| Title | THE UNIVERSAL TYPEFACE |
| Brand | BIC DEUTSCHLAND |
| Product/Service | BIC CRISTAL BALLPOINT PEN |
| Category |
B02. TYPOGRAPHY |
|
Entrant Company
|
DDB GERMANY DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY
|
|
Advertising Agency
|
DDB GERMANY DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY
|
Credits
| Eric Schoeffler |
DDB Group Gmbh |
Cco |
| Dennis May |
DDB Group Gmbh |
Managing Director Creative |
| Jan Propach |
DDB Group Gmbh |
Creative Director |
| Dominika Zajac/Christian Bueltmann/Fabian Jung |
DDB Group Gmbh |
Art Director |
| Tobias Hecking |
DDB Group Gmbh |
Copywriter |
| Sönke Bruns |
DDB Group Gmbh |
Account Manager |
| Jouke Vuurmans |
Media Monks BV |
Executive Creative Director director |
| Joris Pol |
Media Monks BV |
Executive Producer |
| Quinten Beek |
Media Monks BV |
Project Director |
| Nicolas Mollien |
Media Monks BV |
Creative/Art Director |
| Matthijs Klip |
Media Monks BV |
Data Creative |
| Willem Baas |
Media Monks BV |
Ux |
| Elbert Niezen/Jorge Garcia |
Media Monks BV |
Designer |
| Maxwell Reed |
Media Monks BV |
Animator |
| Hendrik/Jan De Harder/Nigel Manson |
Media Monks BV |
Front/End Developer |
| Richard Mulder |
Media Monks BV |
R/D Developer |
| Johan Holwerda |
Media Monks BV |
Canvas Specialist |
| Chase Sillevis |
Media Monks BV |
Back/End Developer |
| Matthew Elworthy |
Media Monks BV |
Copywriter |
Brief Explanation
Handwriting has a problem of relevance on the web. So we needed to find a way to show how the web might add to handwriting and at the same time give handwriting an additional dimension that’s meaningful to the web and could only be realized thanks to the web.
The Brief
After 100 Billion items produced the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen is the best selling pen ever – a commodity that couldn’t be more mundane but however or maybe therefore made it even into the famous MoMa. We were tasked with showing its aesthetic dimension
How the final design was conceived
Due to its form and sheer number of users the Bic Cristal ballpoint is the archetype of a pen – the universal pen.
That’s why we asked “If there’s a universal pen, what would a universal handwriting look like?”.
We proceeded to answer that question by conducting history’s biggest typography experiment: thousands of people on the web give design input by contributing their handwriting, which becomes part of the universal typeface thanks to a specially developed algorithm – the fascinating part being that we aren’t even sure if we’ll ever come to a conclusion, as the typeface still evolves and changes constantly.
Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market
With www.theuniversaltypeface.com we created the world’s first user generated cross-section of handwriting.
So far more than 1,7 million letters have been entered into the system by people from more than 140 countries.
Reputable press including time magazine, Washington Times, NBC, Huffington Post and Wired reported on the project.
Like today’s world the resulting typeface is dynamic and continuously changing in a very hands on, direct way – the universal typeface made possible by the universal pen.
Like today’s world it’s dynamic and continuously changing in a very hands on, direct way – the universal typeface made possible by the universal pen.