BITMAP TYPEFACE & POSTER
OVERVIEW
The client for this project is Myfonts.com/MyFonts, a website that allow designers to sell and license their own fonts. MyFonts prides itself as being the largest collection of typefaces available for sale in one place. The project is to create a unique bitmap font to be sold on Myfonts.com. It should be accompanied by an “anatomy” poster and five advertisements for the website. The font must also be utilized with purpose in a poster advocating for social change. The nature of the project is inspired by the work of Zuzana Licko and her type foundry, Emigre. Licko is legendary for her pioneering work in bitmap fonts and type designed for screens, as well as her more unusual and unexpected typefaces. Stakeholders for this project include Monotype as the parent company of Myfonts, and all the other type foundries and independent designers using Myfonts.
The client for this project is Myfonts.com/MyFonts, a website that allow designers to sell and license their own fonts. MyFonts prides itself as being the largest collection of typefaces available for sale in one place. The project is to create a unique bitmap font to be sold on Myfonts.com. It should be accompanied by an “anatomy” poster and five advertisements for the website. The font must also be utilized with purpose in a poster advocating for social change. The nature of the project is inspired by the work of Zuzana Licko and her type foundry, Emigre. Licko is legendary for her pioneering work in bitmap fonts and type designed for screens, as well as her more unusual and unexpected typefaces. Stakeholders for this project include Monotype as the parent company of Myfonts, and all the other type foundries and independent designers using Myfonts.
CHALLENGES & GOALS
The goal of the poster is to effectively call attention to the social issue of pollution and global climate change. It should compel the viewer to help solve the issue. The bitmap font should amplify and embody the poster’s message and give it a greater
effect. Because the project needs to raise awareness and support for the issue of pollution, the typeface needs to be bold, attention-grabbing, and impactful. Its characteristics should either illustrate the drawbacks and dangers of pollution, all while being clearly legible and readable so the message gets across. The project will also expand the number of available typefaces on Myfonts.com. From a business perspective, the new typeface should be unique and set apart from other bitmap fonts available in order to diversify the market.
effect. Because the project needs to raise awareness and support for the issue of pollution, the typeface needs to be bold, attention-grabbing, and impactful. Its characteristics should either illustrate the drawbacks and dangers of pollution, all while being clearly legible and readable so the message gets across. The project will also expand the number of available typefaces on Myfonts.com. From a business perspective, the new typeface should be unique and set apart from other bitmap fonts available in order to diversify the market.
RESEARCH
The main target audience for the font is designers and design firms that buy licenses from MyFonts. These designers are typically over 20 years old and work in or near large cities. The social issue presented for this product is corporate pollution and companies’ effects on global climate change. In 2015, a whistleblower from Chevron revealed that the company deliberately dumped 16 billion gallons of crude oil into the Amazon rainforest, and then attempted to find “clean” soil and water samples to cover it up. At the time of this writing, a massive oil tanker called the FSO Nabarima is in danger of capsizing and releasing disastrous amounts of crude oil into the Caribbean. These events indicate larger issues of oil companies refusing to take responsibility for their impact. Ideally, this issue concerns everyone on Earth, but the people most susceptible to the message are younger, more left- or center-leaning, and do not run corporations themselves. The biggest strengths going into this project is that Myfonts.com is already a well-established vendor and the fonts sold there are compatible across all platforms, so they are usable in a variety of contexts. Bitmap fonts unfortunately have the weakness of being more limited in their use than other fonts and are often not as popular. This project has the opportunity to benefit three parties: the design community, by introducing a unique typeface; MyFonts, by increasing their business and traffic; and organizations fighting climate change, by
spreading their message.
spreading their message.
SOLUTION AESTHETIC
The typeface reflects the grim future that may become reality if action is not taken against pollution. Because of oil spills and smog, the environment is becoming more an more harsh and unwelcoming to the people and wildlife that live there. The letterforms of the typeface are cut at angles and end in sharp points to recreate this feeling of harshness. The forms are also inorganic with rigid angles, mimicking man-made structures such as factories rather than nature. The glyphs also have a technological or digital look to them, tying them into the future rather than the past. The name “Dystopia” also reinforces the imagery of an undesirable future.
In the poster and advertisements, the type is made to look as if it being displayed on a screen. There are irregularities in the color, brightness, and form of the type, suggesting that the screen is deteriorating much like the environment is. In the poster, the bird is illustrated with straight lines and angles in order to match the letterforms and remind the viewer that what is happening is unnatural. The colors in the poster and ads are also unnatural for this reason; neon reds, oranges, and blues are almost never seen in nature. The black background contributes to the overall oppressive mood: images that are predominantly black or dark in color usually have negative connotations.The cohesive branding of this project aligns with the other typefaces available on MyFonts, which are advertised with a strong sense of aesthetic and/or brand identity. Designers will be inclined to buy a license to Dystopia and activists will support the cause against pollution because of the strong aesthetic of the posters.
In the poster and advertisements, the type is made to look as if it being displayed on a screen. There are irregularities in the color, brightness, and form of the type, suggesting that the screen is deteriorating much like the environment is. In the poster, the bird is illustrated with straight lines and angles in order to match the letterforms and remind the viewer that what is happening is unnatural. The colors in the poster and ads are also unnatural for this reason; neon reds, oranges, and blues are almost never seen in nature. The black background contributes to the overall oppressive mood: images that are predominantly black or dark in color usually have negative connotations.The cohesive branding of this project aligns with the other typefaces available on MyFonts, which are advertised with a strong sense of aesthetic and/or brand identity. Designers will be inclined to buy a license to Dystopia and activists will support the cause against pollution because of the strong aesthetic of the posters.
