Great branding is like any other worthwhile process. It takes time, focus, rigor, the willingness to experiment, and most importantly, to PLAY! At Ubuntu Life, we take branding very seriously, but we do not take ourselves seriously. This is essentially how "The Dickie" font came to be. It all started with this commitment to the creative process combined with the talent of Grace mixed in with a healthy dose of our playful Ubuntu culture. The result, Grace aka Ricardo aka Dickie, was empowered to evolve her creative talents openly week over week, month over month, and eventually, the polished product of Ubuntu Life having its own signature font, "The Dickie" font was born!
What is the story behind the Dickie Font? How did it start?
The Dickie Font began with Zane’s push for our brand to become more playful & reflect what it truly means to #liveubuntu. We knew that our followers on Instagram responded positively to inspirational quotes and seeing pictures of our Maker Mums crafting things. So, we stuck to what we learned, and I had the idea of hand-writing quotes for our feed. It combined a handmade feel that allowed me to use my passion and skill to hand-write/hand-doodle things. When you love what you are doing, it flows out of your work, and people can truly see that. That is precisely what was happening with the Dickie Font.
The past year and a half, we have seen a few iterations of the font going from thick to thin, to black and white to very colorful. How has the font progressed to where it is today?
The Dickie Font began on pen and paper but certainly did not end there. As the brand evolved, so did the Dickie Font, and it went from pen and paper to scanned and traced on my laptop to colored backgrounds to colored text to drawn directly on to my iPad. Who knows where it will go next!
What are your favorite tools to use?
What are some of your favorite fonts?
Lately, my inspiration comes from old magazine ads. Specifically, LIFE magazine snippets that I have found at estate sales. The fonts used in this ad style scream “look at me and listen to what I’m saying”
