Proiecte
Internaționale
Type Atlas
Ondrej Jób
Type Atlas
instagram.com/typeatlas
SK+CZ
2014–ongoing
manual.setuptype.com
EN
Type Atlas is an online gallery documenting and archiving found typography and lettering from public spaces – focusing prominently on signage from Slovakia and the Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia) from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1990s, when the production gradually switched to digital.
The scope ranges from custom made signage on the old department stores, neons, and socialistic-era script logos, but is not limited to these “big” signs – the inconspicuous and obscure street typography also gets the attention – from hydrant labels, levelling badges, to danger plates on electric cabinets, from warning signs to house numbers and street name-plates.
Anything that was created manually or by analogue technologies is worth photographing, documenting and preserving – as the time progresses, these pieces get broken, stolen or destroyed and it is very hard, oftentimes even impossible to reconstruct them with current technologies in the original form, quality, and materials.
The project is run by Slovak type designer Ondrej Jób who, given his professional focus, branched out Type Atlas into an associated project titled Manual. It aims at digitization of some of the found typography in the form of functional digital typefaces, their modernization and re-introduction for modern-day usage.
As the original fonts only existed in a form of physical stencils or simply just as sets of memorized instructions in the original designers’ minds, the typefaces almost completely disappeared from active usage with the digitalization of the graphic design industry. The best example could be the typeface used on Slovak street signage plates – it has been gradually replaced with deformed Arial or other completely unrelated typefaces. The public space is thus losing its traditional and familiar visual element.
The result of the Manual project is a growing catalogue of modern digital typefaces meant to be used by all designers – from employees of enamel shops who now have a modern and quick way of producing the plates, to young digital designers who can give a new meaning to these revived typefaces.
Proiecte
Internaționale
Type Atlas
Ondrej Jób
Type Atlas is an online gallery documenting and archiving found typography and lettering from public spaces – focusing prominently on signage from Slovakia and the Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia) from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1990s, when the production gradually switched to digital.
The scope ranges from custom made signage on the old department stores, neons, and socialistic-era script logos, but is not limited to these “big” signs – the inconspicuous and obscure street typography also gets the attention – from hydrant labels, levelling badges, to danger plates on electric cabinets, from warning signs to house numbers and street name-plates.
Anything that was created manually or by analogue technologies is worth photographing, documenting and preserving – as the time progresses, these pieces get broken, stolen or destroyed and it is very hard, oftentimes even impossible to reconstruct them with current technologies in the original form, quality, and materials.
The project is run by Slovak type designer Ondrej Jób who, given his professional focus, branched out Type Atlas into an associated project titled Manual. It aims at digitization of some of the found typography in the form of functional digital typefaces, their modernization and re-introduction for modern-day usage.
As the original fonts only existed in a form of physical stencils or simply just as sets of memorized instructions in the original designers’ minds, the typefaces almost completely disappeared from active usage with the digitalization of the graphic design industry. The best example could be the typeface used on Slovak street signage plates – it has been gradually replaced with deformed Arial or other completely unrelated typefaces. The public space is thus losing its traditional and familiar visual element.
The result of the Manual project is a growing catalogue of modern digital typefaces meant to be used by all designers – from employees of enamel shops who now have a modern and quick way of producing the plates, to young digital designers who can give a new meaning to these revived typefaces.
Type Atlas
instagram.com/typeatlas
SK+CZ
2014–ongoing
manual.setuptype.com
