Idle Hour | Brand Identity

Idle Hour is a bookshop opening soon in Humboldt, Kansas. As the name suggests, Idle Hour’s identity is meant to convey a moment of calmness in our busy daily lives, and the pleasant tactility of holding a well-made book.

Initially, the work of late 19th century artist and printer William Morris was requested by the client as a primary influence, although said influence became smaller and smaller throughout the creative process until it disappeared entirely. Instead, the Blackletter for the logo is based on a never-published piece of lettering by the late Dutchman Helmut Salden, whose body of work primarily consists of book cover designs. Ornament is derived from stained glass windows in the building which will house Idle Hour Books in the near future. The color scheme comes from “A Dictionary of Color Combinations”, a Japanese publication by Haishoku Soukan from 1933. The “reading skeleton” illustration is a take on the classic genre of turn-of-the-century woodcut Ex-Libris bookplates.