Graphic Design Statement

Typography is one of the primary ways graphic designers construct worlds. For this issue of Paprika, we developed three typefaces to help shape the publication’s visual and conceptual landscape. In doing so, we approached type not simply as a vehicle for content, but as a set of conditions that structure how content comes into relation—how it is ordered, perceived, and given meaning.

Inspired by the symbol of a compass, we wanted to explore ideas of building, planning, and measuring in the abstract. While the compass has strong architectural associations—appearing, for example, in the School of Architecture’s herald—it also carries meaning across various theological and mystical traditions. Beyond literal construction, the compass suggests a more “cosmological” form of building: the act of creation itself.

This idea of the compass as a measuring instrument became a guiding structure. One of the typefaces was designed specifically for the border surrounding each page. Divided into centimeter increments, the border establishes a system in which all elements on the page are positioned in relation to it. Rather than functioning as a neutral frame the border actively produces a field of constraint and possibility, where placement becomes a visible negotiation with measure.

The other two typefaces are revivals. Bodleian draws from a stonecut inscription at Hillhouse and Grove on campus; its organic and ornamental qualities help establish the sense of fantasy that runs through the issue. Behrens is a revival of Behrens Antiqua, a modular yet calligraphic typeface that provides a counterpoint to Bodleian’s more fluid forms. Together, they move between inscription and system, between the hand and the
grid, holding different temporalities of making in tension.

Together, these three typefaces construct the world of Paprika, operating not just as formal devices but as a system of orientation—guiding how meaning is built,
measured, and imagined across the issue.