12 Angry Viewers Promo (QuickTime, 480KB)

The Making of MTVPE (continued)

We approached the project with our publishing and print experience and a recognition of MTV's impact on music, film and fashion. Our inexperience in broadcast worked to our advantage. We researched the industry intensely (watched TV for hours and hours...) which fomented many discussions about the decline of Western Civilization.

In the '80s, MTV became the defining medium for broadcasting changes in every aspect of style-- for setting the pace. More recently MTV started producing their own shows, moving closer to traditional TV formats. They've used time tested strategies to assert the role of youth (as opposed to the family) as the primary spokespeople for culture.

There is a certain dichotomy in creating a custom typeface for this usage. Historically, a typeface may last hundreds of years-- on MTV, maybe six months. It's a pace that reflects both the growth of technology and the hormonal flux of teenagers. What is the value of new typography in this environment? Are we creating disposable type-- an extension of pop culture that's no longer steeped in the tradition of craft?

Typographic experimentation has been a major concern of designers and typographers throughout the digital age. Two years ago MTV abandoned gimmicky display faces in favor of time tested Helvetica, used exclusively until now.

As creators, we wonder what will happen to the typeface when it is no longer useful to its new owners. Is it simply cued up to be knocked off ad infinitum as a stylistic device for commercials? Or will it be filed, shelved away and forgotten?

We understand the impact experimental type creates and appreciate the knee-jerk reaction it can produce. However, we defined our task as the challenge of creating a typeface that could not only compete with Helvetica's versatility but acknowledge the environment, the audience and the context in which the typeface would be used.

The myth of MTV, the total freedom alluded to in the creative brief, doesn't really exist. We were attempting to create a precarious balance between form and function. We needed restrictions.

With a conceptual problem and a commitment to history, we established parameters we felt were important in creation of Mtvpe:

- It was very important that the design not be some flash-in-the-pan typeface-of-the-moment.
- We wanted to design a typeface which would be enhanced by the medium.
- The typeface needed to be completely utilitarian (encompass many on-air uses; identifiers, crawls, news briefs, menus, promos)
- Although not an initial request, we planned to deliver a cross-platform typeface fully functional for the print environment.