--- title: The lettering in a logo. A case study · Design Academy url: https://rt.md/en/academia/haiduc/ description: We refine the lettering of the Pâinița Haiduc logo. An educational case study on a local Moldovan brand. Design Academy, 2020. alternate: RO: https://rt.md/academia/haiduc/ source: RT Design Studio, https://rt.md (contact: mail@rt.md) --- [← Design Academy](https://rt.md/en/academia/) Case study · Typography · 20 January 2020 · 4 min read # The lettering in a logo. A case study. The task in this exercise To refine the lettering of the Pâinița Haiduc logo. [Citește studiul în română →](https://rt.md/academia/haiduc/) ![Pâinița Haiduc products on the shelf and the original label](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/01.jpg) At the Design Academy, for a more authentic experience, we use examples from local Moldovan producers as case studies and practice. We publish this series of articles in the hope that it will be useful to anyone interested in design. Before anything else, a few principles worth respecting in design: **contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity, balance** . [Design principlesYouTube video · loads from youtube.com when you press play](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK86XQ1iFVs) And a short explainer on typography. [TypographyYouTube video · loads from youtube.com when you press play](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sByzHoiYFX0) ## Observations ![The Haiduc logo - the obvious observations](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/02.png) Fairly obvious ones: - The whole word is set in capitals - The letterforms have two stroke weights - The A carries a calligraphic flourish ### Closer observations ![Detailed analysis of the letters](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/03.jpg) The bottom-left corner of the A is acute (unlike the right side or the top, where the corners are right angles). The C is not consistent with the other letters. The thickness of the terminals varies, and so do the corner angles (top versus bottom). Some letters have ornamented corners in some places (H, I, D, U). The A and the C do not. In theory, the H should be the same width as the U, and the D the same as the C. And the stem of the I should recur, as one of the two weights, in almost every letter. ![Letter widths compared](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/04.jpg) The kerning is more or less fine. ![Kerning analysis](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/05.jpg) ![Spacing analysis](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/06.jpg) Before moving on to execution, a few notes: - We will keep the calligraphic flourish on the A. - We will keep the two weights. - We will round the corners ever so slightly, for some consistency between letters. - We will look for anywhere else we can find elements that create consistency (angles, weights, spacing, rounding and so on). ## Let’s begin With the very rough geometry of the letters. Repetition of the stroke weights matters here. ![The rough geometry of the letters](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/07.jpg) Then we work on each letterform in turn. Consistency sits at the head of the table here (created through repetition, alignment, contrast, proximity). ![Working on the letterforms](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/08.jpg) ![Iterations on the letters](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/09.jpg) We slant the crossbar of the H at the same angle as the bottom stroke of the U. Repetition. Then we give the C the same angle too. ![Repeated angles on the H, U and C](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/10.jpg) ![Consistency through angles](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/11.jpg) Every corner very subtly rounded. Good. From here, an improved version of the logo is a fairly short step away. We add an optional symbol and a stamp with the year the company was founded… ![The new logo version with a symbol](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/12.jpg) and… ![Logo versions](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/13.jpg) ![The logo in use](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/14.jpg) ![The logo applied to materials](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/15.jpg) ![Packaging mockup](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/16.jpg) ![Before and after - the Haiduc lettering](https://rt.md/academia/assets/haiduc/17.jpg) ## Context When would improvements and changes like these apply? When the goal is a refreshed identity that evolves what came before, keeping some ties to the past, but re-executed to a higher standard. **In other words - evolution, not revolution.** Elements and characteristics are kept, but the work follows design principles to create consistency (through repetition, contrast, balance and so on). Often the choice is a completely new identity. In this exercise, the work covered only the analysis and refinement of the lettering. Postscript · 2026 Originally published on Medium in January 2020 as part of the Design Academy series - educational case studies on local Moldovan brands. Republished here, in the rt.md archive, with no changes to the content. The same philosophy lives on today through the [Lending a Hand](https://rt.md/en/umarul/) initiative - redesigns given free of charge to the institutions and companies building digital Moldova. Up next - [ Sep 2026 Interface ### Polestar 2 The driver display, rethought We rebuild the driver’s screen 1:1, diagnose it in measurable terms and work through seven versions to a proposal for Calm mode. ](https://rt.md/en/academia/polestar-2/) - [ Aug 2026 Typography ### Purcari The invisible repair The seven most printed serif letters in Moldova, refined one by one, without anyone noticing. ](https://rt.md/en/academia/purcari/) [All studies](https://rt.md/en/academia/#studii) Contact ## See it differently? You can contradict us, add to this or suggest a brand for the next study. And we always answer email. [Write to us: mail@rt.md](mailto:mail@rt.md)