Bic has produced 100 billion Cristal ballpoint pens since its launch in 1950. It is the best selling pen ever, or in Bic’s terms, the universal pen. So DDB Dusseldorf and MediaMonks are helping Bic to create the universal typeface –  a single typeface that is the combined average of the world’s handwriting?

DDB Dusseldorf and Media Monks devised the campaign to immortalise the handwriting of the universal pen from around the world in a digital font that could be shared by everyone – evolving continuously as new contributions are added. They have created a microsite which is crowdsourcing digital samples of handwriting, which are being combined and converted into a universal typeface. The collective handwriting will also become a font that Bic will release to the public in August. It will be downloadable and can be used like any other font.

Here is how it works: On the microsite, people can submit their handwriting using Mobile Connect technology. This allows them to write in an intuitive and natural way on their smartphone or tablet touchscreen, while viewing their contributions on their larger desktops. The website also includes an exploration section, where people can compare their own contribution to the universal average and explore statistical differences and similarities between their own contribution and the average contribution of different demographics, grouped according to age, gender, industry of employment and other characteristics. To make all of this possible, a unique algorithm was invented to merge all the input and aggregate the result: the Universal Typeface.

So far 34,842 characters have been entered from 26 countries.

Joris Pol, international project director, MediaMonks, stated, “In order to determine the Universal Typeface that best represents all submissions, and for the typeface to be legible, MediaMonks developed an elaborate algorithm that underpins the digital experiment. The opportunity for our design and development teams to unify creativity and technology within this project by bridging the analogue and digital writing worlds has been a true honour.”

The goal, according to DDB Dusseldorf managing director, Dennis May, is to show how penmanship is both unique and personal to people around the world – possibly also to revive the brand and its usefulness in the digital age. “There are few things more personal than your handwriting, so we thought that it would be a good experiment to see how we could use this personal thing to talk about something more global.”

“The ballpoint pen is a very simple and unsexy product. We’re always looking for ways to make this thing captivating and make people aware of what they’re using it for. The campaign isn’t trying to tell people to write more. It’s trying to tell them that they can use their smartphones as much as they’d like, but they can learn so much more about themselves through their handwriting,” May added.

“DDB’s heritage has always been and will always be about ideas that truly connect with the people. That’s why we’re very excited about the Universal Typeface – as we use a new technology to make that heritage come to life in a new way.”

PS: Look at the website url quickly: theuniversaltypeface.com. You see salty pie face too, don’t you? Fonts are fun.