NRK Super

development

Three years after the first typeface commission from NRK, the Norwegian public television station engaged TypeTogether once more to create a customised version of LFT Etica for their children’s channel, NRK Super. The internal design team at NRK, led by Hilde Jørgenvåg, compiled an initial brief that kick-started the concept stage of the project. Their requirements were a great example of clear and insightful client communication:

1. Design a font that is part of the LFT Etica font family but is unique to NRK Super.
2. Usage: It is important that the font works in headlines on web and for social media content, as well as print.
3. The font should have some characteristics that make it stand out from the LFT Etica font family, but also work as a moderate display font. The font should be easy to read, and it is important that it does not come across as childish. The target audience for NRK Super is 2–12 years.
4. The NRK Super type family will be based on LFT Etica’s three styles: Book, Semibold, and Bold.

Originally, NRK was also looking to implement a layering effect as a playful way to enhance content. However, this idea was abandoned after some initial trials.

Taking these points into account, it was decided that modifications should happen on two levels. 1. Globally in the whole typeface, because small and subtle changes can have a high and distinct impact, and 2. Glyph-specifically in some key letters with a high repetition rate in Norwegian. To achieve a warmer and friendlier feel without seeming childish, the counters were softened on one side and connections were made smoother. Also, ascenders were made taller to give the font a more airy and pleasant quality.

letter-specific modifications

According to character frequencies, the top six most common letters in Norwegian are “e n t r a i”, with “s g k” following closely. Modifying such key letters has a powerful overall impact on the general appearance of the font but does not disrupt family consistency with LFT Etica. The applied characteristics make the NRK Super font stand out enough to be recognisable as custom version for NRK Super.
• “a” offers two options and includes an outstroke tail
• “c, s” have more open and therefore friendly counters
• “e, f” have a cursive style that makes it softer
• “g” offers two options
• “k” has curved legs to make it playful
• “r, t” are wider

emojis and logotype

The NRK design team leading the new branding system for the channel also requested a revamp on the NRK Super wordmark, which was to be set in the tailored version and then fine-tuned in spacing, weight, and letter design to create a coherent image. See the old logotype on the left and new on the right.

The emoji based logo inspired the team to create a whole set of expressive emojis that would be combined with other graphical elements and layered on top of images. Additionally the emoji star eyes were included as an alternate stylistic set of punctuation, using stars instead of dots.