2nd August 2018

Type on film: Zetteler for Monotype

In a successful typeface, all the extensive historical research, creative process and hours of tweaks that occur behind the scenes are pretty much invisible – instead what you see is a collection of clear-to-read letters that exude personality or vibe, often imperceptibly. But then, how can you explain to clients and laymen alike all the zillions of hours of work that went to making a ‘g’ just so, or restoring long-lost sketches into usable digital type? A film, that’s what!

Here at Zetteler we’ve been creating films for Monotype since 2016, helping to tell the stories behind their vision and hard work. Zetteler’s film arm is spearheaded by our resident filmmaker Andy Dunn, who spent 12 years making music and art documentaries for the BBC before being absorbed into the fold. Andy’s sensitivity towards visual storytelling combined with the Zetteler gang’s knack for strategy means that each film we create really gets to the heart of what a client is about. Here a look at some of our work for Monotype…

Google Noto

This groundbreaking project saw Monotype team up with Google to create a digital typeface for every known language and script, alive and dead. From linguists, anthropologists and historians to Buddhist monks, the project involved the coming together of several lifetimes-worth of expertise. We flew over to Silicon Valley to quiz numerous individuals, from Google’s Bob Jung to Monotype creative type director Steve Matteson to discuss its extensive user testing, creating the first-ever typeface for Tibetan, and how language, typography and identity are intertwined.

Wolpe Collection

When Monotype released a suite of digital typefaces originally designed by late German calligrapher and type designer Berthold Wolpe, it called on us to make a film about the life and work of this unsung hero. Giving an insight into Berthold’s rebellious attitude towards geometry and precision, the film also goes deep with Monotype designer Toshi Omagari, who oversaw the entire project. Toshi told us that he often imagined talking to Wolpe when weighing up which of the numerous sketches to adhere to when updating Albertus Nova, Wolpe Fanfare, Wolpe Pegasus, Wolpe Tempest and Sachsenwald, and often decided to revert to the original sketches rather than later amendments. ‘I often made changes,’ he says in the film below. ‘That’s how the history needs to be preserved, you don’t freeze the history, you question it, you interpret it. That’s how you keep it relevant.’

Johnston100

‘It sets itself apart from everything else, all the chaos all around it,’ says Monotype’s Nadine Chahine about the typeface Johnston, which celebrated its centenary in 2016. ‘Only Johnston and the red and blue is calling to you. It really is the voice of London.’ For Johnston’s big birthday, Monotype commissioned us to tell the story of new typeface Johnston100, which brought back the original flavour of the Edward Johnston’s 1916 design while making it fit for purpose for the modern world. Nailing it was of utmost importance. As Jon Hunter, head of design at TFL, says in the film below, ‘We like to see our branding and signage almost as an invisible member of staff.’

Alan Kitching

We had the pleasure of nosing around letterpress master Alan Kitching’s Kennington studio, complete with racks of printers trays, metal letters and inks galore, to make the film below. It features Alan and editor John L Walters discussing the formers life and approach to coincide with the legendary type designer’s book and exhibition Alan Kitching: A Life in Letterpress.

Piqued your interest for the Zetteler way of telling stories? Watch more of our films here.