Development

Arts Commons is a nonprofit creative arts centre that entertains and transforms the Calgary community by hosting and presenting various performing arts events—including visual arts, stage plays, music, education, weddings, comedy, and film. Unlike other performance arts organizations, Arts Commons partners and collaborates with several resident creative arts companies that—along with fundraising from the community—help bring the arts to life. After conducting design research, I determined that Arts Common's existing sans serif typeface—while modern and professional—did not visually embody their willingness for collaboration and connection with the community. Before beginning my design, I conducted a sample analysis of existing typefaces, to provide inspiration, and as reference for my typeface attributes—modelling, shape, and decoration—which I refined through iterative sketching.

Final Concept

To help bring the arts to life for Arts Commons, I designed an uppercase display typeface called Ribbon Collab which incorporates a decoration that mimics a ribbon flowing—connecting Arts Commons openness for collaboration and artistic creativity to a modern, sans serif typeface embodying their value for practicing professionalism to provide a quality experience to visitors.