Soлomiya

Posted on by peterbuennagel

Soлomiya is an independent magazine founded in April 2022 in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine. Artists from Kyiv and Berlin collaborated to make this magazine, which aims to promote the visibility of common democratic and European values shared by people from Ukraine and other European countries. Being a platform of self-expression for the young generation of creatives from Ukraine, Soлomiya is both an itinerant group exhibition and an art object in itself.

The first issue titled War but Art shows some of what has already been lost but even more of what needs to be defended. It contains photographs, collages, texts, and illustrations—and features works by already well-known Ukrainian artists Sasha Kurmaz and Mykola Ridny as well as upcoming talents. Soлomiya has been realized in cooperation with Akademie der Künste and was designed by Kollektiv Scrollan.

Soлomiya

Self-published
Editors: Vsevolod Kazarin, Andrii Ushytskyi, Sebastian Wells
Volume: 128 pages
Format: 31 × 24 cm
Workmanship: Bound with an elastic band
Price: € 16.– / 400.– UAH
ISBN: 987-3-00-072582-1
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Also available at bookshops all over Europe including Kyiv

Forward Festival Vienna 2022

Posted on by mareneyra

From October 6th to 7th the Forward Festival Vienna 2022 takes place. Save your ticket now.

For eight years now, the Forward Festival has been the most important event for the creative industries in the DACH-region, bringing together top international creatives with local greats and up-and-coming young creatives from all areas of the scene. The topics range from graphic design, typography, and animation to advertising and creative entrepreneurship to photography and film. As a platform, Forward stands for broad cooperation between the disciplines and ensures networking within the otherwise often very diversified industry.

The One-And-Only Stefan Sagmeister to Host the Festival
Like no other, design legend Stefan Sagmeister managed to send the sold-out hall at the Forward Festival into ecstasy with his talks. This year he is not only on stage for a talk: as host he will guide the guests through the program for two days, giving never before published industry insights and seeking a dialog with all speakers in the elite timetable.

The Festival and the Network of Finest Creative Talent
For years, the Forward Festival has pursued the mission of bringing together creatives from all over the world and from a wide variety of disciplines, and to provide them with the most impressive and inspiring input possible for their future careers through active participation in the festival events. What Forward has developed over the years is a huge yet close and active network of international creative greats, local heroes of the scene, and a strong community of thousands all around. Founder and curator of the festival Othmar Handl says:

“The idea behind Forward was and is to initiate a unique platform where the creative community can share inspiration, give each other personal feedback, and drive the future of the industry. That so much more has come out of it now makes me incredibly proud. Experiencing all the stories that have already been brought to me about our festival gives us the strength and joy of organizing our events every year new—from long-term professional collaborations, to intense friendships, and even a very popular ‘Forward Baby,’ everything is already there!”

But also beyond the Festival, the founder and his agency Forward Creatives care about constant progress in the industry. Just recently, they launched a network for creative professionals which aims to improve cooperation between brands and creatives.

Forward Festival Vienna 2022

When?
October 6th & 7th, 2022

Where?
GARTENBAU Kino
Parkring 12
1010 Vienna
Austria

Tickets: On-site tickets from € 159.– and On-Site Student-tickets from € 79.–

Tickets for the event on October 6th at GARTENBAU Kino are limited and in high-demand, Livestream tickets are also available on the Forward Festival website.

Find their full program and get an overview here

Images: © Werner Streitfelder, Julian Mittelstaedt, Stefan Sagmeister, jmvotography, Erik Kessels, Niklas Schnaubelt, Kelli Anderson, Niklas Schnaubelt, Ada Sokol, Werner Streitfelder

German Design Awards 2023

Posted on by Tessa Breuer

Whether in editorial, corporate, packaging, UX design, or branding—a well-designed product can be a carrier of the transformation process. If sustainability is considered from the ground up in the design process, i.e. content and the message conveyed are in harmony with each other, the first step towards a credible and successful brand strategy has already been taken. The German Design Awards 2023 aim to promote sustainable transformation from a design perspective.

International companies, designers, architects and agencies can still apply for the German Design Awards 2023 until September 16th, 2022. The international awards by the German Design Council offer the winners the best-possible opportunity for publicity: They are proof of innovation capability and design expertise and demonstrate that the winners are well positioned and also able to differentiate themselves through sustainable design solutions. 

The German Design Awards exclusively honor projects that are leading the way in design. This is overseen by an international jury made up of leading figures from all disciplines of design. Those projects who convince the jury prove that they comply with the growing standards for a sustainable design process and resource- and environmentally-friendly production.

Honors will be given to the best work in the award disciplines Excellent Product Design, Excellent Communications Design, and Excellent Architecture, with a focus on sustainable solutions in all categories. Participants could register for the categories relevant to them. Additionally, there will be an extra category for Universal Design, honoring projects that excel through barrier-free use, flexible application, and intuitive operation.

The Awards
The winners of the awards gain visibility for their success and achieve access to networks, reach, an international presence and even better market opportunities. The awards ceremony in Frankfurt am Main in February 2023 will be one of the year’s biggest design events where international guests from various different industries will meet and converse. The winners of the Gold awards will also be showcased in an exhibition.

The German Design Awards are organized by the German Design Council and are among the world’s most renowned design awards. With roughly 4,500 entries from 63 countries, the German Design Awards 2022 again saw pleasing growth in international interest in the awards.

German Design Council—The Award Giver
The German Design Council has been operating since 1953 as one of the world’s leading centers of expertise in communication and knowledge transfer within design, branding, and innovation. It is part of the worldwide design community and has always contributed to the establishment of global exchange and networking thanks to its international offering, promotion of new talent, and memberships. With events, conventions, competitions, jury meetings, and expert committees, the German Design Council connects its members and numerous other international design and branding experts, fosters discourse, and provides important stimulation for the global economy. More than 350 businesses currently count among its members.

German Design Awards 2023

Registration deadline: September 16th, 2022
Jury meeting: October 20th, 2022
Awards ceremony: February 2023
Information and announcement documents

Submit now!

The Nest—The CalArts Poster Archive Print

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

The Nest—The CalArts Poster Archive Print is a book, conceived and designed by Scott Massey, about process—the process of designing, and how it changes both what we make and who we are. The Nest is also a book about memory—how memory builds up in layers and influences our experiences, as well as the things we make. The focus of The Nest is a series of posters created in celebration of the exhibition Inside Out & Upside Down: Posters from CalArts 1970–2019. The Nest documents Scott Massey’s use of appropriation, collage, layering and re-working to generate 200 unique and vibrant compositions that each tell a different story about creative discovery. 

The Nest was born when Massey, a CalArts alum, was commissioned by curator Michael Worthington to design and print a poster for the Inside Out & Upside Down exhibition. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the exhibition at the Redcat in Los Angeles, CA had been postponed. With the world still in the throes of the global pandemic, this was seen as a time to dig deeper, to reflect on what makes each of us unique and what inspires our lives. At the heart of The Nest is an interest in the way form-making can be influenced by not just the circumstances of the present moment, but just as much by history—from the Bauhaus to Swiss Modernism to the variants of Postmodernism that stemmed from CalArtsand Cranbrook.

Using elements that represent the history and range of the storied CalArts poster archive, this project is an exploration of aesthetic strategies brought to life by blending both digital and analog processes. Layer by layer, step by step, The Nest closely examines each phase of designing those 200 posters. It is a celebration of process and a deep dive into the ever-evolving design values that guide one along the creative process. The Nest is full of personal narratives, conversations about process, the always difficult journey of making, and how memories can guide and inspire. Through interviews, essays, and conversations among designers, The Nest looks to illuminate what it truly takes to start something and to keep going no matter the resistance, until you find your way out.

Conversations and writing by: Denise Gonzales Crisp & Gail Swanlund / Ed Fella & Martin Venezky / Bijan Berahimi, Stefano Giustiniani & Laura Bernstein / Ethan A. Stewart / Juliette Bellocq & Louise Sandhaus / Ian Lynam / Paul Sahre, George Bates & Scott Massey / David Karwan & Michael Worthington  / Joseph Conway / Martin Venezky & Jon Sueda

The Nest—The CalArts Poster Archive Print

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Concept and Design: Scott Massey
Editor: Ethan A. Stewart
Release: September 2022
Format: 216 × 278 mm
Volume: 272 pages
Language: English
Workmanship: Hardcover
Printing: Offset with fluorescents and metallic spot colors by Stober Medien
Binding: Thread-stitching
ISBN: 978-3-948440-11-4
Price: € 45.–
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Exhibition at Wetter- und Klimawerkstatt Offenbach

Posted on by JohannaBieber

Weather, climate, and contemporary art: this field of tension, which is as extraordinary as it is highly relevant, is emerging in a distinguished art project of the Wetter- und Klimawerkstatt (Weather and Climate Workshop) in Offenbach am Main, taking place until October 29th, 2022.

The Wetter- und Klimawerkstatt in downtown Offenbach, which is a cooperative project between the City of Offenbach (Cultural Management and Economic Development) and the German Weather Service DWD, will present nine artistic positions in the upcoming special exhibition In der Mitte des Wetters—Über Klima, Kunst und Wetter (In the Middle of the Weather. On Art and Weather).

The artists will examine our way of life and the question of a climate-friendly society in different ways and, using clouds, smoke, the sea, air, earth, and weather, will tell of how we deal with the world in which we live. Humans have changed the world. The forests on our own doorstep are all too seldom cultivated according to the rules of sustainable forestry. Increasingly, the sediment layers contain “technical fossils” such as aluminum, concrete residues, plastic particles, and carbon compounds from the burning of fossil fuels. Due to the emission of greenhouse gases, the climate has changed noticeably worldwide since the beginning of industrialization. Our waste is not only found in the oceans—and our footprint includes the exploitation of other people around the globe. This has consequences for all of us; climate change with its consequences threatens us humans and also the animal and plant world. The exhibition is intended to stimulate discussion: How do we want to live together in the long term in our city and in a metropolitan region on the river?

The invited artistic positions expand the axes of vision and add very different facets to the dialog: Julius Bokelt, Swaantje Güntzel, Wolf von Kries, Elke Marhöfer, Marie-Luce Nadal, PARA, PRĦPOSITION, Sophie Utikal, and Raul Walch.

Exhibition at Wetter- und Klimawerkstatt Offenbach

When?
Until October 29th, 2022
Tuesday–Friday: 2–7 p.m. 
Saturday: 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

Where?
Wetter- und Klimawerkstatt Offenbach am Main
Frankfurter Straße 39 / Rathaus-Plaza
63065 Offenbach am Main
Germany

Free entrance

Famous Robberies / Let’s Play Indoors / In Great Numbers

Posted on by Julia Kahl

Summer is still in full swing, but the days are getting shorter and in autumn we spend more time at home again. Therefore we present you three wonderfully illustrated children’s books from Little Gestalten, with which you and your children will have a lot of fun:

Famous Robberies
The World’s Most Spectacular Heists

Stealing a world-famous piece of art from a museum or snatching diamonds under 24-hour surveillance: there is a certain fascination for impressive robberies. And the world has seen some truly legendary ones.

Famous Robberies tells the real adventures of those who walked through walls and did the impossible. It introduces the perpetrators of infamous hits like the Great Train Robbery, the Antwerp diamond heist, or the Citibank Hack. With chapters designed in retro-newspaper style, this book will fascinate children for historical events as much as for the investigations and reporting around them.

Editors: gestalten
Author: Soledad Romero
Illustrator: Julio Antonio Blasco
Release date: April 2022
Format: 22 × 27 cm
Volume: 64 pages
Features: Full color, hardcover, stitch bound
ISBN (English): 978-3-96704-728-8
ISBN (German): 978-3-96704-727-1
Buy for € 19.90

Let’s Play Indoors
Fun Crafts for Children

For children, the world is their playground! But sometimes the world is encased by four walls, so it’s time to get creative. Let’s Play Indoors! offers imaginative and resourceful ways to keep kids amused and inspired with games, crafts, and home-styled costumes inside the house.

This book encourages children to take the lead in deciding how to spend their time and is a perfect companion for rainy days or periods spent offline. With simple instructions on how to make paper masks and hand-dyed clothing as well as tips on how to wow friends and family with a shadow puppet performance, Let’s Play Indoors! ensures that time spent inside is never wasted.

This book showcases more than 20 traditional crafts with a modern twist. As well as presenting thoughtful activities that don’t need too much adult supervision or intervention.

Author: Ryan Eyers
Illustrator: Rachel Victoria Hillis
Format: 21 × 26 cm
Volume: 48 pages
Features: Full Color, Hardcover, stitch bound
ISBN (English): 978-3-96704-713-4
ISBN (German): 978-3-96704-712-7
Buy for € 14.90

In Great Numbers
How Numbers Shape the World We Live In

Over the centuries, people have conceived clever ways to use numbers so that we can understand the world around us better, build cities, find our way home, and much more. In Great Numbers tells the story of this groundbreaking invention.

Numbers are so important in our daily lives. How else would we ask for three scoops of ice cream? Or know whether we’ve got 60 minutes left to play with our friends rather than 60 seconds? Why does a minute have 60 seconds anyway and not 100? Where does zero come from and what language do computers understand?

Numbers are everywhere! In Great Numbers will introduce children to the fascinating world of numbers and explains how they help us in our daily life. 1, 2, 3, go!

Authors: Isabel Thomas, Robert Klanten, Maria-Elisabeth Niebius and Raphael Honigstein
Illustration: Daniela Olejníková
Format: 24 × 28 cm
Volume: 64 pages
Features: Full color, hardcover, stitch bound
ISBN (English): 978-3-89955-820-3
ISBN (German): 978-3-89955-819-7
Buy for € 19.90

Recap: Indiecon Festival 2022

Posted on by Julia Kahl

It’s quite a long time ago that we personally were part of Indiecon, the Independent Publishing Festival in Hamburg. More than ever publishers are permanently caught between repetition and reinvention—the topic of this year’s conference and fair with a more international lineup than ever before.

Independent magazine makers and lovers from all over the world shared their passion, stories and perspectives and made this event a place for discourse and cultural exchange. For the exhibiting publishers at Indiecon, there was a special opportunity to talk to independent publishing experts such as Kickstarter, DistriPress, Stack, funk magazine, and Athenaeum in a one-on-one setting with a focus on distribution and funding. Moreover there was a live printing Walk-in Workshop by Drucken3000 and Riso Germany where you could explore the possibilities of risograph printing and discover great paper at the Paper Bar by Inapa.

We really enjoyed the mix of upcoming talents presenting their zines with very small print runs and those who are already known but come up with interesting new projects regularly. Soon we will present you some findings on our channels 😉

Thanks a lot for having us, it was a big pleasure to be part of Indiecon and to meet so many people at our booth from all over the world. Thank you!

Slanted in Stockholm: Christopher West

Posted on by Vicky Blake

When visiting Stockholm in the summer of 2021, we took a close look at the contemporary design scene. We were happy to meet great designers from the local creative scene, among them Christopher West!

Studio Christopher West is a small independent design studio. The studio was founded in 2009 by Christopher West, after graduating from the Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. In 2012, he relocated from Amsterdam to his native Stockholm. The assignments come from a broad variation of clients within the fields of fashion, architecture filmmaking, music, and art, to name a few.

Christopher West’s work can be found in the Slanted Magazine #39—Stockholm. Additionally we shot a video interview to talk about his attitude and view of things. Take a look at our new issue and the video platform to encounter new ways of design thinking!

Portrait and studio photography: © Thomas Mandl
Product photography: © Christopher West

Typeface of the Month: Franzi Pro

Posted on by Vicky Blake

In September our Typeface of the Month: Franzi Pro is a sans-serif by the Vienna based type foundry Wannatype. 

The new sans-serif Franzi typeface family—as neutral as can be, but at the same time individual and striking. Its unmistakable character lies in the detail, with no effect pushing itself to the fore. As a wide-running typeface with a relatively large x-height (fig. 2), the typeface family is perfectly suited to small text sizes but, with its elegant details, it leaves nothing to be desired in display applications either (fig. 3).

A total of 20 well-developed fonts are available: ten weights from hairline to black, each of which can be upright and italic (fig. 4). The italics are softly and elegantly drawn, while the upright characters appear much more severe. The design appeal reveals itself in the two-storey ‘a’—a tribute to legibility in body copy (fig. 5); however, for those who prefer the geometric in applications, an alternative single-storey ‘a’ is also available (fig. 6).

All styles have small caps, superscript and subscript lowercase letters, lining, non-lining, and small caps figures, fractions as well as several ligatures, alternative fonts, symbols, and arrows. The Latin uppercase letters are also available as discreet swash variants. In addition to the extended Latin alphabet, the typeface family also includes the complete Greek, Cyrillic, and International Phonetic Alphabet IPA (fig. 7). Franzi is always a proper choice for striking poster designs or corporate communication (figs. 8–10).

Franzi was created as a further development of a commission to produce signs for a therapy practice in Vienna’s Franz-Hochedlinger-Gasse— hence the name, which is more common as an abbreviation for Franziska than as a diminutive for the male name Franz: Franzi is therefore a hybrid typeface name which has female tendencies.

Typeface of the Month: Franzi Pro

Foundry: Wannatype
Designer: Ekke Wolf
Release: June 2022
Format: otf, woff, woff2, ttf (variable font)
Weights: Hairline, ExtraLight, UltraLight, Light, Regular, Medium, DemiBold, Bold, ExtraBold, Black
Price per weight / family: € 24.– / € 200.– (complete pack oder variable font)
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GRAPHIT 2022

Posted on by aennsing

For the third time, the GRAPHIT 2022 — Festival for Illustration and Urban Sketching is taking place in Erfurt, Germany. GRAPHIT explores cultural, artistic and creative-economic aspects of drawing, reflects contemporary visual culture, and brings creative people together in a scientific festival format. The three-day symposium is taking place from September 23rd to 25th, 2022, packed with workshops, lectures, debates, and open workspaces.

GRAPHIT will be filled to the brim with lectures and workshops, invites lecturers, and speakers from near and far to Erfurt. Participants are not only given an insight into the creative world of the invited professionals, but are also offered the opportunity to leave their own comfort zone and explore other areas of design within the framework of the workshops. But even away from the regular program events, there will be the opportunity for an exchange of experiences, lively discussions, and joint creative processes.

The symposium will take place at Kontor, Retronom, and Schambrwoski. In a dignified atmosphere, perfect for these intensive creative and concentration phases, things will really get going, while also providing for all kinds of retreat and relaxation.

Participation in the symposium and individual event points is limited due to room capacities and is possible with a ticket. Tickets are available for the whole symposium (Friday to Sunday), for the whole Saturday or for the opening on Friday. The Battle on Saturday is also accessible via evening box office. Participation in the tour on Sunday is free of charge for those interested.

GRAPHIT 2022

Where?
KONTOR–Hugo-John-Straße 8 / 99086 Erfurt
RETRONOM–Snokksen e.V. // Johannesstraße 17a / 99084 Erfurt
SCHAMBROWSKI–Magdeburger Allee 90 / 99086 Erfurt
Germany

When?
September 23rd to 25th, 2022

Get your ticket here!

FC Style Magazin No. 2—KINGSIZE

Posted on by Slanted editors

FC Style is the new fashion supplement of the German news magazine: FOCUS. Following the first issue starring Robert Lewandowski × Juergen Teller the new FC Style Magazin No. 2—KINGSIZE features Johann König × Lars Eidinger.

Johann König is the pop star of German art galleries, especially with his König Galerie in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Lars Eidinger is one of the most talented German theater and movie actors. Among other big roles in theater at the Berlin Schaubühne, he played Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare’s Tragedy.

For this FC Style magazine, Lars Eidinger portrayed Johann König in his gallery and is shown as Prince Hamlet, photographed by Juergen Teller on the picture on König’s T-Shirt.

Also, the magazine is accompanied by frogs: They unfortunately are almost as endangered as bees. That is why you can find a few of the most beautiful specimens take place on these pages.

FC Style Magazin No. 2—KINGSIZE

Editor in Chief: Jörg Harlan Rohleder
Creative Direction: Matthias Last / Studio Last
Release: July 2022
Font: PP Eiko by Pangram Pangram, Basis Grotesque Pro by Colophon Foundry
Format: 247 × 380 mm

Striated

Posted on by rvt

Striated was designed with display purposes in mind. Its three weights with their respective Italics cater to a variety of application settings, be it in print or on screen. It can be categorized as a mixture between a Grotesque and Geometric typeface with a pinch of heavily formalized elements.

Striated uses letterforms that are often seen—and more or less registered—since the beginning of the 19th century as a basis. Nevertheless, it is also clearly rooted in the experiments of the Bauhaus school of design and their pursuit to reduce letterforms to the utmost essential. These principals keep permeating design practice today, but however futuristic the resulting shapes then may be, due to the heavy exposure to minimal shapes in the second half of the 20th century, carried by aspirations to conquer space, they often seem a bit dusty from todays perspective.

Striated tries to find a balance in negotiating the past and future by evoking a feeling of being a well known old companion and being forward oriented at the same time.

Striated

Foundry: Road to Venice Type
Release: April 2022
Styles and Weights: three weights from Medium to Heavy with their respective Italics
File Formats: otf, woff2 + Trial fonts
Price Single Style: € 55.–
Price Combination Roman + Italic: € 80.–
Price Family: € 195.–
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Mallorca International Art Award

Posted on by Vicky Blake

Founded by the private initiative of a group of dedicated collectors and art lovers, the Mallorca International Art Award will be presented for the first time in September 2022.

The jury has now announced the winners from a group of 43 participating artists. The Mallorca International Art Award prize winner in the category of mid-career artists is Marcelo Viquez. The winner in the category of emerging artists under 35 is Alba Suau.

About the Award
The MIA Award 2022 was launched by Mercedes Estarellas, gallery owner at Kaplan Projects in Palma, and Paul Jörg Feldhoff, Ulf Appel, and Anne Nowitzki from Frankfurt am Main. The initiative has come together with the aim of promoting the work of artists who live in Mallorca or are connected to the island. The creation of the Mallorca International Art Award is therefore of extraordinary importance for contemporary art on Mallorca. It enables the further development of artistic positions there. At the same time, with the art award, an important instance for the promotion of contemporary art on an international level has been launched. In this way, the high level of artistic creation on Mallorca is brought into focus beyond the local borders. The group therefore attaches great importance to the permanent establishment of this art prize.

The festive award ceremony is embedded in the Nit de l’Art in the patio of the Museu de Mallorca. On this legendary night, all of the city’s museums are open and shine brightly: in late summer September, the Mallorcan capital and its art scene show their best and most spectacular side. Far away from “Ballermann-tourism,” art, and culture enthusiasts as well as artists get to know each other on the popular island. It is the night of the year for an inspiring exchange!

Mallorca International Art Award

When?
September 16th
7 p.m.

Where?
Museu de Mallorca
Calle de la Portella
507001 Palma de Mallorca

Slanted in Stockholm: Konst & Teknik

Posted on by Vicky Blake

When visiting Stockholm in the summer of 2021, we took a close look at the contemporary design scene. We were happy to meet great designers from the local creative scene, among them Mattias Jakobsson and Peter Ström!

Konst & Teknik is a design studio based in Stockholm. It was founded by Mattias Jakobsson and Peter Ström in 2006. Since the foundation, they have worked together and in collaboration with others for clients in both culture and commerce. They also initiated many collaborative projects like web services Linkli.st. The studio is currently focusing on digital identities, web development, and teaching.

Konst & Teknik’s work can be found in the Slanted Magazine #39—Stockholm. Additionally we shot a video interview to talk about his attitude and view of things. Take a look at our new issue and the video platform to encounter new ways of design thinking!

Portrait and studio photography: © Thomas Mandl
Product photography: © Konst & Teknik

Universal Thirst

Posted on by Vicky Blake

The six-year-old design studio has unveiled a new website to mark the launch of the Universal Thirst font library, which specializes in Indic scripts.

The foundry’s mission is to expand the design possibilities for Indic writing systems such as Devanagari, Tamil, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, and Bangla, through experimental releases as well as functional, reliable branding, editorial, and document fonts. Universal Thirst will provide expert typographic support to global brands and startups operating in South Asia or expanding their business in the region.

Universal Thirst was set up in 2016 by founders Gunnar Vilhjálmsson and Kalapi Gajjar, who bring a collective 22 years experience in the global type design industry. The foundry is headquartered in Reykjavik and Bangalore, and works with a team of type designers with extensive Indic and Latin font expertise. Projects to date include collaborations with Google, Falcon Enamelware, The Gourmand, Icelandair, Frieze Art Fair, and Dishoom.

This font library, available for license by individuals and companies, launches with five font families: Sarvatrik, Ilai, Ouma, Seismic, and Meursault.

In addition to releasing new designs and working on custom projects, they have also launched a new digital journal, The Universal Thirst Gazette. It will explore the design cultural history of Indic type and typography, in an effort to support brands’ and designers’ knowledge of Indic languages and their typographic counterparts.

Universal Thirst’s website was designed and developed by Math Practice, E Roon Kang and Wonyoung So. Universal Thirst Gazette was designed and developed by Paul Sturm and Salomi Desai. UT Polar Bear and Lion emblem by Sophy Hollington.

Open Manifesto

Posted on by Vicky Blake

Formist Editions is thrilled to release this curated anthology Open Manifesto of design writing, collected by Kevin Finn.

“It’s opinionated, it’s inspiring, it’s illuminating and it’s cheeky. Open Manifesto is a great, necessary read and an important advocate for the role and potential design can provide in our culture, and the world.” — Debbie Millman, host, Design Matters

In 2003, the then Joint Creative Director at Saatchi Design Sydney, Kevin Finn founded the independent design journal Open Manifesto under the modest banner Some thoughts on graphic design. In the fifteen years that followed, Open Manifesto proved to be a lot more, and threw out the rule book of what a design journal should be.

While always delivering a heady mix of knowledge and journalism, Open Manifesto exhibited astonishing breadth, exploring how design intersects across social, cultural, political and economic fields. It sought to understand the way design permeates our lives—past, present, and future.

An unsung gem obsessively read by those in the know, Open Manifesto featured essays by and interviews with a host of high profile international thinkers and practitioners. It included designers Michael Bierut, Bob Gill, Milton Glaser, Paula Scher, Ji Lee, George Lois, Jessica Walsh, Wally Olins, Dean Poole, Peter Saville, Ros Moriarty, Vince Frost and Rudy VanderLans. By extending its remit, contributions also came from a diverse range of individuals such as philosopher Edward de Bono, Academy Award winning film director Errol Morris, author Helen Walters, peace activist Rami Elhanan, psychologist Adam Grant, cultural tourism expert Helen Palmer, ex-CIA operative Larry J. Kolb, artist Nicole Foreshew, cyborg Neil Harbissonand real life superhero Master Legend.

These writings and more have been gathered together in a new publication to celebrate the journal’s legacy. This book is lovingly curated and crafted, featuring more than 40 essays and interviews, alongside new texts by Kevin Finn, and with a foreword by design commentator Debbie Millman outlining the journal’s fascinating history and undeniable influence.

Open Manifesto

Design: Formist
Collection by: Kevin Finn
Foreword: Debbie Millman
Format: 170 × 240 mm
Volume: 352 p.
Price: $ 35.—
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Aerobik

Posted on by Image Format

Here comes Lift Type’s new Aerobik display typeface! With its unique bouncing aesthetics made out of outlines, it does not match any existing typographic style. It refers as much to graffiti in some aspects as to the way motion and speed are represented in comic books.

Conceived to be used with regular case or capital letters, it turns out to be surprisingly readable in both ways.

As flexible as it is intense, Aerobik is a characterful font that borrows its forms from both graffiti and comics to unfold its expressiveness.

A mix of movement lines, bubbles, cartoonish explosion, which gives a unique personality to each letter. From a large number of drawings and experiments Image Format gave birth to the design of this font. The studio focused on the harmony, overall rhythm, and dynamism of each letter, while maintaining legibility.

The loops and breaks give a volume effect to this titling font that draws towards abstraction. This single weight font is available for purchase for print and web exclusively from Lift Type.

Aerobik

Type foundry: Lift Type
Designers: Image Format
Release date: January 2021
Weights: Regular
File formats: OTF, WOFF
Test version: Trial available on lift-type.fr
Price: € 50.–
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Walzstipendium

Posted on by Vicky Blake

Der Verein für die Schwarze Kunst Dresden e.V. offers friends of artistic crafts the opportunity to learn the basics of black art and to implement their own projects in up to 20 different workshops. For 2023, the association is awarding six walking tours for two months each in different workshops. Four of these are reserved as Walzstipendium for scholarship holders under the age of 30, which the association supports with 1,000.– Euro each.

The application deadline is October 1st, 2022. If no sufficient number of wanderers can be selected, further applications will be accepted without a time limit.

The application is informal, but should contain at least the following points: Name, age, profession / education. How did you hear about the call for applications? Motivation and previous knowledge. Own project. Preferred period and time restrictions. Letter of recommendation from a workshop / specialist.

The waltz does not have to be completed continuously for two months, but in a maximum of six months. The scholarship is paid out in several parts, in each case after confirmation of the respective workshop. The time of the roll must be coordinated with the participating workshops. In addition, a written report on the experience gained during the roll must be submitted at the end of the roll.

Walzstipendium

Send your application here: 
Manufaktur Willi Beck für Bleisatz und Buchdruck
Oskar-von-Miller-Strasse 5 a
85221 Dachau
Or via email

Slanted in Stockholm: Gábor Palotai

Posted on by Vicky Blake

When visiting Stockholm in the summer of 2021, we took a close look at the contemporary design scene. We were happy to meet great designers from the local creative scene, among them Gábor Palotai!

Gábor Palotai works across genres in both art and design. His world of visual art has been realized in different media, during the years. His works operate with a holistic concept of visual culture. Reflecting his expanded understanding of graphic design, in his consistently formulated oeuvre, besides conventional formats and media, other, hardly classifiable or less common genres are present, such as artist books, non-narrative digital motion pictures, and printed textiles.

Gábor Palotai’s work can be found in the Slanted Magazine #39—Stockholm. Additionally we shot a video interview to talk about his attitude and view of things. Take a look at our new issue and the video platform to encounter new ways of design thinking!

Portrait and studio photography: © Thomas Mandl
Product photography: © Gábor Palotai

Tragic Grotesk

Posted on by Vicky Blake

Tragic Grotesk is not neutral: On the contrary, it attempts to negotiate a mediating act between warmth and humanity on the one hand and technical directness on the other. The shapes and proportions of Tragic Grotesk were designed with the aim of balance and harmony.

The openings such as a, c, e, and s are semi-open and the stroke endings of these letters are slightly slanted. Furthermore elements from pre-Helvetica times were mixed in: references to the design of grotesque typefaces from the late 19th century.

Further design properties: Technical, DIN-related straight lines have been injected into the round shapes. And finally to accentuate the human aspect of the typefaces the diagonals of Tragic Grotesk are curved ever so slightly. This adds a bit of a calligraphic and thereby a warm touch to letters such as A, K, k, V, v, X, x, Y, and y.

The italic styles of Tragic Grotesk aren’t actually italic—they are only slanted. Historically this is the lazy approach. And yet these slanted forms have a charming aesthetic and if done correctly they are just as tedious to draw as the italic forms. If you are into those latter forms you can find them in the glyphs palette or in the stylistic set through the OpenType features.

Some characters (I, i, J, j, G, a, and l) have alternate forms. They may be used to change the feel of the typeface slightly. OpenType features make it possible to globally access and change these forms across a text or document.

In total Tragic Grotesk is not neutral: It conveys warmth and digital clarity. It is best used for: Brand, Editorial, Poster, and Book Design. Since it was optimized for screen use its also a great fit for user interfaces.

Tragic Grotesk was originally commissioned by the German savings and loan association Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall. As part of their brand redesign (headed by the German branding agency Strichpunkt) a custom typeface family pertinent to their brand strategy and positioning was created. This type family (named Fuchs (German for fox) was later extended and is now being released as a retail typeface under the name Tragic Grotesk.

Tragic Grotesk

Foundry: Character Type
Designer: Henning Skibbe
Release: 2022
Styles / widths / weights: Thin, Thin Italic, Light, Light Italic, Regular, Regular Italic, Medium, Medium Italic, Bold, Bold Italic, Black, Black Italic, Heavy, Heavy Italic, Ultra, Ultra Italic, 700+ glyphs per style
Price: 45.– Euro, 360.– Euro
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Find more info here!

INDEX—Issue #2

Posted on by Vicky Blake

INDEX—Issue #2 is a printed journal made through a continual remix from a shared pool of writing, photography, and drawings drawn from and added to the public domain.

INDEX started during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in 2020 as a collaboration across three states and two time zones—a way for friends to share visual journals of their respective experiences during lockdown. The design process evolved to encourage chance operations, each designer free to additively modify, deconstruct, and reuse elements from each other’s work. After three consecutive rounds of edits, the resulting collective work is published online and via print-on-demand, inviting further chance operations in the printing process, bookbinding, and shipping.

In each issue, we expand upon a common set of visual techniques to communicate and explore how much is designed, including history and place. And how we are now together unpacking the sedimentary layers, excavating bias, then dismantling, mocking, remixing, recasting, reclaiming. The International Style as a carrier wave to redeliver historical oppression as a mirror. Mangling modernism. Free improvisation and cut-up. Détournement and dérive. Experimental publishing. Design as therapy. Design practice as acts of reclamation.

“Those with the power of definition can, in a sense, create ‘place’ by arbitrarily regionalizing the external world.” —Kay J. Anderson

The first issue, Flat, explored what we observed as the flattening, flatness, and related qualities of life in an emerging new normal.

Issue #2—Free explores what we observe as enabling, inhibiting, using, and defining the idea of “free” and related qualities of living today. We address the concept of freedom as a brand—for those with immigrant backgrounds and for those living and working within it.

The name INDEX is inspired by the manicule. The manicule (☞) is a shared symbol between the reader, printer, and publisher that indicates and points at notable parts of the text. Usually seen in the form of a pointing hand in the margins of the text, the manicule (from the Latin “maniculum” or “little hand”) or “mutton fist” has been used since at least 1535 but lost favor during the advent of the automated printing which preferred industry-accepted footnoting devices such as the * and the dagger: †.

INDEX—Issue #2

Concept, Design, Editing: Andrew Chee, Virgilio Santos
Research, Writing: Andrew Chee
Contributors, Writing: Stella Santos
Release: June 2022
Publishing: Rote Press
Format: 210 × 297 mm
Volume: 676 pages
Edition: Limited edition of 250 copies
Language: English
Printing: Black & white
Paper: 60# uncoated white, matte cover
Binding: Paperback Copyright:
Printed in USA CC-BY-SA INDEX, New York, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-952434-09-9
Price: $35.–
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Variable Color Fonts

Posted on by Tabletto

Learn to make your own Variable Color Fonts in a couple of hours with Typearture.

From the moment variable fonts were introduced (on September 14th, 2016), Dutch designers Jeroen Disch and Thomas Dahm were fascinated by this new technique. It gives type designers a lot of creative freedom, both in terms of new forms of expression and typographic sophistication. It adds new dimensions to typography (motion, programmability) and breathes new life into old qualities (optical size, grade).

But … how do you actually make a variable font? That is what they asked themselves two years ago. They searched for a maestro who could teach them. They found Arthur Reinders Folmer (aka Typearture). In order not to keep that knowledge to themselves, they organized four workshops with more than 100 participants.

These workshops formed the basis for the Variable Font Course, on which they have been working recently. In eleven video lessons, Arthur teaches you how to create a variable color font using Glyphs App, process it in HTML/CSS, and have it animate in the browser.

Their goal is to make variable fonts accessible to the largest possible group of designers, developers, type lovers, students, and other creatives. In a few hours, you have created your first variable font.

Course leader Arthur Reinders Folmer is one of the leading typographers in the variable font world. Arthur won awards from Communication Arts and Type Directors Club. His experimental work consists of a Frankensteinian combination of variable fonts, color fonts, and illustrations. Type designer Ulrike Rausch did not call him “the absolute craziest variable color font designer on planet earth!” for nothing.

Variable Color Fonts

Take the course!

Fit Devanagari

Posted on by Vicky Blake

Fit Devanagari is Kimya Gandhi’s extension of the original Fit typeface. This Indic companion has taken Fit’s strict rules of construction, flipped some around, and translated others into a new design that is simultaneously “fitting” of the Fit name, but also true to the history and expectation for Devanagari letterforms.

The family goes to extremes that have little precedent in the Devanagari script. Its ten weights start at an impossibly narrow Skyline style, and then balloon up an average of 3,600% per character to reach the gargantuan Ultra Extended style. In between these ridiculous extremes, you will find a family rich in panache and expressive potential.

Fit is anchored by its white shapes: regardless of width, the spaces within and between the letters always remain the same. These white shapes cut dramatically through the letterforms, a spellbinding maze of black and white.

Maybe it’s not ideal for book typography, but Fit opens up countless possibilities at large sizes. It’s an excuse to explore variable font technology and let your imagination run wild. Hopefully Fit Devanagari encourages designers to use the Devanagari script in new and enchanting ways!

Conjuncts are an integral part of the Devanagari script. A complex single conjunct embodies semantic, physical, and phonetic integrity. These are letterforms formed by the combination of two or more consonants. Generally, most can be written horizontally / linearly, as a combination of a half-form and full consonant. Others occur either vertically stacked or combined into a more complex letterform—these are referred to as “akhand conjuncts.”

Fit Devanagari is available directly from its designer at Mota Italic. It is also included with versions of Fit offered at DJR, including a free trial and educational license.

Fit Devanagari

Designer: Kimya Gandhi
Foundry: Mota Italic
Release: 2022
Languages: Devanagari
Styles: 10 Static + 1 Variable Font
Characters: 1,272
Trial fonts
Specimen PDF
Prices: € 50.88 Desktop, € 50.88 Web, € 76.32 Embedding
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Slanted in Stockholm: Payman Hazheer

Posted on by Vicky Blake

When visiting Stockholm in the summer of 2021, we took a close look at the contemporary design scene. We were happy to meet great designers from the local creative scene, among them Payman Hazheer!

Payman Hazheer is a Swedish photographer and is based in Stockholm. He focuses in street portraits and photo journalism and has been published by Leica Photography International. He has been promoted by the Museum of Photography in Stockholm. Leica has described Hazheer’s ability to photograph strangers in the street as quote “Hazheer’s camera is an instrument that turns strangers into familiar faces.”

Payman Hazheer’s work can be found in the Slanted Magazine #39—Stockholm. Additionally we shot a video interview to talk about his attitude and view of things. Take a look at our new issue and the video platform to encounter new ways of design thinking!

Portrait photography: © Payman Hazheer