Identity font for Dutch government

[Theunis de Jong]

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

The Dutch government contracted type designer Peter Verheul to design one coherent font style for all of its hundreds of sub-branches. The results, appropriately (yet unoriginally) called "Rijksoverheid Serif" and "Rijksoverheid Sans" ("Govn't Serif, Sans"), will be presented tomorrow.

Some initial information can be found on the designer's website: http://www.studiodumbar.com/main.php

Now, was it money well spent? The font samples look good -- but I'll have to await the next tax form before deciding "I like it".

[NapoleJon]

Ha, he's my teacher. I remember him showing some sketches, but I can't find the samples on the dumbar website.

[Dunwich Type]

There are dream jobs, and then there is designing the identity of the Dutch government. Congrats to Studio Dumbar and Peter Verheul!

[WType]

Try www.farhill.nl -Peter Verheul's personal home page.

you'll see some samples there.

[typerror]

Went to his site...

"American't." What the hell is that all about?

Michael

[Quincunx]

I saw it on Peter's website yesterday. There was also an article in the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad about it. It had a large high res abc image of the typefaces with it. The article itself was also set in the typefaces (normally typeset in Lexicon and Lexicon Headline).

The serif is reminiscent of Versa (which isn't a bad thing) and looks pretty neat in my opinion. It stood up perfectly to the newsprint (although NRC is a pretty high quality printed paper). The sans however, feels a bit awkward to me. I can't decide if I like it or not. It doesn't have as much character to it as the serif. The general style of the typefamily doesn't really shine though, so to speak. It looks slightly 'common'. But it's possible that that is because it has similar metrics / dimensions to default system fonts (Arial or something) so that existing documents don't shift too much?

But I'm quite sure that it will look excellent when it is applied in some typographic work.

[SanderB]

I attended the introduction yesterday, Wim Crouwel had a wonderful speech about concise and consistent use and implementation with a typeface in a brand identity. Peter Verheul had a presentation of the design process of the typefaces Rijksoverheid Sans & Serif.

There is also a booklet published with the complete story, I have written about it at my weblog http://www.designworkplan.com/typography-fonts/rijksoverheid-sans-serif.htm

[Quincunx]

>> I attended the introduction yesterday

Lucky man :P I wanted to attend it as well, but I couldn't arrange to go to. Busy at work with looming deadlines.

Also, I've studied the Sans a bit better, since there are more images around at the moment, and I'm beginning to like it. It has much more character than I initially thought.

[Grrrben]

Enjoyed the meeting last night!

Do you have any scan of the article Jelmar? I unfortunately can't find it on NRC's website.

[Quincunx]

Gerben: I will scan it on monday.

I don't have it here, it's at G2K (ja, je ouwe stagebedrijf, als ik het goed heb begrepen. Ik loop daar nu stage) :)

[WType]

Luck guy! we don't live in Dutch and it's a long way to get there from this part of the world.

Is the book available for sale? Any idea how I can buy one? (I know SanderB offers a copy to the winner who comments in his blog, which I don't think I would be able to win even if I do comment...)

Any English translation in the book? Don't read Dutch...

[Grrrben]

I guess you could get a copy here or straight from the publisher. The book is mainly Dutch, though some bits and pieces are translated into a few other languages in order to show the character set in use.

[WType]

Thanks- I clicked on your links for some strange reasons they don't work...any idea why?

I suppose it doesn't matter if it's in Dutch... I also bought some Fontshop magazines entirely in Dutch, but still enjoy "reading" it though don't understand a word. :p

[dan_reynolds]

(Moderator's maessage)
The a href tages were not typed in properly. I went into his post, and fixed that. Now the links work.

[Quincunx]

Here is a link to the publisher with the book (on top).

Although it seems Peter Verheul has a different cover on his website?

[Grrrben]

Thanks Dan! I tried to edit the post but it seems like that isn't possible nowadays (or just today?).

Jelmar, the cover differs a little bit from what you see from the publisher's website, although what you see from Peter's website is a kind of dust jacket. A folded posterlike thingy wrapping the booklet its cover.

[hrant]

I apologize for snoring.

hhp

[fredo]

Thank you for sharing.

ƒ

[Theunis de Jong]

[OT] Fredo,

Nice to see a contemporary use of the old Dutch guilder sign! Evidently it's still there, even in brand new fonts (for example, in Aller).

[WType]

Thanks for fixing the links- it's working now.

[Quincunx]

>> Thanks Dan! I tried to edit the post but it seems like that isn’t possible nowadays (or just today?).

I think editing posts has changed a while back. I think there is a timer on it now. You can't edit posts anymore after a certain time has passed.

>> the cover differs a little bit from what you see from the publisher’s website, although what you see from Peter’s website is a kind of dust jacket.

Ah, ok that clears that up. :) Is the book any good? I'm thinking about ordering it.

[WType]

i think I like the dust jacket...

i like the font too.

The fact that a government is serious about their identity and appointed a designer to create a new font for them is just GREAT! (Sorry, I come from a country where the government doesn't give a damn about fonts and identity. To them, Arial could be as good as Helvetica...)

i wonder how many government would do that?- UK? France? US? Italy?... well it's one thing to work on a new ID for a government, but quite another to get a specialist to design a new set of font- probably just Dutch government would go to that extent?

A friend of mine who had a chance to work with Dumbar couple of years back - I remember him showing me an identity and logo he had worked on with Dumbar - if I am not wrong- it's this government's logo- the older one.

[WType]

To me, Dutch design (including font) always appear to be kind of "cold". They are always "undecorative" and "quiet", very "minimalist" (unlike the others countries, say, the US- The American are always very warm, energetic and passionate...)

Just look at Peter Bil'ak's. It has got the same kind of qualities too... (now, again, that's my personal view...)

I remember reading from the book "lifestyle" by Bruce Mau- Bruce talked about an experience he had with a Dutch client, introduced by his associate, Ram Koolhaa, the great architect. At the end of the day, Bruce thought the clients were not interested because they didn't seem to display much enthusiasm.

This is what Rem said:" Don't be fooled, the Dutch see enthusiasm as a sign of weakness."

I thought that reflected in their design too...

[Pieter van Rosmalen]

Dutch design doesn’t excisit.

Pieter

[Quincunx]

>> Dutch design doesn’t excisit.

What are people trying to describe if they refer to 'Dutch Design'?