| Title | THE UNIVERSAL TYPEFACE |
| Brand | BIC DEUTSCHLAND |
| Product/Service | BIC CRISTAL BALLPOINT PEN |
| Category |
C02. MICROSITE |
|
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 |
| 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 |
Creative Execution
The project was entirely realised as a scalable web app that works on mobile as well as on desktop devices.
To avoid the unnatural input of letters by mouse computer users contribute by default via a mobile connect solution. All they needed to do was punch in a code, to synchronize their touchscreen device with their windows or OS X computer.
A facebook login made additional stays on the platform worthwhile and furthered the spread of the project.
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.
With over 100 Billion items produced by Bic, the Cristal ballpoint pen is the best selling pen ever. It can be called the world’s pen – the universal pen.
Yet this pen is so universal, such a commodity that it hardly gets the attention it deserves. We were tasked to change that, especially in the design-savvy community on the web, where the concept of writing by hand seems kind of counter-intuitive at first glance.
The idea: If there’s a universal pen, there should be a universal handwriting, too. Time for an experiment.
On www.theuniversaltypeface.com we firstly address design and especially typography-savvy users, who enter their own handwriting, which then becomes part of the universal typeface – an ever-changing, evolving font that can be downloaded at various stages of development, which then trickles down to a broader user base.
In essence it’s the first crowd sourced cross-section of human handwriting.