"The dream of the 90's is alive..."
The theme song for Portlandia goes through my head, as I open the first edition of FUSE, Neville Brody and Jon Wozencroft's experimental publication on fonts and typography. As the societal shift from analogue to digital strengthens, and as a self-referential post-internet aesthetic grows tired by the day, we are seeing similar parallels in approach to when FUSE was first published in 1991.
The birth of FUSE followed the impact of Mac/DTP on graphic design's evolution. Suddenly the type designer and graphic designer could be one, allowing a shift from the traditionalist ideas that had come before them. Wozencroft described FUSE as "A dynamic new forum for typography that will stimulate a new sensibility in visual expression, one grounded in ideas, not just image."
The first issue features four typefaces, Can You..?, State, Stealth and Maze 91. All of which come on a Floppy Disc and are featured in four A2 posters.
Stealth by Malcolm Garret
Inspired by drop capitals and Japanese visual systems, Stealth centres round a geometric platform. The 45-degree angles and curves give you just enough shape to decipher meaning.
State by Neville Brody
ostly decorative and challenging legibility. State crops the letterforms and creates robust block capitals using the original forms deconstruction.
Maze 91 by Ian Swift
Influenced by the Bitmap font, Swift advances the natural labyrinth like formations into a full maze system.
Can You...? by Phil Baines
Despite reducing fundamental elements of the Clarendon letterforms, Can You...? manages to remain legible.
