Ragged Edge’s identity for East London Liquor Co. strips away the pretension of craft spirits

Fully embracing their locality, not only did East London Liquor Co. use their environment for their namesake, but after commissioning Ragged Edge, used it to inspire their new identity. Developed over the course of 2020, the London-based branding agency totally overhauled ELLC’s existing aesthetic, crafting a bespoke wordmark and a custom supporting sans-serif in collaboration with NaN. Within these letter sets are ‘found letters’; alternative glyphs to individual letterforms that were reappropriated from graffiti and ephemera located around the distillery, providing a dose of character and expression to a stoic, refined typographic lock-up. Creative Director at Ragged Edge, Matt Smith, tells us that “ELLC has always stood for great quality at great prices,” explaining that their strategy consisted of remaining contrary to “crafty bullshit,” and the accompanying extortionate price tag. Mirroring these principles, Smith clarifies that the subsequent branding was required to be “simple, punchy, and to demand attention,” acting as “the antithesis of the fiddly detail that ‘craft’ is often synonymous with in the spirits category.”