Become Thyself - Brand Merchandise Design

Client: @whereartjon by Jonathan Lim
Role: Art Direction, Merchandise Design, Lettering, Calligraphy, Typographic Design

The Brief

To create 3 typographic styles of “Become Thyself”

Designs to be used on brand merchandise e.g. embroidered iron-on patches, T-shirts, badges etc.

“Become Thyself” is a phrase adapted from “Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself” by David Foster Wallace (DFW), who is also Jonathan’s favourite author. I was asked to consider Jonathan’s aesthetic and style as a painter, and use the ideas presented in the film “The End of the Tour” and the book it was based on, “Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace” by David Lipsky as inspirational sources for the typographic decisions made.

1. Breaking Free

Concept: DFW’s experience with anxiety, loneliness and depression and freedom from these struggles
Art direction: Gestural calligraphy

For the first style, I chose to break the rules of traditional calligraphy script, and aimed to balance abstraction with legibility – so that it captures the essence of intentional mark-making and impact of “release/ breaking free”, yet remains readable for effective visual communication. With confident lines, gestural writing and the shapes and beautiful textures that follow through, this helps to convey the dynamic energy and emotive expression I was going for.

2. Beauty in the Mundane

Concept: Journey of life; the relationship between happiness and boredom i.e. ordinary unhappiness and how to see beauty in the mundane
Art direction: Slab serif type; nod towards nostalgia but applicable in a modern setting

Inspired by the film’s DVD title treatment in slab serif and its timeline being set at 1996 (year of encounter between the 2 main characters, DFW and David Lipsky), I followed my curiosity towards chunky letterforms, retro type and type treatments that invoke a sense of nostalgia. The final piece showcases a slab serif type treatment that is bold and attention-grabbing, but scaled back with soft rounded corners, bracketed serifs and minimal contrast. The crossbars of the f and e (unlike the horizontal or sloping ones enclosing the eye of the e) are also drawn as an s-shape stroke to add a softer and custom made appeal. To finish, horizontal leading lines were added to frame the letterforms, adding a sense of grounding and stability.

3. Introspection

Concept: Self-reflection
Art direction: Linear monoline type

For the last style, I was inspired by a quote by DFW – “If the writer does his job right, what he basically does is remind the reader of how smart the reader is”. Think: one line, connection, parallel lines, same wavelength, aligned perspectives. Some variations I’ve created include: open, closed and masked.

Mock Ups

*Note: these images are not actual products, but mocked up for the Client to easily visualise how the designs can be used on various type of items.

Client Testimonial