Urban Outfitters is a major seller of clothing and accessories in the United States and Europe. The company has stores in America, as well as in Germany, Belgium, Canada, Israel, etc. The company is oriented toward the young audience, offering fashion and lifestyle products.
A key figure of Urban Outfitters Inc. – Richard “Dick” Hayne. In 1970, he was a 23-year-old graduate of Lehigh University when he decided to open his first store with a former neighbor, Scott Belair. The two of them opened Free People, a store for students to find inexpensive secondhand clothing, furniture, jewelry, and decor items.
The Free People store proved successful, but despite this, Belair went to work on Wall Street, while Hayne stayed in business. He gradually added new products and in 1976 the old format became cramped, so Richard Hayne moved the store to a new, larger space and changed the name to what is now known as Urban Outfitters.
Today Urban Outfitter is an iconic name and is known by young people from all over the world, with not only dozens of physical stores in different countries but also an online platform, serving the rest of the globe.
What is Urban Outfitters?
Urban Outfitters is the name of an American brand that has existed since 1970. For the creation of new collections designers of the brand are inspired by young people who are distinguished by unconventional thinking and original taste. The company specializes in the production of women’s and men’s clothing, as well as interior products and small accessories.
In terms of visual identity, Urban Outfitters prefers to experiment with their advertising campaigns, not the official logo. The badge has stayed unchanged for years, and still looks very contemporary and strong, being based on the simplest principles.
The logo of Urban Outfitters is based on the name of the brand, set in the uppercase and executed in flat black lines, written against a plain white background with no graphical or colorful additional elements. The inscription is set in the slightly narrowed sans-serif with straight cuts of the lines, which add style and progressiveness to the simple composition, and make it look stable and confident.
The uppercase lettering from the primary badge of Urban Outfitters is set in a narrowed geometric sans-serif typeface with shortened horizontal bars of the characters and straight distinctive cuts of the lines. The closest fonts to the one, used in this insignia, are, probably, Franklin Gothic Std Extra Condensed, or Ramston Condensed.
As for the color palette of Urban Outfitters” visual identity, it is based on a monochromatic combination of black and white, where the logotype can be set in both shades, depending on the needs of the brand and the placement of the badge.