Studio Julia is the combined practice of RCA graduates Valerio Di Lucente, Erwan Lhuisser, and Hugo Timm. The three recent graduates have already brewed a silent storm in the world of typography. Their graduate show, which is presented in pdf form here, was full of their cheeky adventures in type. There is a certain wit and intellectualism in their approach that is typical of the RCA. Julia’s work is all that without the pretension. The fact that they have corrected Comic Sans seems more humanitarian than authoritative, (they responded to the popularity of it.)

Much of their conceptual approach to typography comes from practical questions. Take, for example, Rotalic. The idea was simply transform any typeface into an italic form by mere rotation. The result is funny and provocative. I also enjoyed their unitalic exploration, (not pictured here.) There work is also as much about language as it is about form. This understanding of both reading and writing shows how thoughtful these three designers are. Now, these creative points may only be interesting to typographers, but their type does not leave the realm of legibility and practicality. So, in that sense Julia is fulfilling both professional and public duties of type design. I’m delighted by their work and can’t wait to see what these three will do.