schmidgid | vansh

Schmidgid Typeface

Helmut Schmid’s style seem to be very structured, as seen from his use of columns and lines, sometimes diagonals, in his designs, but hardly the use of rounded elements. He once said that to him, typography is black and white, and that one quality of a good design is “silence”. Both inspired the elements for this typeface to be selected from the counter faces of the Japanese title (IDEA) of IDEA Magazine, as counter forms are the ‘silent’ aspects, and often, white parts of the design; negative areas which people do not notice, but are in fact very important and essential in the process of a good design.

This particular magazine (IDEA) was chosen as it reflected his structured style clearly, and also due to much of his involvement with the design scene in Japan. The typeface he chooses are often those with thick and constant strokes and with low contrast (as with Univers), hence the characters for this typeface are designed to conform to the sans serif style. Yet despite a very ordered style, his designs are simple and effective. Though the elements of this typeface look very ordered as well, they are designed with the resolve to bring about Helmut’s style of creating strong visuals with simple elements. The resultant typeface design Schmidgid is one that aims to represent his style of design; rigid yet dynamic.

2016