The Circle of Erbar
Taking the typeface 'Erbar', designed by Jakob Erbar between 1914 and 1926, I have created an information design exhibition piece exploring the links between Erbar and his design ideologies and those of the art movements happening in that time.
Erbar is seen as the first geometric sans serif typeface but is widely forgotten, to the point where Futura tends to take on this role. Since there isn't a lot of information on the typeface or the designer, my aim was to make people more aware of this typeface by creating a little more context and placing it within its time.
The typeface is based on 'the fundamental element': The circle. Because of this, I have created two circular timelines, connected with thread. The outer timeline shows all that is known about Jakob Erbar and his typeface, visually stressing that there are a lot of gaps in the available information. The inner timeline shows all the art movements that happened in the 12 years it took to design Erbar. The coloured lines show the individual timelines and each movement has a small description of its aims and ideologies. Using red thread, different aspects of Erbar are connected to those of the art movements, creating lines of associations in a bid to investigate where Jakob Erbar would fit in his time.
The beginnings of lines are marked by words being encased by the thread.
Words that link to the line are simply underlined
To add clarity, I created a key, explaining the different timelines and the types of thread that are used in the piece.
By using thread, I was able to create a visual piece that people can interact with and really become familiar to. All they have to do is take a thread and follow it around the piece to explore how all these pieces fit together.
I used 2 different kinds of thread to distinguish between links to do with the typeface and those to do with other aspects of Erbar's life. This created some variation in the visual but also helps to understand the links that are made.
Headings are printed in the Plymouth University letterpress workshop, as this where I found the typeface Erbar. Body copy is set in Caslon to contrast with and complement the letterpress type.
A digital version of the design, showing all the links made with thread in the exhibition piece.
Second year uni work.
