Cornelia James

Cornelia James

CORNELIA JAMES

Logotype redesign.

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Agency: Red Route Agency, London 2015

Art Director: Matt Percival

I was hired as a lettering specialist by Red Route Agency to take part of the creative process for a logo re-design project for one of their most influential clients: Cornelia James.

About the Client:

Cornelia James is a glove maker company from England, founded in 1946 and holder from 1979 of the Royal Warrant ‘by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen’. Their gloves are sold through some of the world’s most exclusive stores and are the favourite trademark chosen by influential people as The Queen Elizabeth II and celebrities like Rihanna.

The Project:

Objective:

The objective was to create a new wordmark. That new wordmark should evolve the same roots as the existing mark, the Cornelia James signature, and have a similar shape because it may have to co-exist with the existing mark and must be seen as a contemporary transition that elevates the brand. The new logotype should be more authentic and capture de quality of a genuine signature.

Background:
The Cornelia James wordmark is particularly suitable to a couture brand that has its roots in the immediate post-War period of the late ’40s and early ‘50s. It is evocative of the period and, as a brand dedicated to clothing the hand-crafted gloves. By remaining true to these routes, it clearly differentiates Cornelia James from other couture brands.

In order to explore different paths and to capture the handwritten feeling, this project started by using a pointed brush and ink, playing with different rhythms and shapes until find a writing flow that evoques the existing wordmark but containing a penmanship essence.

The following steps required the use of the pencil and the eraser, refining and correcting shapes, counters and spacing until getting a final sketch ready to vector.