I'm Helen Barlo
w designer at One Line, ethical design.
Over the last few months I've been fortunate enough to work with The Little Fair Trade shop on their new brand.
During that time Sabeena visited the Dubai Mall. She discovered this stunning artwork commissioned especially by the Chaloub Group. We both got very excited to see something similar on such a scale! Inspired we thought you might like to hear the story behind the geometric connection in our branding.
The Story
Sabeena contacted One Line to build the brand based on the core fair trade foundations of her existing business and campaigns.
We conducted a process that would allow us to reflect the overarching brand mission with visuals. The structure of the brand identity contains its logos, colours and typography. These all employ the heart and voice that embodies the brand.
To get to the heart of the brand we needed to understand the business aims. Sabeena had a clear brand mission and in depth customer profiling which made our job that bit simpler.
The brand mission: to ignite passion for social and trade justice.
To bring this in to the brand identity the logo is ten sections. Each one represents one of the ten Fair Trade principles. We used the butterfly icon because butterflies represent passion – to ignite a passion in social and trade justice. The centre of the logo forms a focal point. This white space light and directs the eye in a journey, The Little Fair Trade's journey starts with the producer and ends with their customers.
Geometry as the core design principle allowed us to connect all the messages. The history of geometry in science and design is complex but it has one common ground: the need to solve a problem through experimentation.
We soon discovered working with Sabeena that The Little Fair Trade Shop isn't afraid to experiment when it comes to campaigning to ease the problems of social and trade injustices. The geometry in the logo and brand assets such as the ethical stamps is homage to this core brand approach. See all stamps...
As the project moved forward we began to incorporate geometry elsewhere. Preparing for the launch of the first product collection we wanted to bring in the geometry in the fashion shoot. Below you can see some of the inspirational scamps we provided the Dubai based photographer with..
And why not go behind the scenes on the shoot with Sabeena's video here.
Interview with Helen Barlow Scott conducted during her visit to Dubai, February/March 2017.
Kind regards,
Helen
This month I continued to recover from my right shoulder treatment.
I remotely attend two webinars about 'Understanding the home décor
and textile and apparel market.'
These webinars were organised by ITC.
This month I continued to recover from my right shoulder treatment.
I managed to attend a World Social Enterprise Day 2024 remote webinar.
I have updated my blog I wrote in 2021 about living with invisible disabilities and chronic pain.
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I'm Sabeena Ahmed owner and creator of The Little Fair Trade Shop. I've been an individual associate member of the World Fair Trade Organization since 2011 and together with my artisans I bring you a bespoke collection of ethically sourced fashion & gifts.
© 2025 The Little Fair Trade Shop. “We love to listen to our customers and for this reason we would be delighted to hear from you if you would like a bespoke fair trade product made especially for you.”
The Little Fair Trade Shop Ltd
Registered in England & Wales
Company Number 08189489
