Big CartelCopied

Big Cartel has offered simple selling tools to artists and independent makers since 2005. Twenty years on, it felt its brand had not kept up with its sellers, and hired London studio How&How to reposition it as a launchpad for aspiring entrepreneurs, It's Nice That and Design Week reported in 2025. Creative director Chris Clayton said the aim was to help Big Cartel do for itself what it does for others: sell. The studio set out to make something distinctly not Shopify.

There was a catch. A How&How co-founder told Design Week that changing the logo was categorically vetoed in the original scope. How&How presented routes both with and without the old mark to let the client reach its own conclusion; once Big Cartel saw a hand-drawn new logo in the context of the system, Clayton said, it was impossible to argue with. He described the goal as evolving the original rather than replacing it, keeping the independent spirit that made it meaningful to the team.

The positioning, 'Goodbye Caution', pitches Big Cartel as the go-to for entrepreneurs taking the leap. The look is deliberately scrappy: big, bold type, splattery risograph-inspired textures, sketchbook illustrations and a loud palette. The primary typeface is ED Replan, an idiosyncratic variable sans from Extraset, a foundry that sells its own merchandise on Big Cartel and so was asked to craft a custom wordmark; ABC Marist supports it. The heavy, digital-first wordmark is paired with a hand-drawn icon that keeps shifting.

It's Nice That called the result audacious and unapologetic. Big Cartel itself said the refresh did not rewrite its mission, just turned it up.

The textures and hand-drawn marks are exactly right for a platform of zine-makers and screen printers, and the contrast with sleek commerce rivals is real. The irony is that this 'imperfect' aesthetic is now its own polished trend. Still, a platform for indie sellers wearing indie clothes is honest.