TYPE SPECIMEN | Project Statement
This is the first project in Type II class where we were assigned a typeface and challenged to design a Type Specimen Book in the format of an iphone X application. The project required strong research to better understand the assigned typeface and its historical uses. It also furthered our experience working with interactive media and continued our experience of working with different forms of type. We practiced using visual hierarchy from our previous exercises and also furthered our understanding of Figma.
Splash Screen: Title page that introduces Univers as the type specimen
Styles Page Univers 75 Black: Displays the defining characteristics of Univers 75 Black
Univers is a Neo-Grotesque typeface created by swiss designer Adrian Frutiger in 1954 and published by the french type foundry Deberny and Peignot in 1957. Univers was created to offer a sans serif typeface with many different weights whilst still working along the same design principles and visual aesthetic. It is often compared to Helvetica in terms of readability and legibility but ultimately includes the squaring of round strokes and more stroke modulation than Helvetica. Univers is unique in the numbering system that Frutiger developed to designate variations in weight, width, and slope. He applied the same numbering system to many of his later typeface designs but Univers will always be the first. It is successful in portraying Swiss design through its systematic construction and its practically unlimited applications.
I was inspired by the swiss influence of the design. It was very direct and simple, lacking a spacial aspect, in other words, it was very flat. It was very different from most of the design that I see on a day-to-day basis. Another aspect that motivated my design what Frutiger's visualization of his numbering system. It created an interesting representation of how the numbering system functioned.
