We kept this sense of balance in mind as we fine-tuned characters. That’s why we made the S slightly wider-to make Sony more coherent. Although these organic letters are easier to read in words, narrowing an S in a typeface resembling Helvetica to match the width in Frutiger would make it look a little weak next to other letters in Sony, for example. ![]() In fact, Frutiger already has type like this-with narrow letters that are inherently even narrower, and wide letters even wider. It’s very difficult to improve upon long-established design of impeccable quality in new work.įor example, we could make the typeface look more organic than Helvetica by making the letter S narrower and the letters W and M much wider. However, creating a hybrid was easier said than done, because people have seen both of these typefaces for decades. Once Hiroshige told me he sought something between these two, I realized we would be creating a typeface slightly more organic than Helvetica and more reminiscent of Sony products than Frutiger. I also thought of the Frutiger® design, appreciated as an easy-to-read typeface that might be described as gentler and more organic. In existing typefaces, the first thing this brought to mind was the Helvetica® typeface common in Sony packaging, which seemed fitting for products with a somewhat “hard” look. I hoped we could express this familiar image through the shape of type. Behind a very refined exterior free of needless elements lies impressive functionality. This was something I just sensed naturally, over the course of using Sony products myself. Kobayashi: To me, Sony has always had an understated yet powerful image. He’s well-versed in the traditions of Western typefaces and a leading designer of them in Japan, so he seemed uniquely qualified as type director. Not only does the foundry enjoy a long history in typography, their in-depth support ranges from typeface design to display optimization, and they’re experts in multilingual development.Īs for Akira, we had been using his typefaces and following his new releases with interest even before this project. Here, Monotype seemed like the perfect partner. ![]() This requirement naturally narrowed down our options in potential collaborators. ![]() And multilingual development was planned from the start, so besides a firm understanding of typographic history and ideals, we would need expertise in expanding the typeface for use around the world. We hoped it would endure for decades to come. We sought an original typeface, yet one built on solid typographic traditions. All project members shared my regard for authenticity. Fukuhara: My initial inspiration was to create an authentic typeface, something I was passionate about.
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