Grubb's has compounded prescriptions on Capitol Hill since 1867: DC's oldest compound pharmacy. When it comes to a neighborhood-focused family-owned independent, there weren't a lot of comparisons left; faceless big-box chains have replaced most of them. We carved a unique path: a black-and-white system built on a mortar-and-pestle mark, an Rx roundel, and Gooper, a fat-faced serif with old-school pharmacy manners.
Grubb's Pharmacy has compounded prescriptions on Capitol Hill since 1867, which makes it the oldest compounding pharmacy in the District and one of the last family-owned independents in a city the chains took over. It came to us in 2021 for an identity that could go on the door, the window, the sleeve and a sticker roll and read as the place it has always been. The risk in rebranding a business this old runs in both directions: sand off the history and it reads like every chain that replaced the independents, or lean on it too hard and it reads like a museum gift shop. The system splits the difference by acting its age, in black and white with almost no decoration: a mortar-and-pestle mark, a keystone-framed name, an Rx roundel stamped SINCE 1867, and Gooper, a fat-faced serif drawn in adoration of Cooper and Bookman.
Design System
Ink black on cream or white, Gooper for anything set large, and a mark family that has to work embossed, stitched, or printed on a roll of stickers.
Capitol Hill's pharmacy since 1867.
The identity shipped as objects: a printed brand book, a stationery kit, embroidered marks, window vinyl, a sandwich board for the sidewalk, and sticker rolls. The COVID-vaccinated roundel on the sticker roll dates the engagement precisely; the rest of the system is built not to date at all.
The pharmacy opened a tea bar, and the system stretched to meet it. A set of mark variations swaps the mortar for tea vessels (a cup, a pot, a tin) under the same keystone manners. Storefront vinyl and cups carry the line: delicious teas, steeped in history. Same brand, new counter.
The marks, the palette, the type, and the designed work that carries them. One source feeds the live brand and this wall. Click any tile to open it.
Roundel · embroideredLogo & MarksRoundel · on clothLogo & Marks
Primary markLogo & Marks
Guidelines · marksBrand Guidelines
Guidelines · Gooper type pagesBrand Guidelines
Stationery kitCollateral
Letterhead + envelopeCollateral
Sticker rollCollateral
Window vinylEnvironmental Graphics
Sandwich boardEnvironmental Graphics
StorefrontEnvironmental Graphics
Tea Lab · marksBrand Identity
Tea Lab · storefrontBrand Identity
Tea Lab · cupBrand Identity
