Instant Typography
by Cheong Tong Pei
Instant Typography by Cheong Tong Pei
Content Foreword
3
Nissin Cup Noodle
5
Campbell Soup Can
7
Delhaize Product Range
11
PRETZ by Gilico
13
San Remo Angel Hair Pasta
15
Fonte Vallechiara Mineral Water
17
Conclusion
18
Foreword
T
his book seeks to explore the typography used in ‘instant’ food items packaging. These short lived designed items are known as ephemeras. Through some examples of ‘instant’ food items, their typography will be analyzed to discover their purposes and meanings.
3
Nissin cup noodles displayed on supermarket racks
Nissin Cup Noodles
N
issin cup noodles
uses stylised slabserifs for the words ‘cup noodles’ and ‘cream of chicken’ to fight for attention amongst other brands of cup noodles. Slab serif came to existence during the industrial revolution where there was an increase in trade which led to a need for a typeface that ‘shouts’ at people for attention. The entire word of ‘cup noodle’ has been outlined in an exaggerated manner. The exterior of the strokes as well as
the counters and open counters of the characters are filled in. The slab serif for ‘Cream of Chicken’ has stencil and outline decoration. The reason for this could be to fit the time in which canned cream of chicken soup was created by the Campbell Soup Company. Although slab serifs were used, the overall look of the packaging did not look vintage because they are offset by the modern sans-serifs typefaces. These are used for some brief description of the product bottom left and the ingredients contained within. The sans-serif type here is like likely to be neo-grotesque as the terminal ‘e’ is horizontal. Sitting on the racks of supermarket, Nissin’s cup noodles stood out. 5
Canned soups displayed on supermarket racks
Campbell’s Condensed Soup
S
cript typeface is used for
the label ‘Campbell’ with shadow as decoration.The stroke of the characters flow with elegance and linkages to each other. “Campbell’ has larger point size to draw attention to the product.
S
imilarly, script is also used for ‘Cream of Mushroom’ but the characters do not flow as much and link to each other with tails. A unique feature of
this typeface is ‘f ’, it has been altered to have the same height as the uppercases while having a tail which stretches down to the descender height.
T
he sans-serif classification used for ‘condensed soup’ is Grotesque because Franklin Gothic is used here. A possible reason why script was not continued here was to communicate their company’s sense of commitment in producing canned soup.
T
he combination of the 3 typefaces creates a heartwarming homely image that the soup is home made and canned. This combination also reflect a sense of history since its establishment in 1869 which also explains the choice of typefaces used which are those available in that era.
7
10
Delhaize 365 Product Range Beer Cereal Cream biscuits
T
he typeface used here is a Neo-Grotesque sans-serif. It is identified by the horizontal terminal of the ‘e’ as well as the uniformity of the characters.
T
he 365 brand was launched by the Delhaize supermarket
chain to provide consumers with basic products at low prices. Hence the use of Neo-Grotesque would be apt because the Swiss typography style emphasized on universality and neutrality which aims to reach out to everyone.
11
8
12
PRETZ
by Gilico
T
he logotype ‘PRETZ’ uses italicized uppercase and bolded characters to define the product’s identity. The characters ‘P’ and ‘R’ have small counters which could be due to the bold characters. ‘Z’ is slightly different from the rest because of its curved corners of its spine. The arm of ‘T’. Based on the equal lengths of bars used in ‘E’, the type classification should be Neo-Grotesque / Geometric Sans sansserif type.
H
owever it is also this detail which softens the feel of the entire word together with its diagonal arrangements of words giving a sense of casualness. This fits the image in which the biscuits stick is trying to portray, to market itself as a casual light hearted delicious snack during informal events.
13
14
San Remo Angel Hair Pasta
A
bolded serif font is used for the brand name ‘SAN REMO’. The type of serif is Humanist suggested by the angled axis of ‘O’ and small counter of ‘A’. The calligraphic strokes and irregular outline further suggests the use of Humanist.
T
he reason why this brand uses Humanist although it is started in 1936 is to create this sense of prestige and history of making pasta back from the times of the Renaissance.
S
ubtext ‘Angel Hair’ uses Transitional type suggested by the high contrast.The typeface used here is Times New roman. I believe that this typeface was used for clarity to identify between other types of pasta.
15
16
Fonte Vallechiara Mineral Water
W
hat catches your eye first on this bottle is the word ‘Vallechiara’. It is a serif typeface with white outline and shadow as decorations. Although the overall feel of the logotype gives of a sense of Baroqueness, the stylised ‘V’ and ‘A’ together with the decorations indicate the origins came from a later period in time.
T
hese are indicated by right stroke of ‘V’ has been raised higher and the serif has been tilted at an angle. The bar of ‘A’ has been altered to look lik a tiny ‘v’.
B
esides decorated serifs, modern typeface is used in the packaging of this bottle for the phrase ‘Natural Mineral Water’, identified by its extreme contrasts between thick and thin lines and minimal brackets. It is quite strange use this typeface here because it is less readable compared to other typefaces. One possible reason was to target consumers who aim for more classiness as Modern typefaces has this emotion tagged to it.
17
Conclusion
T
he purpose of typography on ephemera serves a function to attract. Once the seduction is over and the contents within like mineral water or noodles is consumed. That piece of typographic work and design goes to the bin.
18
Instant Typography
W
hy do we choose certain products over another? Is it the taste? Or could it be the typographic elements that seduce us consumers?
I
nstant typography explores the typographic elements used to convince us to buy.