503 - Collab: Monotype - My Initial Research

I started my idea generation to broaden our concept-base - by trying to consider both current news and trends aswell as cultures and movements from the past:

- Build our own customised typeface to fully emerge in our chosen culture, develop a full series of type specimen posters and other collateral

- Nordic type / Vikings / Runes - a historical culture rather than current?

Nordic Narrow Pro Typeface - the initial idea came to designer René Verkaart one day while drinking a glass of "Apfelschlore”. On the bottle logo he saw an intriguing "a”, and he started to sketch on a new typeface. This single glyph served as his initial inspiration, but the end result was something quite different.

One of the trademarks of the typeface is the diagonal mid strokes. A reference to the Nordic runes, which he studied during the design process.
Even though Nordic Narrow has its base in a geometric grid, it still manages to keep an warm analogue touch.

- Recent 'Purging' in Brazil

More than 100 people have reportedly been killed during a six-day strike by police in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo.
The Army mobilised airborne troops and armoured vehicles on Thursday to reinforce an estimated 1,200 soldiers and federal police trying to contain the chaos in the coastal state north of Rio de Janeiro.

Thought about how this chaos could be combined with a traditional Brazilian style campaign - through illustrations and specific colour palettes.

Almost approach it as a parody of the film the Purge, but its actually happening. Warning propaganda but with a parody approach? Approach as advertising as the next Purge Movie, spice it up Brazilian Massacre style.

An almost retro-inspired feeling through the colour palette. Perfect illustration of items in Brazil - carnival, masks, dancers, flags, drums and maracas!

More of a fluid Illustration and type style, more limited colour palette using traditional colours of Brazil, partner with a deep red? symbolising blood and anarchy.

Combination of traditional colours and objects with a dark background.

























- Trump Protests
Sagmeister & Walsh’s anti-Trump pins and badges are brutal, they have not held back in their hatred for Trump – labelling him “a racist, misogynistic, homophobic man”.







Take inspiration from the witty protest signs and popular culture..

- Club Culture 
identity surrounding #savefabric, inspiration from classic rave posters and typography

- Leeds 2023
Leeds is bidding to become European Capital of Culture 2023, celebrating the exceptional, experimental and diverse cultural landscape of our city and its communities.
Our bid will officially launch on 23 February 2017.

Leeds City Council has commissioned a typeface and visual identity to support the city’s bid for the European Capital of Culture title in 2023.
The Leeds 2023 typeface and identity was created by Lee Goater in collaboration with type foundry Dalton Maag and Hungry Sandwich Club, a creative collective made up of graduates from Leeds College of Art.

The identity features a bold colour palette and an unusual typeface made out of simple shapes. “We wanted to create a solution that reflected how we felt about culture,” says Goater. “It needed to be playful, intriguing and somehow even challenging. We wanted to make something that makes you turn your head, pause to figure it out and understand it.”

Following on from my individual research, we met back up as a group to discuss the different focuses we had each looked into to see how we wanted to develop what was currently out on the table. 
The North Korea research and concepts were developing interestingly but we all agreed we had hit a bit of a creative tangent which intrigued us all massively and catered to us all very well. We felt this project direction was something relevant to us all (all of us having and wanting more tattoos) - making it more enjoyable discussing and researching into a culture we are all part of and feel is misunderstood in some aspects of society. Again, it is just an initial concept, so a lot of research and trouble-shooting will follow!...