Piotr Fedorczyk

Cut by Norik

BEFORE after

Coca-Cola turns 125 this year, and while

that’s good news for employees, shareholders,

and fans of Coke, it’s likely rather a bitch for

the design team. After all, how is anyone

supposed to keep a brand

portfolio that’s sold in 200

countries and consumed

1.7 billion times each day

looking fresh? In the case

of Diet Coke—introduced

in 1982 and the first

product extension of the

Coke name—it means (for now, at least) a

limited-edition can slated to hit stores in early

September.

Retaining the can’s familiar bare-aluminum

background, the new design super-magnifies

a segment of the existing logo right where

the “D” of Diet rests atop the “k” of Coke. The

result is a modish and (for a global brand)

even daring design that refuses to reveal the

brand’s complete name. Which is the beauty of

having a brand that’s already the best-selling

diet soft drink in the world: You don’t have to

worry about stuff like that.

The revamped Diet Coke cans—the work

of San Francisco-based design firm Turner

Duckworth—will remain on store shelves for

an undisclosed period. In fact, just about

everything about these 12 fluid ounces of

design flair is undisclosed. The usually press-

release-happy folks at Atlanta headquarters

are playing this one surprisingly close to the

vest, sending out cases of the new Diet Coke

to “trendsetter[s] in the fashion and design

world,” according to the accompanying card,

but saying little else publicly.

However, William White,

group brand director for Diet

Coke and Coke Zero, Coca-

Cola North America, told

Adweek in an email: “Fall is

all about new looks and new

energy, making this a great

opportunity to give the Diet Coke can design

a refreshing uplift that celebrates the season.”

He added that “this new concept will only be

around for a short time.”

At least that’s in keeping with the rest of the

promo. The new can is piece of a partnership

with fashion and beauty-trend Web magazine

StyleCaster.com, which has anointed the new

design as one of its “new looks for fall.” And

you know how that trendy fashion stuff goes.

Blink twice and it’s gone. Just for the record,

Coke isn’t tampering with the formula for the

stuff inside this new hipster can. Remember

what happened with New Coke back in 1985?

That was a branding lesson for one and all:

Do what you want to the packaging, but leave

the recipe alone.

This is a great redesign that falls in line with the

latest Coca-Cola cans is absolute simplicity and

boldness. No visual fizz,

no gratuitous waves,

no fake sweat drops.

Just a big-ass Diet

Coke logo. It’s amazing

how instantly recognizable it is. It reminds me

a little bit of the new Starbucks redesign, where

the kraft slip-ons for the heat feature a very tight

close-up of the mermaid, elevating the logo to

icon status. There is so much focus on the Coca-

Cola logo being one of the most recognizable in

the world but, as this design proves, the Diet Coke

logo isn’t a second-tier pushover.

I also like how at a given angle of the can you

can see a big “ok”. Not sure if that was intentional,

but it’s great. The only thing that seems weird

is that the full “Diet Coke” logo is repeated three

times. Might be two too many and it was probably

required by legal: “But how will people know what

they are drinking? It needs the logo here, here,

and here.” I hope “limited-edition” is code for “We

are testing this out on a massive scale to see if

people freak out or not”. -BRAND NEW

thisisnotafont.

thisisnotafont.

thisisnotafont.

Graphic designers choose typefaces for their

projects but use fonts to create the finished art.

Typefaces are designs like Baskerville,

Gill Sans or Papyrus. Type designers create

typefaces. Today they use software programs

like Fontographer or Font Lab to create the

individual letters. A few still draw the letters

by hand and then scan them into a type

design application.

Fonts are the things that enable the printing

of typefaces. Type foundries produce fonts.

Sometimes designers and foundries are one

and the same, but creating a typeface and

producing a font are two separate functions.

A little history may help. John Baskerville

created the typeface design that bears his

name. Creating the design was a multi-stage

process. First, he cut the letters (backwards)

on the end of a steel rod. The completed

letter is called a “punch.” Next, Baskerville

took the punch and hammered it into a flat

piece of soft brass to make a mold of the

letter. A combination of molten lead, zinc

and antimony was then poured into the mold

and the result was a piece of type the face of

which was an exact copy of the punch. After

Baskerville made punches for all the letters he

would use and cast as many pieces of type

as he thought he would need, he put the type

into a typecase. The resulting collection of

letters was a font of Baskerville type.

Over the years, there have been hand-

set fonts of Baskerville type, machine-set

fonts, phototype fonts, and now digital fonts.

Currently, there are TrueType and PostScript

Type1 fonts of the Baskerville typeface. There

are Latin 1 fonts of Baskerville used to set

most of the languages in Western Europe and

Greek and Cyrillic fonts that enable the setting

of these languages. All these fonts are of the

Baskerville typeface design.

Maybe it's OK for the folks that set the

neighborhood church's newsletter to call

them fonts; but those of us who claim to be

typographers and graphic designers should

refer to our tools by the correct name. So, what

font is used on the Absolut Vodka bottles? I

don't know. But I can tell you that the name

“Absolute” is set in the typeface Futura Extra

Bold Condensed.

No,I cannot tellwhatfontthisis in.

No,I cannot tellwhatfontthisis in.

But,I doknowit isthetypefacecaslon pro.

About the Author: Allan Haley is the director of words and letters

at Monotype Imaging, where he is responsible for the strategic planning and

creative implementation of just about everything related to typeface designs

and editorial content for the company’s type libraries and websites. Prior

to Monotype, Haley was the principal of Resolution, a consulting firm with

expertise in fonts, font technology, type and typographic communication.

He was also executive vice president of International Typeface Corporation.

He is an ex-officio chairman of the board of the Society of Typographic

Aficionados and past president of the New York Type Directors Club.