A type foundry needed an identity that could sit next to its own typefaces without competing with them — specimen sheets, stationery, and a colour language with a long shelf life.
The problem
The hardest constraint of the project: whatever gets designed has to stay quiet, because the product on the page is the typography itself.
How it went
- 01
Restraint as the brief
Settled early that the identity would be almost entirely typographic. Anything decorative would end up arguing with the specimens.
- 02
Specimen-led design
Designed the specimen sheets first and derived the rest of the system from what those pages needed.
- 03
Colour with a long shelf life
Picked a palette from ink behaviour on uncoated stock rather than from a screen, so it stays right in print years from now.
- 04
Write it down
Guidelines written to be followed by whoever joins next, not just by the people who were in the room.
Along the way
What shipped
- Identity and wordmark
- Specimen sheet system
- Stationery and print collateral
- Colour and type guidelines
- Editable source files
After
The system does its job by staying out of the way of the typefaces. No sales or reach figures are claimed.
No invented numbers. Ever.Next project