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
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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.–
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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.–
BUY BOOK

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
Buy

Designing Digital Spaces for Democratic Dialogue

Posted on by design-digital-democratic-spaces

Talking to each other is a prerequisite for a functioning democracy. This premise is the starting point of the master’s thesis Designing Digital Spaces for Democratic Dialogue. Communication is ubiquitous today: tweets, snaps, and voice messages are part of everyday life and social media or comment columns of online newspapers are important places of political exchange. But how does public space function in the digital realm? How can we talk to each other at eye level online? How does hardware influence our dialogs?

Tebeya Leicht, Lisa Kern, and Andrea Kufferath-Sieberin from the HfG in Schwäbisch Gmünd are convinced that due to the high impact of those who design digital spaces, their awareness of democracy and society is very important. Therefore, in a detailed theoretical part, they elaborated tools to stimulate reflection on the topic from a designer’s point of view.

The design approach is based on methods of critical and speculative design. In cooperation with the School of Critical Design in London, the master’s thesis not only provides initial insights into the design of digital spaces, but also creates three discursive artefacts that give viewers a glimpse of alternative futures and a new perspective on the status quo. Around questions such as “What if we could see the social dynamics in digital spaces?” or  “What if comment columns were round?,” the artefacts are directed at viewers and are an impulse to question, reflect, and discuss.

Designing Digital Spaces for Democratic Dialogue

Designing and authors: Tebeya Leicht, Lisa Kern, and Andrea Kufferath-Sieberin
Release: July 2021
Volume: 200 pages
Format: 18 × 30 cm
Language: German
Find further information here

Buchgestaltung in Deutschland

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

The publication Buchgestaltung in Deutschland by Silvia Werfel offers a new overview into the scene of book designers in Germany.

Proper book design has been argued and debated ever since William Morris and Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson launched a movement in Germany which set itself the goal of a beautifully designed and exquisitely decorated books. Much time has passed since then, and discussions are still going on. Most recently, Hans Peter Willberg provided an overview of the current situation with his book 40 Jahre Buchkunst (40 Years of Book Art) within the competition Die Schönsten Deutschen Bücher (The Most Beautiful German books). Exactly 30 years later, Silvia Werfel now offers a new (small) overview of the scene of book designers in Germany.

15 book designers are introduced, with short biographies and book examples. In her introductory essay, the editor outlines developments of the past fifty years, taking into account influential protagonists such as Albert Kapr, Jürgen Seuss, and Hans Peter Willberg.

She also takes a look at the educational institutions, related to the future of book design. Featured are: Günter Karl Bose, Klaus Detjen, Markus Dreßen, Iris Farnschläder, Friedrich Forssman, Rudolf Paulus Gorbach, Rainer Groothuis, Matthias Gubig, Gaston Isoz, Ralf de Jong, Bernd Kuchenbeiser, Rainer Leippold, Lisa Neuhalfen, Judith Schalansky, and Hagen Verleger.

Buchgestaltung in Deutschland

Editing: Silvia Werfel
Series: Ästhetik des Buches (ed. by Klaus Detjen); vol. 14
Publisher: Wallstein Verlag GmbH
Format: 13 × 20.5 cm
Language: German
Volume: 88 pages
Workmanship: English Paperback
Publishing Date: July 2021
ISBN: 978-3-8353-3928-6
Price: € 14.90
Buy

About the author:
Silvia Werfel, born in Leipzig in 1958, is a freelance journalist and specialist author who lives in Wiesbaden. After graduating from high school and completing an apprenticeship as a typesetter, she studied book design, German language and literature, and history at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. She writes articles on typography, printing history, book design, and production for trade journals and reference books, and is an active member, for example, of the International Working Group Typografie in der Wissensvermittlung (Typography in the Transmission of Knowledge) and the International Working Group on Print and Media History as well as a board member of Gesellschaft der Bibliophien (Society of Bibliophiles).

17th Pictoplasma Conference

Posted on by ldenicke

After the success of the first online edition of the legendary Pictoplasma Conference in 2020, which totaled 100,000 views around the globe, the program for the 17th Pictoplasma Conference returns with a stellar line-up, streamed on two parallel channels.

The main program features 35 artists’ talks, studio visits, and personal insights, showing the manifold variety of character design and allowing a glimpse into the ideation and working process of some of the most forward-looking artists. In an open and personal address to the audience, they share how the characters they create came to be, what concepts drive them, who inspires them and what projects they are currently working on.

A second channel features more artists with panel discussions and live workshops, plus 70 animated shorts in four programs.

As a special focus, this edition will take a deeper look at how artists and designers use characters and figurative aesthetics to fight for representation. How can visibility and diversity inform the everyday practice of illustrators and designers? In 2021, can any work be immune to political questions? As many artists use their voice to speak for equality, support minorities, propagate an inclusive attitude or encourage political activism, the program will lead the discussion on the special role characters can play in visual discourse, largely thanks to their pronounced visibility and hyper-empathic quality. The Conference will take place on September 17th and 18th, 2021.

17th Pictoplasma Conference

When?
September 17th and 18th, 2021

Where?
Online

Registration is open for € 39.– / € 69.–
Find the full speaker line-up, program, and registration information here.

PHOTODARIUM Classic & Private 2022

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

It’s that time again! The new PHOTODARIUM Classic & Private 2022 are out now! Be part of the new edition for 2023, the call for submissions is now open!

This year again, the most beautiful and exciting 365 instant photos were selected from over 2,000 submissions to create the PHOTODARIUM Classic & the PHOTODARIUM Private 2022. On the front of each calendar page there is an analog instant-photo in original size, finished with high-quality lacquer finish creating a true polaroid feeling. On the back is a little text to the emergence of a picture and information about the photographer and the film used.

The photo-tear-off-calendar PHOTODARIUM is already set to appear for the 10th time and shows the almost personal snapshots of well-known photographers and newcomers, professionals and individuals from around the world.

For everyone who wants more: For the sixth time PHOTODARIUM Private is published parallel to the classic one. This tear-off calendar reveals uncensored instant images with an artistic approach to nudity. Day after day a new erotic, nude or cheeky instant-picture is uncovered. A modern and young view on eroticism beyond pornographic clichés—from photographers and individuals all around the world. Emancipated and honest. The private edition has a sticker sheet for personal censorship, is limited and a very special piece of art!

PHOTODARIUM Classic & Private 2022

Editor: Raban Ruddigkeit, Lars Harmsen, Oliver Seltmann
Art Direction: Boris Kahl
Publisher: seltmann+söhne
Size: 380 pages, 365 instant photos
Processing: With high-quality lacquer finish, incl. stand and sturdy collector’s box
Format: 8.8 × 10.7 cm / 3.5 × 4.2 inches
Language English
Publishing Date: July 2021
ISBN Classic: 978-3-949070-01-3
ISBN Private: 978-3-949070-02-0
Buy PHOTODARIUM Classic
Buy PHOTODARIUM Private

Kristal

Posted on by Studio Eyal & Myrthe

We would like to draw attention to this headstrong and expressive typeface, which is nevertheless rooted in calligraphy and can be combined well with other fonts and manuscripts: Kristal

Years ago, Kristal started as a sketch for a logotype, giving way to ideas and energy that didn’t have a place in a just-finished, long-term project with limited design freedom. Since then, Eyal Holtzman grew the design into a unique family of eight: three weights with striking, spirited Italics and an all-caps inline titling style. An Ornaments font rounds out the extended character-set and language support of the text styles.

As a versatile book face, Kristal provides a pleasant reading experience while giving the text a very special character and sparkle. The acute stroke endings in uppercase and lowercase letters—almost blade-like—enliven every paragraph.

The Open Caps display style evokes a timeless, festive look and applications such as monumental lettering, elegant card or cover designs. They add nuance and combine harmoniously with the rest of the family, or they can be used in their own right. In the ornaments font, each rosette is composed of repeating capital letters from the roman font.

Kristal 

Type foundry: Bold Monday
Designer: Eyal Holtzman
Release: June 2021
Weights: Regular, Medium, and Bold
Styles: Roman, Italic, Open Caps, and Ornaments
File formats: TTF, OTF, and web
Price Single Style: € 49.–, Ornaments € 39.–
Price Family: € 305.60

Find a test version here and buy the typeface here

Oktoberfest 1984–2019

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

Today, we celebrate the release of Oktoberfest 1984–2019 by Munich photographer Volker Derlath! For 35 years, he has hardly missed a Wiesn day. With his camera, right in the middle of the action, he is capturing intimate moments, touching scenes, moments full of violence and comedy.

The “folk festival of all folk festivals” reminds him, with its incomparable coarseness of folk amusements, of the Middle Ages, he says. The Wiesn is a kind of utopia where visitors can live out what has long since been domesticated in their everyday lives and swept under the rug of civilization.

The Munich Oktoberfest, also known as the Wiesn, is considered the largest folk festival in the world: two exhilarating weeks with beer, chicken, rides and partying people from all over the world. But like last year, this year’s festival has been canceled due to a pandemic. Sad news for the worldwide fan community. With the book Oktoberfest 1984–2019 we would like to remember a time when people could still unconditionally drink, flirt and celebrate together.

With the book Oktoberfest we remember a time when people could still unconditionally drink, flirt, and celebrate together!

About Volker Derlath: The multiple award-winning photographer Volker Derlath has lived in Munich since 1982 and works primarily there according to the motto: “Think globally—photograph in a village of millions.” On the series about the Oktoberfest he works continuously since 1984 in the evening analog with black and white film and frontal flash. As an equally enthusiastic beer drinker and photographer, he sees himself as part of the action.

Oktoberfest 1984–2019

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Photographer: Volker Derlath
Editor: Melville Brand Design
Design: Florian Brugger, Lars Harmsen
Language: German, English
Release: September 2021
Volume: 208 pages
Format: 21 × 28 cm
Workmanship: stitch bound, refined book cover
ISBN: 978-3-948440-28-2
Price: € 38.–
BUY

Stiftung Buchkunst’s Awards of the Year 2021

Posted on by Franzi Haeussner

Book lovers take note: the 25 Schönsten Deutschen Bücher (The Most Beautiful German Books) were once again chosen by the Stiftung Buchkunst (Book Art Foundation). The Stiftung Buchkunst has decided to honor the book Man kann keine Steine essen (Prima Publikationen, Stuttgart/Basel) with the Preis der Stiftung Buchkunst (Book Art Foundation Award.) The work, based on recipes and photographs by Japanese sculptor Shinroku Shimokawa, was created in collaboration with graphic designers Clara Neumann and Christina Schmid.

The jury (Julia Kahl / Slanted Publishers, Sylvia Lerch, Dieter Dausien / Buchhandlung am Freiheitsplatz, Dr. Joachim Unseld / FVA) selected the award-winning book from the 25 Schönsten Deutschen Bücher (The Most Beautiful German Books) announced by the Stiftung Buchkunst in June. The book designers, manufacturers and publishers of these 25 Schönsten Deutschen Büchern were also celebrated at the award ceremony. In addition, the Stiftung Buchkunst honored the winners of the Förderpreis für junge Buchgestaltung (Promotional Awards for Young Book Design). The prizes, each endowed with 2,000 euro, went to three titles that rethink the medium book: Virginie Calvet and Felix Hunger (Zwischen Euphrat und Tigris), Alissa Verj and Suki Su (Culture Switch), and Kristina Hilse (Eine Sammlung zu Margaret Atwoods The Handmaid‘s Tale).

23 jurors worked over nine days to find the most beautiful, innovative and forward-looking book publications of the year. The 25 Schönsten Deutschen Büchern and the Preis der Stiftung Buchkunst were selected from a total of 633 titles, and the three winning titles for the Förderpreise für junge Buchgestaltung was selected from 170 entries.

This year’s award ceremony also saw the presentation of the annual catalog of Die Schönsten Deutsche Bücher 2021 (Most Beautiful German Books) designed and implemented by the team of Daniel Wiesmann—Büro für Gestaltung from Berlin.

The award-winning books will now go on a large traveling exhibition and can be seen at numerous locations in Germany and abroad. The cooperation with the Literaturhaus Frankfurt will also be continued: The 25 award-winning books will be on display in the foyer of the house throughout the year.

Catalog: “Die Schönsten Deutschen Bücher 2021”

Concept and Design: Büro für Gestaltung (Daniel Wiesmann, Robert Radziejewski, Jule Erner)
Photography and Video/Reproduction and Lithography: farbanalyse
Editors: Katharina Hesse, Carolin Blöink, Jana Mayer-Stoltz, Josefine Kleespies
Texts of the Jury: Elmar Lixenfeld
Translation: Iain Reynolds
Typeface: Oracle, Oracle Triple
ISBN: 978-3-9822108-0-3
Paper: IGEPA Salzer EOS, Lessebo Design Smooth Bright, Pergraphica Infinite Black
Printing: Gallery Print
Binding: Josef Spinner Großbuchbinderei GmbH
Pice: € 20.–

Pre-order in Bookstores

Shinroku Shimokawa: Man kann keine Steine essen

Publisher: Prima.Publikationen
Photography: Shinroku Shimokawa
Design: Clara Neumann, Christina Schmid
Editing: Sabine Fessler, Christina Schmid
Format (w × h): 150 × 210 mm
Volume: 240 pages
ISBN: 978-3-9821198-4-7
Workmanship: thread stitching
Typeface: LL Brown
Paper: Munken Polar
Printing: Offizin Scheufele
Binding: Buchbinderei Spinner
Pice: € 32.–

Award Winner “Die Schönsten Deutschen Bücher” 2021

Michael Disqué, Roman Ehrlich, “Überfahrt”
Holm-Uwe Burgemann, Konstantin Schönfelder, “Gesellschaft Eine Insel”
Deborah Levy, “The Cost of Living”
Franz Dobler, “Ich will doch immer nur kriegen was ich haben will”
Charlie Kaufman, “Ameisig”
Anna Bokov, “Avant-Garde as Method”
Sven Tillack mit Beiträgen von Daniel Martin Feige,  Jo Frenken, “Exploriso. Low-tech Fine Art”
Marc Angélil, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Julian Schubet, Elena Schütz, Leonard Streich, “Migrant Marseille”
Tobias Roth, “Welt der Renaissance”
Monika Dommann, Hannes Rickli, Max Stadler, “Data Centers”
Shinroku Shimokawa, “Man kann keine Steine essen—Kochbuch eines japanischen Bildhauers”
Alexander Klose, Benjamin Steininger, “Erdöl—Ein Atlas der Petromoderne”
Joachim Schwarz, “Heimkommen”
Maja Adler, Sophie Bürgi, Eleonora Heim, “Auf Abwegen”
Detlef Dietrichen, Anselm Franke, Katrin Klingen, Daniel Neugebauer, Bernd Scherer, “Das Neue Alphabet”
Beiträge von Elise Lammer, Lars Bang Larsen, Julia Voss u.a., “Kosmos Emma Kunz”
Raphaeël Bouvier, “Rodin / Arp”
David Chipperfield Architects, “Inagawa Cemetery Chapel and Visitor Centre”
Steffen Knöll, “NASA Apollo 11—Man on the Moon”
Barbara Staubli und Barbara Hatebur, “Umgeben von Kunst”
Tom Eigenhufe, “Sonnige Grüße aus Ziffernhausen”
Julia Dürr, “Wo kommt unser Essen her?”
Finn-Ole Heinrich, Dita Zipfel, “Schlafen wie die Rüben”
Lucia Zamolo, “Elefant auf der Brust—Warum sich Liebeskummer lohnt”
Volker Mehnert, “Die großen Flüsse der Welt”