For most people, typeface is an afterthought. Until a bad font makes a page genuinely hard to read. That’s when you begin to realize that the component you normally don’t pay attention to does a lot of heavy lifting.
It doesn’t just impact readability and accessibility. Choice in typeface can influence how a reader feels about what they’re reading, whether that’s authoritative, playful, or approachable. It’s also an essential element of branding.
When a brand has its own bespoke typeface that appears at every touchpoint, from website and email copy to social media content, it helps build recognition and trust over time.
That’s why Spaceship has created its own custom typeface: Spaceship Sans.
The inspiration behind Spaceship Sans
One key reason to create Spaceship Sans was to extend Spaceship’s unique visual identity. Until now, Proxima Nova was the brand’s typeface of choice. While versatile and effective, it isn’t unique to Spaceship.
So, a custom-made typeface was the logical next step. And 0.Itemzero was enlisted to help make it happen, with the input of Spaceship’s own designers, who provided direction and feedback every step of the way.
0.Itemzero is an award-winning design studio from Portugal that specializes in the intersection between technology, information design, and editorial design. They have worked with notable brands, such as HBO, Disney, and FIFA, across a multitude of industries, from gaming to film.
On inspiration behind the typeface, 0.Itemzero says:
“We wanted the typeface to follow the same principles of Spaceship’s design system: highly structured, geometric, but humanized.”
The guiding principles
To ensure the consistent development of the typeface’s character, tone, and purpose throughout the creative process, a set of six foundational guiding principles was established. These were:
Empower – Amplify the user’s voice by making words clear and impossible to ignore. Clear, confident, never overpowering.
Elevate – Find sophistication in precision and detail, where every detail serves a purpose. Simplicity with purpose.
Guide – Establish visual hierarchies, allowing for fluid and intuitive reading. Structure that leads naturally.
Adapt – Equally powerful on a small screen or a large billboard, adjusting to any context without losing identity. Flexible by design.
Inspire – Invite the eye to explore the convergence between calculus and creation. Curiosity in every form.
Connect - Avoid clichés and stereotypes and be approachable to everyone, regardless of how they engage with technology.
These principles shaped every decision made by designers during the process, helping make Spaceship Sans feel unmistakably Spaceship.
What sets Spaceship Sans apart
The result is a typeface that enables a conversational tone with Spaceship’s audience throughout the platform and beyond. The confident, straightforward yet friendly aesthetic takes influence from three typographic traditions:
Grotesque – for a sense of neutrality and functionality
Geometric – for clarity of form
Humanist – for warmth and approachability
As 0.Itemzero says:
“Spaceship Sans is an homage to mid-20th-century type, a chimera of grotesque and geometric sans-serif typefaces, but without their austere attitude. Spaceship Sans was built to be a companion to technology, and technology can be a medium for emotion.”
How Spaceship Sans will be incorporated into Spaceship
The typeface will be applied across Spaceship’s site, services, social media, and more. Spaceship Sans was created to fit seamlessly with the existing platform without disrupting what users are already accustomed to. As 0.Itemzero puts it:
“If the users go about doing their life as they already did, and feel that something is different, but better, then we did our jobs brilliantly!”
It will also be applied universally, regardless of language, because the typeface is accessible to billions of speakers worldwide. It supports over 707 languages in two writing systems: Latin and Cyrillic, with 8,309 individual glyphs, 7 weights, and 2 styles.
A new way of experiencing Spaceship
Spaceship Sans isn't just another brand asset. It gives Spaceship a voice that's entirely its own, one that will connect with users every time.
By the time you read this, Spaceship Sans will be in use across the Spaceship platform. A seamless change that you most likely won’t have noticed, but one that elevates your experience all the same. Thank you to 0.Itemzero and the Spaceship designers for bringing it to life.
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