The Name Needed a Face
Before our mascot existed, there was the wordmark. Our founder designed it himself.
From our founder Gabriel: "I tried to go for the kind of lettering you'd find pressed into the leather of old engineering boots or even something stamped onto a metal sign above a counter. I myself am deep into the whole "Heritage wear" and "Selvedge denim" pipeline so i sort of already had an idea of which direction i wanted to go with paperboy leather. The goal was something kind of like identity a brand earns over decades, even if we're just starting out"
The americana and heritage workwear world has its own visual language, and the wordmark was built to speak it honestly. That tradition of making durable, "good" things is genuinely what Paperboy is. You'll find it on the website, and our packing.
A wordmark alone is a name. It needed a character. , something with a story behind it. That's where Tommy came in.
The One That Almost Was
This is crazy to look back on now but, early on, the brand was close to being called Sparky Leather, a nod to the founder's childhood dog. The name carried a sweet meaning without a doubt, but be it was already taken, so Sparky stayed an idea, and the search for the right identity kept going.
Ezra Draws a Paperboy
Now getting the mascot right took time. A lot of trial and error, a lot of sketches that were close but lacking a little something. The founder knew what he was looking for, something with "heart", something that could carry the brand without explaining it, but creating it on paper was another thing entirely.
It was Ezra, the founder's partner, who made it happen. The paper boy hat, the thick lines, a face that felt like it belonged on our paper packaging and leather in equally. Once it existed, there wasn't much to deliberate about.
From the founder Gabriel: "Yeah once ezra drew that sketch it was almost like we both knew immediately. I have always been fascinated by illustration and graphic design albeit I have never been a good drawer I know what I like and when that first sketch of the logo we know know touched down, I knew we had to develop it and make it the face of our company."
What Tommy Means
No pretentious secret meaning behind our logo. He is simply just what our brand is trying to be, unpretentious, built for use, connected to a tradition of making things that last a long time.
You'll see him on the packaging if you ever grab a journal
Tommy appears stamped in ink on the inside bottom right corner of every journal, and specifically placed on every piece of packaging we make. *We do make our packaging by hand*
0 comments