Frankfurter Buchmesse 2022

Posted on by Juliane Lipp

We had the pleasure again this year to visit the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2022 which took place for the 74th time. After two very restricted and reduced years, the exhibition halls definitely filled up again—what we happily observed. The book fair was back, with plenty of events, conferences, readings, talks, performances and exciting surprises. This year the focus topic was translation—not only literally into other languages, but also in forms of media, context, and as a requirement for cross-cultural understanding and communication.

We were excited to see two of our books displayed at the book fair: Oktoberfest 1984-2019 by Volker Derlath (2021) and TEATRIP by Christian Beck and Stefan Braun, both presented as part of the exhibition of “Deutscher Fotobuchpreis.” At the booth of Hermann Schmidt Verlag we also discovered the daily typeface-calendar TYPODARIUM 2023.

The guest of honor 2022 was Spain, known for a diverse literature and rich culture. Under the motto Creatividad Desbordante they presented its current literary, creative industry, and developments and trends in its literary and cultural life. Fantastically designed by TwoPoints.Net, the Guest of Honor Pavilion was a colorful feast for the eyes with magical installations.

With its diverse impressions, the stimulating conversations, the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2022 was once again an overwhelming and inspiring journey! We are already looking forward to next year, where the book fair will hopefully be even more full of books, magazines, people and impressions!

Typodarium 2023

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

With a sure instinct and a global network, Raban Ruddigkeit and Lars Harmsen are always scouting new fonts. The most exciting find their way into this years Typodarium 2023. Day of the week and date on the front, index of figures, designer and source of supply on the back on a colored background. The cute calendar sets the pace in the typographic year and is a desideratum for courageous designers who know about the subtle power of writing.

Because letters once emerged from images, this development is now being reversed in favor of images and because visual communication likes to draw on the full, there are icons, symbols and dingbats on Sundays.

We wish you that your 2023 will be among many beautiful signs!

Typodarium 2023

Publisher: Verlag Hermann Schmidt
Editor: Lars Harmsen, Raban Ruddigkeit
Volume: 384 pages in 12 colors, printed on both sides
Format in cm (w × h × d): 8.5 × 12 × 4.8
Design: Jonas Rose
EAN: 42 6017281 092 0
Price: € 20.– 
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Pictures: © Julien Fincker

Slanted Magazine #40—Experimental Type

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

Mum probably told us, “The oven is a danger zone.” Still, we had to ex­periment our first burn to know how hot fire is. Our parents covered us with millions of kisses, long before we fell in love with somebody and experimented our first kiss. Even if we saw it before, nobody could really tell us how beautiful it is. Everyone must experience it by him- or herself. In other words: by making experiments we gain experience and knowledge. Experiments open our horizon, let us enter the undiscovered, and feed our lust for more.

With Slanted Magazine #40—Experimental Type we open eight doors, each one offering a glimpse into spaces that were explored by pushing conventions, limitations, and thoughts to the next level. We all know though, that the game is never over. The discovery of new areas, technologies, and thoughts are a constant source of inspiration, research, and experimen­tation for those that follow.

Tactile Realism shows works with tactile character, adding material properties to the typeface. The Anti-Reader-Friendly typography becomes the “readymade” of the type world—and in doing so, a form of denying the possibility of defining art. In the Deliberate Imperfection & Serendipity space, disassembly, and assembly of type leads to great discoveries. While Coincidence & Intention brings the accident into the design process and explores works based on mistakes and inaccuracy. The Ever-Changing room showcases experiments of kinetic typography breaking away from its static state by adding movement and a three-dimensional stereoscopy, and the fourth dimension: time. Cutting Edge drives the attention to state-of-the-art technologies and their impact on design experiments. Off the Screen explores physical space in which writing becomes material, object, and sculpture. Last but not least, Push to the Limits engages to think finitude differently, breaking boundaries of learned symbolisms and triggering new stimuli.

In addition, a special limited edition has been published. A set of three type stencil to draw your own experimental letters. Keep on being experimental!

Slanted Magazine #40—Experimental Type

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Release: October 2022
Volume: 288 pages
Format: 16 × 24 × 2.4 cm
Language: English
Printing: Offset printing, Stober Medien
Bookbinding: Swiss brochure, thread stitching by Spinner Buchbinderei
Cardboard Cover: Black Magic, 320 g/sm
Paper Inside: lona® art, 115 g/sm, arto® gloss, 150 g/sm, Pop’Set aqua, 120 g/sm, distributed by Inapa Deutschland
Finishing: Hot foil stamping by Stober Medien
ISSN: 1867-6510
Price: € 18.–
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MC1R Magazine #7

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

There is a new issue of MC1R Magazine #7 —The Magazine for Redheads and we love it!

The blow up issue represents the latest projects all around global photography initiatives with redheads. This print copy is limited and exclusive, designed by Marcel Häusler, the new designer of MC1R Magazine.

Contributors: Erika Lust, Joel Meyerowitz, Palina Rojinski, Henrik Alm, Jocelyn Lee, Thomas Knights, RED HOT, Ethan Gulley, Mia Bean Breitbart, Jonas Unger, SUNS CARE, Marc Jahn, Ricarda Brieden, Anna Rosova, Anastasia Egorova, Ella Uzan and many more.

MC1R Magazine #7

Release: June 2022
Publisher: MC1R
Volume: 160 pages
Format: 23,5 cm × 16,5 cm × 2 cm
Language: English
ISSN: 2199-3947
Price: € 16.—

Film Festival Cologne

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

It moves organically in nature. Its texture is familiar to us in a pleasant way. It breathes. Its surface is smooth and in resting dynamic movement. It lives, and we recognize a substance of which we are ourselves. No longer as the navel of the world, but as an element of the new order.

The key visual of FILM FESTIVAL COLOGNE this year illustrates the posthumanist feel of our time. We humans no longer believe in grand narratives. We no longer think of ourselves as actors, rather as the audience of the world theater. Visual information pelts us, it “overwhelms us.” They make it increasingly difficult to distinguish between right and wrong, good and bad images. Are we art or junk?

And yet—every now and then something stings us. Every now and then, images manage to break out of the multitude of their peers and touch or change us in our lives. Pictures shake awake, fight for space, haunt us. Weapons and comfort at the same time. Are we art, or much more?

Welcome to FFCGN—DIE MACHT DER BILDER Vol. 2. Once again, this publication brings together and curates a wide variety of content from the world of the motion pictures. This book is a feature. The editors talk to people they find inspiring. It’s a snapshot of their work, at FILM FESTIVAL COLOGNE and far beyond. It’s a best of content they’re up for. And, last but not least, a little piece of nostalgia, a hint from the realm of analog: Go to the festival’s website! There you’ll find everything you need to know about the power of moving pictures.

Film Festival Cologne—Die Macht der Bilder Vol. 2

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Editor in Chief: Martina Richter
Head of Text: Timothy Bidwell
Art Director: Holger Risse
Managing Editor: Sebastian Hammer
Editors: Emilia Stein, Johannes Hensen,Till Stein, Leonard Ulmen, Sven von Reden
Design: Lars Harmsen, Florian Brugger, Alexander Staudt, Melville Brand Design
Publishing Direction: Lars Harmsen, Julia Kahl
Release: October 2022
Volume: 176 pages
Format: 16 × 24 cm
Language: German
Workmanship: Swiss brochure
Printer: Stober Medien
ISBN: 978-3-948440-44-2
Price: € 18.–
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Call for Submissions Yearbook of Lettering 2023/24

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

After six successful editions of the typeface compendium Yearbook of Type, we are now starting a new series of books dedicated to lettering: The Yearbook of Lettering #1. It will be published in spring 2023 and will present the best of lettering from all over the world, from traditional calligraphy to street art and graffiti—in the form of a clear, comprehensive compendium.

Each individual artist in the Yearbook of Lettering will be presented on at least one page. It will show a visual with a detailed view of their artwork. We will develop a design that leaves room to showcase the lettering work, the specific style, materials, and technique. The pages will also feature some short facts: background information about the artist, style, materials, and contact information.

The catalog is followed by an index of all the included artists arranged alphabetically. An essay section offers sketches, background knowledge, technical information, instructions, and descriptions from the world of lettering and the different styles and technics.

The presentation of the artworks in the book serve both graphic designers and agencies as a source of inspiration and can be a big help for clients selecting the right artist and style. As a catalog and reference work, the Yearbook of Lettering will also be of interest to all those who are interested in the contemporary world of lettering and all kinds of written art.

We are looking forward to our first edition with you!

Conditions for Participation

It is possible to book one page or up to three spreads! The presented artworks may not have been published earlier than 2018. Artworks can be submitted via our website until December 4th, 2022.

Are you an author in the field of lettering and art? We also accept submissions for essays and advertorials by mail.

To produce a book like this costs a lot of money. We are convinced that it is sustainable and offers real added value, so we try to make it affordable for as many people as possible. Therefore, and in order to produce high quality, we ask the participants of the book to cross-fund their participation with a small production cost contribution (even then, there will be a selection). This is intentionally kept low, in order to allow many artists—and especially young ones—to take part and only generates a small part of the total costs of such a project. Moreover, each participant can order one printed book in return for free (+ shipping).

It is especially important to us to give a young generation of lettering artists access to participation. This is why we offer students (proof required) a 50% discount on the regular price. The quality of the submitted work will be reviewed by a curational board of professional lettering artists.

Please note that we reserve the right to reject submissions if they do not meet our quality standards (technical aspects, originality, extension, context, etc.). We want to ensure a constant quality of content. Therefore we check every application carefully and get back to you with personal feedback.

Early Bird rate (EB) (incl. VAT) available until November 13th, 2022
Regular rate (R) (incl. VAT) available until December 4th, 2022
1 page: € 99.– (EB) / € 109.– (R)
2 pages / 1 spread: € 179.– (EB) / € 199.– (R)
4 pages / 2 spreads: € 329.– (EB) / € 359.– (R)
6 pages / 3 spreads: € 489.– (EB) / € 529.– (R)

Get detailed information about the book, special rates for multiple spreads, and our media reach from this PDF.

HOW TO reserve and book a space:
1. Send an email to [email protected] with the number of spreads you would like to book and links or samples of the artworks, so we can review them and get back to you.
2. Receive a link and pay the submission fee.
3. Now your space is booked. We’ll get in touch with more information about the upload.
4. Upload the requested files and information until December 4th, 2022 (latest!) and you will be guided step-by-step through the process.

Key Visual ©: Hugo “Xesta” Moura
Artists ©: Chris Campe, Tintenfuchs, Thomas Hoyer, Gemma O’Brian, SnoozeOne, Hugo “Xesta” Moura

the books are alright

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

The Institut für Buchgestaltung (IFB) at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences invites you to celebrate the medium book at the symposium the books are alright, and discuss its future.

On October 28th, 2022, the IFB will hold a symposium on book design, which is aimed towards design students and friends of beautiful books. Guest speakers have been invited from teaching, research, and professional design backgrounds to share their critiques on time and media in the world of book making.

The Institut für Buchgestaltung (IFB) was founded in 2006 to offer students the possibility to intensively engage with the design of analogue and digital publications, or to participate in research and transfer projects. This is the second time the Institute has invited well-known personalities from Germany and abroad to Bielefeld.

the books are alright is a conclusion which can also be understood as an open question
While preparing for the symposium, the general mood of the student body was frequently discussed. Lars Vieth, an Undergraduate at the Department of Design and a member of the symposium organizational team, summed it up thus: “Somewhere between analogue nostalgia and digital hype, we are suffering from a loss of reality—we are at a frantic standstill. Intoxicated by an abundance of information, we stagger through our everyday lives in search of meaning within the chaos—and there we find the medium book, an object that by being grasped, also grasps us. Does it provide us with answers, or are we fleeing from our responsibility?”

Prof. Dirk Fütterer, Dean of the Department of Design and IFB head, states that the previous few digital, issue-laden semesters have led to great existential doubts within the department. “A few years ago, we heavily debated whether the analogue book and print media will have a future in the digital age. During the “Corona semesters” we teachers realized that the need for the analogue has greatly increased amongst the students, and its corporeal, meaningful presence is being celebrated. Print is very much alive—it seems to give the students a retreat and also a means to mentally decelerate!” Seven experts from design practice and research fields will present in Bielefeld over the course of seven inspiring lectures, the future opportunities and possibilities of the book as an analogue medium within a digital context will be considered and discussed. The interdisciplinary backgrounds of our guest speakers bring a wide range of reflections, critiques, and future-oriented design practices to the lectern, all of which are focused on the interface of analogue and digital, over which hangs the question: the books are alright, aren’t they?

the books are alright

When?
October 28th, 2022
The panel program starts at 10 a.m. and ends at 7 p.m., after which there will be a bar area for celebration and further discussion.

Where?
Institut für Buchgestaltung (IFB) at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences
Lampingstraße 3
33615 Bielefeld

Speakers
Franziska Morlok, Hans-Jörg Pochmann, Simon Wahlers, Jonas Voegli, Ondine Pannet, essays on typography

Tickets
Get your tickets here!

In order to promote inter-university exchange, there will be specially priced tickets for students. Professionals can secure discounted seats with the Early Bird ticket.

Picture ©: Institut für Buchgestaltung

Make it Circular Challenge

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

What if we could get to the root of the climate crisis, and make our lives not less but more fulfilling at the same time? This is the question behind the Make it Circular Challenge, a new competition launched by What Design Can Do (WDCD) and the IKEA Foundation. From now until January 11th of 2023, they’re inviting the global creative community to show the best that circular design has to offer. This includes new ideas and existing innovations that prevent waste by rethinking our way of life: from what we eat and wear, to why we buy and how we build. The end goal? To find and create products, services, and systems that are both user-centered and earth-centered—making a circular future more accessible for all.

Moving from Linear to Circular
For centuries, our economies have been based on the linear model, where raw materials are extracted, transformed into products which are used briefly, and then thrown away. The trouble with this model is that it is deeply exploitative, and runs on the assumption that infinite growth is possible on a finite planet. Today, we are seeing just how wrong this assumption was, and facing the consequences of a rapidly changing climate.

The good news? We now have an opportunity to shape a radically different future: one that’s restorative and regenerative by design. WDCD wants to support the creation of a circular society, in which resources are embedded in cycles rather than straight lines. If we make the shift today, we could eliminate waste from the start, prevent further damage to our ecosystems, and reduce carbon emissions in the nick of time.

The hidden power of creativity
“Many people become lost in the face of so much outrage, fatigue and disinterest—but not creatives,” says Richard van der Laken, co-founder and creative director of WDCD. “The ability to imagine is the creative community’s ideal domain: seeing what does not yet exist, taking on a challenge, forging ahead with optimism.” This makes them brilliant agents of change, whether they work in advertising, product design, or architecture. This is why the Make it Circular Challenge calls on designers everywhere to use their persuasive power for good.

Submissions should respond to at least one of five categories reflecting the key aspects of a circular society. The Challenge talks in terms of society rather than economy, because a truly resilient system must also consider the social and ethical dimensions of how people live their lives, from sun-up to sun-down. It demands a transition that is inclusive and equitable, and that gives people the tools to participate in not just circular products but in circular ways of living. Here are five major areas in which creatives could make a difference: what we eat, what we wear, what we buy, how we package, and how we build.

Make it Circular Challenge

Start: October 11th, 2022
End: January 11th, 2023
Submissions: on the Make it Circular platform for free
Winners: Winning ideas will be turned into reality with € 10.000.– in funding and a global development programme which has been co-created with Impact Hub.
To follow along as the competition progresses, follow WDCD on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

Making Of Slanted Magazine #40—Experimental Type

Posted on by Juliane Lipp

Slanted Magazine #40—Experimental Type is in production and will be published end of October! This issue is all about experiments with type—offering a glimpse into spaces that were explored by pushing conventions, limitations, and thoughts to the next level.

Printed and finished by our long-time printing partner Stober Medien, the Slanted Magazine #40—Experimental Type impresses with a beautiful double hot foil stamping on the deep black cover named Black Magic. The whole issue has been printed offset in CMYK—the glossy arto® gloss and premium uncoated lona® art alternate every 16 pages throughout the issue.

The partly used spot color from HKS in the essays and appendix makes a great contrast to the beautiful blue paper Pop’Set aqua. All papers have been supported by Inapa Deutschland.

Moreover the issue is thread-stitched and bound with silver cloth as a Swiss brochure by Spinner Buchbinderei.

The magazine can be pre-ordered now and will be shipped at its release—or just subscribe now, save money and never ever miss an issue again (and special edition, if you like) 🙂

Enjoy the photos and get your copy!

Büchertempel

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

Libraries are so much more than collections of books. They are archives of knowledge, sources of inspiration, places of equal learning, encounter, and free education. At the same time, their extraordinary architecture represents the societies and eras from which they emerged. Büchertempel celebrates the world’s oldest, most extraordinary, and most ambitious libraries: from baroque palaces to UNESCO-protected adobe buildings to futuristic private libraries, this book explores the stories, architecture, and changing mission of libraries worldwide. Büchertempel is a declaration of love for the book itself, a book for book lovers, and for anyone who believes in the power of ideals.

Büchertempel

Publisher: gestalten
Author: gestalten & Marianne Julia Strauss
Release: January 2022
Format in cm (w × h × d): 24 × 30 × 3
Volume: 304 pages
Language: German
Bookbinding: hardcover, stitch bound
ISBN: 978-3-96704-025-8
Price: € 49.90
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Raskal

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

Raskal is a visual statement. Its design digitally translates and transforms handwriting and hand lettering’s most exciting elements. Although it has a lot in common with “script fonts,” Raskal’s relationship to handwriting or formal script styles is not as close as what you see in revival typefaces or ones based on a famous calligrapher’s oeuvre. The trip Raskal took between its initial concept and the final product was not straightforward. Emmanuel Rey could have arrived at many different kinds of type designs instead. While Raskal doesn’t look like its other typefaces, the way it came about illustrates how the foundry works.

Raskal is a digital typeface. Of course, the font is a digital file for use with digital applications. But the font’s design process was primarily a digital one. For many years, all its design and form-finding experiments were drawn digitally without resorting to sketches made by hand. Which might sound an aberration for a typeface inspired by calligraphy. However, very late in its development, Rey began making quick sketches on paper to help determine how some of its final glyphs might look best.

Raskal started as a script-style extension and accompaniment to the original SangBleu OG typeface. For a while, the design had two weights, one of which featured heavy strokes and a lot of contrast. The idea was to create new styles to add to the SangBleu family, with unexpected appearances and feelings. While going about this, he tested ideas that offered formal complements to the existing SangBleu OG fonts rather than what designers typically expect font families to contain.

One determining point in Raskal’s development was Rey’s decision in 2018 to turn it into a monospace-style font. After working on the script font for four years, he felt like he wasn’t getting anywhere. That sensation forced Rey to reconsider his self-inflicted brief. Aesthetically, the challenge of turning Raskal into a typeface looking like a contemporary script was far from resolved. He was even getting feedback that suggested he should abandon his initial desires and finish the typeface as a simple digital reinterpretation of a historical writing style. But that was not satisfying at all.

To force himself toward new and refreshing visual perspectives and to think outside of the box, Rey applied a tactic he had often been pleased to offer students in workshops if they were ever stuck in a creative rut while working on a piece of design. He told himself to add an irrational parameter to the brief, a challenge that seems impossible to solve, something that doesn’t even make sense if you try to define it with words. For Raskal, that was “to make a script font monospace” and channel handwriting’s freedom into small boxes with identical widths. While the final typeface is not completely monopaced, the monospace-style was a way to integrate the mechanical aspect of typography into calligraphy. That brought a new language to the typeface since each letter would have to occupy the same spacing box. Lowercase letters like e, i, l, and s needed new solutions to fill in their own space without breaking the flow of the script—which is the most important visual aspect of this type of design. The inclusion of the three-story lowercase e, which appears as a natural solution when designed on the computer, gave the new and definitive direction Raskal would finally take. Released from any classical design expectation and totally free of agreed type design or calligraphic rules, Raskal was born again.

Raskal

Art Direction: Swiss Typefaces
Design: Emmanuel Rey / Swiss Typefaces
Font Development & Technology: Benedikt Bramböck / Swiss Typefaces
Text: Dan Reynolds
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Background illustration: Gaël Corboz

FURE Magazine

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

People are reading, everywhere. There is more text in this world than ever before. Because humanity writes and reads more than ever before: books, reports, newspapers, blogs, tweets, and even WhatsApp messages. The logical conclusion must therefore be: Reading ability can’t be in a bad way after all, and the constant warning of a decline in reading literacy is perhaps more the lament of a pack of cultural pessimists. There is also discussion in the industry about what to do with those who have been lost, who no longer want to buy books, but in a country that puts about 90,000 new publications on the market every year, one can hardly speak of a reading emergency.

Reading is a cultural technique that needs to be practiced. What is currently being practiced, however, is: above all, short-range reading. The small-part reading. And mostly digitally. Quickly checking emails, quickly skimming the news, whoever reads faster is finished faster, faster somewhere else … People still read an incredible amount, but in a different way. Researchers from all over Europe have studied what this does to our reading ability in recent years and recently published their findings in the Stavanger Declaration. The most important, but somehow unsurprising finding: people who read on paper are better at remembering content. Especially longer and complex factual texts that require great concentration are better understood when you have them in front of your eyes on a sheet of paper rather than on a screen. In addition, when reading digitally, readers tend to overestimate themselves, or as the researchers call it: There is an ‘overconfidence in one’s own ability to understand.’ You just think you’ve got it all figured out.

Not only what we read changes us. But also how. We still know too little about how we can sensibly shape the transition to the new technology.

What new roles can print take on in times of digitalization? What ideas and possibilities are there for digital reading? How does this change our reading behavior? How can reading assert itself against other cultural techniques such as playing, listening, or watching? The FURE creates space for statements, visions and positions not only from designers … but also for designers.

FURE Magazine

Editors: Rüdiger Quass von Deyen, Patrick Marc Sommer
Concept, Design & Layout: Fenna J. Flucke, Patrick Marc Sommer
Cover Design: Rüdiger Quass von Deyen
Price: € 19,80
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Picture ©: Marie Rime

Babyn Yar

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

“These are, as of the date of publication, the 28,016 known names of those killed in Babyn Yar:” In the center of the book Babyn Yar — Past, Present, Future, the 39-page core, these names form narrow columns, in tiny, silver lettering. The research project of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center examines the inconceivable that happened on two days in September 1941 not far from the center of Kiev: the mass murder of more than 33,000 Kiev Jews by the Nazi occupiers.

Not only historical texts and photographs are documented; one gets an impression of today’s Memorial Park with its places of remembrance. Future architectural installations are being planned.

The many white pages in the essays are by no means merely empty. They create spaces of the unknown, of pausing, of silence, of speechlessness—in short: of remembrance. Irritating white spaces are also encountered on the picture pages. They cut into the street views of today, as if a superficial layer was being removed. On the following page there is an old photograph that fits perfectly—the transition to historical pictures. Here and there they overlap, as mental collages, in a sense. On a black background, key moments are reconstructed in modern, almost archaeological-looking visualizations.

In the immediate vicinity of the Ukrainian Holocaust Memorial, Russian missiles struck on March 1st of this year. This, too, is now part of the history of this place. One cannot remember conclusively.

Babyn Yar

Authors: Nick Axel, Ilya Khrzhanovsky, Nicholas Korodody, Martin Dean
Publisher: Spector Books, Leipzig
Editor: Nick Axel and the Holocaust Memorial Center 
Design: Larissa Kasper, Rosario Florio, Samuel Bänziger
Workmanship: Gutenberg Beuys Feindruckerei, Langenhagen
ISBN: 978-3-95905-506-2
Price: € 42.–
Buy

Pictures ©: Pixelgarten, Frankfurt am Main

Exhibition 60 Years of Forte

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

On September 28th, the opening of the exhibition 60 Years of Forte, which honors the typeface of the same name, took place in Vienna. Forte, this living typeface, has been used, abused, and often overused for over six decades, since it was published by The Monotype Corporation in 1962. Its designer, Karl Reißberger, has been little known until now. The exhibition 60 Jahre Forte—Die Schrift, die alle kennen (60 Years of Forte) traces the genesis of the “typeface everyone knows” through Reißberger’s early posters, original designs, and advertising materials.

“I am pleased that with this exhibition and publication we have been able to give Forte, probably Austria’s most widespread cultural export worldwide, the recognition it has long deserved. Toshi Omaragi’s revision of the typeface for Microsoft will ensure that it continues to find global use over the next 60 years.” — Tom Koch (Editor)

The exhibition can be visited at designforum Wien until October 26th.

Find the publication finding Forte here.

60 Years of Forte

When?
September 28th–October 26th, 2022

Where?
designforum Vienna Q21/MQ
Museumsplatz 1/Hof 7
1070 Vienna
Austria

Picture ©: Stephan Doleschal

Weltformat Graphic Design Festival 2022

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

Six exhibitions, a symposium with international graphic artists, a competition for newcomers and panel discussions sum up this years edition of Weltformat. Already for the 14th time the Weltformat Graphic Design Festival 2022 takes place in Lucerne. With the pictorial representation of the theme Never Not Moving, the organizers want to introduce a broad audience to the art of motion design on the one hand and allude to the infinite variety that moving graphics offer consumers on the other. At the same time, the exciting diversity of the nine-day event picks up on digital as well as analog trends in design.

The Importance of Motion for Graphic Design
Underlying all graphic design is the same goal; it wants to move. Static productions achieve this through strong symbolism, emotional motifs, or even optical illusions. Films and animations tell stories. Motion design, on the other hand, transforms images, shapes, surfaces, and music into moving image formats. Every blank page presents the design team with the challenge of which technique to use. How much sensation does the job need? Which impulses are to be generated? Who is in focus as viewer and what should be perceived?

These diverse aspects of Never Not Moving are united by Weltformat. With the support of numerous creatives from the international as well as the Swiss graphic design scene, the Graphic Design Festival offers a place for encounters and aims to inspire, inform and motivate.

Weltformat Graphic Design Festival 2022

Program

Saturday, Oktober 08th

  • Opening day: symposium and lunch with curators, team and contributors
    Start 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Stattkino in Bourbaki, Lucerne
  • Vernissage of the main exhibition “We like to move it” at 4:30 p.m. in the Kunsthalle im Bourbaki, Lucerne
  • Opening of the exhibition “100 beste Plakate” with award ceremony Newcomer Award and Apèro 6 p.m. in the Kornschütte, Lucerne

Wednesday, Oktober 12th
Evening event with Florian Krautkrämer at 6 p.m. in the Rex cinema (HSLU Viscosi), Emmenbrücke

Thursday, Oktober 13th
Evening event with round table discussion at 6 p.m. in the Rex cinema (HSLU Viscosi), Emmenbrücke

Friday, Oktober 14th
Evening event with DIA Studio at 6 p.m. in the Rex cinema (HSLU Viscosi), Emmenbrücke

Saturday, Oktober 15th
Graphic bazaar with market stalls of graphic artists, art craft sale from 12 a.m.–6 p.m. at the Bourbaki, Lucerne

Exhibitions
From Oktober 8th to Oktober 16th, 2022: open daily from 12 a.m.–6 p.m.

Poster ©
100 beste Poster: Verena Mack, Severin Weber, Phila Büdding & Jana Rzehak, Nicole Brugger, Neo Neo, Jamy Herrmann, Fons Hickmann, Daniel Peter, Claudiabasel, Bernhard Vögele
Newcomer Award: Zoe Boudreau, Zhou Xuejie, Wanda Dufner Fischbach, Vera Bräm, Ruslan Abasov, Paul Theisen, Manuel Bauer, Manuel Bauer, Luise Motsch, Julius Geyer, Jam Saint, Huapu Fan, Haochen Xing, Federica Zanetti, Darya Rzhepyshevskaja, Daniel Drabek, Daebong Jeong, Christoph Reinicke, Aurore Huberty, Alisa Truong, Adrien Jacquemet-Villebon

finding Forte

Posted on by mareneyra

Forte, this lively and friendly typeface that everyone knows, has been used, misused, and overused for over six decades now, ever since it was published by The Monotype Corporation in 1962. Well-known figures in the typographic world like Stanley Morison and Vincent Connare have stood in the limelight of this typeface’s sprightly lifelines. But the typeface’s designer, Karl Reißberger, remained little known. Until now.

finding Forte traverses the world in search of “findings” such as Reißberger’s early posters, original designs, and advertising materials to trace the origin story of the “typeface everyone knows.” Sixty years after Forte’s first appearance, it has found new life as Toshi Omagari’s revised typeface, Forte Forward. Its release accompanies this book. 

Also finding its way into this book on Forte are the artistic visions of thirty-one contemporary artists who have examined Forte’s formal language in dialog with its historical outlines. The interpretations of these international creatives open up new approaches to typography.

finding Forte

Editors: Mara Reissberger, Tom Koch
Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Release: September 2022
Format: 17 × 24 cm
Volume: 224 pages
Language: English, German
Workmanship: Hardcover with glossy spot varnish, thread-stitching, full color
ISBN: 978-3-948440-42-8
Price: € 29.–
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Typeface of the Month: Rockhopper

Posted on by Juliane Lipp

October’s Typeface of the Month: Rockhopper is designed and published by Jeremy Tankard Typography.

Rockhopper plays with the idea of two typefaces in one. Firstly, it’s a rounded Sans with a softness designed to function well on high resolution screens. Its extended character set handles all manner of text with ease whether this is on-screen or off. Secondly, it explores the potential of cumulative swashes—from single to overkill. A single swash can be used to enhance a word, or many swashes added to visually push the bounds of legibility and expression. Never boring, Rockhopper presents itself with a subversive glint in its eye. A printed specimen is available free here.

1. Rounded Sans
As a simple sans serif type Rockhopper creates a soft text image through its choice of core letter shapes, such as the simpler forms of a and g together with more rolling forms in the Italics (such as e and v). There are no straight lines in Rockhopper, all the stems swell a little at their centre and flow smoothly and seamlessly to their soft rounded terminals. The range of weights stretches from an elegant ExtraLight to an eye-catching and engaging Black.

2. Decorative extremes
Beyond its quiet ability to set beautiful text, Rockhopper can turn up the volume and blur its silhouette through the increasing addition of swash elements. These were designed to allow for a huge range of expression and have been systematically considered through the idea of a ‘swash cloud’ that surrounds each letter. From which, one, two, three, or more swashes can be applied, often resulting in clashes which are expected and encouraged to create a visually rich texture.

The full character set is available to view online, at Typography.net where you can also test drive the fonts and download the Font info PDF.

Design information at StudioType.com
More information about the design of Rockhopper can be found at Studiotype.com and in Footnote 40 at typography.net/publications.

Typeface of the Month: Rockhopper

Foundry: typography.net
Designer: Jeremy Tankard
Release: 2022
File Formats: OTF, WOFF, WOFF2
Styles / widths / weights: Roman and Italics each in 7 weights (ExtraLight, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, ExtraBold, Black)
Price per style / family: a single font from £80 GBP with additional fonts from £60 GBP / family of 14 fonts from £560 GBP
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NaN Success

Posted on by mareneyra

NaN Success is the latest release by Jérémy Landes at Berlin-based label NaN. The three sub-families—Success Titling, Success Sans, and Success Text—all answer, separately and together different questions and challenges raised by typography. It carries without shame the many idiosyncrasies that can make an interesting titling typeface today. Jérémy Landes drew on his obsession with organic curves and his affinity for stylistic contrasts, a kind of Frankensteinian type monster family.

Late Art-Nouveau inspired typefaces, De Vinne, Louis Jou, mixed with a healthy amount of alien goo, he brought the master Success Titling sub-family to life. This display sub-family is packed with an insane 280 ligatures for both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts. In that, Success is an out-of-the-box titling machine for designers. But because this wasn’t enough, Success Titling was augmented with innovative multi-width ligatures and alternates, meaning that compressed and wide glyphs are mixed in with its ligatures providing an inimitable hand-lettered feeling.

As a whole, Success stands as box of tools that might as well never been used together, but that can deliver surprisingly diverse tones of voice.

15% of Success revenue is donated to the NGO ClientEarth, which advocates for climate justice by bringing leaders and major corporations to speak the partnership with ClientEarth ensures that climate action is mindful of inclusion and equity, giving real hope for meaningful results.

To help bring legal action and address the root causes of the environmental crisis, the foundry has decided to offer a 100% discounted license to use Success for any conservation, sustainability, or environmental justice project.

NaN Success

Foundry: NaN
Designer: Jérémy Landes
Release: 2021–2022
Format: ttf, woff2 (Autohinted)
Weights and widhts: Compressed, Narrow, Extra Wide, Thin, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, Black
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Forward Festival Berlin 2022—Recap

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

We were lucky enough to be invited to the Forward Festival Berlin 2022 and spend two inspiring days in Berlin from September 22nd to 23rd with great people at KINO INTERNATIONAL. We had a booth there with other exhibitors where we could sell our publications and present them to the interested audience from the whole creative industry.

Forward returned to Berlin and expanded to a two-day event! It was a program full of highlights ranging from international heavyweights to local heroes of the creative industries, more than 30 speakers on two stages, exclusive side-events, workshops, an interactive expo area, and much more.

For this special occasion, Forward went from afternoon to morning after to unite industry-leading and emerging creatives. As speakers, graphic design legend Eike König, Boogie, Anthony Burrill, galerist Johann König, Erik Kessels, and many more were taking the stage at KINO INTERNATIONAL during day and night.

It was a great two days and we thank the whole Forward team for their great work and look forward to the next time!

Yearbook of Type #6 2022/23

Posted on by Juliane Lipp

You know the scenario: You just want to find a fitting series or movie on your streaming platform—but you can’t find what you are looking for and keep doom-scrolling—until you turn off the computer. 

The same often happens when looking for the perfect typeface for your design. You know, the one that not only conveys the mood you are longing for, but also needs to fulfill all necessary requirements. In a mess of countless open browser tabs, bookmarks, lists, and folders, the right typeface and foundry—characterized by smallest details—is hard to find.

The Yearbook of Type #6 2022/23 is a collection of the latest published typefaces that helps you find the one—from a browse through the book, or quick look in the index that neatly sorts typefaces by class, designers, and foundries. Each font and font family is presented on a double page. On the left page, the font is applied; inspired by this year’s theme of film and drama. To the right, the typeface is described in detail; with all its features, as well as information about the designers and foundries. A complementary online microsite features all fonts with direct links to respective foundries and purchasing options.

The publication is rounded off by a series of essays, interviews, and tutorials on the subject of type design and contemporary typography. The Yearbook of Type #6 2022/23 provides clarity in a world of constant streaming, scrolling, and aimless browsing. Find the typefaces you’re looking for—and maybe even the right movie for the evening!

– Detailed presentation of 208 recent typefaces
– Ample background information
– Index of typeface classifications
– Index of all 200 type designers and 107 foundries from 33 countries
– Explanation of all OpenType features
– Introduction by Matthieu Salvaggio
– Essays by Karen Ann Donnachie, So-Hyun Bae, Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer, Andy Simionato, Jeremy Tankard, Martin Tiefenthaler, and Lies Wolf
– An microsite online links the typefaces directly to the foundries’ websites

Presented type foundries: 205TF, 3type, AG Typography Institute, AinsiFont, Alanna Munro Type Foundry, Apex Type Foundry, Atelier Brueckner, Atypical, Balibilly Design, Bastarda Type, Blaze Type, BLKBK Inc., BrassFonts, Bureau Sebastian Moock, Canada Type, Cape Arcona Type Foundry, Commercial Type, Connary Fagen, Inc., CRU Brand Consultancy, DSType Foundry, Fabio Haag Type, Fable Type Foundry, Face2Face, Finaltype, Formula Type, FSD, FSdesign, Gradient Type, Gregorij, Hanken Design Co., Hoftype, Horizon Type Foundry, HvD Fonts, In-House International, indestructible type*, Jeremy Tankard Typography, Julien Fincker, Kilotype, Kimmy Kirkwood, KOBU Foundry, Kontour, LA BOLDE VITA, Latinotype, Lazydogs Typefoundry, Lift Type, Los Andes Type, LuxTypo, MACHALSKI.WTF, Mark Simonson Studio, Mark van Leeuwen, Mass-Driver, MB Intl., Michal Tornyai, Monkey Type, Monotype, Morisawa.Inc, Moshik Nadav Typography, Mostardesign Type Foundry, NEW LETTERS, Nico Inosanto, Non Foundry, Nouvelle Noire Type Foundry, Nova Type Foundry, Occupant Fonts, Order, Our Polite Society Type, Pangram Pangram, Paratype, Peregrin Studio, PFA Typefaces, Posterizer KG, PSY/OPS, Quicknap.zzz, R-Typography, Road to Venice Type, Rosetta Type Foundry, Schriftlabor, Serpentype, Sharp Type, Skrr Type, Slow Fonts, Stan Hema, studio4oo2, Studio Rene Bieder, Studio Thonik, sugargliderz, Synthview Type Design, The Designers Foundry, The Foundry Types, Tour de Force Font Foundry, TYPE BY, TYPE DEPARTMENT, TYPE FIRM, Typejockeys, TypeMates, Typerepublic, Typerotation, TypeTogether, Typogama, Typotheque, Ultra Kuhl, Viktor Nübel, VivalaType, W Type Foundry, Wannatype, Wiener Schriften, Zetafonts

Our sincerest thanks goes out to all participants: Thank you for being a part of this project and your support and trust in us! You and your typefaces are amazing!

Yearbook of Type #6 2022/23
Movie Edition

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Creative Direction: Lars Harmsen
Art Direction & Managing Editor: Juliane Nöst
Graphic Design Assistance: Saehyeen Shin, Clara Weinreich
Proofreading and Translation: Vicky Blake, Lies Wolf, Julia Kahl
Publishing Direction: Lars Harmsen, Julia Kahl
Microsite: Kolja Buscher
Release: September 2022
Volume: 464 pages
Format (w × h × d): 16 × 24 × 4.5 cm
Language: English
Specials: Hardcover
Color: Printed with 10 HKS Spot Colors, HKS Warenzeichenverband e. V.
Printing: Stober Medien GmbH
Bookbinding: Buchbinderei Klotz GmbH, stitch binding
Cover Material: Peydur neuleinen, 135 g / sm, peyer graphic gmbh
Paper Inside: Holmen TRND 2.0, 80 g / sm, Holmen Paper
Endpaper: SURBALIN seda, 115 g / sm, Pastellblau, peyer graphic gmbh
ISBN: 978-3-948440-41-1

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Tsunagu Mono Gatari—Verbindungsstücke

Posted on by ferdinandulrich

On the occasion of the ten-year anniversary of its artist residency program at Villa Kamogawa, the Goethe Insitute in Kyoto, its director Enzio Wetzel and curator Michael Hirschbichler invited former residents to submit “connecting pieces” (Japanese: tsunagu mono gatari, German: Verbindungsstücke) of Japanese-German cultural exchange for an exhibition and catalogue named Tsunagu Mono Gatari—Verbindungsstücke.

Berlin-based typographers Toshiya Izumo and Ferdinand Ulrich developed the visual concept of the bilingual catalog Tsunagu Mono Gatari–Verbindungsstücke. Their multi-script design is centered around a playful, unconventional approach to the different directions of reading: from top to bottom, left to right, and vice versa. 73 artist cards and a 60-page brochure of essays are held together by two wrappers. Their colors follow a palette selected by textile designer Nari Haase, printed letterpress by Daniel Klotz/die Lettertypen.

All text is set in Alessio D’Ellena’s Laica and in Akira Kataoka’s MaruminKatura, selected to complement each other. In addition to this convergence, the titling face Ribaasu offers a connecting element between the different scripts of both languages. Type designer TienMin Liao exclusively donated her unreleased yet award-winning typeface to this project. The printed catalog is photographed by Norman Posselt with hands of Robyn Steffen.

Tsunagu Mono Gatari—Verbindungsstücke

Publisher: Wasmuth & Zohlen
Volume: 73 artist cards, 60-page booklet
Format: 13 × 21 cm
Languages: Japanese, German
ISBN: 978 3 8030 3416 8
Price: € 28.–
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Dinamo Font Customizer

Posted on by Dinamo

Dinamo believes that customizing fonts should not be an exclusive thing that people need to pay lots of money for. Everyone should have easy access to modifying their own font toolbox! Over the years, the foundry has received numerous emails from customers asking for small changes to their fonts. Mostly, designers fall in love with some of the alternates included in their designs, and they reach out to them because they’d like to make them their new font’s default. In response to this regular inquiry, the Dinamo Font Customizer makes font customization free, quick, and easy for everyone who purchases Dinamo typefaces.

After choosing your typeface, and right before completing the checkout process, you can launch the customizer and select which alternate characters you’d like to make your new font’s default.

Say you’re buying Diatype and would like the double story “a” as your default rather than the single story “a”: You can now simply select that option before checkout and our website will generate personalized font files for you on the fly. The foundry likes to think of it as just as easy as customizing your own trainers on the web portals of personalizable trainer brands.

One more thing! You can also combine the Dinamo Font Customizer with the Custom Font Naming tool to create bespoke font files containing both your preferred alternates and personalized name. When you install the font, it’ll appear in your menu with your chosen name and default characters in all design applications (even WORD 😳).

Dinamo Font Customizer

Convince yourself of Dinamo Font Customizer

Pictoplasma 2022

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

We had the pleasure to attend the 18th Pictoplasma 2022 conference in Berlin on Thursday, September 15th. On the premises of Silent Green met a colorful crowd of friends of character design, illustration, game designers, and leading animation filmmakers.

It was a great day full of inspiring moments on the screen and in conversations with the high spirited participants and hosts. It was noticeable that everyone was very grateful and happy about the reunion after a long time.

The program of the conference was very varied and entertaining with talks, panel discussions, PechaKucha presentations, animation screenings, workshops, and exhibitions.

We especially liked the atmosphere at the puppet workshop of the Austrian artist and illustrator Claudia Six. During her talk before the workshop, she shared with the audience the visions she has had since childhood. Perceiving ghost-like figures in her environment inspires her work as a puppet designer for performances and stage designs for theater and opera. The workshop offered the participants of the conference the opportunity to become creative themselves and to design and present their own puppets in an open environment.

We are really looking forward to the next festival!

Here you get an overview of the entire program of the event.