The Rule

Menagerie

Every line in a different face, every line set to the full measure, and not a pica of the sheet left empty. Black ink, one line in red, rules between the acts.

Type to set the press
MENAGERIE
AMUSEMENTS
UNRIVALLED EXOTICA
TICKETS: 2 SHILLINGS

Brand Guidelines

Typography is treated as physical blocks of wood. There is no concept of tracking to fill space; instead, the physical size of the font scales up until the block hits both margins. A single red line draws the eye to the most critical information.

ADMIT ONE
GRAND
EXHIBITION OF BEASTS
TONIGHT
EIGHT O CLOCK

What breaks it

If you leave comfortable white space, the Victorian tension evaporates. If you use a single, modern sans-serif typeface, the texture is lost. The aesthetic relies entirely on the claustrophobia of clashing letterforms jammed into an inflexible bounding box.

Grand Exhibition of Beasts

Tonight at eight o'clock.