2021/04/13
Custom and unique pictograms for the Government of La Rioja (Spain)
Some time ago, we had the pleasure of designing a custom pictograms typeface family as a companion of Riojana, the existing corporate typeface designed and licensed for Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja (Spain).
The project started with some references given by the client and a wish list from them. Some of the icons where quite common (as “Restaurant”) but others quite particular, as they are related to very specific aspects from the region identity as (“Cachiberrio”).
Design process
1/ Defining the style
We started sketching by studying the proportions of the typeface and defining the metrics for the pictograms: the maxim height, top limit, bottom limit, a baseline… and also the relationship between them.
The second step consisted in defining the stylistic features of the pictograms:
—Matching the curves shapes of the Riojana typefaces, which are not perfect circles, but a bit “squarish”.
—The thickness of the pictograms’ lines are harmonious with the stem thickness of Riojana Book typeface but a bit thinner, because there is much more content in the pictogram than in the letters.
—Riojana typefaces have straight ending strokes (without curves), this is reflected in the pictograms.
—The drawing grid is composed of squares that have the dimension of the stroke. Given the enormous diversity, the icons are arranged in this grid according to their dimensions.
2/ Development
For this phase we started by the most universal pictograms, in order to get a fast feedback from the client. We got references from the client but also from many other systems and made proposals for the first series. We established a rhythm of one delivery and one feedback per week, as the timing was very tight.
At the end of the project we had 8 fonts and 480 icons
Riojana Iconos-Señaletica Corporativa 1 (95 pictograms)
Riojana Iconos-Señaletica Corporativa 2 (93 pictograms)
Riojana Iconos-Señaletica Corporativa 3 (22 pictograms)
Riojana Iconos-Areas Tematicas 1 (66 pictograms)
Riojana Iconos-Areas Temáticas 2 (86 pictograms)
Riojana Iconos-Areas Temáticas 3 (63 pictograms)
Riojana Iconos-Apps Webs (60 pictograms)
Riojana Iconos-Identidad Riojana (39 pictograms)
3/ The icons
Some of the icons are very simple, but others required a lot of work, here you have samples, where you can appreciate the diversity of thematics but designed with an unified style.
