Borda-line Revolutionary
Case study of the Borda typeface, in which designer Jonathan Hill explores the connection to the video-game world.
"Borda’s success derives from its deep connection to the region from which it sprung".
It’s strange to think that a modern geometric typeface can synchronise with its surrounding culture: but that’s what Borda does. The indefatigable nature of regional industry, revolutionary at the time of its conception and all-persevering since, finds reflection in this square-edged, geometric sans serif – harmonising with The Northern Block’s physical surroundings.
Premiering in Ubisoft’s The Division videogame and throughout the National Cycling Centre’s entire branding campaign, Jonathan Hill, Northern Block founder and designer, believes that Borda’s success derives from its deep connection to the region from which it sprung.
In many respects, the prevalence of heavy industry in the North has reinforced the reactionary emergence of a ‘North-South divide’ in British popular culture. But through investment in technology, sporting prowess, engineering and experimental artistry, the future of the region is being slowly recast. Borda’s hard-ridged, unforgiving individuality encapsulates this distinct cultural heritage that demands celebration.
Designing Borda, Jonathan tells me, was an introspective process: an excavation into his own unique history and cultural inspirations. Born in Sheffield, Jonathan came-of-age alongside electronic music. He remembers being mesmerised by local-born artists such as The Human League who, among others – and in maverick fashion – donned their Korg, Roland and Yamaha keyboard synthesisers with finesse. ‘Before the personal computer arrived on the scene’, Jonathan says, ‘I was fascinated by the way text was used on 80’s synthesiser equipment’. Having lived in London, Edinburgh and now the North-East, Jonathan’s appreciation of Northern electronica, and the timeless influence bound up with the genre, stands out as formative in his design career.
“There was beauty in the simplicity – in the fact that there was something so clear and logical about how the information was presented”.
Jonathan continues: ‘Before interfaces became more popular with computers and user interfaces, they were assigned to electronic equipment. There was an interface on a keyboard that gave you instructions. There was beauty in the simplicity – in the fact that there was something so clear and logical about how the information was presented.’
This way of thinking hasn’t lost its relevance. Functionalist industrial design – the principle that buildings should be designed for their immediate purpose, giving precedence to simplicity and usability – was popularised by German industrial designer Dieter Rams as far back as the 50s. Dominating Rams’ scholarship was the idea good design is ‘less, but better’: it is ‘honest’ and ‘unobtrusive’, as well as being ‘thorough down to the last detail.’
A legible font with a futuristic appearance.
Typeface design, of course, is no different. No longer do fonts exist adjacent to the experience – simply guiding and instructing rather than taking part – but should, as Jonathan tells me, ‘intimately understand and complement the prevailing aesthetics.’
What is so revolutionary about Borda then, for one thing, is its ability to coordinate the typeface’s logical and geometric shapes with on-screen, gameplay visuals: a facet expertly executed by Ubisoft in The Division video-game, first released in 2016 and now onto its second instalment. Based on the best-selling novel by Tom Clancy, Ubisoft have harnessed the authority of Borda to accompany the game’s apocalyptic identity and catastrophic backdrop: empowering the typeface by placing it in the exact context for which Jonathan intended. Featuring in Ubisoft’s marketing material, game trailers, clothing, social media and the official game website, Borda’s ultramodern character heavily contributes to The Division’s distinct futurism.
A company spokesperson assured me that Jonathan’s unambiguous vision has never been lost on Ubisoft’s team of designers: while acknowledging that this typeface was chosen many years before [their] time in the company, the overwhelming and sustained perception is that the font continues, like no other, to ‘match the brand and game identity’.
“What is so revolutionary about Borda then, for one thing, is its ability to coordinate the typeface’s logical and geometric shapes with on-screen, gameplay visuals”.
And there’s another reason Borda is so aptly placed within the video-game’s iconic setting: one that goes beyond its functional and aesthetic synchronicity. Though based in Manhattan, New York – one of America’s richest cities – The Division’s environment is strongly reminiscent of the American rust-belt. In taking on a post-industrial, almost ethereal equality, the world Clancy’s characters inhibit shares a great deal with its Northern-British equivalents – the very thing Jonathan wanted to personify through type design. It’s no surprise, then, that The Division 2 proved to be the UK’s best-selling game the week it was released.
However, expansive in both origin and inspiration, Borda has become relevant beyond its immediate relationship with The Division. While clearly fulfilling a niche within the gaming world, its versatility – owing to the dominant artistic influences Jonathan integrated into the design – has led to Borda’s role in rebranding the National Cycling Centre’s velodrome and BMX arena in Manchester. Consistent across the website, track, merchandise and signage, the font individualises the British Track Cycling team’s world-renowned identity, celebrating sporting talent nurtured on Northern soil. Regular users of the track include the GB team, Sir Chris Hoy and Laura Trott, and the BMX arena houses the UK’s only permanent indoor BMX track with seating for two thousand fans. Borda, it seems, is in good company.