Johnston & Helvetica Typeface Comparison Booklet
The goal of this project was to look into the design and history of two fonts and compare and contrast them by incorporating an essay text into a booklet. Wanting to compare two typefaces that share a unique connection, I opted for Johnston and Helvetica, fonts that have been applied in transportation systems of two of the most populated cities in the world -- London and New York.
I styled the spreads of my book to imitate the structure of the London Underground and New York City Subway systems. Within the constraints of only using one color in various tints for the project, I created blue lines to reference the maps of the railway paths and guide the reader through the book.
Table of Contents page, using tints of blue to imitate the station signs in the New York City Subway
Informational pages on Edward Johnston, designer of the original Johnston typeface
Informational pages on Max Miedinger, designer of the Helvetica typeface
Johnston and Helvetica physical comparison
The type design comparison spread uses the London "mind the gap" and New York "watch your step" warnings as sample sentences.
Conclusion
Side-by-side front and back covers
Comments from professor:
"Great job with this assignment. You had a strong concept right from the beginning with the idea to compare the two transportation typefaces and you did an excellent job carrying your concept throughout the book itself. I also appreciate how you worked within the color constraint well, despite wanting to use the branded colors. The center justified type on the left side of the Table of Contents spread works well since we see it obviously as an introduction to your booklet and the type itself presented cleanly with plenty of white space. Great typesetting on the history pages as well. Very clever use of the “Mind the Gap” and “Watch your step” pages for your type anatomy too. All around, excellent work!"
