Through my research so far on mediums that display mystery, the Tv show American Horror Story was one that had a typeface that completely conveys the atmosphere of the show. It conveys this through its special characters that could be associated with witchcraft, cult rituals and a dead language. This form of mystery is more traditional than it is modern with todays plethora of crime and science fiction shows.
The typeface is a variant of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh which was used upon a sign for the Willow Tea Room, one of three tea rooms in Glasgow designed by him. In an article by inquisitr.com, the typeface is able to communicate the mysterious atmosphere through the high cross bar on the capital A, which creates this almost hunched over visual, standing over you, ready to attack. Also, within the context of AHS, the letterforms represent the houses and asylums and the authority of those in power that is constantly over the characters.
The other key observations the article makes is about the imagery certain letterforms evoke. The arms of he E are chopped off and the upper terminal of the S is prematurely clipped, creating a disproportionate look that will probably set the reader at unease. The use of the diacritic under the O changes the sound of the letter. Also the tapered leg of the R resembles much of a knife edge and implies an eerie, 'watch your back' atmosphere. What ties these letterforms together is the claustrophobic kerning that doesn't allow you to breathe and definitely reflects the bedlam that occurs within the show.
Another typeface which reminded me of Mackintosh's type was the typeface used in the video game Diablo.
This typeface is called Exocet and it utilises the same idea of manipulating the characters to make unique ones in order to reflect the context of which it is used. The font is inspired by ancient incised Greek and Roman letter carvings, with geometric shapes used for the main construction. For example, its stylized Q is based on qoppa, an ancient form of Q. The O with a cross (
) is an early form of theta. It is an all-capital font, but with different capital glyphs for both lowercase and capital letters. However, the only letter that have visually distinct forms is T, with the lowercase t being a cross. Because of these qualities it evokes similar cult like imagery and thus suites the medieval environment displayed in the game Diablo. Therefore what I can take on board onto my experimental stage is the use of unique characters that evoke a sense of mystery. Characters that are purposely formed to create certain imagery for the audience based on the context of which it is placed on. Taking design cues within the typefaces above and applying them to one of Brockmann's typefaces.
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