Chivas Regal

How do you design a functional but recognisable typeface for one of the world’s biggest selling Scotch whiskies?

Background

Chivas Regal needed to create a new brand typeface to support a wide variety of markets and applications around the world, but crucially, needed to ensure that the style communicated the brand without the need for supporting logos so that it would work successfully in dark markets where alcohol branding is restricted.

We took our cue from its most central brand asset: the logotype. We’d recently refined the logotype as part of a wider brand refresh project carried out by our sister company D8, and so were already very familiar with the style and where it could be expanded upon to form a full, practical typeface. 

Construction

The brand typeface Chivas Regal Regular is intended for display purposes, and is a low contrast transitional serif with wide proportions. It sits between old-style warmth and a newer, more modern sharpness that gives the brand voice gravitas, and clarity at scale. Wider proportions give it a luxurious feel by being generous with space, and the low-contrast strokes are perfect for physical reproduction. Soft serifs give it warmth and refinement that echoes the original logotype, and keeps it recognisable for Chivas consumers.

In Application

The result is a brand typeface that works hard in titles, but is balanced enough that longer blocks of copy are easy on the eye.