The lighter weights also work convincingly in running text, where the open forms and excellent spacing of the underlying structure provide good legibility. The success of his approach is particularly evident when seen in packaging design applications, which display exactly the informal, even playful characteristics that make the Latin and Cyrillic work so well in that area. With Omnes Arabic, Titus Nemeth has done an admirable job translating that relationship of structure and surface into the Arabic script, creating a design that is unmistakably Omnes while also respecting the proportions, patterns, and rhythm of Arabic. But as I looked more closely at the Omnes letterforms - really looked beyond the surface - I realized that the softness sits on top of a very robust structural foundation. I was initially reluctant because, on the surface, a softly curvaceous display type seemed too removed from my usual work on text faces, and I wasn’t sure I would do a good job. If polygamy were legal, and if I weren’t betrothed already, I would marry them all in an instant.A few years ago, Darden Studio asked if I might be interested in designing a Cyrillic version of their Omnes typeface, a display type family that had proven particularly popular in packaging design. This is a perfectly rendered family that can evoke different feelings across its many members. Omnes Black Italic is not only kid-friendly but unbelievably kinky, especially when set in hot magenta. A few months later, the designer that sits next to me was in charge of designing an exhibit about fetishes for the Museum of Sex in New York. Kids loved the Black Italic with a playful, thick, outer stroke, while adults responded positively to Omnes Light set in all uppercase, dignified and elegant.
Last year we designed the identity for a non-profit organization devoted to fighting childhood obesity and we used Omnes for each kind of application and audience without missing a beat. If you can look at Omnes Black Italic and not feel joy, you have Yoohoo running through your veins and you should get that checked. I think, actually, it wasn’t until this past year - when Joshua Darden released the droolingly sweet expanded set containing a range of thins a luscious Black, plus italics for all! - that I went head over heels.
Regardless of time specificity, it has been on my mind for a couple of years and with almost every new project I start I turn on Omnes to see if there is a glimmer of hope that I will be able to use it. Maybe it was around that time when I was comparing its quirky boldness to that of my other love, Cooper Black. I can’t remember when I first fell in love with Omnes.
0 kommentar(er)
