I recently completed a branding project for Le Jun, a new fashion company in Japan. I was originally contacted to do lettering for embroidered labels for the clothing, and then the project expanded to include cards and a positioning line for the website. The style design brief changed many times, which gave me the opportunity to try a lot of different lettering tools. The overall guide was for something “informal” yet with that intangible “something” that makes it special (and very legible to a Japanese audience.) Below is part of the evolution of the style.

The final direction was chosen from these last four samples above: simple, monoline, but done by hand, not vector, for a human touch — as close to artless handwriting as possible. Below are some of the cards. The style of lettering extended to about a dozen labels, where the simple monoline style translated very well to embroidery at a small scale.

A slightly different, more condensed style was used for the Le Jun website:

It’s great to work with a client who understands the nuances of handwriting. A standard script font can never provide this authenticity of expression. By using custom handwritten script the brand enhances its unique attitude and positioning. See more handwriting for advertising in the handwriting section of my website.