In tandem with an identity overhaul by collaborators Made Thought, Colophon focused first on the letters that would comprise the new Colorplan wordmark, arriving early at a distinct set of forms that would inject the proper amount of simultaneous gravitas and lightness for the 50-color range: playful flicks on the dual ‘l’ characters, a mirroring of that behavior on the lowercase ‘a’, and generous apertures in the case of ‘o’ and ‘p’ letterforms.

In addition, the Colorplan product line dictated certain typographic behaviors: when numbers act as a stand-in for tactility in promotional material, the type must embrace those settings in kind. For instance, the innate delicacy of a well-milled text stock may be conveyed to the customer simply as ‘100gsm’ (Grams per Square Meter). This numeric necessity prompted the creation of special old-style (or non-lining) numerals, which not only increase legibility of this technical data, but also introduce classical elements to an otherwise contemporary setting.

Nodding to the canon of 20th century British realist types — in particular the sans serif works of Edward Johnston and Eric Gill — we ultimately crafted an understated, refined, light-weight face that would function elegantly across promotional materials and printed collateral, which the typography-centric brand creates regularly to showcase its offerings.

This one-weight approach encourages consistency across the Colorplan micro-brand while also acknowledging the inherently visual nature of the offering: in providing a focused palate with just one initial typographic variable, the type defers to the abundance of colours, textures, and weights that otherwise define the company’s product range.

Typeface: Colorplan Paperweight
Commissioner: Made Thought / G . F Smith
Year: 2013
1 Style: Light
Coverage: Latin-A Encoded
Classification: Sans Serif
URL: madethought.com / gfsmith.com