In a facelift for fashion brand Stine Goya, N-E uses ligatures to reflect community

Madrid-based agency Naranjo-Etxeberria (N-E) has a history of working with some of fashion’s most respected names, including a long-standing relationship with Loewe, recently designing a mobile app for its perfume arm. It’s with this ample knowledge that it arrives at a new project for Stine Goya, delivering a full rebrand for the Danish fashion brand.

The aim was to draw better attention to Stine Goya’s values, in particular N-E outlines that the brand “is known for constantly communicating with its community”; it has a dedicated brand space for representing and conversing with its following called House of Goya. This focal point for Stine Goya mainly shows up typographically. N-E says it has introduced ligatures between characters to show the union between Stine Goya and its community.

While N-E created a single custom typeface for the brand – titled Rise – using humanist fonts as a starting point, the use of ligatures create two subtly separate identities for House of Goya and Stine Goya. “The standard version for Stine Goya is slightly more serious and corporate, while the one for House of Goya is a bit more playful and outspoken,” an N-E release explains.

A new monogram features a similar approach to characters, creating an “organic” union of the characters S and G. “It is an icon that unites both letters in an abstract way and is less explicit than in the previous proposal,” says N-E. This icon also moves beyond graphic applications into the sartorial face of Stine Goya, appearing in accessories and clothing for the brand. Meanwhile, the agency describes the evolution of the Rise typeface as a “meticulous exercise where decorations are removed to create a cleaner, sharper and more direct voice”.

N-E likens its graphic systems for Stine Goya to the creation of visual poetry and has looked to a number of artists during the design process. “Visual poetry is a type of lyric composition that is created with an experimental approach,” the agency explains. “It’s formed by elements such as image, emptiness, creativity or the creation of figures made out of words. Therefore, these poems are considered also graphic compositions – in which words become images.” N-E works with a similar approach to its compositions for Stine Goya; it lists artists including poet Vicente Huidobro, conceptual artist Robert Barry and Edward Ruscha of the pop art movement as some guiding references on the project.