Metro Letters A typeface for the Twin Cities

Metro Letters A typeface for the Twin Cities Deborah Littlejohn, editor Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Design Institute Dialog Book, 2003 ISBN 0-9729696-1-6 160 pages, illustrated, softbound, $29.95

Can a typeface become an integral part of a city's urban culture and identity? This is the question running throughout this book. Begun as a research experiment at the University of Minnesota's Design Institute, a short list of type designers were invited to participate in a competition to design a typeface for Minneapolis & St. Paul, the 'twins' in the title. The six competitors were: Peter Bilak, The Hague; Erik van Blokland and Just van Rossum, LettError, The Hague & Haarlem; Gilles Gavillet and David Rust, Optimo, Geneva & Lausanne; Sibylle Hagmann, Kontour, Houston; Conor Mangat, Inflection, Kentfield, California; and Eric Olson, Process Type Foundary, Minneapolis & St. Paul.

Competitions are a not well-explored form of investigation in communication design in general and this one is in the best tradition of architectural competitions. Of the six proposals, the winner was Erik van Blokland and Just van Rossum of LettError in the Netherlands. Their rendition of "Twin" was selected in part due to its mutable and adaptive possibilities that are expected to become a family of ten alphabets. The font arrived with its "Panchromatic Hybrid Style Alternator," a sophisticated randomizing software program. "...Twin proposes that identity need not mean identical - that we can share common 'family' characteristics, display an underlying relatedness, while nevertheless maintaining our individual uniqueness and distinctive attributes... " - just like our genetic heritage. These type designers are known for their 1990 face, Beowulf, that used the first randomizing program to morph letters based on use. Twin extends this idea.

Returning to the question raised at the opening of this brief commentary, it is important to note that Minneapolis & St. Paul are no longer Garrison Keiller's white bread America, but a mixed community of Hmong, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Somalis and European-Americans. Thus Twin, the typeface with its morphing possibilities seems appropriate for the cities.

In the best architectural tradition, the book seeks to expose the process through documentation and reflection. One recalls architectural competitions such as the one for the main branch of the Chicago Public Library, documented by WGBH as a program and video called "Design Wars." This kind of behind-the-scene understanding of design process is unusual and revealing. In Metro Letters, the six competitors are interviewed, their submissions are shown and the judges' comments and critique are presented. The competition process and the development process for the final selection are also presented.

The book itself is a model of documentation, handsomely designed and well structured.