ABC 80 is a project whose result will be an alternative alphabet, inspired by the ’80s. An ABC of the ’80s, actually.

Why the ’80s? Because these are our childhood years, of the “generation with the key hung by the neck”. The years when our parents were young and our grandparents still full of energy and desire to live. Today, many of us are also parents, and our children have become curious about what we did when we were their age, how we spent our free time, what we learned, what we wore, what we ate, what we sang, what cartoons we saw, what books we read, where we traveled. No matter how hard those years were, it is impossible to have only negative memories. If we are honest, we have a lot of good memories – and this does not mean that we are nostalgic. The ’80s, good or bad, are part of our lives, what we have become today.

Cătălina Nistor started from this idea and made the graphic presentation of this alphabet. She was inspired primarily by the landmarks of that period, which we still have in the house today, or hidden in the attic, or the cellar; but not only objects are represented in this alphabet, also ideas, habits, ideals.

Each letter and text reminds us of something representative of that period. For example, the uniforms of the pioneers and the „șoimii patriei”, Dacia, the reliable car, which could be repaired anytime, anywhere and at any time, beach holidays, Kashtan tape recorders, which were considered a kind of treasure, the heart of any party at that time, the radio, “door” to other worlds, which we vaguely understood at the time, the cuckoo clocks, which sang in almost every hallway, the store food scale, which often had little to weigh, the games that we played with family or friends, the oil lamp that was not missing from any household, the rechargeable siphon bottle, the drawings drawn with chalk on the concrete, the tricycle and the coveted Pegasus.

This book is also a reflection of that period, as we see the ’80s generation, those years, and the past regime. We try to approach that period with a lot of humor – which is reflected in the texts written by Evelin Márton, as well as in Cătălina Nistor‘s drawings. This alphabet is designed to be browsed together by parents and children. Together they can learn, recall and decipher the sounds of the Romanian language, through image and text, and personal memories related to them. The book concludes with insight exercises and children’s games inspired by the famous almanacs, plus a list of common words.

For the ABC 80 project, donations can be made on the crestemidei.ro website, a crowdfunding platform – which initiates inspired, nice projects – which are made with the financial help of those interested in the project, who in turn are rewarded for their involvement. More details: crestemidei.ro

The exhibition is part of the Design Week program.