Interview - Design Week

hande is a “playful take” on hand sanitiser

IYA studio has created the identity for a new hand sanitiser brand, hande.

hande is a joint collaboration between knitwear brand Country of Origin and IYA studio. It’s being manufactured in an industrial space in Peckham, South London.

It is billed as a “premium organic product”, made with organic ethanol and adhering to a formula stipulated by the World Health Organisation (WHO). hande has set aside 30% of the product to donate to organisations in need such as care homes and food banks. A portion of its profits is also going to these organisations.

It also aims to create living-wage jobs for people in the local community, who have been financially affected by the coronavirus pandemic including the self-employed and those working in hospitality.

hande comes in reusable glass bottles, available in 50ml or 500ml sizes.

IYA studio, based in Lewisham, has created the branding for the new product. Matt Cottis, the studio’s creative director, tells Design Week: “We were aiming for something that was different to what you’d expect for a hand sanitiser brand.”

The result is an identity that is a “playful take on hand sanitisation that was approachable and friendly”.

Illustrations are a prominent aspect of the branding and add a “fun” and “friendly” tone, Cottis says. They’ve been created by Lucy Turnbull, a previous collaborator of the studio. Drawings of hands, in the process of sanitising, appear on the bottle labels.

Turnbull “gave everything a really human, hand-made feeling that fitted nicely with our ideas for hande,” Cottis adds.

For the logotype, an “understated and friendly serif” font has been chosen in the form of Recoleta. It “retains a handcrafted feel that you might not associate with a hand sanitiser”, Cottis says.

Archivo has been used for the supporting type which “still has a clinical feeling”, which was important as the product is a WHO sanitiser.

The identity resists the traditional bright blues of “overly clinical” branding, and instead uses more muted lilac and blue tones. These “fresh” tones were “friendly and appealing”, Cottis adds.

According to its website, hande is planning further products in the coming months. Cottis says that this was another consideration for the brand – to create an identity that “would have life beyond the COVID-19 pandemic”.