Well I guess the best place to start is to explain a bit about the tsukuru identity.
Over the years I have used various different names and logos for my own work, sometimes just my own name, sometimes a company name. Now that I am set on this path I decided to go with something new.
As mentioned, tsukuru is a Japanese word that among other things means ‘to create’ I had been after a name that could convey what I want from the business, in terms of who I am and what I do, and the general ethos behind it, but at the same time being subtle and simple, ie something that at first glance can stand alone but really has a hidden, deeper meaning, which is really why I love the Japanese language in the first place!
From the start I wanted a logomark only, I’m very much a believer that unusual or unique names work best as simple logos (a view shared by the fantastic David Airey) also I wanted to avoid the rather cliche use of Kanji or Japanese imagery in general.
After some (a lot) of playing around I settled on Franklin Gothic Demi as a starting place, perhaps it’s my obsession with detail and alignment, but I just couldn’t live with the errors in it as my logo! So what eventually emerged is what I like to think of as a ‘new’ font, Tsukuru Gothic Demi.
tsukuru font development
I also took the decision to use only greyscale for colouring, in fact mostly only black and white, I don’t want my own brand to overshadow the work that I produce, it’s simple and understated enough to sit well in a portfolio or on a website without competing with whats around it, but bold enough to be attention grabbing on it’s own. Well, I like to think so anyway!
tsukuru stationery
