Custom Typeface
Hands Collective reached out to give the custom Tired City typeface (originally designed by Two Nguyen) a bit of a refresh. The goal was to evolve the type into something more refined and practical for daily use, but without losing the soul of the original.
Photo from Tired City (Store at 98 Hàng Bông, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội)
Tired City has been close to my heart since university, when I first bought their merch. So when they teased their rebrand, I was thrilled. It’s rare to see a brand that authentically supports local artists and designers take such a bold, vibrant, and genuinely creative turn.
Captures of their old designs
Inspired by the Constructivist style of old propaganda posters, the logotype was elevated by Hands Collective into a bespoke typeface that speaks to both heritage and innovation.
The first version of the typeface generated by using only squares
The typeface is fun and ties in nicely with the new logo design, but there were some issues with the contrast, texture and mostly legibility. Definately the time for a little fine-tuning!
Tired City
Width: 400 Short: 10 Tiredness: 32
Tired City
Width: 360 Short: 0 Tiredness: 32
Tired City
Width: 220 Short: 0 Tiredness: 48
Tired City
Multiple Widths from 220 to 720
With at least 12 styles, the typeface scales from 'Tired' to an absolute 'Very Tired' state. To physically capture that exhaustion, the 'Very Tired' styles are programmed with randomized, bouncy letterforms that jump up and down. It’s a playful, unpredictable system that we later built into a variable font for maximum versatility.
Inspired by vintage Vietnamese signage, the diacritics are intentionally thinner than the letterforms. This ensures better line spacing and allows for tight leading in bold titles, maintaining the brand’s visual coherence.
To make the brand toolkit even more functional, we integrated Tired City's iconography directly into the typeface. By utilizing custom OpenType ligatures, users can simply type out specific character combinations to instantly trigger the icons.
New packaging system & products for Tired city (Photo from Hands Collective)
Photo from Tired City (Store at 54 Bát Sứ, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội)
Check out the full showcase and credits from Hands Collective! 👀
Or you can read more reviews, thoughts at Creative Boom and Brand New
Credits
Strategy Director: Thinh Nguyen
Creative Director: Two Nguyen
Senior Designer: Trang Ka
And many more… (noted in Hands Collective showcase above)
Related Case Studies
Hanoi, Vietnam (GMT+7)
