Font Walk: the stories behind fonts and facades

To celebrate Helsinki being named the 2012 World Design Capital, we found a novel way to explore Finland’s capital – the Font Walk. Created by designer Camilla Pentti, the Font Walk tells the stories behind the different fonts and building facades in the old part of Helsinki. The Font Walk map is available free of charge at the Napa Gallery and lets anyone enjoy this somewhat different attraction. As you follow the walk you notice how much thought the designers put into selecting the fonts, and what stories a building facade can tell. The different fonts have special meanings, as do the graffiti and hand-painted building numbers, which are all part of the city’s history. For example, the ‘Silver House’ features a mixture of fonts influenced by the modernism of the 1920s, like Futura. The Font Walk shows how much attention a designer must pay to detail in a text, after the copy has been edited and proofed. That’s why Textklinik is just one of the many stops a text passes through on its way to perfection and presentation to the world.

To find out more about the Font Walk and the stops en route, watch our Font Walk vodcast.