Barbican Arts Centre identity
Following the direction set by the refurbished building (and perhaps inspired by 8vo’s work of a few years previous), the Barbican identity uses only Futura. But not just any Futura. The brand guidelines (thoughtfully designed in 2004–07 by North) specify Futura SH from Scangraphic, a cut designed specifically for large sizes. It is quite tightly spaced and omits most of the ink traps and other compensations made in the text-optimized cuts. Also note that the round shapes remain circular in all weights, unlike some versions of Futura.
The brand guideines book really is a fine piece of work. Anyone building a new typographic identity — or just a brand book — can glean much from it. Download a PDF of the typographic section.
P.S. The original Barbican identity from the 1970s was created by Lloyd Northover. That logo featured the same cropped circle, but the type was Walbaum.
1 Comment on “Barbican Arts Centre identity”
I really enjoy this identity and the application, but this post was especially nice for naming precisely which version of Futura was used. (The Quora link was great too.)
I know every post won’t have a link to concise brand guidelines, but it would be neat to know which version of a font is used (when possible). It is immensely helpful for people shopping for digitizations of old standbys, because you don’t always want an alternative.
Cheers!