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it to the limit.","No jokes.","Manuel Krebs","Ludovic Varone","Être modeste.","Le graphisme est un métier parmi tant d’autres.","Image et texte ne s’aiment pas et ne s’aimeront jamais.","Éviter de travailler le week-end et la nuit. Travailler la nuit = mauvaise planification.","Un concept clair s'explique clairement.","Le travail est fini quand on aime ce qu'on a fait.","Travailler longtemps ne mène pas forcément à un meilleur résultat.","Il faut savoir ce que l'on fait.","Ne jamais faire deux propositions.","Il n'y a jamais une seule solution à un problème.","Faire une chose à la fois.","Avoir lu au moins une fois “How To Work Better” de Peter Fischli & David Weiss.","Avoir des principes.","Eviter de pleurer face aux situations difficiles.","Ne pas trop attendre de la créativité.","Il faut croire à ses principes.","Si tu aimes ce que tu fais, les autres l'aimeront aussi.","La beauté naît de la rigueur.","Chaque projet a sa propre logique.","Une hiérarchie suffit.","Réduire le nombre de réponses aux questions.","Ne pas avoir de recettes.","Ne jamais se référer à soi-même.","Ranger les projets déjà traités.","Ne pas faire la cuisine au bureau."," Le bureau n'est pas un living room, ni une chambre à coucher.","Il faut rentrer quand on est fatigué.","Aller droit au but.","Le hasard peut faire mal les choses.","Écouter les autres.","Il n'y a pas UNE bonne solution mais PLUSIEURS bonnes solutions.","Il faut choisir.","Connaître le problème peut éviter les mauvaises surprises.","Trouver le problème.","Comprendre le problème.","Éviter les difficultés n'est pas une solution.","connaître son métier.","Un spécialiste fait peu de choses mais les fait bien.","Qualité et quantité.","Exiger un paiement correct.","Se méfier des modes.","Bien choisir ses projets.","Ne jamais dire oui si l’on voudrait dire non. Et vice versa","Se questionner de temps en temps.","Questionner l'autre.","c'est OK de faire des erreurs. Mais pas deux fois la même.","Une structure à deux personnes est plus forte qu'une structure à une personne.","Les structures de trois à beaucoup de personnes sont floues.","Il y a beaucoup d'avis sur les couleurs.","Toujours recadrer les images d'artistes.","Se méfier des photographes.","La confiance est d'argent, le contrôle est d'or.","La couleur de la lettre est le noir.","Se méfier des graisses avec peu de chair à l'os.","Ne pas croire en son intuition.","Utiliser peu de mots.","Ne pas se prendre trop au sérieux.","Faire les choses sérieusement.","Celui qui paie a le droit de s'exprimer.","Qui s’excuse s’accuse.","David Carson est un menteur.","Le directeur artistique est superflu et surpayé.","Avoir l'esprit clair.","Le net est supérieur au flou.","Utiliser peu de logiciels et les maîtriser.","Le vecteur est supérieur au pixel.","Accepter le fait qu'il y ait de bons et de mauvais graphistes.","La restriction libère.","L'art est inférieur aux sciences.","Aimer son métier, sinon il faut arrêter.","Toujours profiter des nouvelles technologies.","Un format laid donne un livre laid (Jan Tschichold).","L'impression digitale n'est pas encore au point.","Voir pour le croire.","Ne jamais dépasser le budget.","Ne pas faire traîner les choses.","Tricher ne mène à rien.","Savoir prendre des vacances.","Être honnête.","Ne pas surestimer son projet.","72dpi ne sont pas suffisants.","Maltraiter son imprimeur avec respect.","Éviter le téléphone et l'e-mail.","Savoir faire la différence entre les bons et les mauvais commentaires.","Travailler ou manger (sens propre).","La densité est fascinante.","Savoir s'arrêter.","L'angle droit est supérieur à tout autre angle.","Le choix du caractère est primordial.","Le vide provoque, il faut le savoir.","Connaître ses limites et les accepter.","Savoir déléguer du travail à d'autres spécialistes.","La couleur n'est pas aussi importante que l'on croît.","Le vide est moche.","La qualité d'un projet dépend toujours de sa conséquence.","C'est malheureusement le résultat qui compte.","Il y a des différences de goûts.","Il y a toujours une prochaine génération.","Éviter le pire.","Faire les choses avec plaisir.","Savoir travailler beaucoup.","Toujours faire mieux.","C'est souvent une question de goût.","C'est toujours une question de temps.","Il faut être imprévisible.","Y penser deux fois.","Ne pas craindre les mauvaises réactions.","Savoir différencier le bon du mauvais goût.","Tout peut être considéré.","“Less” n'est pas toujours “more”.","Ne jamais faire d'exceptions.","Savoir recommencer un projet sans issue.","Les surprises sont toujours les bienvenues.","Ne jamais se répéter.","Éviter les fautes d'orthographe.","Un festival de format n'est jamais adéquat.","Ne jamais perdre le contrôle.","Ne jamais se laisser aller.","Strictement interdit aux chiens.","Le graphisme n'est pas un jeu.","Pierre qui roule n'amasse pas mousse.","Le plus grand contraste s'obtient entre le blanc et le noir.","Rien n'est jamais vraiment fini.","Pour expliquer quelque chose de visuel, il faut le visualiser.","Chi va piano, va sano e va lantano.","Les solutions rationnelles sont indéniables.","Le caractère DIN est toujours un très mauvais choix.","Simplifier est plus difficile que compliquer.","Réduire les moyens.","Extrême.","Ne jamais se contenter trop vite.","La beauté est la conséquence du juste.","Adopter les méthodes cartésiennes.","Quand un problème ne peut pas être résolu, ce n'est pas un problème.","Les détails font la différence.","Ne pas chinoiser.","Aucune liste n'est complète.",[12194,12195,12196,12197,12056,12198,12199,12059,12060,12061,12062,12063,12064,12065,12066,12067,12068,12069,12070,12071,12072,12073,12074,12075,12076,12077,12078,12079,12080,12200,12082,12083,12084,12085,12086,12087,12088,12089,12090,12091,12092,12093,12094,12095,12096,12097,12201,12099,12100,12202,12102,12103,12104,12105,12106,12107,12108,12109,12110,12111,12053,12112,12113,12114,12203,12116,12117,12118,12052,12119,12120,12121,12122,12123,12124,12125,12126,12127,12052,12204,12129,12130,12131,12132,12133,12134,12135,12136,12137,12138,12139,12140,12141,12142,12143,12144,12145,12146,12052,12147,12148,12149,12150,12151,12152,12153,12154,12155,12156,12157,12205,12206,12052,12160,12161,12162,12163,12164,12165,12166,12167,12168,12154,12169,12170,12171,12172,12173,12174,12175,12176,12177,12178,12179,12180,12181,12182,12183,12184,12185,12186,12187,12188,12189,12190,12191,12192],"Bien peigné et chaussures propres.","Enlever systématiquement tout ce qu'il y a aux murs.","Ne jamais écouter la musique avant 18 heures et surtout pas la radio.","Laisser parler le client d'abord.","Le graphisme est un métier parmi tant d'autres.","Image et texte ne s'aiment pas et ne s'aimeront jamais.","Le bureau n'est pas un living room, ni une chambre à coucher.","Ne jamais dire oui si l'on voudrait dire non. Et vice versa.","C’est OK de faire des erreurs. Mais pas deux fois la même.","Qui s'excuse s'accuse.","L’impression digitale n'est pas encore au point.","C’est souvent une question de goût.","C’est toujours une question de temps.",[12208,12154,12149,12052,12209],"Qualité et quantité.","Questionner l’autre.",[12211,12212],"Manuel – Work on Replica took several years, which was longer than we expected, since we actually intended to be finished in 2007. Previously, we had worked on other typefaces, that can be considered precursors, especially Standard, but we didn’t really make head way. Do you remember the beginnings and the problems we faced? \nDimitri – The first idea emerged after we finished Normetica, that was closely connected to the era in which it was created, the late 1990s. So we wanted our next typeface to be neutral, whatever that means, as timeless as possible. Standard was such an attempt, taking up the linear roman typefaces of the 1950s and 1960s. Perhaps we were expecting too much. In any case we were\nnot satisfied with the first attempts. M – When I look at the designs today, I find Stan dard’s weaknesses strik ing. The drawing was really not good. And we actually never used the typeface. D – Yes we did, we used it for very small things, such as the sign on the door to our office and a few flyers. But you’re right: Standard was not very successful, apart from its name. The ambition and intention expressed by the name were good. I think the problem was that we tried to make something that “looks like” something else. It was a typeface based on clear models, but meanwhile it lacked a concept, a methodological approach. When you try to copy something, there are many ways to do it. M – Another problem, in my view, was that it wasn’t clear to us how much time we should invest. Normetica and also Simple, the successor to Normetica, were developed quickly. They were constructed typefaces. Standard, by contrast, was already moving in a less graphic direction, and at the time we had had little experience with drawing. D – I see the problem as not so much the details of the drawing but as the lack of a concept. That was the big difference from Replica. In the latter case, there was an idea, a method, from the outset. After our failure with Standard, we had dropped the project of a more neutral typeface for a while, and when we took it up again in 2004–5, we soon noticed that we had to start with formal, almost mathematical decisions, which would then affect the drawing and the form. We did not know exactly what the effects would look like, but we began by defining formal principles. The most important of these definitions was to enlarge the grid that the FontLab software provides for designing fonts. We multiplied this grid ten times, so that we were working not with a 700 grid, as the software intends, but just a 70 grid. Consequently we had many fewer possi bilities to place nodes and Bézier control points, which extremely limited the freedom of drawing. On a plane that would normally have a 121 dots (11²) available, we only had 4 from which to choose. M – That was a somewhat anachronistic decision, since the trend today is in the opposite direction. You mentioned once that some typography blog called for the grid in FontLab to be made much smaller, Somebody called for a 7,000 grid in order to be able to draw more accurately. But it seems to me that, in addition to your deliberately anachro nistic attitude, there was also a pragmatic reason for your decision: you wanted to be able to see in the program’s preview mode what the drawing would look like, and because the preview used a larger grid than was available when drawing, you took this one as the standard.\n\nD – Right. That was, admittedly, an important reason. It provoked me that the preview mode of the software can only render a tenth of the actual grid, and I said to myself: “What you see is what you get.” So I only drew the letters as sharply as I could see them. But the discussion you mention in the typography blog also provoked us. We said to ourselves, if you demand a grid which would have ten times as many dots as are currently available, now we’ll show you that we can even work with ten times less. Naturally the possibilities are very limited, if you arrange all nodes and Bézier control points on such a coarse grid. But by doing so we found what we had been looking for: a predefined concept that had an inevitable effect on the drawing.\nM – A second, formal definition we made early on for Replica concerned the so-called bevel. All of the characters are cut off in the corners, so that there are no right angles at all. This results in a kind of rounding effect, and when the type is small, it looks slightly damaged, as if it hadn’t been drawn clearly. We had rounded off the corners before, for Normetica and Simple. But in my view the difference is that it wasn’t necessary then, whereas with Replica it was about making the grid visible. D – Yes, I see it that way as well. The bevels of Replica serve to make the grid visible, since the cutoff corners are exactly the same width as a unit in our new, larger grid. This function of making the grid visible is especially important for letters where the grid would not otherwise be seen, like the uppercase I, for example. Nevertheless, it is striking that we have had rounded corners on all our typefaces so far, and the rea- son is perhaps that it is a way to make a typeface more specific. M – It makes the typeface more identifiable. But in a sense it is also a tricky decision, perhaps not so much with the outer bevels but with the inner ones. If you compare it with Unica, say, then you see that there the inner corners have so-called ink traps: incisions inward. Because the exposure in photocomposition, for which Unica was designed, often makes the corners blurry, there is a risk that too much ink will collect in the corners when printing, and ink traps are supposed to prevent this. For Replica, we not only dispensed with these ink traps but also filled out the inner corners even more by giving them bevels. D – Seen in that way, the inner bevels are perhaps a reaction to to day’s technical tools. In the case of Unica, the blurriness that results in photocomposition required that the letters be modified so that they would have their proper form when printed. Today such precautions are no longer necessary, since digital rendering on a computer screen corresponds almost 100% with the printed result. Another argument, of course, is that we deliberately made Replica a little dirty. We consciously placed too much color in the inner corners to make the triumph of technology visible. M – The third formal decision from which we set out with Replica was cut diagonals. All of the diagonals are cut vertically in the corners so that there are no pointed ends — on the A, K, or R, for example. We did that to save space so that the letters could be set very closely. Like the bevel, that is a very striking intervention, and it is one of the main identifying features of this typeface. D – Yes, the cut diagonals are extremely evident. That was one of the reasons for the crisis we had last year when working on Replica. We asked ourselves what the effect of the striking bevels and the cut diagonals would be over the long term. Would we have enough of it at some point? I am sure that the diagonal cuts, because they are so extremely evident, will be crucial to how Replica is perceived. M – I have no ambitions for Repli ca to be the typeface of the next twenty years. It is of the present, and it is important that it has that character. In general, I find our former ambition to want to design a neutral, timeless typeface was misguided. I believe that it is not possible to develop a neutral typeface at all. If a typeface like, say, Helvetica seems neutral to us today, it is because its qualities no longer strike us, no longer surprise us. A typeface can thus lose its qualities over time, but it is impossible to design it without qualities. D – In that sense, the special thing about Replica is that it has two faces. From a distance — that is, when used in small sizes — you hardly see the bevels and cut diagonals at all.","You perceive them unconsciously, perhaps, but it looks very fluid and normal. As soon as the type is large, however, its unmistakable qualities stand out strongly. I see it as a big positive that Replica has these two sides. M – At the moment, we are using Replica exclusively. What do you think about that? D – We actually developed Replica for the third Norm book. But we are late with that, unfortunately, so that the typeface is now being released first. It was different with Normetica and Simple, which we had made for the first two Norm books, and also presented for the first time in those books. By contrast, we began using Replica two years ago, not only for our own works but for commissioned works as well. On the one hand, it is a question of impatience: when you design a typeface, you want to see it in use, for as long as it is not being used, it does not really exist. On the other hand, it was ideal that we began to introduce it slowly, first in smaller works like the little Bruce Lee book, which needed only a few words, then on our stationery, which was another small application, and finally for larger things as well. That was a very important process. It was ideal to be able to return to the drawing after those first uses, and we modified many aspects in the process. Now we have reached the point where the typeface is finished, and if at the moment we are using it exclusively, I think that’s the best thing we can do. M – Another new aspect of Replica is that we considered selling it very early on. We had created Normetica and Simple primarily for us, first for the Norm books and then for other uses, and only very recently have we begun to sell them. Replica, by contrast, was planned from the outset to be sold as a proper font family. How did that influence work on it? D – I suspect Replica would not look very different if we had developed it only for our needs. By contrast, we would hardly have been likely to create so many characters and the various cuts. We intended to make a Pro version available in keeping with the market standard. Replica now disposes of many OpenType features and numerous stylistic sets. M – The various cuts are another topic that always raises questions. What exactly can be considered a font family? How many cuts do you need? There are typefaces like Thesis or even Univers that have enormous families. For Replica, we now have three cuts: Light, Regular, Bold, all of them available in italic as well, and also a Regular Mono- space version, since Monospace is the field we know best, where we originated. Do you foresee developing other cuts, for example, if you consider that the stem of our Regular cut is relatively wide — 10% wider than Helvetica? D – In my view, a giant font family makes no sense. That would be another case of too much choice. In fact, you can really do everything with just one type cut, even complex uses are possible. The num- ber of cuts we have now created for Replica is, in my view, just within the limits of what makes sense. I cannot imagine making an extended version with additional intermediate steps. M – When choosing a typeface, it always becomes clear just how much you are at the mercy of the typeface, because every typeface already entails a kind of program for its use, for the design. That is why it is very unpleasant when uncertainty reigns about the typeface for a particular project, and you begin to try out countless typefaces. And when there are lots of typefaces, it only gets worse ... Nevertheless, we have now created two additional special cuts for Replica: a Heavy and a Laser, and now we are working on a third special cut: Serif. D – These three additional cuts are outsiders: they do not really belong to the family. At most, perhaps, the Heavy cut still does, since it is always nice to have a very bold typeface. But in the process the typeface loses a lot of its char- acter. A typeface used in bold looks first and foremost bold, and only secondarily you’ll recognize the specific typeface. A lot of the typeface’s essence, its inner structure, is lost. M – The Laser cut is even more problematic. It has such slender strokes that it can hardly be used at all. For example, even at fifty points, the stroke is only 0.1 point wide. Moreover, the width of the strokes is much smaller than the coarse grid on which we designed the typeface. That presents new problems, especially with the diagonals, where it is very difficult to achieve a regular thickness. We had to make new corrections, which altered the form of the drawing, and that is why I believe with the Laser cut we have created a new point of departure for developing a typeface. We could start out from here to define the inner structure of a new typeface. D – I don’t agree entirely with that. In my view, the Laser cut is related to the rest of the family insofar it has the same handicap as the other cuts: namely, very limited possibilities to place the dots on the grid. Actually this problem is even more pronounced with the Laser cut because it is so thin. But to me it makes little sense to derive a new inner structure for a typeface from it, because there are only three diagonals that are regular in width, and that would be too great a limitation on the drawing. M – We had a similar problem with the italic cuts as well. They would only fit on the grid at a 45° angle. How do you deal with that? D – That is a touchy point, but we have to mention it, even if we would rather not: it is simply impossible to fit them on the grid with an angle other than 45°, and so the italic cuts do not lie on the grid. That is not nice, of course. But these cuts are just supplements; they are very rarely used, usually just for single words; and they serve to make the text intelligible. M – The third special cut that we offer for Replica is a roman type with emphatic serifs. The criteria and principles of construction are the same: grid, height of the letters, bevels, and so on, but with serifs. How did you justify that decision? D – That’s a very difficult question. For about three years now, we have been rejecting all the roman typefaces with emphatic serifs, and so it is something of a paradox, of course, to develop such a typeface ourselves. And we have to say it clearly: this field does not belong to us at all. I suspect we only made this cut to show that some thing like that can be done even with a grid as coarse as this. M – In conclusion, we should talk about the name, for it plays a big role in the perception of the typeface. Somebody once said that Helvetica would not have been so successful if it had been called Germania. I think we should not mention the other names we discussed, since that would be revealing too much. But what does Replica mean? D – The name has two important aspects. First, there is the aspect of copying, almost counterfeit ing. That is not meant negative, more like a remake. It is interesting that the typeface looks familiar when seen from a distance, and from up close you see what is new about it. The second aspect is the replique, the response to something — almost an attack, or at least a sharp response. M – That is a crucial point for me. Replica is a sharp response to Helvetica, Univers, and Unica. And therein lies, perhaps, the third important aspect of the name: that it ends with -ica.",{"credits":12214,"designers":12217,"description":12219},{"text":12215,"title":12216},"\u003Cp>Designed by NORM (Dimitri Bruni, Manuel Krebs), released by Lineto in 2008. Font engineering and mastering by Alphabet, Berlin.\u003C/p>","Credits",{"text":12218,"title":11844},"\u003Cp>Dimitri Bruni (*1970) and Manuel Krebs (*1970) founded the Zurich-based studio NORM in 1999, and Ludovic Varone (*1977) joined in 2005.\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>NORM’s programmatic approach – suggested by their name – has informed their commissioned work for the cultural field, their self-initiated publications and their typefaces, which they use extensively in almost everything they produce. Their monospace LL Simple (2000) was introduced in \u003Cem>NORM: Introduction\u003C/em> (1999) and \u003Cem>NORM: The Things\u003C/em> (2002), before they turned to the purposefully low-res sans serif LL Replica, eventually released in 2008. The equally systematic sans LL Riforma (2018) has been in use since 2012.\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>NORM have designed books for dozens of artists and institutions, while also maintaining long-standing working relationships with Peter Fischli, Florian Hecker, Simon Starling and Shirana Shahbazi. Since 2019, they have been in charge of the identity at Triennale Milano. \u003Cem>NORM: Dimension of Two\u003C/em> was published in 2020, and LL Riforma Mono in early 2024.\u003C/p>",{"text":12220,"title":12221},"\u003Cp>LL Replica was designed on a strict grid, consisting of just 70 units – in place of the 700 units for standard caps height in Fontlab. The arbitrary simplification, a self-induced restriction, strongly influences the shape of each individual glyph. The result is a typeface that has all the features of a classic sans-serif font of Middle-European descent, but with slightly altered DNA.\u003C/p>\u003Cp>LL Replica Mono is released in a regular weight, and is available independently from the eight cuts of LL Replica.\u003C/p>","LL Replica Mono",{"366":12213},{"37":11998},{"40":12050},{"allowRouteUpdates":10,"customRouteHash":41,"consideredRouteHash":41},{"octoSubMenu":41,"isOctoOpen":7,"isOctoHidden":7,"isOctoBlurred":7,"isOctoScrolling":7,"isOctoMenuHidden":7,"isOctoBarOpen":7,"isOctoBarHidden":10,"isOctoBuddyOpen":10,"isOctoPadOpen":7,"isOctoGuiHidden":7,"hasOctoTabs":7,"hasOctoSounds":10,"menuLinks":41,"preventClose":7,"menuDirection":12227,"menuBackRouteName":41,"itemSpacing":41,"fontRatio":41,"animationCounter":41,"hasVisibleItems":7,"visibleSubMenuLines":97,"maxSubMenuLines":97,"scrollableLines":97,"scrollableOffset":97,"currentSubMenuComponent":41,"nextSubMenuComponent":41,"currentBuddyComponent":41,"nextBuddyComponent":41,"octoTabsComponent":41,"octoPadComponent":41,"currentBuddyItems":41,"octoBarGroup":41,"octoBarGroupCount":97,"activeSection":41,"activeSectionLock":97,"searchTerm":41,"searchResults":12228,"isSearchActive":7},"vertical",[]]