Although being the second Portuguese city by dimension and economic development, Porto conserves
in its streets and in the personality of its inhabitants, a folklore and roots well notable and strong, as hardly could be found today in other European cities. A condition that may be considered against the tendencies,
as nowadays the incentives that influence and condition the society, impel it towards a globalized model, rather than valorize the local identity. The reasons for this situation, from regards the city of Porto, are due to many factors, like the long remain in a dictatorship, the reduced dimension of the Portuguese state itself, or the economic constraints that have conditioned the choices of its inhabitants throughout history.
These are the factors that had allowed the local community to reinforce and maintain their own identity.
In this context the typography, by being strictly connected to the language, may be considered as one of the oldest manifestations of cultural identity, that has absorbed through the centuries typical meanings and expressions from local comunities, and thanks to the print, has allowed to pass them.
Through the collection of material from the urban typography, from symbols of the tradition and from the analyses of the labels of Port wine, this thesis has the aim to identify the emerging traits of the city and translate them into a typeface. The question of the cultural identity is then approached through the typography, which in the way around becomes an instrument of valorisation and reinforcement of this same identity.
The resulting font, CZ Invicta, is a layered typeface, which has 3 weights to combine in a different manner
depending on the many and distinct uses that the communication of a city needs. Between its glyphs
it is present architectonic symbols of Porto, as also base modules for patterns and textures inspired in the city motives, created to offer a further incentive about the perception of Porto, to whom approaches the city
for the first time, through this font.
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Some spreads:
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Part one: a historical overview of the city of Porto, some photos which capture the essence. An investigation about its identity and the product that represents best this city in the rest of the world. A typographical research of Port Wine labels.
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Part two: a typographic route of the city and its folklore, to point out recurring visual forms that shape and characterize the city Invicta. To complete this route, historical hints and case studies, examples of how in different eras, the relationship between language, writing and identity has been interpreted.
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Part three: the design process reaches its fulfillment; the font for the city of Porto takes shape.
The characteristics emerged from the analyzes are reworked into a coherent and comprehensive font, which contains in its essence the "'Antiga, Mui Nobre, Sempre Leal and Invicta cidade do Porto".
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The font in action: substitution of existing commercial insignia and a try for the city's brand identity.
