Ilica (typeface)

Street sign featuring the Ilica font on King Petar Svačić's square, Zagreb
House number plate featuring Ilica on the British square, Zagreb.

Ilica (pronounced [ˈilitsa] EEL-itsa) is a typeface created for Zagreb's street signalization by typographers Nikola Đurek and Damir Bralić in 2012. It was named after the synonymous street in Donji grad, where new street signalization featuring the font was supposed to be put up first. The font features 16 variations and was designed as a "contemporary interpretation" of the secessionist inscriptions on the faces of many historical buildings in Zagreb, in combination with features from other old inscriptions in the city that constitute its typographic heritage.[1][2]

The typeface was designed on specific request from the government of Zagreb to complement new regulations brought in 2013 to unify street signalization and house number plates across the city.[1] It won an award for best professional design of spatial and graphical interventions and sistems from the Croatian Designers' Society in 2014.[3]

  1. ^ a b Dorotić, Ivan (6 February 2013). "Intervju s Đurekom i Bralićem o novoj zagrebačkoj signalizaciji" [An interview with Đurek and Bralić about the new signalization system in Zagreb]. Društvo Arhitekata Zagreba. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  2. ^ City of Zagreb (2012). "Tipografija i signalizacijski sustav zagrebačkih ulica i kućnih brojeva – Priručnik grafičkih standarda" [Typography and the Signalization System of Street Signs and House Numbers in Zagreb – A Manual of Graphical Standards] (PDF). Geoportal zagrebačke infrastrukture prostornih podataka. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Nagrađeni najbolji domaći dizajneri" [Awards Given to Best Domestic Designers]. Vizkultura (in Croatian). 2014-09-05. Retrieved 2024-07-28.