ABOUT

Awl & Sundry was a configurable ecommerce start-up with a mission to democratize men's custom handmade footwear via a proprietary web-based shoe design app, bringing the price of bespoke shoes well within reach. My first assignment was brand strategy and tone-of-voice. It should feel revolutionary with a certain clever irony. Next was the naming. I conceived a name that referenced both the 'artisanal' and 'inclusive' aspects with a whiff of sophistication. On to brandmark design, I pursued a riff on the heritage symbolism of august high-street brands, replacing the traditional griffons and birds-of-prey with an industrious 'working-class' equivalent: the hummingbird. The stylized awl contains a single revolutionary star, but inverted. Lastly, I drew the logotype script by hand. The ampersand suggests the hand-sewn process that defines top-quality, goodyear-welted shoemaking.