Ethical Visual Design Choices
Ethical Visual Design Choices
As we’re building Tumi2you, we realised being an ethically conscious brand does not just lie with our products- the bags. Instead, our values can also be felt even in the brand’s visual design. The typefaces considered "professional," the colour standards set by institutions like Pantone, the aesthetics deemed timeless or minimal or clean, these standards were shaped overwhelmingly by European and North American design traditions. They reflect a particular cultural dominance that goes largely unquestioned, even by brands with good intentions.
As a multicultural brand rooted in collaboration across cultures, Tumi2You sees visual design as another space where our values need to show up. That means asking uncomfortable questions: Why is this the default? Where did this standard come from? And who does it leave out?
We don't claim to have perfect answers, but we take the questions seriously.
Our values as foundation
Tumi2You & Decolonial Feminism: Tumi2You holds decolonial feminist principles at the core of its brand. Our story and our journey is built around the economic agency, creative authorship, and dignified livelihood of women, placing our labour, skill, and self-determination at the centre of every business decision rather than as a means to someone else's profit.
Why a Decolonial feminism? is a political and intellectual framework that insists gender oppression cannot be understood or resisted in isolation from colonialism, race, and capitalism. It rejects the universalisation of Western feminist frameworks that erase the experiences of women in the Global South/Global Majority World. It centres the knowledge, agency, and liberation of those most excluded, by intersecting colonial and patriarchal systems, on their own terms.
Our logo
Our logo was designed by Team Art Nimbos, a Ghanaian design studio. At a time when much of our visual work was being executed by our Dutch team, we made a deliberate choice to commission our logo from a Ghanaian Design Team, because the brand's visual identity should reflect all of the people who make it what it is.
Our Typography & other design choices
Our website uses Chivo, created by Omnibus-Type, a cooperative type foundry from Argentina and Mexico. Their founding principle is that good typography should be accessible to everyone. That ethos aligns directly with ours. For our Sales and Social Media platforms, we’ve co-developed guidelines & checklists regarding ethical content creation and communications. We also engaged our full team in conversations about colour, visual identity, and what the brand should feel like. These aren't decisions made in a Dutch studio and handed downward.