The Typeface MANTIS is based on coral structures and the rapid movements of a praying mantis – both endangered species in our ecosystem

Poster experimentation for lecture at HAW – design faculty

I like to experiment with layout and deconstruct everything, and make a whole new layout out of it.

The poster was designed for Hanreti: The Afterdark Filmpremiere at Neubad Klub in Lucerne, Switzerland.

This poster is part of a series of event posters all created within a design framework developed by Neubad. Each event poster was to be designed by a different designer, but in order to keep the series consistent and recognisable, every poster would be type-based and in black and white. Working within this framework, it was up to each designer to translate the vibe of the event into the design.
In our case, we made a poster for a brass band called “Le Rex”. Our idea was to create an abstract brass instrument forming the name of the band. The bulging bag was an attempt to visualise the sound of a brass instrument.

The second issue Witten Lab Magazine, published by WittenLab. Zukunftslabor Studium fundamentale of University Witten/Herdecke is all about connections and networks. With a bold colourblocking cover design we are playing with forms and the significant letter „W“. The editorial can be read on each page of the magazine. This connects all the pages in the magazine. We experimented with ligatures, recombinations of diverse typefaces and text-in-text layouts.

For many of our projects, we have designed completely custom fonts. Often it started with just one word, which we wanted to give a certain expression. In this way, more than 25 typefaces have been created, which have found their uses on posters, in books or in campaigns and packaging. All typefaces are collected in de ZTF-Typefoundry, where the Z stands for ‘Zeeburgerpad’ the location of our studio in Amsterdam.

Three works on the creation of customized typeface with geometric shapes trough letters. Each of these characters has been cut on rigid plastic or wood. Another way to present typography outside of print medias. With integration of these letters in an environment.

If you haven’t red, use white : Assembly of red plates with engraving and letter cutting. This work was the subject of an exhibition in a gallery in collaboration with other artists.

Bad road : Plastic letters cut out and placed on a disused railway line.

Jump over type : Wood letters with red plastic support glued over it. This sentence offers two levels of reading because of the hidden word “Move” (hachured letters).

The positioning of this typographic research examines archetypal qualities of topography and heritage in the North East of England. Through process driven methods the Teesside landscape becomes a catalyst for responding through making, observing and recording. From the legacy of the Iron and Steel Works to the ICI chemical processing industries, the typeface works are a synthesis of this story, as experimental works. As an ongoing research project exploring regeneration and producing a number of short forms: re-examining of landscape, through environmental, kinetic and sculpted typography. The typeface has also developed character glyphs to denote narrative and heritage.

Ehrie is a typeface designed by Rafał Buchner with animation in mind. The design process started with the question: “what would happen if we use a variable font axis to make letters completely disappear?”. We started with a condensed, slightly chubby design, which dematerialized into a stencil version. The challenge was to get these intricate shapes, full of tiny details, to technically animate and perform well in a variable font environment.

Using Ehrie variable font, you can play with the experimental “Disappear” variation axis. It gives control over how much the text splits into pieces and ultimately fades away.

Our wordmark and corporate typeface reflects our brand core: letters that are content with their permanent incompleteness and therefore relaxed are constantly looking for the right form. This principle is applied in a practicable form: in addition to text and headline cuts, special styles have been developed that put unfinished and searching forms in the foreground.
In combination with a playful wording and a branding reduced to typography and concise colors, the corporate typeface works across the board.

nON-bINary is a gender neutral font, inclusive and very esoteric typeface…
An alchemical process in which primitive and arcane pictograms become tools of modern communication.
More than an alphabet, a system of signs born from an accurate analysis.
The synthesis of this maniacal research is nON-bINary, a font that tries to free the legacies trapped inside each letter, break its cage and reveal its DNA, erase the traces of the centuries, the height, the shape, the variants, the cultural influences.
Type design as a genealogy of symbols: an experimentation, a reflection on diversity and integration, but above all an appeal to what makes us unique: being human.

Hadassa is a classical Hebrew font designed by Henri Friedlander. It is rumored that during his drafts he shaped the letters as three dimensional shapes out of wood and stone. The process of designing this font was very long and one of the most complicated endeavors to the Hebrew script. I tried tributing this work while trying to experiment with the feeling of materiality in the letters.

The riso print poster series for Galerie Block C is used as an ongoing typographic experiment platform. Each poster investigates a design system that intertwines background and readability.

ConcreType: concrete letters
ConcreType is an original paperweight, bookend or, simply, a decorative object in concrete which, with its original materiality, enriches our perception of everyday life.
ConcreType is one of the many research and experimentation spaces within the design-associati studio. Bringing the typefaces we have developed over the years to three-dimensionality is more than an exercise in style. It is a study on the alphabetical sign, on matter, on shapes, on light and on the limitations imposed by the use of materials.
The “A” that we present comes from the research done in the lettering of the Italian cinema posters, of which we have developed the entire alphabets.

Birth poster

Theatre poster for a play based on Kafka’s unfinished short story “The Burrow”

Poster for a concert by the Swiss indie pop band Frederik at Neubad in Lucerne

I am fascinated by neon letter signs that partially burn out and mean something entirely different from its original intent. In this case, the New Jackson Hotel has become “New Jack Ho” which correlates with the hotel’s gritty 90s urban vibe.

The Japanese term “onomatopoeia” are words that represent sounds. One of the categories of onomatopoeia is “Giongo” which are sounds made by inanimate objects and nature. This project is a typographical visualization of what it means to “reverberate.” Letters are repeated in different sizes and forms to resonate as if in a series of echoes.

A study/doodle of real-time lettering using Touchdesigner.

“Attendance” is a typographic project for a club where performances take place in complete darkness. This is meant to allow visitors to experience the music optimally – without seeing, without taking pictures – just listening. I was inspired by radar devices – devices that allow us to estimate space without using the sense of sight. I focused on the radar output screens where a continuous circular scan appears and reveals the relevant information.

“Black Widow” is an experimental Hebrew typeface for modern illuminated initials. In order to make it decorative I created my own brief – each letter is built from just one curling line.
My inspiration for this project was the fashionable Cruella DeVil which for me symbolised a smoky decorative and lonely character, same as illuminated initials. The upper letter is “Alef” – the first Hebrew letter and the lower is “Tsadi” which is the 18th out of 22.