Michelle Co: Making Spaces for Jeepney Artistry
Creator of typeface Barabara, Michelle Co, explains the process in which the typeface was created and how jeepney artistry is a foundational aspect of contemporary art.
Written by Erika Anne Sulat
In 2019, the Department of Tourism Philippines officially unveiled the first national typeface, entitled BaraBara. This launch coincided with their newest rebrand of the “It’s more Fun in the Philippines” campaign that was launched in 2012.
At the time, Barabara’s designer was a 25-year-old art director, Michelle “Choi” Co. According to her, the type was inspired by jeepney signages and posters found along the streets of the Philippines.
In search of avenues to preserve and contextualize jeepney art, we spoke with Michelle Cho, who is now working in Dubai as a creative director at an advertising agency.
In an online interview, Choi states that the idea of the typeface originated after she pitched a suggestion about creating a typeface unique to the Philippines, instead of utilizing a paid foreign font.
Initially, the typeface used for the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign was Harabara, which shares similar brush strokes with Filipino fonts, but it wasn’t a typeface uniquely local to the Philippines.
Born from the Streets
Growing up and having commuted in Araneta City, Cubao, Choi was constantly exposed to jeepneys, buses, and other forms of transportation all her life. Observing the jeepney and its signages, in particular, made her realize that these are aspects of our Filipino culture that are uniquely ours.
“Parang kapag bumyahe ka sa ibang bansa, you don’t see these kinds of signs. Yes, there are influences, I think, in Argentina, in South America, there are similar signs.” She mentions. “But what we have is very distinctly us as well. And so, I was inspired by what we already see.”
Choi began her research by immersing herself in Cubao’s rich environment of colorful jeepneys. She’d ask to take pictures of jeepneys, and the jeepney drivers would encourage her to go on ahead. The drivers were also proud to show her their signages and would even bring their jeepneys out of the parking just to help her take a better look at their painted jeepneys.
The Process of Creation
After conducting visits, Choi gathered all the photos she took and observed which elements she and her team liked the most about the typeface.
Some of the aspects of the type they took into consideration were the handwritten element of the brushstrokes.
But they realized that the text was too thick and wide, making it hard for them to spell out long words for campaigns. “—What if we had to make a headline? What if we have to spell out
which is so long? If you use the normal jeepney [letterings], you’d have to shrink it or put it in three lines, or whatnot, right? That’s why we’re lucky that the jeepney route is just EDSA, the shortest word.” She states.
The process of creating Barabara started with Choi and her team creating a simple typeface. They originally used the font style created by signage painters as a reference, but they realized that they didn’t want to take these artists’ style and claim it as theirs, and show the typeface to the world.
“We wanted to create something that was still with the practices of proper design, spacing, readability, these kinds of things.”
Eventually, Barabara was the final product, after developing a style that shared elements from the jeepney font, but is also “readable, and headline, and website-friendly.”
Working in an advertising agency, deadlines are quick, so Choi only took a month of sleepless nights to develop the typeface. Building the base of A to Z, then 1 to 9. Choi also created the Philippine peso sign (₱) and the “Ñ” using the typeface.
The Jeepney as a Vessel of Filipino culture
From her time observing Filipino jeepneys, Choi mentions the various distinct designs she saw. “—Minsan santo, minsan pamilya, minsan SpongeBob. It’s so bizarre and random, but it’s something that they consciously picked for themselves.”
She cites the unapologetic nature of jeepney designs. Jeepneys do not try to blend in and look like buses or taxis, however wacky or crazy their designs may look.
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“These jeepneys are relentless in being, wanting to be seen. They’re scandalous, like at its core, and that’s what I like about them. They don’t want to fit in.” Choi mentions.
With the jeepney modernization program making its way, retaining the signature jeepney look instead of the standardized box-type buses can help preserve its cultural identity.
We asked Michelle Choi about her thoughts on the tendency of globalization and modernization efforts to promote similar art styles.
She states that it’s a tricky balance between preservation and moving forward.
“I do feel like you have to ask yourself, what are we modernizing towards? Are we modernizing towards a universal sameness that we become more into the Helveticus of the world rather than the Filipino style? What are we looking at when we define modern?”
Choi adds that she understands concerns and modernization efforts on environmental and safety hazards, but doesn’t have to come at the cost of Philippine tradition.
“Why do we have to drastically change the design? And it’s good if the design is something that we see and we can say, “Oh, it’s uniquely Filipino.” It’s not, right? Like from the past designs that I’ve seen, they’re all very generic.”
She stresses the importance of good design in the urban landscape and its effect on the Filipino identity. “Why are we so quick to let go of something that is so deeply cultural? These things are very important, and they might think that it’s the right step forward. But do we really want a country where, let’s say, 200 years from now, no one will even know what the jeepney looks like, but it’s been replaced by these boxes?”
Jeepney Art in the Contemporary Landscape
According to Choi, there’s no need to contextualize jeepney art in the contemporary art scene because it’s already part of the foundation. It’s more of a question of how the modernities of the world will fit in with the jeepney.
“Let’s stop asking, can you make space for us? No, we have to ask the world and its changes and its demands how it can meet us, or how we can meet in the middle.”
Choi cites an example from Singapore, where modern markets were built for hawkers instead of kicking them out. “You don’t ask the government, oh, yung plans niyo ba, kaya ba ipasok yung jeepney? No, what can you do for our jeepney drivers? What can you do for the jeepney sign artists? How can you make sure that in 10 years, may trabaho pa rin ang artists na tulad nila?”
She states that Barabara wasn’t meant to solve the problems of the jeepney community, but as a way to help echo their identity. “I do feel like there is a benefit to acknowledging their identity and their presence in the Philippine space. I think that’s all that I do,”
“Art is a beautiful thing, and our creations are beautiful things, but they should be a spark or they should trigger real, tangible things that can improve the lives of the Filipino jeepney drivers and the people that create them.”
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