In early 2010 I decided to revisit my design of ARS Maquette by rehashing all those 11 year old drawings and notes to help reevaluate the design and its principals. The main theme and trail of thought that initiated this design back then was universal communication which transcends the whims of fashion, culture and land. For example, I became fascinated by manual books for audio-visual equipments – particularly by the simple graphic language of symbols and signs that are still found on every audio-visual device today. These really are the most basic and familiar forms like circles, lines, triangles and squares, and yet a long triangle pointing to the right and two parallel vertical lines will be understood as “Play” and “Pause” respectively to everyone in the world! Such undeniably simple and basic shapes form perhaps the most universal visual language in its purest form. This became a major inspiration for me. I thought if I was to design a typeface that is that unpretentiously simple and universal in nature, it will most likely look very geometric like Futura, Gill or even Avant Garde, or perhaps more like old classics such as Akzidenz or Neuzeit or even Franklin Gothic. One thing I knew I wanted to achieve is an open and pleasantly readable typeface, and if possible to work well both in small sizes and for headlines.
