Typography 2017: Squashed, stretched, distorted, monospaced, variable.
2017 has been an interesting year, we've seen so much groundbreaking identity work. Typography was really important in these new explorations.
The hunt for authentic brands continues, with big brands trying to look more and more 'authentic' the hunt for unique identities that 'jump out' is ever increasing. It's not about 'looking good' anymore, it's about finding a connection. One could argue that 2017 was a celebration of 'the ugly'. After seeing much discussed rebrands by Dropbox, Ebay, Kickstarter, Formula 1, there were many discussions and my guess this trend will continue in 2018. Maybe you remember my article on what to consider when assesing a rebrand's succes.
We all remember this one
The dropbox rebrand was interesting to say the least. It opened the doors for a discussion about what's ugly, what's nice, what's fitting for a tech brand like dropbox.
I've noticed that typography has been 'unleashed' from it's more regular bounding boxes. When we are being educated as designer we are tought to treat type with the utmost respect and carefullness. I do believe it is important to know your classics, understand typography.
It's interesting to see how designers are breaking the rules, how designers are squashing, stretching, mixing, distorting typography to create new identities.
The printworks logo looks like it's rolling of the Press. Great use of distortion to convey the message.
Variable typefaces
The intro of variable typefaces in Adobe will only empower this trend in 2018. The ability to tweak height, width, slant in a more organic way makes for a much more diverse spectrum of possibilities.
Tweaking Acumin variable typeface in Adobe's illustrator.
Science museum's latest rebrand used this concept as the basis for the whole identity system.
Science museum by Ollins
A controversial rebrand by North Design. Not an easy one to tackle, to walk in the shoes of Pentagram's legendary design for the museum.
New typefaces
Type designers have also been busy in 2017, creating a lot of interesting new typefaces. From really expressive typefaces to heavily extended or condesed typefaces.
It was definitely an interesting year for branding and identity design. Let's explore more together in 2018!
