The Universal Typeface Experiment By BIC Pens

In an attempt to unify all the handwritings of the world into one solid typeface, BIC Pens has launched a campaign that is aimed at creating a universal human font.

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Allowing users to add their own writing to the experiment or simply explore the current contributions, the Universal Typeface Experiment is a crowdsourcing campaign that can only be accessed from your smartphone.

BIC Celebrates 100 Billion Pens

Maker of the Cristal ballpoint pen, the single most popular pen on the planet, BIC is that company you always knew about yet didn’t really notice. It is quite impressive that BIC has managed to manufacture and sell more than 100 billion pens of this kind in this digital age, and that is what the campaign was launched to celebrate.

The Pen Is Mightier Than The Keyboard

The Internet may have taken over most aspects of our lives, but you’d still turn to a pen for expressing how you truly feel. Every person has a distinctive and personal handwriting, and BIC hopes to merge all of these unique typefaces into one.

Coexisting In Peace

The experiment was designed by Eric Schoeffler from DDB Worldwide, and produced by MediaMonks. Available on your smartphone, the experiment only requires people to use their fingers to write out the 26 letters of the English alphabet in their unique handwriting.

What The Experiment Does

Using a complex algorithm, the program overlays and merges your handwriting with those of other participants of the experiment. Information like your age, industry, country, and hand used to write are stored as well.

Progress And End

So far, the experiment has gathered about 111,085 characters around 40 diverse countries. These will be processed together to generate the universal typeface, which will be unveiled to the world in August, 2014.

Submit Yours Now!

Officially active since the 6th of June, 2014, the experiment will only be open for another month and a half. If you’re interested, simply visit the Universal Typeface website and make your contribution.