Sichtbeton is one result of one class at ECAL MA TD mentored by Alice Savoie, where we were tasked to create a variable typeface with an “experimental” axis, in accordance with a museum or an exhibition; I drew the Kunstmuseum Graubünden in Chur. 

My idea was to create a sans-serif with the idea of a white-cube, a font stepping into the background, not being expressive one one end, and a contrasted Sans, with more flair, character on the other end; loosely referencing the two different Buildings making up the museum: a modern modern concrete cube on one side, and a neoclassical villa on the other. 

I looked at different “neutral” sans-serif typefaces from the previous century, including Berthold’s Akzidenz Grotesk Serie 57, Haas’ Helvetica, Frutiger’s Univers, Christian Mengelt’s Unica, and Apple’s San Francisco; to understand which shapes and design decisions make these typefaces so universally applicable.

Before the contrasted Sans became contrasted, I was initially looking at typefaces like ATF’s Copperplate Gothic, to contrast the two typefaces by different constructions which turned out to be much harder than anticipated, which then led me to work it into the contrasted version I settled on, for which I was loosely inspired by typefaces like Excoffon’s Antique Olive, or Gill Sans.