The American television series The Office is divided into nine seasons aired on the National Broadcasting Company between 2005 and 2013. They contain 201 episodes; the total number of episodes is much more than in the original British show The Office, aired on BBC Two. The main genres are satire, pseudo-documentary, and comedy. The series’s raised topic is colleagues’ lives in a closed team, their problems, complexes, conflicts, friendship, and working days.
Meaning and History
The comedy is filmed as reportage from the office of the fictional company Dunder Mifflin, which sells stationery and paper products. Despite the finished script, the series resembles a reality show because the actors are allowed to improvise. Moreover, they did not know where the camera was and at what angle they were being filmed at the moment. Thanks to a creative approach, many actions are unpredictable, and emotions are absolutely real.
If the storyline developed only in the confined space of the office in the first episodes, then later, the heroes gradually went beyond the four walls. The audience got to know their families, household chores, and personal life. But the shooting style has not changed: each episode looks like an excerpt from a documentary film.
The American version of The Office is a successful adaptation of the British 14-episode show. She has received over 20 awards for her creative storytelling, excellent directing, outstanding acting, and other critically acclaimed achievements. Over time, the popular comedy turned into a media franchise: a computer game was created based on it.
The Office copies the format of the British TV series of the same name and the logo – a short black inscription on a white background. Originally, the title used a standard black sans serif font. The developers preferred a completely different design for the American version: letters with “defects” and rounding at the ends as if the word had been typed on a typewriter. At the same time, the color remained black, although there is an alternative option – a red inscription located at an angle and divided into two lines.
The comedy show’s logo is very laconic. The designers did not add graphic elements to it – they limited themselves to a simple black title on a white background. This has its symbolism: a wordmark looks like a piece of text in a document, which is why it is associated with work in the office.
All letters are lowercase, which indicates some incompleteness. One gets the impression that the inscription has a beginning and an end somewhere, and it has been taken out of context. This effect is enhanced by the stylization: the characters look like prints because of their characteristic shape. The red version is more advertising and looks like a stamp.
Font and Colors of the Emblem
The font used for The Office logo has many counterparts. There are both paid options (Typewriter FS Regular from FontSite Inc. or Typewriter Serial Regular from SoftMaker) and free ones (Linowrite Regular from LennardGlitter, Typewriter Regular from Roger White). They are united by the same letter design: they seem to be written with a typewriter. Characteristic features of the style include disproportion, unevenness, rounding at the ends, long serifs at the top “h” and “i.”
The title of the sitcom TV show is colored black, and the background is completely white. This combination gives the impression that the inscription was taken from office documents. A minimalistic palette links the logo and the TV show to which it belongs. A similar trick was used in the British version of The Office. There is also a bright red emblem designed to attract attention.