2025
Zhakan - Brand Identity (Concept)
Services
Architectural identity for an emerging fashion label.
Client
Zhakan
Architectural identity for an emerging fashion label.
Branding
Overview
Zhakan is a conceptual fashion brand exploring identity through structure, tension, and reduction. The brief focused on creating a mark that felt engineered rather than styled - precise, restrained, and culturally grounded without being literal.
Concept // 1
Concept
The Architectural Cut The Zhakan identity is built using architectural principles rather than decorative form. Letterforms are treated as structural elements - shaped through subtraction, tension, and negative space. The defining gesture is a deliberate incision carved into the letterform, echoing brutalist architecture, textile cutting, and cultural pattern logic. Every stroke feels cut, not drawn.
WORDMARK // 4
Master Wordmark
The ZHAKAN wordmark is constructed as a system of balanced visual mass. Spacing, weight, and rhythm are optically engineered to maintain clarity across digital and physical applications. Rather than softening the mark, precision is preserved — allowing the identity to remain legible at both large and small scales.
Monogram // 3
ZK Monogram
The ZK monogram is formed from two independent letterforms held in tension. The letters do not overlap or merge - the space between them is intentional and central to the identity. This calibrated negative gap ensures: - visual clarity - material accuracy in print and embossing - a sculptural, ownable silhouette The monogram functions as a compact identity for labels, trims, and hardware.
Structural Incision // 4
The Signature Notch
The defining feature of the identity is a precise notch carved into the letter K. This incision is placed at the structural stress point where diagonal meets vertical. The cut is not decorative - it is structural. It introduces memory, rupture, and restraint into the form, creating a visual language that feels architectural and intentional.
Application// 5
Physical Thinking
The identity was designed with physical reproduction in mind:
garment tags
woven labels
metal hardware
embossing and debossing
Typography behaves as material - maintaining integrity even at small scale.
This project explores identity as architecture - defined as much by what is removed as by what remains.
more projects
