Overview

Duncan and I came up with the idea of basing the typographic treatment around punch-tape very early on in the process. Given his love of a history of computing and a penchant for working with all things microcomputer this seemed to be a comfortable way to get kicked off. Dot-matrix fonts have been done to death and they’re nowhere near retro right now, so I wanted to use a typeface with a real print legacy for this, something instantly recognisable but obscured by the format. Avant Garde was an obvious choice – its original ligatures making it the perfect choice.

After producing a matrix that would work with the face all that remained was to pick the dots and get the balance right; the ‘W’ and ‘N’ had to be shortened to stop them looking obtuse, likewise the ‘LA’ ligature had to be extended as it was crowded, and with the ‘L’ and the equally-sloped ‘Y’ already included it had to follow suit. The logotype demands a lot of negative space and is used with DIN rendered in all-caps.

I had previously sat down with one of my print reps to discuss matt and rough stocks and he’d recommended an Advocate stock. Coming in slightly shy of my preferred 400gsm weight for the card it would do the job and the end result is lovely. I wanted to show off this stock by blending two relatively close Pantone’s across it, which really brings out the texture. The cards are set to the right and the front (detail side) is set from the back. What you can’t see on the cards is a white square the same height, and in the same vertical position, as the logotype, set on the left edge of the card (right on the details side). This was my fault for remaking the yellows grad at the eleventh hour and forgetting to send it to the back of the artwork. The white square set off the logo a little and added more balance. Next print run…