Empo is a typeface created by Barcelona design studio Lo Siento for a psycho-osteopathy (homeopathic medicine) school and office. The project, taking roots from the study of the human body and its parts, is meant to represent the organs and bone structure in a physical and volumetric form. The typeface was created by hand-modeling pieces of cream-colored cardstock and faceting them to resemble bones. Lo Siento said this alphabet should "lift" in random volumes to hold an organic reminiscence. Along with the alphabet, Lo Siento included paper models of human body parts—heart, spine, brain—in the identity.
Lo Siento explains that this unconventional typeface emerged from "an obsession with the constraints of traditional orthogonal typography."
"[Each typography] is always inspired by a study of the grid. Each existing grid can hide a typographic character and thus, an alphabet."
This is a wonderful example of manipulating type to express an idea. Even the material constructing the typeface was a perfect choice for achieving an organic, skeletal feeling. Also, this is a great way to show and remind ourselves that creating a font just on the computer sometimes isn't the best solution for a concept—sometimes a more hands-on, artisanal approach can breathe more life into a typeface than a digital program ever could. If I ever had the time for creating something like this, I would go for it. I love working with paper and thinking 3-dimensionally, plus it would be a chance to totally escape from the computer world.
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