ARC’s wordmark is drawn with a single stroke weight, the same as the line the practice uses for walls on its plans. It was the first idea in the project and the last one we changed.
Starting on the drawing board
We drew the first versions on tracing paper over the practice’s own drafting grid. That grid set the proportions of every letter, and the curve of the R is a quarter turn of the same circle as the C.
Correcting by eye
A mark built strictly on a grid always looks slightly wrong. The final version adjusts the curves and joints by fractions of a stroke so it reads as even, even though it no longer measures that way.
Holding up in concrete
The hardest test was the sign at the studio door, cast into the wall. Thin lines chip in concrete, so the cast version is fractionally heavier, and it is the only place that difference is allowed.
