As part of the campaign, Edenspiekermann has developed a bevy of supporting collateral, including city bus wraps, building length banners, and lamp post livery. Fontfeed has provided an extensive write-up on the font and its development.
While I agree the design is striking and stands out, I do disagree with the following statement by FontFeed:
The result was a typographic language of reflected and overlapping characters where color is used to create interest but still preserves legibility.
I don’t think the typography is particularly legible in the the standard color scheme (the branding guide has several different color combinations, several of which are more easily decipherable). While it will attract attention and, I think the potential for some to lose its meaning, particularly the elderly and visitors from other who are not familiar with the language, is very real. Some of the letter forms take a lot of processing to make them stand out, particularly the R.
Overall, the amount of supporting collateral for the brand and Utrecht Theatre’s prominence in the community can overcome the barrier and help to establish this as a prominent brand. However, the issues of legibility by all audiences should be considered by organizations that are inspired to imitate this style and who do not have the budget to present as complete a roll-out to the community at large.
