Hubsch, by Afsheen, is Afsheen, just Hubsch, just Afsheen… ? There’s a store on Zamzama (A wannabe high street in Karachi) that I drove by a few days ago. I couldn’t help but notice a few awful things about it.

To start with, the storefront is 10-12 feet wide, yet it has no less than four signs outside — FOUR! If you excuse the Pantene-sponsored blue one on the top (I’m not inclined to, to be honest), the remaining three share a common aesthetic, but they don’t look like different formats of the same ID because the logo’s tightly kerned and the mismatched size type doesn’t lend itself well to vertical orientation.

The other thing that bothered me was the “by Afsheen” bit. I don’t know who Afsheen is and neither does my wife (who’s been publishing a fashion magazine for 13 years and is generally more learned than I am), so I think it’s safe to assume that Afsheen is only known to her family, friends and customers.

I’m of the opinion that a name tacked on must add value for the consumer (Polo by Ralph Lauren). This seems to only add value to Afsheen’s perception of herself — it’s basically a vanity thing.

Lastly, there’s the Pantene sign. It has nothing to do with anything. It follows Pantene’s style guide and pays no respect to Hubsch’s ID. It’s a sore thumb on the shop’s facade and, as you drive around the city, you’ll see 50 others like it.

But, I can’t completely fault P&G for this, because they’re trying to project harmony for their own brand, but you’d think that they’d give a small nod to the shop owners by integrating the individual logos into their own signs.

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