier, hand-inscribed packages draw their inspiration from the kitchen table jams, jellies, and liquors that were once appealingly quaint and now are professionally appealing,” says author and School of Visual Arts MFA Design cochair Steven Heller (though he fails to mention Justo Botanica, so I’ll have to take him there some day). The growing contemporary movement has extended beyond stationery and posters all the way to advertising and, of course, packaging.
“The genius of hand lettering is that the final product must look spontaneous, emotional, and energetic, but the development of it must be meticulous, logical, and controlled,” says Maryann Mitkowski, vice president and director of Creative Services for Parham Santana, the New York City–based brand extension agency. “Every counter space, stress, and stroke telegraphs a specific positioning or attitude. It takes a masterful hand to get it right.”
Mitkowski continues: “Now more than ever, we need to balance our constant barrage of digitized images with the unique imperfections that come from the human hand. Of all the beautiful typefaces in the world, none puts the heart on the page as quickly as hand-drawn type.”
Andrew Gibbs, founder and CEO of The Dieline, the world’s largest packaging blog, adds, “In all my years of seeing packaging trends come and go, there is one style that has stood the ultimate test of time: hand-drawn. In the past few years, I have seen this style become even more popular on a global scale. After the recession, people’s shopping habits changed. They bought less consumer products, especially products that were considered excessive or unnecessary. Consumers began to demand products that were authentic, honest, and simple. Brands had to respond to this quick consumer shift, and many responded by returning to the authentic core of their brand.”
“For a lot of companies,” Gibbs continues, “their authenticity was best visually represented by hand-drawn elements. This is because there is nothing that can replicate the artistry of handmade lettering and hand-illustrated graphics. Hand-drawn designs are the ultimate expression of authenticity and humanity, which is why it is so effective across so many products, and so effective over the course of time.”
Are there typefaces that can replicate hand-drawn type? Certainly—some implemented so convincingly, it made weeding through projects for this book more difficult than anticipated. It’s tempting to set secondary and legal type in an existing hand-drawn font, but Outside the Box is filled instead with designers crazy enough to draw their own barcodes, as well as all the tertiary type.
“Hand-drawn type tells you instantly that the product is personal and unique,” says New York City–based designer Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich. “No two hands could have created the same graphics, the same mistakes, the same inconsistencies—and so the product is distinctive in every way. It gives it an artisanal quality and character in our increasingly mechanized world where everyone has access to fonts and computers, which are relatively cheap and abundant. Hey, even McDonald’s is using hand-drawn type! The trick is to make it relevant, appropriate, clever, and so seductively gorgeous.”
The designers within these pages employ a broad range of skills, from crude and naïve to masterful execution of traditional techniques. Despite each design being carefully crafted to target a specific audience, I think you’ll find all of them compelling in their own unique way. Much to my delight, the designers have generously pulled back the curtain to share their process sketches, allowing us to appreciate their approach to each design challenge as well as their final results. I hope the work will inspire you to whip out your own pencil, Sharpie, paintbrush, or whatever, and keep the hand-drawn love going. – GA
product: Jme
client: Jamie Oliver
design firm: Pearlfisher
art director/hand letterer: Natalie Chung
designer: Sarah Pidgeon
medium: Pencil
country: United Kingdom
