magCulture Live 2021

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

After a year on hiatus, (physically at least — magCulture Live 2020 was held over Zoom à la lockdown) magCulture Live is back on Thursday, November 4th, 2021, in London. And for the first time, there are live streaming tickets available if you’re not able to make it to London. 

Created around the mantra, “we love magazines!” the all-day event will champion great magazine work across art direction, editorial design, photography, illustration, and typography. The day will also be a celebration—at last, an opportunity to come together again and celebrate the creativity at the heart of magazine culture!

“From eighties innovator Terry Jones (i-D) and creative director Alex Breuer (The Guardian) to today’s big indie successes (Kinfolk, MacGuffin) and the latest generation of new magazines, we’ll hear what powers the evergreen desire to create, publish, sell, and read printed magazines,” added magCulture founder, Jeremy Leslie. 

First speakers confirmed
Alex Breuer, Creative director, The Guardian
Terry Jones, Founder, i-D magazine (Commissioned film interview and live Q&A)
Kirsten Algera, editor-in-chief, MacGuffin
Dan Crowe, editor-in-chief, Port and new launch Inque
Osman Bari, founder, Chutney Magazine
Olu Michael Odukoya, creative director, Modern Matter
Harriet Fitch Little, editor, Kinfolk and editor-in-chief, Kindling
Georgeous Michael, founder, Louche
David McKendrick, creative director, Paperboy Magazine
Sachini Imbuldeniya, executive creative director, Studio Pi
Rhona Ezuma, editor-in-chief, Thiiird

Plus! There’ll be additional side events as well as the magCulture pop-up shop; a highly concentrated version of the bricks-and-mortar “terrazzo-floored former newsstand”—as The New York Times Magazine described the shop when they visited way back when.

magCulture Live 2021

When?
Thursday, November 4th, 2021
9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Where?
magCulture Live
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square
London, UK WC1R 4RL

Get your tickets here! Subscribe to the we love magazines newsletter to be the first to hear news as we update the schedule.

The Lost Writings of James Douglas Morrison

Posted on by Alessia Oertel

Broken into three volumes, The Lost Writings of James Douglas Morrison is a collection of poems, notebook entries, and recitals written by Jim Morrison over his lifetime. This project is an attempt to redesign his books that reflect the fragmentation of his thoughts and provide an insight into his inner conflicts that led to the creation of some of the most prominent lyrics in music history.

Volume 1: Wilderness, published in 1988
Volume 2: The American Night, published 1991
Volume 3: An American Prayer, 1970 (self-published by Jim Morrison)

James Morrisons personality helped define the visual language of the project. People remember him for his larger than life persona. But he always wanted to be recognized as a poet fighting for freedom.

The color palette is reduced to black to reflect the dark undertone of his writings. Black and white marbling patterns are present on the covers and hidden in between the pages. Marbling texture reflects on the lifestyle of Jim Morrison. It serves as a symbol for his rich, complex inner self and keen perception of details. Pages are left with additional white space to help poems unfold with ease.

The collection The Lost Writings of James Douglas Morrison uses a timeless classical font combination of Didone, Scotch Modern, and Scotch Micro. The character of the fonts reflects the sensitivity and strength of Jim Morrison.

The Lost Writings of James Douglas Morrison

The project was created as part of Alessia Oertel’s bachelor thesis at Muthesisus Kunsthochschule and is not for sale.

FORMAT #27 Wut

Posted on by leonbeu

FORMAT is the design magazine of the students of the HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd. It is written, designed, and published by the students on their own responsibility. One issue is published per semester, which deals with a general topic of social and design relevance. The current issue FORMAT #27 Wut is entirely devoted to the theme of Anger.

Anger initially appears as a very irrational, often unreasonable emotion. Images of Querdenken-demos, territorial and religious conflicts, violence and hatred run through the mind. But delving deeper into the topic, one also encounters anger more and more often as a driving force for positive change. Angry are racists and extremists. But angry are also the young activists of FFF or designers who implement projects for a better future out of anger.

For the FORMAT team, dealing with the topic of anger goes far beyond a mere, emotionally charged exchange of opinions. How did the National Socialists misuse runes and symbols of Buddhism for their messages of hate? How has the concept of anger been expressed in different artistic eras? And how does it feel to successfully sue the German government as a fifteen-year-old for its insufficient climate protection legislation? Nevertheless, many personal and subjective opinions and essays also find their place in the current FORMAT.

FORMAT #27 comes with a risograph poster. The front page is decorated with an illustration. On the back of the poster, anonymously submitted opinions and statements from the students of the HfG are printed without being filtered. FORMAT sees itself as the mouthpiece of the students. The cover of each copy is hand-sprayed, so each FORMAT of issue 27 is an individual one-off.

FORMAT #27 Wut

Designers: Mitra Asghari, Leon Beu, Hannes Bruß, Marlén Deusch, Benedict Dorndorf, Ksenia Gorokhova, Sarah Halbgewachs, Kiara Hassouna, André Hieber, Ina Kaller, Agnes Kloos, Friederike Kohler, Chiara Larosa, Tim Reimann, Amelie Ruess, Sarah Schlecht, Anna Schneider, Sarah Traub, Hannah Wels, Linn Zahn, Mary Wang
Authors: Leon Beu, Hannes Bruß, Julian Graeve, Kiara Hassouna, Kirsten Humpfer, Ina Kaller, Agnes Kloos, Chiara Larosa, Freya Michl, Tim Reimann, Amelie Ruess, Tabea Schäffer, Sarah Schlecht, Anna Schneider, Hannah Wels, Linn Zahn
Editor: HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd
Release date: August 2021
Volume: 112 pages
Format: 21 × 28 cm
Language: German
Production: Katalogdruck Berlin
Retail price: € 8.–
Buy

Druck und Design Konferenz

Posted on by Julia Kahl

Last Thursday, after a 2-year break, the Druck und Design Konferenz (Print and Design Conference) took place at the Literaturhaus in Munich. The conference is considered the “little sister” of the Creative Paper Conference, which takes place in alternation and about which we have already reported many times.

Right from the start: The conference and trade show, which is organized by Grafikmagazin together with the Verband Druck und Medien Bayern (Bavarian Print and Media Association), was the first industry meeting in physical form in a long time, and so all participants, exhibitors and organizers were overjoyed to be able to see each other and exchange ideas again. Nevertheless, due to the limited number of participants, the conference was also streamed digitally.

In addition to a total of four keynote speeches by Hansgeorg Derks (founder and owner of Derks Brand Management Consultants), Annika Kaltenthaler (Creative Director Zeichen & Wunder), Magnus Gebauer (MedienNetzwerk Bayern) and Florian Kohler (owner and managing director of Gmund Papier), there were various work panels with a practical focus on knowledge transfer. These were led by journalist and copywriter Bettina Schulz, producer and author Marko Hanecke, Vit Steinberger (Creative Partner klee.steinberger) and Benedikt Wild (Managing Director F&W Druck- und Mediencenter GmbH).

The day should have been much longer to be able to pay sufficient attention to all these exciting formats and, in addition, despite numerous breaks, to visit the exhibitors’ booths and browse the latest trends in the paper, finishing and printing industry.

Once again, a very successful event that I look forward to again in 2023.

Basics Blog Post #03

Posted on by Henrike Uthe

We are happy to share with you that the editorial team of last year’s basics course at the Berlin University of the Arts offers printed matter in the form of postcards on the Basics Blog: Basics Blog Post #03

The Basics Blog postcard set is appearing for the third time: a curated selection of works by the Basics Blog editorial team of last year’s basics students of Visual Communication at the University of the Arts is being published by UdK Verlag. The high-quality postcard set includes ten selected artworks that were created in an exploration of design principles. The accompanying banderole was also designed by students of the basics class.

The basics course is the introductory course of design in Visual Communication at the UdK Berlin, the entry point to the four-year BA program in Visual Communication. In the 1st and 2nd semesters, students explore elementary questions and possibilities of design. The focus is on getting to know the different media and experimenting with their design languages using digital and analog tools. The fields of observation are image, moving image, space, and interaction. In the semester projects, students go through all of the phases of the design process in an exemplary manner—from research and concept to the creation of variants and production. The tasks are formulated anew for each year. The intention is to enable the students to handle the tools and design methods independently. They learn to reflect, discuss, and present their own work; they experience what it means to assume authorship for designed content. The foundation study program aims to provide space for the development of one’s own design attitude and thus enable participation in current professional discourses.

The project was initiated and implemented by the Basics Blog editorial team.

Basics Blog Post #03

Publisher: Basics, Visual Communication, Berlin University of the Art
Editors: Henrike Uthe, Stefanie Messner, Jean-Noël Teschauer, Nick Alker, Annelie Dormann, Pauline Pyras, Yael Rathjens, Sina Schlerf, Jakob Erek Sen, Tim Stürze
With works from: Nick Alker, Jonas Gerber, Christian Pasqual, Pauline Pyras, Sina Schlerf, Moana Marie Filipa Schorlemer Filipe, Aisha Ramm, Charlotte Riemann, Lea Verholen Schmitt, Tim Stürze
Photographers: Pauline Pyras, Sina Schlerf, Tim Stürze
Design: Valeria Alejandra Alvarez Balcazar, Taro Usami
Volume: 10 postcards
Format: 10.5 × 14.8 cm
ISBN Druck: 978-3-89462-367-8
ISBN PDF: 978-3-89462-368-5
Price: 5.– Euro
Buy

Visit the Basics Blog or the UdK Verlag

New Ucity Pro

Posted on by Federico Paviani

We would like to present you the new Ucity Pro by Fatype, a digital type foundry established in 2012 by Yassin Baggar and Anton Koovit.

With U8 and UCity, Anton Koovit explores modernity and geometric typeface design through the prism of different epochs. Where U8 exemplifies the positivity of roaring 1920s Berlin, its new sibling UCity is inspired by the desire to design a typeface for today’s cities and the challenges they face. The warmth and innocence of early modernist geometry are replaced by a colder, futuristic character with modern proportions, selected breaks in curves, and an undogmatic approach of geometry.

Looking to revisit his U8 typeface in a contemporary counterpart, Anton Koovit, son of a car racer, stumbled upon old photographs of the Lancia Stratos Zero. This extremely futuristic concept car, presented at the 1970 Turin Motor Show, was conceived by Marcello Gandini, head designer at Gruppo Bertone. The same year, Herb Lubalin, and Tom Carnase released their ITC Avant Garde. The tightly spaced geometric sans, based on the logo of the eponymous magazine that Lubalin art-directed, was an instant favorite among graphic designers. It is no coincidence that UCity is partly inspired by design from the early 1970s, a period with striking parallels with today’s problems.

Ucity Pro’s efficiency goes beyond formal qualities in its technical implementation: the entire family with Cyrillic support and OpenType features is available as a single variable font file, combining minimal data storage with maximum control of weight and italic angle. The challenges of today’s society leave little room for waste of energy.

New Ucity Pro

Foundry: Fatype
Designer: Anton Koovit
Styles and Weights: Ten styles, from Light to Black with matching Italics and variable fonts
Formats: OTF, TTF (upon request), WOFF, WOFF2
Price Single Style: € 80.–
Price full Family: € 390.–
Buy

Némo—International Biennial of Digital Arts

Posted on by jvloon

We would like to invite you to Némo–International Biennial of Digital Arts of the Ile-de-France Region taking place from October 9th, 2021, to January 9th, 2022.

Dedicated to digital arts, audiovisual performances, live shows in connection with new technologies, and the relationship between arts and sciences, Némo presents exhibitions, shows, performances, concerts and lectures in venues spanning the Ile-de-France region for three months. For this 4th edition, the Biennale Némo explores a new theme: Beyond reality? Revealing the invisible through digital arts, sciences and technology.

Némo will present nearly 80 events bringing together artists in more than 30 partner venues, irrigating the whole Ile-de-France region with concerts, exhibitions, shows, performances, meetings, and conferences, for all audiences.

In October (October 9th to November 8th), a series dedicated to the visual arts begins with the opening of the Biennial’s central exhibition at the Centquatre-Paris Beyond reality? which is a precipitate of its main focus: revealing the invisible through digital arts, science and technology. Paired with the opening of its main exhibition is an explosive evening event featuring a stunning cast of characters, from a ballet of machines at the pinnacle of audiovisual performance to artists such as Ryoichi Kurokawa and Max Cooper. The 9th of November marks the large-scale launch of Exploring the Invisible (November 9th to December 2nd), the momentous arts and sciences series at Némo 2021, featuring music theatre, installations, an exhibition, a debate, and a trail of artworks. The performing arts series (December 3rd to January 9th) kicks off with an edition of Le Grand Soir Numérique, a momentous evening of multidisciplinary performances. This year, Franck Vigroux, Kurt d’Haeseleer and the Italian group SCHNITT have new sounds and images in store, and will even use audience interaction as an audiovisual instrument!

Némo–International Biennial of Digital Arts

Where?
16 different towns in the Île-de-France region

When?
October 9th, 2021, to January 9th, 2022

Find out more about the event here, get information about the program here.


Permanent Data by Jeroen van Loon

One work that will be shown during the Biennial in Paris is the work Permanent Data (2020) by Dutch artist Jeroen van Loon from October 10th, 2021, to January 2nd, 2022. It is an installation showing a single twelve kilometers long fibre optic cable on which the entire Gutenberg Bible is printed, combined with scrapped YouTube comments on topics such as bitrot and data loss.

Both text sources come from a medium that, in their time, revolutionized the way information was accessed, shared and used. Now they’re connected through the question of how information survives. Physical paper is deemed a long lasting source of information, if stored in the right way. Digital storage, through cloud systems and hard drives, is thought of as future prove but at the same time extremely fleeting. What of YouTube is accessible in 500 years?

Normally a fibre optic cable is only used as infrastructure to transmit data. However, the physical cable itself might very well outlast the data it transmits. Permanent Data therefore becomes an artefact combining the ephemeral nature of digital data and the durability of physical information and perhaps offers a solution on how to prevent a digital dark age.

Permanent Data

Artist: Jeroen van Loon
Printing: De Koningh
Photos: Gert Jan van Roij
Cable manufactured by Twentsche Kabelfabriek
The work was made possible with the support of Utrecht Down Under, Mondriaanfonds, and Fonds21.

Frankfurter Buchmesse 2021

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

This year, the world’s biggest book fair Frankfurter Buchmesse 2021 is finally to be held on site in Frankfurt again—with an audience. Publishers, service providers, and literary agents from over 60 countries have registered for the 73rd Frankfurter Buchmesse, which is scheduled to take place from October 20th to 24th, 2021, as an in-person event with digital and hybrid offerings. This year’s guest of honor will be Canada.

Frankfurter Buchmesse will bring the international publishing community together again this year. Over 110 organizations will be participating in the book fair for the first time this year. Many exhibitors will be present at 41 national collective stands, including those from Argentina, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Hungary. Both Canada’s French- and English-language book markets will be on site at Frankfurter Buchmesse with a collective stand. And the fair’s future Guests of Honor–Spain (2022), Slovenia (2023), and Italy (2024)—will also be in attendance at large country stands.

“What we’re hearing from many exhibitors is that in-person interactions cannot be replaced by digital venues. That’s why this year we’re working to bring people back together, so the industry can emerge from the crisis stronger than before. The strategies that have proven successful in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic will be one of the most frequently discussed topics at this year’s fair, along with diversity and sustainability,” says Juergen Boos, president of Frankfurter Buchmesse. Planning efforts are focusing on providing a safe event for all participants in keeping with the relevant health regulations. “We have a special permit to hold the Frankfurter Buchmesse: According to the current health and safety plan, 25,000 participants will be able to visit the book fair each day,” Boos says.   

To facilitate in-person interactions that are as safe as possible, Frankfurter Buchmesse has cooperated closely with the health authorities in Frankfurt and with Messe Frankfurt to develop a hygiene plan that ensures the book fair can take place without putting visitors at risk. This includes an indoor air supply of 100-percent fresh, non-recirculated air, a generous layout of the exhibition halls and entrances, intensive cleaning procedures, catering that reflects current health and safety needs, and the wearing of masks. According to current planning, entrance to the fairgrounds will only be permitted to individuals who are vaccinated, who have recently tested negative or who have recovered from Covid-19. Ticketing will take place online and will require a full registration of personal information, thereby ensuring contact tracing will be possible, if necessary.

Part of the trade program will take place online prior to the book fair itself, in the week of October 11th to 15th, 2021. This will include the two-day Frankfurt Conference and the Masterclasses, intensive 45-minute sessions for sharing best practices and detailed expertise.

Frankfurter Buchmesse 2021

When?
For trade visitors:
October 20th to 24th, 2021
9 a.m.–6:30 p.m. (Sunday to 5:30 p.m.)

For private visitors:
October 22nd: 2–6:30 p.m.
October 23rd: 9 a.m–6:30 p.m.
October 24th: 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

Where?
Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage 1
60327 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

Buy your tickets here and find further information and the program here.

CAPS LOCK

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

CAPS LOCK is a book by Ruben Pater that retraces the relations between graphic design and capitalism. It is an inspirational book full of sources for design students, educators, and visual communicators all over the world.

Capitalism could not exist without the coins, notes, documents, graphics, interfaces, branding, and advertisements; artefacts that have been (partly) created by graphic designers. Even anti-consumerist strategies such as social design and speculative design are being appropriated within capitalist societies to serve economic growth. It seems that design is locked in a system of exploitation and profit, a cycle that fosters inequality and the depletion of natural resources.

CAPS LOCK uses clear language and striking visual examples to show how graphic design and capitalism are inextricably linked. The book contains many case studies of designed objects related to capitalist societies and cultures, and also examines how the education and professional practice of (graphic) designers supports the market economy and how design practice is caught within that very system.

The chapter titles of CAPS LOCK list professions that designers can occupy (such as Educator; Engineer, Hacker, Futurist, Activist, etc.). These titles respond to the importance of not just how designers make work, but also how they perform daily economic and social roles. Each chapter is divided into coherent articles in which diverse examples of objects and design practices are relayed. The book also features examples of radical design collectives, that work towards alternatives between design, community and reciprocity.

Ruben Pater (1977, NL) was educated as a graphic designer, worked in several design studios, also independently, and as an educator (e.g. MA Royal Academy of Art, The Hague). With Untold Stories, Pater makes critical work on the edge of graphic design, journalism and activism.

CAPS LOCK

Publisher: Valiz
Author, Design: Ruben Pater
Release: August 2021
Format: 18.4 × 11.7 cm
Volume: 552 pages
Language: English
ISBN: 978-94-92095-81-7
Price: €22.50
BUY

Autobahn—A3, A7, and A9

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

You might not notice it at first glance, but this is a three-way street: The German freeways A9, A3, and A7 (picture from left to right) meet together here at a most unusual junction. This is the “Director’s Cut” of the popular NOMOS watch Autobahn. Now in the favorite colors of Werner Aisslinger, the designer of the model, each is limited to 175 pieces.

A new three-way for Autobahn
Strictly limited from the word go: Autobahn is the name of a watch from NOMOS Glashütte. Now it is available in a trailblazing new three-way limited edition: Autobahn—A3, A7, and A9 — named after major freeways in Germany. With three new colors and a new bracelet, the collector’s piece is Werner Aisslinger’s “Director’s Cut” and marks 175 years of Glashütte watchmaking heritage.

Very dashing, in very special colors: With three new “Director’s Cut” versions of the automatic watch Autobahn, NOMOS Glashütte is celebrating 175 years of Glashütte watchmaking heritage in a very contemporary way. Designed by renowned designer Werner Aisslinger, the timepiece is the latest model from the watchmaking company. The three new colors—A3 in white-orange red, A7 in blue-yellow, and A9 in black-gray—are much more eye-catching than the existing versions, and are reminiscent of the kinds of vehicles that adorned the streets of Germany in the 60s and 70s.

But, the new NOMOS watches are much more beautiful than vintage cars; their engines are more efficient and, of course, better for the environment: neomatik caliber (neomatik stands for new automatic) DUW 6101 uses a highly efficient winding mechanism to charge itself through motion. Despite the date complication, the movement is exceptionally slender, measuring just 3.6 millimeters in height. The lean design of the in-house built caliber enables the dial to transition from curve to curve: Once around the edge of the raised dial, and again on the sub-seconds dial. The elegant curves give the impression of depth on the dial, a dynamic and novel feature for such a timepiece. Eye-catching below the six and set into the curve of the dial: The generously proportioned and patented date window.

Thanks to the striking luminous ring, all three special models are legible in the dark. These limited edition models have been adjusted according to chronometer standards in Glashütte. The bracelet with its characteristic openings and the NOMOS secure deployant clasp is, like the watch, a creation by the renowned designer, and is only available with these special versions. As such, the Director’s Cut bracelet is also limited edition.

Here now follows an excerpt from an interview with the designer Werner Aisslinger about his work on the new Autobahn Director’s Cut Edition collection: “A symbiosis of design and cutting-edge technology”:

Werner Aisslinger, it is entirely possible to fall in love with an object. Particularly yours, the Autobahn watch. But what do you love about it?
My partner, Tina Bunyaprasit, and I like to travel frequently. It reminds us of holidays and outings in our childhood; memories of fun times spent with the family on the road. To us, NOMOS Autobahn signifies travel, an eye on the speedometer and a love of mechanical watches. An Autobahn on your wrist is more than just a timepiece …

What makes this watch, which you created for NOMOS, special?
Autobahn is a symbiosis of design concepts and Glashütte’s cutting-edge technology. Its sophisticated, extremely slim movement is what enabled us, as designers, to conceive of tantalizing aspects, such as the concave rehaut with dial and the inclined seconds. Only the mastery of NOMOS Glashütte was capable of reproducing the grace of the graphic elements and hands.

Our Autobahn dial is inspired by the instruments of legendary sports cars from the 70s and 80s. The zenith of automotive design gave us not only spectacular vehicle bodies and silhouettes, but also interior designs and dashboard instruments which remain the templates and archetypes for the development of transportation to this day.

Autobahn—A3, A7, and A9: Here you get an impression of the collection.

 

Flexible Visual Systems

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

After a very successful Kickstarter campaign, we are very pleased to present today the design manual for contemporary visual identities that can fundamentally influence the way designers think and work: Flexible Visual Systems by Dr. Martin Lorenz! It teaches you a variety of approaches on how to design flexible systems, adjustable to any aesthetic or project in need of an identifiable visual language.

Flexible Visual Systems sums up 10 years of research of Dr. Martin Lorenz at the University of Barcelona, 20 years of developing systems at TwoPoints.Net, and 18 years of teaching systems at over 10 design universities throughout Europe on 320 pages.

If you would place system design into a curriculum it would be the foundation course, putting you in the right mindset. You can apply the systemic approach to any discipline you will later specialize in, from corporate design, communication design, user experience design to textile design.

The book is divided into three parts:

  • The first part is a richly illustrated theoretic introduction (82 pages) explaining the past, present and future of flexible systems. It describes how they were used in the past, how they are used today and why they should not just organize formal solutions, but the way how we work.
  • The second part is a hands-on, almost purely visual, description of how to design flexible systems on form, starting with a circle, triangle, square, pentagon and hexagon. Lots of instruction manuals and examples on how to use them on 148 pages!
  • The third part explains how transformation processes can become flexible systems for visual identities. Especially creative coders, motion designers and people who love to experiment will have a lot of fun with this chapter.

To learn how to design flexible systems is not just learning another craft, it is going to change the way you think and work entirely. It is an approach, how to design.

Flexible Visual Systems

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Content and Design: Dr. Martin Lorenz, TwoPoints.Net
Release: October 2021
Volume: 320 pages
Format: 21 × 25 cm
Language: English
Cover Material: Invercote G, 300 g/sm
Paper Inside: Coral Natural M.1.2, 120 g/sm
Color: 3 Pantone Spot Colors
Printing: Agpograf, Barcelona
Workmanship: Matt Varnishing, Softcover
ISBN: 9-783948-440305
Price: € 42.–
BUY BOOK

Making Of Slanted Magazine #38—Colours

Posted on by Julia Kahl

Slanted Magazine #38—Colours is in production and will be out approximately end of October! This issue is sure to be the most colorful we have published to date. This is due not only to the colorful works from all over the world, but also to the production with various, partly fluorescent special colors from Pantone and HKS, printed by our long-time printing partner Stober Medien.

But not only the print is impressive: We have also made a colorful selection of papers from INAPA and simply mixed them colorfully throughout the entire print run.

The magazine is still available as a discounted pre-order until its release—or just subscribe now 🙂

Enjoy the photos!

Typeface of the Month: Capitana

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

We are happy to present our new Typeface of the Month: Capitana by type designer Felix Braden published at Floodfonts!

Capitana: The Missing Link between Geometric and Humanist Sans
Capitana is a Geometric Sans with humanistic proportions and open apertures. This means that all shapes are constructed from basic forms, the circle, triangle, and square, and are designed according to the classic proportions of the Roman Antiqua. Distinct ascenders and pointed apexes with deep overshoot give it a cool beauty and classic elegance.

Capitana is an ultimate allrounder: with 784 characters per style in nine weights from Thin to Black, it offers both light and extremely heavy weights for striking headlines. Its open forms make it particularly legible in small sizes, and it also offers several styles for running text. Capitana has a powerful opentype engine with small caps plus corresponding figures, tabular and oldstyle figures, arrows, alternate letters for g and a, as well as fractions, superscripts and subscripts. However, with its minimalist design and low contrast, it is best suited for on-screen use–meaning web design, user interface design (UI&UX), and app design.

Design Process
Working on Capitana started with the idea of adding a heavy master to Felix Braden’s Capri family dating back to 2008 and expanding the whole family. After the first drafts, he realized that many of the shapes were too eccentric and that he would prefer to create a more versatile geometric sans serif. Capri was designed more as a display typeface, so he had to remove so many details and features for that purpose that it wasn’t actually the same typeface anymore.

“When I decided to stop working on Capri and release it under a different name, I started looking for a way to make it more unique. I remembered the corporate design of the Roman Germanic Museum, I had the pleasure to design a few years ago,” Felix Braden says. The goal was to look for a geometric sans serif to perfectly match a humanistic Antiqua. After a rather extensive search, they were finally led to Futura: “I don’t think Futura really is contemporary anymore. It has so many oddities, such as the different endings at C, S, and G, that I don’t consider it a consistent typeface. Despite the many high quality sans serifs that have been published in recent years, I could not find one that fit better to the humanistic proportions of the Antiqua. Therefore, I decided to close this gap.”

For this purpose, the proportions of Capri had to be changed completely. The extremely short ascenders and descenders were significantly extended and the uniform letter width was adapted to the Roman construction principle. While the wide letters such as O, G and M are drawn on a quadratic base, the narrow letters such as S, E, and B take up only half the space. In this way, the S can be constructed from two circles arranged one above the other, while the O describes a circular arc over the entire cap-height.

Typeface of the Month:
Capitana by Felix Braden

Foundry: Floodfonts
Designer: Felix Braden
Release: September 27th, 2021
Format: OTF, WOFF, all customers of the whole type family will get the beta version of the variable fonts for free on request
Styles: 18, Thin to Black (incl. Italics)
Price per style: $49.–
Price for the family: $495.–

BUY Capitana—80% off on MyFonts til November 11th, 2021

Yogurt’s Flavours

Posted on by Yogurt Magazine

We are pleased to present you Bad Taste Flavour and Mojo Flavour, both published in the Yogurt’s Flavours magazine series. Yogurt’s Flavours take a cynical look at our society and deliberately provoke. As you flip through the magazines, you come across unexpected, sometimes absurd scenes that keep you enthralled but also inspire.

Yogurt’s Flavours are biannual publications curated and published by Yogurt Magazine based in Rome. For future issues, they are regularly open for submissions.

Extract from Bad Taste editorial: […] Bad Taste flavour is a metalinguistic provocation. This issue aims at being an overture of aesthetic spites, a celebration of kitsch and the grotesque. It aims at putting a cynical focus on the sleaziness, bad habits, excesses and disturbing anomalies of a hypertrophic, nauseated and, at times, nauseating society.

In mapping the bad taste, it tries not to impose any ethical filter to the submitted works, all the more reason in such a hypercritical contemporary context, where the application of mass morals, often arbitrary, reminds more of a guillotine in a town square rather than the do-gooding and moderate reprimand of a “good family man”. Through this Yogurt flavour, we hope to carry out an exorcism, where the aesthetics of bad taste, in its sophistication, become more acceptable or, why not, necessary. […]

Bad Taste Flavour

Designers: Yogurt Creative Agency
Editor in Chief and Art Director: Francesco Rombaldi
Deputy Editor: Luigi Cecconi
Publishing: Yogurt Editions
Format: 24 × 33 cm
Volume: 92 pages
Language: Italian, English
Cover Image: Lao Xie Xie
Translations: Larisa Oancea
Paper: Fedrigoni Arena natural smooth 120 g/m2
ISSN: 2724-0657
Price: € 18.–
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Extract from Mojo editorial: […] What is Mojo? Is it “Malombra?” “Malasuerte?” Is it a hateful gaze? Or the invisible spying on you? Is it that shiver down your spine in an empty room? The fear? The night? A sorcery spell that bewitches everything around? Mojo is an amulet. It defends us from all this.

In its next flavour, Yogurt aims to explore this kind of suggestions. Therefore, the theme of the new call is the shadow, the magic, the unknown, the unexpected, the misfortune, our deepest fears, but also everything that haunts and disturbs us in our everyday life. Mojo evokes obscurity and traps it in its pages to protect us from what we fear. […]

Mojo Flavour

Designers: Yogurt Creative Agency
Editor in Chief and Art Director: Francesco Rombaldi
Deputy Editor: Luigi Cecconi
Publishing: Yogurt Editions
Format: 24 × 33 cm
Volume: 130 pages
Language: Italian, English
Cover Image: Tanguy Bombonera
Translations: Larisa Oancea
Paper: Fedrigoni Arena natural smooth 120 g/m2
ISSN: 2724-0657
Price: € 18.–
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Il Teatro è Il Teatro è Il Teatro

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

Il Teatro è Il Teatro è Il Teatro is Slanted Publisher’s latest release and a book that reserves the memory of a building, a building that for almost a century made culture shine for its community, and which apart from memory might be forever lost.

A small town is mobilized. The proposal to demolish the historic cine-teatro Le Fontanelle and convert it to a multifunctional center has polarized an entire community. Over several decades of sacrifices the building served as a theatre and as a space for both–live theatre and cinema, before being abandoned for thirty years. It hosted different generations’ efforts to create and bring culture to the inland territory of the Madonie and the town of Castelbuono, Sicily.

The artist, Emanuele Sferruzza Moskowicz, with the guidance of Gianfranco Raimondo and the help of the cultural association Glenn Gould, conducted and collected through his art practice listening sessions. He collected listening sessions with twenty-seven people who were part of the building’s history and its surroundings and with those who have been denied the opportunity to do the same.

From a man’s remembrance of his first childhood encounter with movies to a teacher’s memories of Tornatore’s production of Nuovo Cinema Paradiso. From the sophisticated religious and folkloric works of the initial performers to the unbreakable will and desire of the new generation to bring the theatre of the absurd to their community. From the story of a man coming back to his town after his successful studies in the north of Italy to be part of its cultural empowerment to the stories of a building denied to the future generation and the ones to come. This inquiry contains an absolute love for culture and for a community that put culture at the center of its identity.

Il Teatro è Il Teatro è Il Teatro

Editor: Emanuele Sferruzza Moszkowicz
Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Copy Proof: Massimo Genchi, Chiara Mantovi, Gianfranco Raimondo
Supported by: Associazione Glenn Gould
Design: Lars Harmsen
Release: October 2021
Workmanship: Softcover
Format: 170 × 240 mm
Volume: 54 pages
Language: Italian
ISBN: 978-3-948440-31-2
Price: €15.–
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Mind The Gap

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

We would like to introduce you to Mind The Gap, which is a typographic approach to unify or simplify the different ways of gendering in the German language.

The word “Student” is never genderless in the German language. There is a distinction between the masculine form “der Student” and the feminine form “die Studentin.” This has resulted in gender-neutral forms such as “StudentIn,” “Student*in,” “Student_in,” “Student:in” and “Student.in.” Many of the solutions partly disturb the typeface because they cause stains or holes, many people criticize. Some of them also excludes non-binary people.

Franz Mühringer, who is part of the graphic and advertising agency Hyphe, asked himself some questions related to German gender-sensitive language at the beginning of 2019 as part of his studies at the University of Applied Arts Vienna: “Why aren’t we as designers/typographers responding to this? Language is constantly evolving. Our writing system, however, seems to stand still. But does it really? Actually, it doesn’t. If you look at the @-sign as an example, or emojis, which are also characters in a broader sense.”

This gave rise to the idea of designing an own character to automatically replace all of the above approaches in text. Through experimentation and surveys, a symbol was finally left at the end. With the expertise of Lisa Schultz and Ingmar Thies it was refined and integrated into the font. This way, it should also be used automatically. In October 2019, the concept was then presented as a poster as part of the Gender Equality Exhibition which was initiated by TAMA Art University Tokyo and Klasse für Ideen.

Archivo is the first type family that has the new letter in every typeface style. The typeface is very robust for print and screen and is based on an open source project by type foundry Omnibus-Type and type designer Héctor Gatti. This allows anyone to use or modify it. The font with the new ligature is accessible online and available for download. It can be installed and used on websites.

Mind the Gap 

Find further information about “Mind The Gap” on Hyphe’s website and download the font here.

Wire Drawings

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

We would like to introduce you to Ulrike Brückner’s publication wire drawings now available at Slanted Shop. The book deals with “utilitary” photography, which is used on platforms such as eBay.

The artist first discovered the photogenic nature of cables on those platforms. The cables are often offered for sale displayed in boxes, piled in heaps, or lying on the floor in private spaces. The cable photographs evoke for her virtuoso drawings or paintings with an expressive style. Ulrike Brückner appropriates these photographs by experimenting with motif and pictorial space, replacing the original surroundings with black, partially processed backgrounds, and composing new visual worlds in the process. The contextual shift alters the view of the motifs and causes the multifaceted beauty of the cable arrangements to emerge. This effect is further enhanced by the serial presentation in wire drawings.

A further enlargement of the concept can be found in the eponymously titled edition. The artist has had one of the amateur pictures digitally reworked and presents a pile of cables as a large-format panel painting. The publication is accompanied by the text Photos on the Marketplace. Personal Image Aesthetics on eBay by Jens Ruchatz.

Wire Drawings

Photographer & Designer: Ulrike Brückner
Author: Jens Ruchatz
Publisher: Vexer
Paper: GalaxyArt Samt
Volume: 48 pages
Format: 28 × 20 cm
Language: German, English
ISBN: 978-3-907112-30-4
Price: € 25.–
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Photos: born.studio

ISType Mono

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

We would like to invite you to the 8th ISType Mono talk, streamed live on YouTube on September 28th, 2021. Founder of Typofonderie and type director of ZeCraft Jean François Porchez will be the speaker of the talk. After hosting two local events which focused on Turkish type designers, this upcoming ISType Mono event will be taking place online and the registration is free.

Type design to serve a purpose
What are the differences between bespoke typefaces and retail typefaces? When a designer creates a new typeface, she or he will define a style and an area of use. A return to the sources, sometimes via the brand’s archives, sometimes via historical references, not necessary strictly typographics can help. It is a question of creative research that will allow the expression of a unique and identifiable typographic whole. We will try to establish principles, with the help of concrete examples, a process that leads to building one’s personal ethics.

Jean François Porchez
Jean François Porchez is one of the pioneers of digital typography. Transmitter of knowledge and discoverer of talents, teamwork is at the heart of his concerns. It is also for these reasons that he launched TypeParis in 2015. After training as a graphic designer, during which he focused on type design, Jean François Porchez (1964) worked as a type director at Dragon Rouge, then at Le Monde newspaper in early 90s. He was President of the Association Typographique Internationale in 2004–2007. Founder and head of ECV Master design & Typography between 2011–2019. He is board member of the Club des Directeurs Artistiques in Paris and member of the Type Directors Club in New York. He was awarded the Prix Charles Peignot in 1998 and numerous prizes for his typefaces. Introduced to French Who’s Who in 2009. In 2014, Perrousseaux publishes his monograph. Knight in the order of Arts and Letters in 2015. The President of France, Emmanuel Macron use his typefaces for his communication since 2017.

ISType Mono

When?
September 28th, 2021
8 p.m.

Where?
Live on YouTube

The registration for the talk is free.
Find more information about the talk on their website. 

Blumen zum Selbstschneiden

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

Blumen zum Selbstschneiden (engl.: Flowers—Picking Selfservice) is an exhibition full of serigraphic flowers by SITO DEBIUT and Vlad Boyko taking place from September 28th to November 30th, 2021, in Warsaw, Poland.

Across the western border there is a custom, where by fields full of flowers you can find tins, in which you leave money for the flowers you have picked. Just like that, no receipt, no cameras. You take something, you give something. The custom of social trust and exchange known also from central Germany inspired Vladyslav Boyko for the exhibition at Kwiaciarnia Grafiki.

This “German experience” was used as a pretext for the exhibition Blumen zum Selbstschneiden, which will bloom with screen-printed artifacts inspired by the concept of stand-alone flower kiosks in Germany. The Graphic Florist will bloom on the walls as well, a flower symbolic of exchange and trust. All this put through the graphic language of Vladek Boyko, in which he successfully flirts vector synthesis with romantic soul. “Flowers are for me the absolute of beauty and life,” Boyko says.

Vladek Boyko’s exhibition is the result of an internship at the Graphic Florist. Vladek uses screen printing for the exhibition: “At this moment for me it is a medium that combines virtuality and reality. I feel more weight and truth in it,” he says.

About the artist:
Vlad Boyko—born in 2001 in Chernihiv, Ukraine. Visual artist and graphic designer, his work is based on photography, typography, and collage. He creates posters and visual identities for cultural and social institutions. He also works with set design and animation in the performative sphere. He studies New Media Art at the Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology in Warsaw. He is inspired by urban planning, monumental art and eclectic aesthetics of the post-soviet space. In his work he often explores the relationship between emotion and graphics, form and context, space and man.

About the studio:
Kwiaciarnia Grafiki is a serigraphy studio, design studio and the only gallery in Poland focusing on hand screen printed works. Artefacts of the art of screen printing are distributed by the online store. The presented prints are characterized by uniqueness: hand screen printed serigraphs allow for short editions, ranging from several to several dozen copies. This repeatability of the technique has an impact on its democratic price, which they try to set at a level accessible to a fan or collector. Authenticity, each print is signed by the author.

Blumen zum Selbstschneiden

When?
September 28th to November 30th, 2021
The exhibition is open by appointment

Where?
Kwiaciarnia Grafiki
6/8 Smulikowskiego Street
Warsaw (second courtyard, basement)
Poland

BLICKFANG—Deutschlands beste Fotografen*innen 2021

Posted on by UMBRELLA PINE

Special times, special issue: 150 photographers on 464 pages, articles, and interviews. The covid-19 limited edition No, 11.5 of the German photographers annual BLICKFANG—Deutschlands beste Fotografen*innen 2021 has been released.

Made with a lot of love and positive vibes by UMBRELLA PINE Publishers & Creative Studio, the new book assembles the works of established artists and newcomers and presents a best-of of the German photography scene 2021. The special edition creates a platform for photographers and provides a guide for those who are looking for professional photography. The book is climate-neutral and printed on FSC-certified paper.

Featuring interviews with the photographers:
Thomas Strogalski, Stefanie Aumiller, Leif Schmodde, Dagmar Schwelle, Lisa Linke, Cyril Schirmbeck, Marie-Therese Cramer, Holger Altgeld.

Featured articles:
Herspective, we are there, we are good and we are many! By Herspective Photographers (a collective of female photographers)

Does the photography of the future still need a camera? By Bernd Opitz (photographer & film designer)

Everything stays different! Is the photo business ill with or from the crisis? By Silke Güldner (photographers consultant)

BLICKFANG—Deutschlands beste Fotografen*innen 2021 / No. 11.5

Initiated & realized by: UMBRELLA PINE Publishers & Creative Studio
Editors: Norman Beckmann, Meike Gerlach
Volume: 464 pages
Format: 21 × 26.9 cm
Printing: 4-color offset and 2 Pantone Colors (partially)
Processing: Hardcover, linen binding, thread stitching
Specials: two bookmarks, two different papers for the content, foil embossings on the cover

The special edition, limited to a total of 1,500 copies, is not available in stores this time and will only be sent to selected agencies, publishers and companies in Germany.

Coding Resistance

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

Coding Resistance is a new study program exposing coded inequalities and reimagining technologies for better, brighter, and more just futures. You can be part of Coding Resistance starting from September 24th, 2021. So take your chance and apply now!

Under the guise of machine neutrality, technology captivates, fascinates, and entails a promise of imagined objectivity. At the same time, oppressive social structures are coded into technological tools that further reproduce social, spatial, and environmental inequality, subduing and subjugating racialized, gendered and non-abled bodies. The very design of artificial intelligence embeds human biases, which in turn creates harmful, destructive material and digital infrastructure.

Against the backdrop of algorithmic discrimination, reinforced by state and corporate surveillance, many activists and civil society movements have been striving to reimagine the relation between society and technology. Futuress wants to help connect and amplify the voices of designers, researchers, and activists who critically examine the politics of digital tools and seek to build more equitable and just practices.

The new study program, Coding Resistance aims to expose design’s role in sustaining inequalities, while at the same time imagining how technologies can be used to envision new futures.

Starting on September 24th, 2021 and for the following nine weeks, different inspiring speakers will be taking on a journey through complex multifaceted topics including discriminating algorithms, digital colonialism, emancipatory potential of virtual reality, interdependence as a political technology, speculative queer and trans futurities, and more.

Bringing insights from their activism, lived experiences, and research, the speakers will reflect upon the social implications of technology hardwired with racism, sexism, classism, and other systems of oppression and the harmful, destructive digital and material reality it creates. They reveal multiple interconnected social justice struggles that reimagine digital tools and engage in “coding resistance” toward more just futures.

Each lecture is followed by a discussion, where question can be asked to the lecturer as well as to the other participants from all over the world. All lectures will be available synchronously and asynchronously. In addition, by registering for the lectures, you not only enter a transnational community centered around design-politics, but also help to sponsor 59 participants to join the fellowship and craft their own unique counter-narratives. Their research will be honed into stories for a broad audience, which you can soon read on Futuress.

Coding Resistance

Where?
Online

When?
September 24th to November 19th, 2021
Always held on Fridays or Saturdays

Apply here!

Crrritical.space

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

Design plays a vital role in this colorful and interactive contribution to Germany’s 2021 parliamentary election. Two playful, yet highly informative quizzes welcome users to challenge their personal political knowledge and “truths.” With less than one week to go until the big election day there is still enough time to quiz along at Crrritical.space!

Crrritical.space is a project that has been developed by froh!, a collective of designers and journalists based in Cologne, Germany. Reflecting on the increasing shift of political and public discourse into digital space, they created a platform that combines background information on current political questions with a fun-to-use interface that animates users to interact with the questions at hand.

The visual approach of the modular design system is simple: three colors, a single font, bitmap images, and text elements create the interactive user experience. Two quizzes invite participants to test their political knowledge of the status quo, reflect on their own assumptions and possible “blind spots” regarding political “truths,” and express their own beliefs and aspirations for future politics.

“Which campaign slogan belongs to what party?” “Who should get 45 minutes of speaking time at the Bundestag?” “State pension or unconditional basic income, what is most appealing?”

Are you curious? Head over to the quizzes, put your opinion out there, and question your own views. You will be rewarded with a small summary on your political stance.

Crrritical.space

Find the quiz here and find “Crrritical.space” or “froh!” on Instagram.

 

Icarus XB1

Posted on by NahuelGerth

Today we present you the magazine Icarus XB1 by Nahuel Gerth and Kristýna Hodanová. The student project was created at the UPRUM (Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design) in Prague and is a proposal for a redesign of the Czech science fiction magazine Ikaria.

Science fiction has a long tradition reaching back to the late 19th century. It is still relevant today in movies, series and contemporary culture. There is a new active generation of Sci Fi geeks who live in the world of social media and digital communication.

The goal of this redesign project was to make the rich Sci Fi culture of the Czech Republic accessible and attractive to younger readers again. The magazine was changed to a smaller bookazine layout highlighting its exclusivity and value. In order to survive the contemporary book market printed publications have to become objects of desire—objects worth collecting.

With focus on contemporary illustrations as a direct way of communicating to new generations of readers the magazine changed its appearance drastically. Also a high-contrast inktrap typeface was selected to create playful Dada-inspired spreads.

Icarus XB1

Design: Nahuel Gerth & Kristýna Hodanová
Authors: Sam J. Miller, Mercurio D. Rivera, Miles J. Breuer, Peter Vozník, Marie Domská, Pavel Fritz, Vendula Výstrkov
Editor: Vlada Ríši
Release: January 2021
Volume: 178 pages
Format: 140 × 210 mm
Language: Czech, English
Finishing: Digital Print, White print, adhesive binding
The bookazine was created as a student’s project and is not available for sale

Novo Typo Offgrid

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

We are pleased to present you the latest publication Novo Typo Offgrid by Novo Typo’s designer Mark van Wageningen, which is now available at our Slanted Shop! The book asks the following questions: Can graphic designers be self-sufficient? Can graphic designers recycle their own work?

When a designer is able to make his own letters, he also should be able to design and produce his own paper and ink. In order to understand and experiment with the concept of letters, color and paper, it is necessary to learn about these things. A designer should have a complete understanding of these elements because they are the cornerstones of  good design.

This self-initiated DIY project by Mark van Wageningen aka Novo Typo, that is described in this book Novo Typo Offgrid, is intended as a blueprint for all designers and design studios that wish to be self-sufficient or wish to recycle their own designs. By proposing a new standard for polychromatic typography using plant-based ink and recycled paper, this publication aims to inspire the pursuit of different approaches in graphic design.

The publication Novo Typo Offgrid is designed and produced within close proximity to Novo Typo’s Amsterdam studio. The cover is letterpress printed with plant-based ink on Amsterdam Pulp Paper.

Novo Typo Offgrid

Author: Mark van Wageningen
Designer: Mark van Wageningen / Novo Typo
Publisher: The Green Box
Volume: 64 pages
Format in cm (w × h): 17 × 24 cm
Language: English
Workmanship: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-3-96216-011-1
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