SALT
Prior to enrolling in Graphic Design at Edinburgh Napier, I was fascinated by Typeface. One of my past times at home was coming up with different ways to portray lettering. So when I found myself in the position to research Kralice by Project Projects, I was exhilirated.
SALT is a brand new, Istanbul based cultural institution that promotes research and creative, experimental thinking. The company merges a contemporary art space, an architecture and design gallery and a scholarly archive. Their mission prompted a meditation on the nature of institutional identity in a world of continuous cultural change.
Rather than designing a logo that would remain static, Project Projects built they’re very own typeface for SALT; anyone who asked for the institution’s logo would be sent the typeface and would be instructed to type something with it. The typeface, Kraliçe, was inspired by another typeface named Queen; by Timo Gaessner, Berlin-based typographer. Gaessner worked side by side with Project Projects to create a fresh typeface, this was formed by removing certain parts of each letter from the Queen typeface. For instance, the bottom half of the ‘T’ or the top half of the ‘L’.
Project Projects was founded in 2004, by Prem Krishnamurthy and Adam Michaels. In 2011, the studio created an identity for SALT, based on the idea of alteration and mortality, the typeface was created as an entity that would change with the passing of time; erode away as each letter had.
Project Projects arranged for certain letters of the font to be replaced by new typefaces, designed by special guest typographers. Each alteration to the typeface does nothing to change the name Kraliçe, however, with each change the name is followed by a newly qualifying word. At this time, there are three versions, the original being Kralice Open. A symbol that the typeface is open to change in the present and future. By designing SALT’S identity this way, it is not only an evolving graphic marker but a way of building community, with a new designer or design studio invited to participate every four months.
In order to control how the identity is applied, there is a manual that describes how to use the grids, how to typeset and how the system will change over time. Integral to this system, SALT’s website has also been designed to be flexible and to evolve. It is ordered according to page and tag, and organised without a strict hierarchy, while a modular system allows administrators a fluid layout.
By basing the SALT identity on a changing typeface as opposed to a static one, Project Projects have invented a way for graphic designers to engage with their clients while creating their graphic identity.
