Millions of people have soccer fever this summer—each match is projected to have up to 125 million viewers worldwide, with the championship game expected to surpass the 2006 numbers (715 million) and draw the biggest audience of any sporting final in history.

Here at Studio SC, we’ve been talking a lot about how not only the designs of the jerseys are important, but also the typography. When these jerseys are seen by millions of people across the globe, you want to be sure they’re a good representation of your country. 

Around the office, the Nike jerseys, specifically, Netherlands and England (whose kits were created by Umbro, a recently-acquired subsidiary of Nike) are favorites. The typeface used for the players’ names appears similar for all the Nike teams, but the different number sets for each seem to be good representations of their countries and their teams.  (We can’t seem to find any information about the name of the typefaces used, so if anyone can, we’d love to know!)

Take the Netherlands, for example. Their bright orange jerseys really stand out against the green turf. You can see them move as a unit, how in tune they are with each other. The orange is aggressive and in your face—you either love it or you hate it. The typeface is sort of the same: blocky, stocky, and mechanical—which is pretty similar to the playing style of the Dutch team (these guys are nicknamed Clockwork Orange for their precision passing). The typeface reminds us of the Dutch De Stijl style, with its blend of simplicity, primary colors, and cubism.

By contrast, the typography on the English kits is far more of a humanist style. The clean lines and openness of the text and are quintessentially English: formal, tailored, and refined.  The all-white uniforms hearken back to the kits of 1966. On Umbro’s blog, kit designer David Blanch says he loved that design because it embodied the team: “it’s not about branding, it’s about team identity.”

Paul Barnes designed two fonts for Puma kits: Olembe and Crepello. He describes the Crepello, which is used by Italy, Switzerland, and Uruguay, as a “no-nonsense technical form.” It resembles an italic font and has very classic numbers with sharp edges. Italy and Switzerland use all lowercase letters, while Uruguay uses both lower and uppercase. The Olembe, which is used by Ivory Coast, Ghana, and several other African nations, is on the other end of the spectrum. Barnes wanted it to look organic, so he created letters and numbers with visible brushstrokes, so they appear hand-painted or drawn.

Brazillian designer Yomar Augusto crafted a font for Adidas called Unity, which appears on the Argentinean and Spanish shirts, among others. Augusto drew his inspiration from the rounded triangles of the official World Cup soccer balls, and the typeface is featured on all Adidas 2010 World Cup products and advertising. Unity is all rounded—both the numbers and the letters—no blunt edges here.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite World Cup typeface, or one you can’t stand? Which kit best represents its home country? And can you believe Brazil lost today?

AIGA Seattle’s annual membership bash happened this past Friday evening at BoConcept, and it was a blast. Seattle Chapter President Jeff Barlow and AIGA National President Debbie Millman were both there, cheering on current members and recruiting new ones. The space looked great with plenty of stylish furniture to lounge on and fabulous environmental graphics by Studio SC. A taste of the action is captured above.

Thanks again to AIGA Seattle and event volunteers and sponsors for making this party a fantastic success.

Round Up: Our Favorite Banksy Work

The pseudonymous Banksy is synonymous with street art. We recently rediscovered Banksy’s 2006 book, Wall and Piece. In a world that seems to promote near-constant visibility, he reminds us that “invisibility is still a superpower”.

LA, 2010

Banksy’s most recent pieces have been popping up all over Los Angeles with the premier of his new film. We love his nod to Koons’ balloon dog, above.

Village Pet Shop & Charcoal Grill, 2008

A departure from his traditional work, Banksy began experimenting with robotics for his first show in New York City. The Village Pet Shop & Charcoal Grill opened to the public as a pop-up “shop” in 2008. Devoid of graffiti or paintings, the show featured bizarre interpretations of household pets, from swimming fish sticks to security cameras nurturing their imaginary young. In the words of Banksy, “I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming, but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing.”

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005

In an ongoing effort to explore the boundaries of public art, Banksy installed modified canvases of his own work in museums around the world. At the Met, his piece hung for two hours before being removed. At other museums, some work lasted as long as three weeks. “I thought some of [the paintings] were quite good. That’s why I thought, you know, put them in a gallery. Otherwise, they would just sit at home and no one would see them.”

Israel, 2005 & 2007

Banksy created nine paintings on the Palestinian side of Israel’s controversial West Bank barrier in 2005 and again in 2007. Our favorite, above, depicts children digging a hole to paradise. Banksy describes the wall as the “ultimate activity holiday destination for graffiti artists.”

Needless to say, we’re excited to see Exit Through The Gift Shop, Banksy’s new street art manifesto-slash-documentary tracking his practices and pranks.

In Toronto, potholes are turning cyclists into superheroes. The local street art collective Urban Repair Squad is responsible for the onomatopoeic stencils, which draw attention to imperfections in the road that are potential hazards to bikers.

The Urban Repair Squad has completed a number of projects around the city, including one raising awareness around Toronto’s indigenous underground rivers (similar to the Ravenna Creek project we blogged about here).

Visit Torontoist to see more photos of the project.

Studio SC took a field trip to King Street Station yesterday. The tour, hosted by the Seattle Architecture Foundation (SAF), focused on the major renovation project currently underway at the station. Since our offices are located mere blocks from King Street, we jumped at the opportunity to explore such a historic landmark in our own neighborhood. SAF volunteers, including architects from ZGF, the firm working on the project, guided us around the site and up the 245-foot clock tower.

We had the chance to see the soon-to-be restored original ceiling, as well as some long-forgotten escalators (an attempt to compete with modern air travel in the 60’s). King Street Station’s ornate plaster ceiling was replaced with suspended acoustic tiles over 40 years ago.

The highlight of the tour was climbing the clock tower, modeled after Campanile di San Marco in Venice. So far, the majority of the project has focused on the tower, the tallest beacon in the neighborhood next to the Smith Tower. The views from the King Street’s clock tower were stunning. It was amazing to be able to trek behind the scenes of one of our city’s most historic buildings.

Thanks to SAF, SDOT and ZGF for this opportunity!

Mark Brest van Kempen is calling attention to the creek running underneath our feet.

Working with the Seattle Parks department from 2000-2007, Brest van Kempen designed a multi-component public art project tracing the historical and present-day path of Ravenna Creek under the city streets.

For decades, Ravenna Creek was diverted into the city’s sewer system. Community efforts eventually motivated funding to restore the creek to its natural path in 2006. Through the use of signage, viewing stations and conceptual pieces, Brest van Kempen draws focus to the revitalized creek, now largely underground.

For more of Mark Brest van Kempen’s work, visit his site.

We just received some fresh photos of our sustainable wayfinding graphics for Washington State University’s Olympia Avenue Student Housing project, including a few shots of the geothermal pipe installation! Read more about the project here.

Thanks to Quinn Ianniciello for taking these shots.

Mary Temple creates light with latex paint and wood stain.

Gently calling attention to often ignored interior spaces, the trompe l’oeil paintings cast shadows of wild greenery creeping in front of phantom windows and skylights. At first encounter, Temple’s work is nearly invisible:

What I hope for is that the viewer moves through several stages of understanding the piece. In the beginning there is belief that the paint is light, but as they walk through the piece, perhaps they notice that their body doesn’t interfere with what they’ve perceived as light. (They are unable to cast a shadow.) At that moment the viewer does not know what is going on, and that’s what I’m interested in. In those few minutes that they are finding an architectural solution to what they are viewing, they create a new architectural space in their imagination.

Temple’s treatment of light both grounds and delights the viewer, twisting our perception of the built environment.

View more of Temple’s work here.

(via The Jealous Curator)