Studio Brief 01, Logotype - Sans Serif Re-brand

These are the shortlisted typefaces that take influences from the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. I was looking for typefaces that had thick rounded strokes similar to the posters and logo designs, and GT Walsheim and Futura fit those specifications. The first two typefaces are GT Walsheim and the last three are Futura.

With Futura, the high x-height makes the typeface look taller and thinner than I would like. It does not give the same robust aesthetic that GT Walsheim delivers. Furthermore the low cross bar on the capital A on GT Walsheim almost acts as an underline, thus giving the typeface an image of stability and reliability that even though Futura does too give, GT Walsheim's small design cues execute it better. The tail on Futura's lower case e's don't fully curve around unlike GT Walsheim, breaking up the overall round characteristics. To reference the issues discussed in the film Helvetica, the lower case e is supported by the negative space around it rather than it supporting itself like GT Walsheim's lower case e. There is a balance between its stroke and negative space thus supporting itself. The final criticism is of Futura's capital A. The apex is sharp and not flat like in GT Walshiem's letter form.  The capital A in American Apparel are an identifier in the company's name, and I want it to be unique enough for the customer to recognise it through that A. Thus the uniquely low cross bar and flat apex acts as those identifiers compared to Futura's typical letterform. 

With all these criticisms said however, I should still experiment these two typefaces on various context to see if either works more successfully than the other.

GT Walsheim

Futura

The reason why I chose to experiment only with the two differentiating strokes for Futura is because GT Walsheim and Futura have similar silhouettes, thus I chose the to fonts that were most far from each other in order to get a contrasting view.

GT Walsheim

Futura

GT Walsheim

Futura

GT Walsheim

Futura

So similarly to the Serif typeface experimentation, I applied the two typefaces to various contextual references. What is interesting is that the contrasting weights of American and Apparel on Futura do work well on the store front and website. The contrast breaks the monotony and captures the attention better. However it fails to be executed appropriately on their shopping bags. The type face comes across as messy as the forward slash goes below the base line, breaking up the clean lines. The amount of bold font on the bag also over shadows the thin stroked 'American', thus the contrasting appeal doesn't shine through. 

Thus GT Walsheim will be the sans-serif re-brand variation for American Apparel. It works across the range of American Apparel products, visually distinctive, has a unique A which acts as an identifier and makes references to the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics which is the inspiration for American Apparel's clothing aesthetic.