Too Gallus systemise asterisks in their slick identity for Scottish clothing brand Hancock Studio

Glasgow-based design agency Too Gallus have crafted a comprehensive identity for the luxury Scottish clothing company, Hancock Studio, developing a meticulous, comprehensive system that determines every aspect of the premium purveyor; from art direction, photography and naming to its visual language and website design. In search of an expanded audience, Too Gallus opted to reinterpret the brand as something that recognises the lineage and heritage preceding it whilst remaining fundamentally future-facing – resulting in decisions akin to its renaming, originally Hancock of Scotland.

Hancock Studio additionally found its new hero typeface in the form of the classic Helvetica Neue, which is used across both the wordmark and supporting text. “We wanted something sleek and clean that would mirror the functional and structured nature of the clothes,” Creative Director Barrington Reeves tells us, “the identity had to be fuss-free and clean, allowing the garments to speak freely,” culminating in a slick, stark and Swiss-like system that champions the clothes in question. 

“The brand was looking for an identifier,” Reeves continues, noting the need for an adaptable, ownable element for the identity, turning towards the systematic use of asterisks, including their inclusion within the wordmark, whereby an asterisk replaces the ‘i’s tittle. “A key driver of the brand is to be collaborations with other major fashion houses,” he recalls, “this star is to act as a driver for the other houses to interpret in their own way,” providing the identity with space for collaborations.

Bringing the brand together, and indeed reflecting the premium nature of Hancock Studio’s garments, is the soft tones of its colour palette. “We wanted the identity to be able to move and evolve with the collections that the brand releases,” Reeves concludes, implementing primarily muted, dark hues with pops of brighter tones, “not constricting it with rigid colours or heavily stylised type.”

Too Gallus