Somewhere between Japan, surf culture, and a very unnecessary amount of matcha. 🍵🌊 This passion project was created for @designerbriefs , but the direction became a little personal. I visited Kamakura earlier this year, and fell in love with the whole vibe. It’s Japan, but with a slower, more relaxed energy. Surf culture, cozy streets, friendly people, and that easygoing coastal feeling where nobody seems to be in too much of a rush. Basically, my kind of place. 🫶 So when I saw the brief for a Japanese matcha brand, I knew I wanted to take it in that direction. Not just traditional Japanese tea culture, but the meeting point between ritual and relaxation, structure and spontaneity, matcha and surfboards. And that’s how KAMAKURA came to life. A Matcha To-Go Kit designed for your post-surf pause, with ceremonial matcha, oat milk, a bamboo whisk, a reusable cup, and packaging you can plant after use. 🌱 The icon brings both worlds together, with surfboards arranged into the shape of a matcha whisk. Because, naturally, even the logo had to catch a wave. Ride the green wave. 🌊 #Kamakura #MatchaBranding #BrandIdentity #PassionProject #dbckamakura

Love this Gabriela! 🤍 I you don't mind sharing, what's the display font?

What did ads look like before typograhy was a file you could have in your computer and replicate multiple times?

Another little tour through The History of Design 1890–1959, this time looking specifically at how designers were treating type as an image rather than simply information. Previous post here.

Eugène Grasset, 1893 — beautifully controlled lettering and organic forms.

Toulouse-Lautrec, 1903 — expressive lettering becoming part of the energy of the poster.

Ernst Klimt, 1892 — decorative type working alongside illustration.

Louis Rhead, Harper's Bazar, 1892 — type, image, and ornament interacting as one visual system.

What I love about these references is that the type is part of the image.

Show me one historical typographic composition you’d steal inspiration from today. 👀

The Beggarstaffs' cut-paper posters from the late 1890s — the lettering sits in the gaps the shapes leave rather than on top of them. I still think about that when a wordmark has to live inside a busy pack layout: let the silhouette decide where the type goes instead of the grid.