VAG Rounded is a typeface that was developed by Sedley Place in 1979 as part of the corporate branding for Volkswagen. The “VAG” stands for “Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft” (which is German for “Volkswagen Incorporated”). Insiders at Volkswagen joked that V.A.G means Von Adolf Gegründet (“Founded by Adolf“). In 1989, the font was published for public use by Adobe. Its designers were David Bristow, Gerry Barney, Ian Hay, Kit Cooper, and Terence Griffin. Sedley Place was a branding and marketing company created by members of the VW marketing group and still exists today as a powerful force in the world of high-end marketing.
There was no easy way to combine the existing Audi/VW font identities with Audi using a full serif Times and VW using the 1927-designed Futura font. The art and creative director decided that a totally new typeface was required, thus the concept of a rounded-end typeface as a basis for their typographic branding was born. Originally rendered by hand, the VAG Rounded design was later perfected using a PDP-8 computer.The VAG Rounded typeface was subsequently used in all corporate and dealer publications of VW, Audi VAG Bank and VAG leasing until the late eighties, when VW began another round of re-branding. The VAG Rounded design remained in use by VW until as late as 1992.
VAG Rounded was designed to act as the corporate typeface for the German car manufacturer Volkswagen. To address the problem of worldwide users obtaining the font for work commissioned by the company, it was placed in the public domain.
The anatomy of the VAG Rounded typeface has the following features:
Geometric San Serif
Originated in UK
19th century grotesque
First typeface with all Rounded terminals
Closed aperture (of letter e)
Even stroke weight
No italics
Circular bold strokes
Short ascenders
Moderate descenders
Long extenders
Many type weight variation
Monoline bold stroke
Circular tittle of ‘i’. Slightly wider than the stroke
Large x-height with low contrast
Rounded apex
There are many fonts variants developed under VAG Rounded.
Mainly because of the lack of hard and sharp edges being replaced by rounded and gentle curves, VAG Rounded presents a clever balance between a friendly appearance and a corporate seriousness.
To date, Volkswagen no longer uses VAG Rounded, but instead uses a Futura derivative called ‘VW Utopia’. However, VAG rounded (or its derivatives) is/are still used in other contexts, such as the Skype logo, Jollibee logo, or Apple keyboard. There are also other alternatives to VAG Rounded such as Arial Rounded and Helvetica Rounded.
Presentation Structure
1. Skit segment about a Volkswagen car show
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A ratchet handmade Volkswagen car will enter the scene in the context of a car show set in Germany in 1979 after Volkswagen has acquired Audi. Staff from Volkswagen are struggling to promote and sell their new car model but they are unable to get anyone to buy their cars. The staff hold a board meeting with designers (fictionally from Sedley Place) to discuss their branding strategies to raise sales.
2. Audience participation segment
Audience members will get to put themselves in the shoes of the graphic designers. They will be presented with a chart of Futura for Volkswagen and Times for Audi and try to combine the both of them and come up with their own typeface (a few letters will be picked for them to save time) to solve the problem and help raise sales for Volkswagen.
3. Analysis of VAG Rounded typeface
It will then be revealed that the actual chosen typeface is VAG Rounded. We will then proceed to analyse the typeface anatomy of VAG Rounded in detail.
4. Mention of contemporary application of VAG Rounded
It will then be explained why VAG Rounded was chosen (how it’s a friendly, yet corporate typeface) and is still currently used for branding and advertising in current times to target certain target audience (namely children most of the time).
5. Kahoot segment + Prize presentation
We will then summarise the presentation with a Kahoot segment to consolidate the information about VAG Rounded. The highest scorer will get a prize of a Jolliibee drink cup with its typeface being analysed with markers. 😀
6. 5 min Q&A
We will then accept any inquiries from the audience.
The Actual Skit
Thank god for the existence of Google drive.
Our group discussed over Whatsapp and Google docs to get everything together.
We contextualised everything into the scene of a car show and a board meeting. Our audience participation segments consisted of getting the audience to design a letter of their own typeface by taking Futura (used by VW) and Times (used by Audi) into consideration. This helps them to put themselves into the shoes of Gerry Barney and his team at Sedley Place when they were tasked to design a new typeface for VW back in 1979.
VW: Futura
Audi: Times
Our lovely classmates’ responses!
A few letters from the VAG rounded typeface were also selected to make closer comparisons between the type anatomies of VAG rounded, and the original typefaces of VW and Audi (Futura and Times). Arial Rounded was also chosen for comparison since it was another rounded typeface that was similar to VAG rounded.
For our VW car prop, we picked up abandoned cardboard from Can 2 and transformed it over a night into a beautiful (and questionable) Volkswagen car. 😀
We dug the internet for examples of the original designs of advertising collateral from VW designed by Sedley Place back in 1980!
In addition to these old posters, we also emphasised how VAG Rounded is still currently used even in current times for brands/companies that are aiming for a convivial yet corporate vibe since VAG Rounded still has even stroke weight and very much follows the structure of basic shapes, unlike fonts like Arial Rounded (look at letter Q) or Comic Sans.
We also added in a Kahoot at the back to consolidate everyone’s knowledge about VAG Rounded!
Here are the Kahoot! questions:
Proof that we gave away an actual Jollibee voucher as promised! (Thanks Tiffany for going all the way to town to buy it!)
Group photo at the end of the presentation! 😀 Big thanks to everyone <3
xoxo
Personal reflections
Jasmine:
Through this project, I learnt a lot about the VAG Rounded font. Previously I was only aware of comic sans as a rounded font but after researching, I learnt the existence of different rounded fonts and how they vary as well. VAG Rounded also taught me how understanding the background of the typeface is crucial when applying it for different usage.
Vania:
This project taught me that there are more to consider when using typefaces—the context, the familiarity, the versatility, etc. It made me think that all typefaces have their own good and bad points—especially more with VAG Rounded, which I didn’t particularly like in the beginning. It made me want to break from just using the typefaces I like or I’m familiar with. Moreover, I also learnt that a group setting is beneficial for ideation and problem-solving, since not everyone will think the same way and that could be a good learning point for everyone.
Tiffany:
After researching about the development process of VAG Rounded typeface and how it portrays Volkswagen at that time, I feel that it is important to be aware of the trends and the characteristics of different type classifications and typefaces to better apply with the intended purpose of future projects. Preparation, time management and initiative in a team should be taken care for better presentations in the future.
Yue Ling:
This project taught me that sometimes using skits can really make presentations a lot more interesting (even though it’s harder on the presenters, but it’s worth it). Initially, there was not too much historical data to go on, but by contextualizing the presentation, more time is committed to making information more memorable through storytelling and audience engagement instead of rushing through a normal lecture-style presentation, and we even ended up slightly exceeding the 15 minute mark much to my surprise. I’ll definitely consider doing more crazy skits for my future presentations!
Seddon, T. (2015). The evolution of type: A graphic guide to 100 landmark typefaces. Richmond Hill: Firefly Books.
Dawson, P. (2013). The field guide to typography : typefaces in the urban landscape. London : Thames & Hudson, 2013. Retrieved from http://ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat05206a&AN=ntu.1267666&site=eds-live&scope=site
In this first project for Graphic Form, we have to translate the essence of a job (that can be imaginary) into visual, typographic forms of our names using any sort of media.
Since the jobs we chose were not specified to be pragmatic/realistic, I started off by brainstorming up some ideas for imaginary jobs that are grounded in the essence of real jobs that exist in reality. I came up with a list of existing jobs and modified them by merging them with each other. This would not only help me come up with much more interesting outcomes, but also give me a wider range of job fields and their nature to explore. Thereafter, I searched up the jobscopes and items that are iconic to these jobs to make them easily identifiable.
In this first project for Graphic Form, we have to translate the essence of a job (that can be imaginary) into visual, typographic forms of our names using any sort of media.
Since the jobs we chose were not specified to be pragmatic/realistic, I started off by brainstorming up some ideas for imaginary jobs that are grounded in the essence of real jobs that exist in reality. I came up with a list of existing jobs and modified them by merging them with each other. This would not only help me come up with much more interesting outcomes, but also give me a wider range of job fields and their nature to explore. Thereafter, I searched up the jobscopes and items that are iconic to these jobs to make them easily identifiable.
Initial Shortlisted jobs:
Baby DJ
Pool Colourist
Professional Liar
Alien Communicator
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Baby DJ
Original job inspirations: DJ, Infant care nurses
Jobscopes
DJ: to play music at events entertain, mix beats to hype the crowd up. Has to be well-versed in different sorts of music. Usually playing loud music at social events to give enhance the lively mood/atmosphere.
Infant care nurses: Caring, patient, organised, responsible, nurturing, taking care of delicate babies
Words like “lightness” and “ease” come up a lot in conversations about pastels. Sallie Harrison, the designer and photographer in L.A., says that pastels evoke a sense of “calmness and balance.” Stewart points to light blue and its connection with spirituality and heaven; (Leatrice) Eiseman at one point related soft colors to infancy, when there was a sense of ease and safety because all of our needs were taken care of. These feelings can be connected to the social and political factors at work, as Eiseman pointed out while listing her considerations for color of the year.
(Leatrice Eiseman is an American color specialist, who assists companies in their color choice in a range of areas, including packaging, logos, and interior design. She is the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, a division of Pantone, Inc.,[1] and the author of six books on color, one of which won an award from the Independent Publisher’s Association.)
However, this draft did not really display the elements of the job in the letters, rather, they put the letters into a context. When the letters are taken out of context, they do not effectively portray the essence of the job of a Baby DJ anymore.
Therefore, I embarked on a mission to try to integrate the essence of both a DJ and a infant care nurse together into my type.
It was really difficult trying to recreate the multiple button effect in Illustrator because the 3D extrusion function and art mapping was not exactly user friendly. It took a pretty long time trying to render every single 3D object as well. Thus, I tried only extruding the foam toy square, while leaving the neon letters on the square. In the draft below, I had mapped a wooden texture onto a star shape. I tried to map a foam texture onto the foam squares to recreate a more accurate foam effect as well but there were way too many surfaces, so I stuck with a gradient effect. The background has several layers of lighting effects as well to try to recreate that of a dance club.
After relooking and consultation, I felt that the bokeh, strobe light and cloud effects were too strongly suggestive of a DJ instead of babies and did not convey my intentions accurately since I wanted to be a DJ that could put babies to sleep. Not make babies get up and dance. And so, I embarked on quite a different mission to change the composition to a more child-friendly one.
Final
I wanted to use the colour schemes of artworks used for lo-fi hiphop videos on Youtube since they’re really pretty and also make me feel calm and relaxed looking at them. Usually, there are pastel, mellow, analogous and warm colours.
Original job inspirations: Pool maintainer, bath bomb makers
Jobscopes
Pool cleaner: Needs to be committed, works on a regular basis, cleans the pool by throwing chlorine in
Pool cleaning machine?
Bathbomb makers: Manufacture bathbombs by compacting colourful powdery compounds into spheres to be thrown into water and dissolved to colour the water in bathtubs
Objects
Pool cleaner: Water ripples, Pool tile patterns, pool cleaning machine, lifebuoy
Bath bomb makers: Bathbombs, rubberducks
Emphasis on the CHANGE of colour
Mediums for consideration:
Use marbling technique/ decalcomania] put something when pressing down to form letters
Investigator: Find out the truth about a situation by sieving through documents, going onsite to find clues for cases.
Compulsive liars: Can make up a tall story about anything at anytime. Might be useful in some situations to get away with something for the time being. Hiring someone that knows exactly what to say could be really useful. It’s definitely a dirty job.
Compulsive liar: words, speech, Pinnochio nose, Suprematist/De Stijl works to represent the truth
Ideas:
Medium: String, Paper, Newspaper
Final
4. Alien Communicator
Inspired by: Astronomers, Crop circle artists
Jobscope:
Astronomers: To study outerspace; investigate the presence of life-forms on other planets.
Crop circle artists: Create geoglyphs on large expanses of crop fields to trick the public into thinking that aliens are real. Also to practice an impressive new art style.
Objects:
Astronomers: Satellites, space suits, rockets, shiny metallic objects, outerspace themes, solar system
After brainstorming, I settled for doing a crop circle artwork myself!
But first, I had to do some research on the patterns of crop circles. And so I did.
Crop Circle Fun Facts!
Crop circle art is a relatively new art form. In crop circle art, crop is bent and not harmed in any way. Most crop circles have either laterally symmetrical or radially symmetrical art. They could also be completely unsymmetrical and representative. The possibilities are endless.
The most telling feature of crop circles are their stunning geometric shapes and patterns that make it hard for people to believe that they were really created by human beings on such a large scale, and so a lot of people would rather believe that aliens did it.
I borrowed a book on crop circles by Michael Glickman to study the common features of crop circles:
others like -orbits,snowflakes, triangles and squares
SOMEONE DID A TUTORIAL ON IT!!!
This tutorial was absolutely FANTASTIC. It was clear to follow and produced a really realistic effect. You can also use any stencil with a transparent background you have created, and following quite a long but comprehensible procedures of producing a screen, bevelling and embossing and tweaking lighting settings, you can create your own realistic digital crop circle artwork as well. By following this tutorial, I managed to play around with the blending effects a lot more, which I had always been quite unfamiliar and apprehensive about touching before this project.
Final
5) Local Pastry Chef
Inspired by: Chefs, Singaporean Hawkers
Jobscopes:
Chefs: Professional chefs that pay close attention to the process of cooking, as well as garnishing and presentation of food.
Singaporean hawkers: Specialise in catering to the Singaporean palate, making local cuisines like Chili Crab, Bak Kut Teh etc.
Objects:
Chefs: Chef hat, wok, spatula, frying pan, ingredients
Singaporean hawkers: Chili crab, bak kut teh, kueh, fried rice, hokkien mee, yong tau foo
Medium: Kueh, Photography
Kuehs used:
Y- Kueh lapis sagu (Jiu Ceng Gao in chinese)
U – Kueh salat
E – Ang Ku Kueh
L- Png Kueh
I – Ondeh ondeh and kueh talam
N – Pulut Inti
G – Kueh Lapis
Reflections:
This project was pretty challenging in the sense that we had to create letters that could easily communicate the essence of our jobs. Since I also decided to go with jobs that are inspired by at lease 2 traditional/existing jobs, it was tough trying to incorporate elements of both jobs to balance out the elements equally. However, through a rigorous process of refining my designs, I would like to think that I have managed to do so. ;;; XD
With this project I also wanted to explore the use of other mediums, which I think I managed to do successfully! Although it was not a smooth process throughout, with many failures and disappointments, I always recall the saying that artists should “Fail faster” so that we learn from mistakes faster and can get on with improving our projects. After failing with the intended mediums, I tried to find alternate options that could express my intentions on the same level, if not, surprisingly better.
Through this project, I was also able to get more comfortable with Photoshop blending modes that I have never ventured to touch before. Fiddling around with the settings for making the neon glow and crop circle really taught me the massive capacity Photoshop has for creating realistic illusions.
All in all, I really enjoyed this project and had fun trying out different mediums instead of just ink/paint. Looking forward to the next Zine project!