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Reparations Club

Reparations Club is a concept (book)shop and creative space in Los Angeles, California. Created and managed by Jazzi McGilbert, Rep Club is a project dedicated to the promotion of BIPOC’s literature and cultural production. The whole project was designed in partnership with São Paulo based Estúdio Daó and coded by Carlos Mayo.

In addition to shedding light on themes related to social and racial issues, Rep Club aims to help with the circulation of money between the hands of the BIPOC community through the sale and promotion of their products. The name itself reinforces the reparatory aspect of the project: the idea that there must be a reparation for black people who for centuries have been enslaved and deprived of any social and economic progression.

Racial issues around the world have similar roots, but their practical implications change from place to place according to their specific contexts. Our challenge was to understand how racial segregation occurs in the United States specifically and how to create a contemporary visual identity that has this historical scenario as a starting point.

With the intention of creating an identity that reinforces the social aspects ​​of the project as well as helping in the reverberation of the voices it represents, we’ve chosen to concentrate the expression of the brand in its typography. Two contrasting typefaces were chosen based on the research of historic publications, printed matter and graphic materials related to the black culture and its social and cultural expressions. The black square represents a cutout, a window that frames a view of the world. Moreover, the square also symbolizes the demarcation of a space that should be destined – as a historical reparation – to the BIPOC population. The color palette guides the urgency of the project. It symbolizes the balance between a vibrant and diverse community along with the seriousness of its struggles, the very essence of Reparations Club.

Category: Visual Identity 
Location: Los Angeles, USA
Client: Reparations Club
Collaborators: Estúdio Daó, Carlos Mayo
Year: 2020 / 2021