polestar tells 50-year story of unica77 typeface during zurich design week 2023

polestar’s unica77 – history of a font at zurich design weeks 2023

During Zurich Design Weeks 2023, timeless design meets Nordic understatement at Polestar’s showroom in the Swiss city. This time, we are not talking about the Swedish brand’s cars. Instead, Polestar’s use of the ‘modern classic’ Unica77 typeface by Swiss type foundry Lineto tells a special story through an installation, delving into the history of the typeface and how it shapes a brand experience.

Discover the font at Polestar Showroom in Zurich from August 31 to September 19, 2023.

the Polestar installation is on show during Zurich Design Weeks 2023

all images courtesy of Polestar

‘Imagine the Coca-Cola typeface, for example. No matter what you write with it – it always remains Coca-Cola,’ explains Luca Pellegrini and Weichi He from Lineto.

The Zurich-based type foundry Lineto is renowned across generations. In 1998, it became the first Swiss provider to sell fonts directly over the internet. This made its portfolio of typefaces accessible to a global audience, including younger demographics, readers, and brands. The latter are global companies like Spotify, Airbnb, Nike, and Polestar.

The origins of Polestar’s font are the same as the world-famous Helvetica: both were designs from Haas Type Foundry. In 1973, Alfred Hoffmann, the then-owner of this type foundry, described his first ideas of the Photo Haas Grotesk font that, less than 10 years later, would be released at Haas Unica. Hoffman commissioned type designers at Team77 to produce a typeface study, which was then published in the type design journal Typografische Monatsblätter in 1980, titled From Helvetica to Haas Unica. Due to both financial and legal issues, the font disappeared from the market and was not seen for two decades.

the installation delves into the history of the typeface and how it shapes a brand experience

lineto rediscovers unica77 font

In the early 2000s, Lineto rediscovered and spotted the potential for Haas’ lost typeface. Together with designers at Team77 again, Unica77 was redrawn and finally published in 2015. Today, in 2023, the typeface already celebrates a 50-year history as a ‘timeless classic’. In 2017, Polestar recognized its potential too, embracing the font as its brand identity.

‘The Polestar brand combines Nordic understatement with quality, technology, and minimalist design. We saw all these values perfectly represented in Unica77. Moreover, Polestar’s history is just as closely linked to the technological innovations of our time as that of Unica77,’ explains Nadine Romero, Head of Marketing at Polestar Switzerland.

Lineto continues to expand the font family to enrich Polestar’s brand experience

polestar expands font family for brand experience

‘A typeface is never completely finished. At least not for us,’ adds Luca Pellegrini and Weichi He from Lineto.

When Polestar decided to use the typeface as its brand identity, the development of Unica77 did not stop there. The script was not only adopted but also expanded: spacing was reduced, and Cyrillic and Greek scripts were added, with Arabic and Hebrew now in development. Unica77 now comprises more than 30 different styles, each differing in weight, slant, spacing, and even movement.

Learn about Polestar’s evolving brand identity at a special installation inside their showroom at Sihlstrasse 9, Zurich, from August 31 to September 19, 2023.

installation info:

brand: Polestar

location: Sihlstrasse 9, Zurich, Switzerland

typeface: Unica77

type foundry: Lineto