Ilica (typeface)
File:Drago Galić park street sign, Zagreb, 2025.jpg
File:Fire mark Zagreb.jpg, Zagreb. The other blue plate to the left is an insurance marker.]]
Ilica ({{IPA|hr|ˈilitsa|pron}} {{respell|EEL|itsa}}) is a typeface created for Zagreb's street signalization by typographers Nikola Đurek and Damir Bralić in 2012. It was named after the synonymous street in Donji grad, where new street signalization featuring the font was supposed to be put up first. The font features 16 variations and was designed as a "contemporary interpretation" of the secessionist inscriptions on the faces of many historical buildings in Zagreb, in combination with features from other old inscriptions in the city that constitute its typographic heritage.{{Cite web |last=Dorotić |first=Ivan |date=6 February 2013 |title=Intervju s Đurekom i Bralićem o novoj zagrebačkoj signalizaciji |trans-title=An interview with Đurek and Bralić about the new signalization system in Zagreb |url=https://www.d-a-z.hr/hr/aktualna-tema/intervju-s-durekom-i-bralicem-o-novoj-zagrebackoj-signalizaciji,1798.html |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=Društvo Arhitekata Zagreba}}{{Cite web |last=City of Zagreb |year=2012 |title=Tipografija i signalizacijski sustav zagrebačkih ulica i kućnih brojeva – Priručnik grafičkih standarda |trans-title=Typography and the Signalization System of Street Signs and House Numbers in Zagreb – A Manual of Graphical Standards |url=https://geoportal.zagreb.hr/Upute/kbr/pdf/PGS.pdf |access-date=28 July 2024 |website=Geoportal zagrebačke infrastrukture prostornih podataka}}
The typeface was designed on specific request from the government of Zagreb to complement new regulations brought in 2013 to unify street signalization and house number plates across the city. It won an award for best professional design of spatial and graphical interventions and sistems from the Croatian Designers' Society in 2014.{{Cite web |date=2014-09-05 |title=Nagrađeni najbolji domaći dizajneri |trans-title=Awards Given to Best Domestic Designers |url=http://vizkultura.hr/nagradeni-najbolji-domaci-dizajneri/ |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=Vizkultura |language=hr-HR}}
Controversy
The face was a topic of controversy for Croatian designers Saša Šimpraga{{Cite web |last=Šimpraga |first=Saša |title=Nedojmljivi novi vizualni jezik Zagreba |url=https://pogledaj.to/drugestvari/novi-vizualni-jezik-zagreba/ |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=Pogledaj.to |language=hr}}{{Cite web |last=Vitas |first=Zoran |date=12 October 2015 |title='Problem nije dizajn, već to što Grad pločice postavlja na pogrešna mjesta' |trans-title="The problem isn't the design so much as the City is placing the plates incorrectly" |url=https://www.vecernji.hr/zagreb/ne-stisava-se-polemika-o-dizajnu-novih-kucnih-brojeva-i-tabli-s-imenima-ulica-1030162 |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=Večernji list |language=hr}} and Robert Štimec.{{Cite web |last=Štimec |first=Robert |title=Kako su uništeni kućni brojevi u Zagrebu: Neka se vidi tko je gazda i što može, blesavi purgeri |trans-title=The destruction of house number plates in Zagreb: Let the dumb Purgers see who's boss and what he can do |url=https://www.index.hr/clanak.aspx?id=845766 |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=Index.hr |language=hr}} Their complaints and critiques were by and large focused on the implementation of the singalization system itself, but placed emphasis on the plates' designs as well (which were all created by the authors of the face). Šimpraga judged that the typeface was "of lower quality than many of the authoring duo's previous works", while Štimec claimed that, aside from them being too small, the choice of making the numbers boldface and grotesque greatly affected their readability when compared to serif typefaces, a "cardinal mistake" according to Štimec.{{Cite web |last=Štimec |first=Robert |date=2015-09-21 |title=Kućni brojevi u Zagrebu |trans-title=House number plates in Zagreb |url=https://likumzg.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/robert-stimec-kucni-brojevi-u-zagrebu/ |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=Zagrebački likovni umjetnici |language=hr}}
Gallery
File:Zagreb old and new house number plates, 2025.jpg|Old SFRY-age and new Ilica house number plates
File:Zagreb, Trg kralja Petra Svačića - natpisna ploča.jpg|Street sign on King Petar Svačić Square
File:Modern street signs in Jarun, Zagreb, 2025.jpg|Street signs in Jarun
File:Obala dr. Savke Dabčević Kučar 20150307 DSC 0042.JPG|Savka Dabčević-Kučar Coast sign
File:Zagreb Kaptol house numbers, 2025.png|Historic Kaptol house number plate in Onyx typeface (left, repainted) and a modern one in Ilica (right)
File:Stube Franje Buntaka, Zagreb.jpg|Modern Ilica design for a Kaptol street sign