Technorenaissance
Visual Identity | Apparel Design | UX/UI
The first merch drop for the IT company Technokratos, inspired by the Renaissance
store.technokratos.com
The first merch drop for the IT company Technokratos, inspired by the Renaissance
store.technokratos.com
Technokratos, the company for which the merch was created, has always drawn on ancient philosophy and ideals in its mission and values. During the rebranding, however, the direct references to Ancient Greece were replaced with more subtle, modern-oriented cues — while still keeping a foundation rooted in classical principles.
That’s why the merch collections were also conceived around historical eras predating modernity. The first of three drops draws from the Renaissance — an age of humanism, fascination with progress, and a renewed interest in the ideas of ancient philosophers. After all, the very notion of a "Renaissance" is about the revival of Antiquity, a return to its traditions and values.
The concept for the first merch drop was presented at Techno Meets Design 2022, an open design meetup in Kazan that featured speakers including the art directors of MTS and Raiffeisen Bank, as well as a producer from Skillbox.
To connect the merch collection with the company’s refreshed image, we asked ourselves: who could be called the technocrats of their time — the Renaissance era, long before the technocratic movement emerged in the early 20th century? The answer: inventors, scientists, engineers, and explorers — visionaries who laid the foundations of modern culture and science.
The first hoodie in the collection — a rich brown — is a homage to Leonardo da Vinci, inspired by his artistic technique of “sfumato,” with its soft transitions from light to deep brown shadows. It also reflects Da Vinci’s legacy as one of the most prominent Renaissance humanists, whose ideas shaped the way we think today. And the chest print echoes his worldview.
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The hoodie’s back print features sketches of an artificial wing from Da Vinci’s notebooks. Fascinated by the idea of human flight, Da Vinci famously said, “Movement is the essence of life.”
The second hoodie, in a sandy tone reminiscent of aged maps paper, pays tribute to Ferdinand Magellan — one of the most renowned figures of the Age of Discovery. Its chest print features a Kepler map, used by astronomers and navigators of his time.
The hoodie’s back print depicts the ship Victoria, on which Magellan completed the first circumnavigation of the globe. This voyage sparked the process of globalization, connecting continents through trade long before modern maritime shipping.
The next figure in our Renaissance-inspired collection is Gutenberg, inventor of the first printing press with movable type — a breakthrough that transformed handwritten manuscripts, accelerated the age of printing, and ushered in the era of mass media. In many ways, he created the Internet of his time, enabling ideas to flow freely between people.
That’s why his hoodie is rooted in the typographic principles of the era. The back features an illustration from “On the Divine Proportions” — a work by a close friend of Leonardo’s, for which Da Vinci created illustrations. On the front, set against a grid inspired by Gutenberg’s canon, is a fragment of text with an illuminated letter from the Gutenberg Bible, alongside the first principle of a technocrat from the company’s website in Latin — rendered in a textured Gothic typeface similar to the one used for the Bible.
The final figure in this group of four — but by no means the least — is Galileo Galilei, a physicist and astronomer who laid the foundations of classical mechanics and profoundly influenced modern science. He invented the first telescope capable of confirming the heliocentric model of the universe, sparking a true scientific revolution.
The T-shirt features one of the earliest heliocentric diagrams, alongside the phrase attributed to Galileo: “And yet it moves.” It also includes a calligraphic inscription referencing Galileo’s firm commitment to rationalism.
In addition to the colored items, we introduced black hoodies and T-shirts, reinterpreting classic corporate apparel with the company logo as a canvas for a tattoo artist. This approach allowed us to play with the Technokratos brand, blending elements, typography, and imagery from the entire collection to capture a unified visual essence of the era.
For example, on one hoodie we used the textura typeface of the Gutenberg Bible for two variations of the company name. The background features an illustration by Leonardo from “On the Divine Proportions.” The circular logo was designed based on a heraldic cross and a compass rose from the cartography of the period.
The T-shirt is more minimal than the hoodie, with more compact details. The front features a single element — a calligraphic composition of the company name. The back displays the website address encoded in binary, set in a Gothic typeface.
For the accessories, we aimed to combine the approaches of both apparel sets so they would harmonize with each of them. All accessories feature familiar elements from the collection, reimagined in new combinations.
For example: a waist bag featuring Galileo’s autograph; a cap with a letter from the Gutenberg Bible and the company’s founding year alongside the merch drop year; a tote bag printed with Magellan’s hoodie map and the Latin phrase “Expand your horizons”; and stamped black nickel pins combining graphic elements from all previous prints. Together, these pieces form a collection woven with recurring Renaissance elements and infused with the spirit of Technokratos as we envisioned it.
For this collection, we commissioned custom patterns for the full size range of oversized hoodies and T-shirts at a local atelier. We selected fabrics directly from a wholesale supplier and entrusted the sewing to a specialized workshop, overseeing the entire merch creation process — from concept development to final logistics and presentation to the team.
“The successful creation of two corporate merch drops for Technokratos not only boosted the company’s brand recognition but also helped secure the ‘HR Brand of the Year 2023’ award from Ruwards.”
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