| Title | THE UNIVERSAL TYPEFACE |
| Brand | BIC DEUTSCHLAND |
| Product/Service | BIC CRISTAL BALLPOINT PEN |
| Category |
A01. USE OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY |
|
Entrant Company
|
DDB GERMANY DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY
|
|
Advertising Agency
|
DDB GERMANY DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY
|
|
Production Company
|
MEDIA MONKS BV PA Hilversum, THE NETHERLANDS
|
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
On www.theuniversaltypeface.com users enter their own handwriting, which then becomes part of the universal typeface – an ever-changing, evolving font that can be downloaded and used on desktop computers at various stages of development.
In essence it’s the first crowd sourced cross-section of human handwriting that came into existence thanks to touchscreens.
As many people from as many countries as possible should participate, so we made participating as easy and intuitive as possible: there is a mobile version of the website and a mobile-enabled desktop version, which lets users enter their handwriting right via their touchscreen.
So far more than 1,7 million letters have been entered into the system by people from more than 140 countries, most of them via mobile connect.
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. Now that mobile offers quick written communication to everyone, handwriting comes across as quite the anachronism .
We were tasked to change that believe.
The idea: If there’s a universal pen, there should be a universal handwriting, too. Time for an experiment that wouldn’t be possible without mobile.