May sound like i'm contradicting myself when I say I want to find 5 typefaces that are very different but go well as a set. I have been tasked to create a set of rules for a group of shop owners who will be given the choice of a typeface to display their shop name. The collection of shops will be under one roof and will form a market. The market also has a slightly more modern twist. I want to create some cohesion but retain individual uniqueness. Any thoughts?
I immediately thought of Nick Shinn's Panoptica.
Conqueror?
http://typophile.com/node/73718
how about 21 layers ;)
Sounds like a cool job. If this is only for the logotypes, I would draw them myself.
There may be a high turn around of tenants so to draw a bespoke face for each and every one would be unfeasible (to the clients pocket anyway). We want to be able to hand over a kit of parts so the shop owner, if they don't already have a brand, can create their own with typeface selection, colour, patterns, finishes etc
I meant drawing five logos, not five typefaces.
Great find riccard0.
Panoptica is GREAT!
However, if you’re considering something more fancy, I would find a suite of Jos Buivenga’s new Geotica and my own Reinstaedt quite lovely:
Helvetica, Bodoni, Garamond, Times, Century Expanded.
I'm sure it would be possible to pick five faces, but I first thought of the way in which the FontShop logo may be used with different typefaces, and yet still maintain a consistent brand. You wouldn't want to have such a dominant overall theme, but that kind of idea might be useful.
For instance, standardize a format around x-height.
Another principle I've used in harmonizing "super families" is to give them the same degree of horizontal scaling.
Further, a similar kind of "distress" (Brown and Worldwide).
Also, a cultural axis (Sense and Sensibility - modernist and humanist variants of the same face).
And of course a common basic alphabetic architecture (Panoptica, as mentioned above).
Picking different genres within a single type family: Roman, Italic, Alternate script italic (e.g. Missinformed), All Caps, All Lower Case, Mixed case, Caps with Small Caps, Contrasting Weights.
Interesting idea, BTW.
Your situation reminds me of something I read once about Disneyland & Disney World. They each have a Main Street USA -- a turn-of-the-century street with shops, fire station, etc. -- and Disney executives are often contacted by officials of real towns who are so impressed by Main Street's design that they want to know how they can create a similar look in their own home towns.
Disney execs tell them that all the shops on Main Street were created with coordinating fonts, colors, architecture, etc., to a degree that would never be possible in a real town.
But since your situation is several shops under 1 roof, you have an interesting opportunity.
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