Armin Hofmann—Reduction. Ethics. Didactics.

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Lucerne-based Armin Hofmann (* 1920) is considered one of the most influential graphic designers in Switzerland. With his extensive graphic and educational work, he has contributed significantly to the international reputation of Swiss graphic design and influenced generations of graphic designers and teachers around the world. On June 29th, 2020 Armin Hofmann celebrated his 100th birthday with his family. On the occasion of this round anniversary, his son Matthias Hofmann, who is also a graphic designer, published the book Armin Hofmann—Reduction. Ethics. Didactics.

It provides a comprehensive overview of Armin Hofmann’s creative work, his professional ethical convictions and the didactic principles he developed. Thanks to the exclusive access to non-public original sources (his entire creative work, original manuscripts, unpublished texts, thought sketches and photographs), the book enables an authentic, deep and multifaceted immersion into the work of Armin Hofmann.

New insights into his intellectual world and professional attitude become possible. In addition to a professional examination of Hofmann’s work, a detailed personal biography and the most comprehensive compilation of his creative work to date (330 pictures), the book also contains original texts by Armin Hofmann on various aspects of his oeuvre.

Eight guest contributions by world-renowned graphic designers and typographers paint a personal picture of the person Armin Hofmann and illustrate the great international influence of his work. Guest contributions by the US-American graphic designer and trans-media artist April Greiman, the German typographer and graphic designer Wolfgang Weingart as well as the Indian type designer and designer Mahendra Patel among others.

Probably the most personal and comprehensive book about the life’s work of Armin Hofmann!

Armin Hofmann—Reduction. Ethics. Didactics.

Editor & Publisher: Matthias Hofmann
Release: October 2020
Design: Matthias Hofmann
Format: 19 × 25 cm
Volume: 324 pages
Language: English, German
Bookbinding: Thread stitching
ISBN: 978-3-033-07911-3
Buy

TEATRIP

Posted on by Lara Zettl

For this book tea friends from the German-speaking countries waited long: TEATRIP is a fascinating journey by the realm of the center. It points the whole variety out of the Chinese tea culture in breath-taking pictures and accompanying Stories.

– Understand the differences & characteristics of China’s most famous tea cultivation areas.
– Learn exciting details about the cultivation, processing and preparation of China’s six major tea varieties: Oolong, white, green, yellow, black, and Pu-Erh tea.
– Learn to read the taste pictures of China’s best tea varieties correctly.

The plain truth behind China’s tea culture: China keeps the best varieties for itself! Only little is known in this country about the Chinese tea growing areas and the variety of flavors of the countless tea varieties.

Christian Beck is author of the book TEATRIP. He has been trading with the best teas from China, Taiwan and Japan for over ten years. On his annual tea trips, he has become acquainted with the top tea growing areas and top players in Chinese tea culture.

Stefan Braun, one of the best food photographers in Germany, accompanied Christian for several weeks on his travels throughout China.

In the book TEATRIP, the authors tell the stories from over ten years of tea shopping in China. The book takes you on a fascinating journey, which you can experience first hand thanks to sensational photos.

The authors present unique humans and show on the basis first-class pictures like cultivation, processing and tea benefit in China really lived.

In the focus of the book are handmade teas from small family businesses from ecological and wild tea gardens. Their journey roams the most important cultivation areas from Zhejiang over Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong and into China’s deep south, to Yunnan into the world of Pu-Erh tea.

Cover motif: Freshly picked Assamica tea leaves on the Ailao Shan in Yunnan
Back cover: Master Wu tasting a Wuyishan Oolong tea

TEATRIP—A Fascinating Journey Through the Middle Kingdom

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Release: December 2020
Author: Christian Beck
Photography: Stefan Braun
Design: Lars Harmsen (CD), Mara Schneider (AD), Melville Brand Design
Image retouching: Fabian Kern, photographic material
Format: 21.5 × 29 cm
Volume: 312 pages
Printing and binding: Druckerei Vogl
Paper: Lakepaper Blocker Perfect White 135 g / sqm, handmade paper factory Gmund
Language: German
ISBN: 978-3-948440-16-9
Price: € 69.90
Buy

© Picture material: Stefan Braun

Winter Workshops 2021—Basel School of Design

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Graphic design uses visual compositions to solve problems and communicate ideas through typography, imagery, color, and form. It is an evermore exchange of visual design tools—and most importantly—of knowledge. Though there’s no delimitation, each type of graphic design requires specific set of skills and design techniques, whether if you want to specialize yourself and go deep into one discipline or focus on a set of related, similar types. But because the industry is constantly changing, designers must be adaptable and lifelong learners so they can change or add specializations throughout their careers.

Video–digitization–animation–programming: These are the new design fields of graphic design, which are being researched, developed and communicated at the Visual Communication Institute HGK FHNW, the Basel School of Design. The newly designed range of Winter Workshops 2021 complements the summer workshop program, which has been established for many years. The well-founded knowledge of an institution flows into the design and design processes that have their roots in the Swiss design of the 1960s. The courses teach in the design method typical of The Basel School of Design with a strong focus on practical experiment and design.

The workshop with Ludwig Zeller in the field of “Deep Learning” will introduce into the basics of deep learning using convolutional neural networks and will probe the creative potentials of the technology through hands-on experimentations. Furthermore curious about code? Heard the term “creative coding” and wondered what it meant or where to begin? Then you’re right in the course “Creative Coding” with Ted Davis. You learn the technical basics and practice how a project is designed in the course “Video Documentation and Narration” of Fabian Kempter. Participants of the “Game Design” course will get an insight into creating a 3D project in Unity and learn how to use 3D models, shaders, lighting, and how to program simple interactions with the C# programming language. The “Moving Graphics” course teaches the technical and design possibilities of moving graphics with Dirk Koy.

Winter Workshops 2021

When? 
January 18th, 2021 to February 19th,  2021
Application deadline: 21.12.2020

Where?
Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst FHNW
Campus der Künste
Freilager-Platz 1, Postfach, 4002 Basel

See the full program here

Typeface of the Month: Sukhumvit Tadmai

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

Today it is time again to discover the contemporary world of type design. We are proud to present our new Typeface of the Month: Sukhumvit Tadmai by the Thai Type Foundry Cadson Demak.

Sukhumvit Tadmai, developed from Sukhumvit, is a typeface that embodies simplicity. It is known for its versatile nature, designed for optimal flexibility in modern communications. In this version, each glyph is refined for modern usage and context. Sukhumvit Tadmai is widely known as Sukhumvit Set among popular operating systems.

With added weights and styles, it covers a wider range of uses from more than just print media. It embraces the influence of modern technology and our increased reliance on digital screens, such as smartphones, tablets, computers, applications, and websites. The objective of developing Sukhumvit comes from two main considerations: screen readability and homogeneity of Latin and Thai scripts.

Sukhumvit Tadmai has several details that differentiates itself from Sukhumvit. As the main consideration is screen readability, the design process focuses on the typeface being used in smaller sizes. Certain details in glyphs such as the ‘beak’ of koKai-thai (ก), have been modified to be more pronounced at smaller sizes. The proportion and width of each character has been recalculated and redrawn from scratch, which results in all weights being recalibrated.

Sukhumvit has Light, Regular, Bold, and Italics while Sukhumvit Tadmai provides expanded usage through additional weights: Air, Ultra Light, Thin, Light, Text, Medium, Semi Bold, Bold, Extra Bold, Heavy, and Italics.

Sukhumvit is ready to expand further to support a wider variety of use. In addition to more weights, it will include four new South-Asian scripts: Vietnamese, Lao, Khmer, and Burmese.

Typeface of the Month: Sukhumvit Tadmai

Foundry: Cadson Demak
Designer: Anuthin Wongsunkakon (Thai, Latin), Stawix Ruecha (Thai, Latin), Suppakit Chalermlarp (Lao), and Sovichet Tep (Khmer)
Release: 2013 (weight), 2021 (width + Lao and Khmer language support)
File Formats: Desktop (OTF), Web (WOFF, WOFF2, EOT), App (ttf)
Weights: Air, Ultra Light, Thin, Light, Text, Medium, Semi Bold, Bold, Extra Bold, Heavy, Air Italic, Ultra Light Italic, Thin Italic, Light Italic, Text Italic, Medium Italic, Semi Bold Italic, Bold Italic, Extra Bold Italic, Heavy Italic
Price per style / family: Please get in contact via email or a direct call for a price information
Find a specimen here
Write an email to request the typeface

Petite Passport Magazine #02

Posted on by Lara Zettl

It isn’t exactly the right time to launch a travel and design magazine. Europe is slowly turning into an orange zone again, face masks and self-quarantine have become a habit. But on the other side, after all we’re waiting to get out, to dream about places we like to go and to make plans to travel again. Petite Passport Magazine #02 is a celebration of all of the inspiring places we love to travel to. With background stories, interviews, featured hotels, guides and maps.

In Issue #02 the team of  Petite Passport Magazine traveled to Brussels, Copenhagen, Greece, Los Angeles, Netherlands, and Paris. They spoke to Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen and Peter Eland of Norm Architects about an human centric approach to interior design. You can read about the best museums, galleries and art and design events in Brussel and the coolest spots in Pigalle, Paris and the designers behind Klein Agency shared their favorite recommendations in Los Angeles. From Venice to Silver Lake and from Hollywood to Downtown L.A., but also from Greece to the Netherlands, Petite Passport Magazine #02 carries you off to unknown design spots all over the world with its stories and above all, lots of recommendations of places to eat, shop and accommodations.

But most importantly this magazine inspires you to make new travel plans. But above all, it makes you think about travel 2.0. There’s travel and there’s travel. If COVID-19 learned us one thing, it’s that mass tourism isn’t the way to go. Be kind to nature, be mindful, slow down and really enjoy those tiny little details that make all the difference.

Petite Passport Magazine #02

Editor: Pauline Egge
Graphic Designer + Art Director: Marjolein Delhaas
Translators: Laura Spanbroek, Elise Reynolds 
Release: 2020
Paper: 250 g/sm coated mat, 120 g/sm offset white Paper
Font: Monument Grotesk
ISSN: 2666–3635
Price: 19.99 Euro
Buy

Linguhacks / Typohacks

Posted on by hannahwitte

The topic of gender-sensitive language for designers and in design discourses often still represents a major challenge. Even these days we are lacking a fair and sensitive understanding for non binary typography and language. Linguhacks / Typohacks is a book showing an approach of gender-sensitive language and typography. It deals with hacking methods for a non-binary use of typography in the German language.

The book, as hinted at in the title, is divided into two parts: Linguhacks / Typohacks, and can either be started from the front cover, or flipped over, turned 90 degrees, and started from the back cover. It is on the one hand an introduction to the topic of gender-sensitive language for designers and people working in design-related fields. On the other hand, it is a typographic reference work with suggestions and ideas for the micro-typographic handling of non-binary language forms.

The book presents different possibilities of using gender-sensitive language by applying typographic means that avoid annoyance for readers. But it also asks the question whether gender-sensitive hacks have to avoid annoyance at all. Should they perhaps not be pleasant at all? Following this question, the book presents the idea of the Gender-Trouble-Star, which pursues the function of being placed in texts in a way that is as loud and disturbing as possible.

Another level of content is formed by a series of interviews with designers Ann Richter from Studio Pandan, Daniela Burger from Missy Magazine and Prof. Ralf de Jong, co-author of the reference work Detailtypografie. They report on their views on anti-discriminatory language actions and the use of gender-sensitive language in their creative practice.

Linguhacks / Typohacks is the bachelor thesis of Hannah Witte who graduated in spring 2020 at the Folkwang University of Art in Essen. The work was supervised by Prof. Claudius Lazzeroni (Communication Design) and Prof. Simon Dickel (Gender and Diversity). The publication is not yet available to buy, but will be funded by a Kickstarter campaign in the upcoming weeks, if you are interested in the product you can contact Hannah Witte here, and support the Kickstarter campaign, so that the book can be published by form Verlag.

Linguhacks / Typohacks

Concept, Text, and Design: Hannah Witte
Publisher: form Verlag
Release: 2020
Volume: 212 pages
Language: German
Fonts: Monument Grotesk by Kasper Florio, Rosart by Katharina Köhler
Paper: Design Offset 1.2 120 g/sm, Maxigloss 135 g/sm
Format: 23 × 17 cm

Support the Kickstarter campaign, by contacting Hannah Witte here.

New and Freshly Printed Publications by POOL Publishing

Posted on by Lara Zettl

While switching through the news, we have some good ones for you today. Slanted Shop has refilled its shelves with some brand-new freshly printed POOL Publishing’s publications. We present you two books, a calendar, and one post card set, which put a smile on one’s face in those times.

Lost Spring
2020 was—and still is—a strange year. Starting off as self-therapy to cope with nameless solitude this body of work evolved into a documentation of 10 odd weeks. 10 weeks that didn’t line up with any other weeks before. With Alexander Kilian playful Photographs, composed and arranged but still containing the feeling of a snapshot, the world seems to make sense again. His photographic work is characterized by the precise combination between structures and colors captured together with the playful use of light and shadows. Brilliant!
Lost Springs in Slanted Shop, 22.5 × 29 cm,  2020

Italo Summer Dreams Postcard Box
The Italo Summer Dreams Postcard Box is a series about loving and longing. Dreams of Capri, Sirmione, dreams of Bellini e bacione. A series for the ones you love. Per sempre.
Italo Summer Dreams Postcard Box in Slanted Shop, 12 postcards, 10.5 × 14.8 cm, 2020

Pin Up Guinea Pigs
Hi, there you cheeky little rascals. It’s us, Gin Tonic, Belissa and the other eleven showstoppers from the Pin-Up Guinea show. We knew you would land here, dusting off that old 2020 vibe. Ready for some well-deserved glitz and glamour for this new year. And let us tell you: we’re all here for that, honey.
Pin Up Guinea Pigs in Slanted Shop, 14 pages, 21 × 29.7 cm, 2020

B-Sides
A compendium of outtakes, leftovers, discarded variations of motifs, actually visual B-Sides left behind on Philotheus Nisch’s path to commissioned pictures for various newspapers and magazines.
B-Sides in Slanted Shop, 136 pages, 22.5 × 30.7 cm, 2020

POOL is a contemporary publishing house based in Vienna and Berlin with a focus on illustration, graphic design and photography. Together with creatives from all over the world we create unique publications, speak at conferences about our experiences and run workshops on artist books and self-publishing.

Slanted in L.A.: Jeffery Keedy

Posted on by Lara Zettl

In a town like L.A. and on a production like Slanted’s, which brings together the material for a magazine, not everything has to work out. Often, the best things happen when they’re not planned, just as they did when we went to this gleaming city in fall 2019. We were happy to meet the luminaries from the local creative scene and we are thrilled to share our inspiring encounters with you.

Mr. Keedy is an educator, designer, type designer, and writer, who has been teaching in the Graphic Design Program at California Institute of the Arts since 1985. He has been recognized for his design work for institutional and commercial clients in branding, packaging, and publication design. His typeface Keedy Sans was added to MoMA’s permanent Architecture and Design Collection in 2011.

Mr. Keedy’s work can be found in the Slanted Magazine #35—L.A.. Additionally we shot a video interview to talk about his attitude and view of things. Take a look at our new issue and the video platform to encounter new ways of design thinking!

 

Typ/o

Posted on by typ-o

Most typefaces can be classified into one of four basic groups: those with serifs, those without serifs, scripts, and decorative styles. Over the years, typographers and scholars of typography have developed various systems to define those categories, subsequently some of these systems have scores of sub-categories. In order to bring light into the typographical maze, to make classifications possible for both—experts and non-professionals—the typ/o project was conceived as a mobile-first website for recognizing and classifying typefaces.

Its goal is not to automatically identify individual fonts, but to facilitate the learning of how to recognize their underlying formal principles. As a basis, various terms and group divisions in current international use have been relied on here. This means that slight deviations from existing norms for classifying typefaces have consciously been made.

Initiated by the design department of the University of Applied Sciences Aachen, under the direction of Prof. Eva Kubinyi and Robin Coenen, the typ/o project team conceived a mobile-first website for recognizing and classifying typefaces. typ/o is a comprehensive application with which typography can be investigated through the sections Learn, Identify, Play and Fonts. In times of digital teaching this work from about two years seems impressive and more relevant than ever.

Not to be mixed up with automatically identifying individual fonts, typ/o facilitates the learning of how to recognize their underlying formal principles. As a basis, various terms and group divisions in current international use have been relied on here. This means that slight deviations from existing norms for classifying typefaces have consciously been made.

In particular, typ/o can be used in the classroom for motivating students and fostering curiosity about investigating typography. In the Learn-section, basic information about how typefaces are grouped into categories and subcategories is presented. In the Identify-section, users can compare typefaces found in everyday life, or that they encounter in their studies, with the models shown. In the Play-section, users can check what they have learned playfully. The font catalog has a selection of more than 100 typefaces, with relevant background information.

Typ/o

Languages: English and German (French and Spanish planned)
Publisher: FH Aachen, University of Applied Sciences, Department of Design
Typefaces: Didactic selection over 100 typefaces, the website is displayed in Infini (Designed by Sandrine Nugue)
Sponsors: “Fellowship für Innovation in der digitalen Hochschullehre 2019” of the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Stifterverband
Free for use
Contact
More information here

On the occasion of the virtual conference ATypI 2020 All Over, from October 27th to 31st, typ/o was presented to the public for the very first time. Check out the presentation here. 

Wolfgang Tillmans. four books.

Posted on by Julia Kahl

The works of photographer Wolfgang Tillmans have always had a unique visual language that shapes our perception of the world. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of TASCHEN, where he has already published four books in the course of his career, the book Wolfgang Tillmans. four books. has now been published, which presents overlapping perspectives from his previous books with new works on over 500 pages.

Thus, his fifth book is a retrospective, but also a look into the present, which, thanks to digital photography, makes possible a density of information and sharpness that was hardly known until then.

It is surprising that this thick book costs only 20 Euros and thus becomes affordable for a very large audience. An absolutely worthwhile purchase!

Wolfgang Tillmans. four books.

Publishing house: TASCHEN
Photographer & Editor: Wolfgang Tillmans
Format: 15.6 x 21.7 cm
Volume: 512 pages
Workmanship: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-3-8365-8253-7
Price: EUR 20.–

BUY here

Secret Societies

Posted on by Becca McLeish

Attention to detail and creative design, with that certain something that makes a print publication special today—Secret Societies invites you to take a trip to New York at the beginning of the last century and immerse yourself in its pages.

Much is popularized of the Mafia in film, literature, music, and urban legend. Some stories are inspired by and respectful of the facts, but many are presented through a creative lens distorting how organized crime began. References are often made to criminal activity in the infamous Prohibition Era, but few stories cover the preceding years, until now. Secret Societies presents a graphic history of true crime. It examines the origins story of the American Mafia through the rise and fall of the first boss of bosses Giuseppe Morello and his powerful brother-in-law Ignazio Lupo.

This is a time before the Castellammarese War—a period of bloody power struggles for control of the Italian—American Mafia that took place in New York City between 1930 and 1931. The important period preceding the war is considered murky and lacking historic documentation. This meticulously illustrated volume of Secret Societies shines a light on this fascinating time of American history and organized crime. Through the rise and fall of the first US Mafia bosses, this book examines the early development of the Sicilian-American criminal network. Illustrated with over 175 period photographs, contemporary articles and documents.

The book also examines the story of the Barrel Murder in which Giuseppe Morello, the first boss-of-bosses of the US Mafia, was arrested following a brutal murder in the heart of New York’s Little Italy. Soon followed by the tragic story of NYPD officer Joseph Petrosino who became a pioneer in the fight against black handers and Mafiosi alike. In 1909, while on a secret mission, Petrosino became the only NYPD officer to be killed while on foreign soil after he was assassinated in Palermo.

In this important stage of history, the hierarchies of crime families were established and reinforced. Secret Societies obtains the American Mafia origins story.

Secret Societies

Author and Designer: Jon Black
Editor: Tom Hunt
Publisher: same old
Language: English
Edition: One, 1,000 copies
Format: 21 × 29.7 cm 
Binding: Exposed smyth sewn
Price: £ 35.–
Buy

Arcade Game Typography

Posted on by Julia Kahl

It’s been a while since I listened to Toshi Omagari’s talk at TYPO Berlin about his research on 8 pixel fonts. Growing up with video games, there are of course many fond memories of the colorful letters flickering animatedly across the screen telling us WON or GAME OVER.

It was only a few years ago that Toshi came across the topic in an issue of the Japanese graphic design magazine Idea about video game graphics and then turned his attention to games from the 70s, 80s and 90s. He was able to identify about 250 fonts, which he then divided into categories for his book Arcade Game Typography —The Art of Pixel Type and presented them in a clearly arranged manner.

The press release reads: “Exhaustively researched, this book gathers an eclectic typography from hit games such as Super Sprint, Pac-Man, After Burner, Marble Madness, Shinobi, as well as countless lesser- known gems. The book presents its typefaces on a dynamic and decorative grid, taking reference from high-end type specimens while adding a suitably playful twist. Unlike print typefaces, pixel type often has bold color ‘baked in’ to the characters, so Arcade Game Typography looks unlike any other typography book, fizzing with life and color.”

Color and resolution limitations were a new challenge for the typeface designers to create expressive and elegant fonts in a small space. But this is exactly what should inspire the readers of the book to create their own designs.

For all who love video games and typography!

Arcade Game Typography—The Art of Pixel Type

Publishing House: Thames & Hudson
Author: Toshi Omagari
Preface: Kiyonori Muroga
Design: Leo Field
Release: August 2019
Format: 17.5 × 23 cm
Language: English
Scope: 272 pages
Processing: Softcover with dust jacket, adhesive binding
ISBN: 978-0500021743
Price: £ 19.95

BUY regular softcover version
BUY limited hardcover version for £ 35

Neuwerk #7

Posted on by neuwerk_magazin

Neuwerk #7 magazine has just been published by the MA students of design studies at Burg Giebichenstein at a time when each of us is more than ever concerned about the topic of the current issue.

Neuwerk #7 deals with contact in terms of design, because: Design creates contact. According to Gui Bonsiepe—a german designer and theorist—by linking an acting person with his or her goal and the tools chosen for it, design works at the basis of human action. In its creative function, design thus creates relationships, forms connections and transforms actions. According to this definition, it serves as an interface between people, different entities and the world. The contact between the components of a constantly changing and constantly reorganizing world is characterized by the constant negotiation of boundaries. Design determines these boundaries and overcomes them. Beyond its purposeful nature, design also has an epistemic dimension that has the potential to open up social spaces of action and open up new possibilities for dialogue. In this respect, an epistemic interplay between knowledge and design can be identified, both in design practice and on the user side. Knowledge is generated via, through and with design, which becomes critically reflexive with post-disciplinary ambitions and can generate new discourses.

In 2020, Neuwerk #7  is dedicated to the most diverse situations, in which the role of design in the ambivalent game of closeness and distance becomes apparent. The design of this seventh issue of Neuwerk magazine also reflects the ambivalent relationship between defining and overcoming boundaries that is inherent in designing matter. In addition to the individual articles, the magazine consists of an index of words and images. The register—usually located in the appendix—becomes the central element of the design. With breaking classical reading habits and providing various possibilities, Neuwerk#7 obtains other dimensional experiences. Readers are encouraged to use the magazine like a search engine and to recognize links between the individual articles, to build associative bridges, to discover unexpected connections and to relate the magazine’s contents to each other in new ways.

Neuwerk #7

Layout / Design: Lucas Kramer
Authors: Ellen-Sophie Neugebauer, Lea Zimmermann, Lukas Schilling, Michel Fleißner, Pauline Löhr
Publisher: Burg Giebichenstein—University of Art and Design Halle
Release: October, 2020
Volume: 160 pages
Format: 14.5 × 19 cm
Language: German
Production: Printed by print shop of Burg Giebichenstein—University of Art and Design Halle
Binding: Buchbinderei Marré
Paper: Maximat Prime woodfree, matt coated 115 g/qm, Circlesilk Premium Whitesilk matt coated 350 g/qm
ISBN: 978-3-86019-155-2
Price: 8.– Euro

Buy here or at specific retailers such as MZIN, Buecherbogen, Pro qm

Papaik

Posted on by Asia Angulska

Designing a typeface can be a long journey, there are numerous fundamental choices to make before and defining the letterforms often starts physically by drawing, sketching or cutting. Papaik’s story began with one single brush stroke. Originally, existed in one tiny version, but since last year it was modulated and polished. It may seem delicate at first glance, but with getting a stronger formal language, Papaik can solve solutions to problems that seem insurmountable to other typefaces within the genre. Its wide range of applications can often help to vary the layout and suits to a wide range of typographical needs within comic books, cartoons, video games, advertisements, peripheral products ranging from flyers, posters and films. The Regular weight of Papaik is part of Joanna Angulska’s MA thesis at the University of Arts in Poznan, in collaboration with The Designers Foundry. While being an independent graphic designer specialized in type design and visual identity, Joanna also works with calligraphy and illustration. Her Masters diploma is a compilation of calligraphy and type design. That’s how P was born and transitioned into Papaik, her first TDF typeface.

The display typeface Papaik consists of two relevant styles: Regular and Bold. Both styles include small caps, alternates, ligatures and OpenType features. Its handwritten style is based on the sign painting tool, i. e. a pointed brush. The inspiration for this typeface came from the years when signs were commonly painted. Letters appeared on shop windows, walls, vehicles, on anything that could serve as an advertising medium. To diversify the visual side of the text, contextual sets, final sets, standard and stylistic ligatures were created for this purpose and the typeface is usable for whether a small amount of text,  but also for headlines, best for posters.

“Type was always my trigger to move forward and encourages me to take further creative efforts” explains the designer, a philosophy which is certainly not to be missed out on.

Papaik

Design: Joanna Angulska
Publisher: The Designers Foundry
Release: 2020
Styles: Regular and Bold
Price weight: $ 30.–, price family: $ 45.–
Buy

Breakout—100 Posters Book

Posted on by Lara Zettl

As it is a common habitat in the graphic design branch, starting to build a business can be tough, especially while being a student. Cihan Tamti is a self initiative design student who had a clever solution, with starting to treat Instagram like a graphic design gym and worked on poster design on a daily basis. Without the constraints of a client, he developed designs with strong, experimental typography and complex compositions that ended up winning competitions and attracting people all over the world. The team of Slanted thought that his works should also be seen on paper and subsequently started a Kickstarter campaign together with Cihan. Breakout—100 Posters Book shows his love to experiment with letters and customizing fonts, as well as his sense for ambitious cutting-edge graphics.

Cihan’s book summarizes 100 selected posters from the past few years. These posters include free and personal ones, real commission work, exhibition posters, and award-winning posters. But what it makes even more important to us is that it encourages and inspires to breakout oneself and to start spreading one’s own visual messages.

Become a supporter of his Kickstarter campaign and purchase one of his poster designs to help produce Breakout—100 Posters Book!

Breakout—100 Posters Book

Graphic Designer: Cihan Tamti
Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Format: 160 × 240 mm (6.3 × 9.4 in)
Volume: 128 pages
Language: English
Printing: Offset
Cover: Softcover with book flaps
Binding: Adhesive binding
Support Breakout

Lottery: Freshly Printed Paper Swatch by Europapier

Posted on by Lara Zettl

There is no way around Europapier when it comes to producing print products that meet the criteria of sustainability and high-quality results. Their newest Design Papers Collection from 2020 is diligently curated, with great dedication, and addressing all those who realize the importance of using quality paper as a medium, awakening pure feelings in exceptional print products and bringing out the best of it.

As Slanted was especially curious about the new paper swatch, which shows now more than 85 brands and gives an easy overview of all the different qualities, we asked Sandra Schmidt, Europapier’s Head of Design Papers, a few questions.

As Slanted is a strong proponent of the aesthetics of print objects, we are very curious about the paper selector? Which ideas and thoughts brought it into its form?
It was very important that its aesthetics appeals to our customers. Because of the swatches size it is practically to flip through it, and easy to create an ideal paper combinations. Our assortment has grown over the years and so we created two swatches. Our wish is that it becomes a daily used tool for customers and that it beautifully decorates their desks and inspires to include quality paper in their future projects.

You created a selector which binds Europapier’s new design papers selection, which features make it outstanding?
We keep our clients at the heart of everything we do. This is why, our wish is to deliver the best we possibly can—and over a nine month process we put our heads together and meticulously create the collection. With the help of the specialists from Metaklinika—an independent design studio from Belgrade— the packaging of the Design Collection is flawless, looking dazzling and functions perfectly. While the inner life of the swatch is perfectly organized into six categories, within the papers maintain a high-end look which fits a variety of different applications.

In your formal language you are quoting a web/UX design style and subsequently building a bridge between the digital and the analogue, where does this idea come from?
Inspired from modern web aestheticism and data design and Metaklinika wanted to imbue the box, by imitating the infinite scroll from the swatches form to even its folding. In a constantly digitalizing world, paper continues to enjoy not only undiminished, but even new blazing popularity. It will accompany us also in the future as a multisensory medium and assume a dominant position when it comes to the emotional component of messages. It is particularly masterful when it comes to conveying value emotionally.

How do you make your selection of papers? What are the criteria?
Every year, stunning new paper developments are presented to us. In combination with customer feedback and needs, we decide about new assortments. Then, every other year we include all these news in the new Design Papers Collection.

What can you foretell for future projects?
In a world of digital senses overload, the role of paper will be intensified probably in future. We see an increasing trend in choosing one of a kind papers to underline stunning print projects, as haptics and emotions are undeniably transported through this multisensory medium: from creator to end user. From the Beginning up-cycling, i.e. the reuse of waste products or useless fabrics for new products had been a central issue. Social change, particularly in the area of ecological topics, will make up-cycling even more important in the future. We are definitely excited to work with creatives and curious to what imaginative projects will be launched with up-cycling papers.

If you want to know more about the project, check Europapier’s blog article about the new design paper swatch online.

Now you also have the chance to call a Design Paper Swatch from Europapier your own: We raffle five editions. To take part in the lottery, write an email to [email protected] with the subject “Europapier,” and let us know your postal address (for dispatch). The lottery ends November 19th, 2020, 11 a.m. (UTC+1). The winners will be drawn after the deadline and contacted by email. Whoever takes part in the raffle agrees to receive news from Slanted and accepts the privacy policy. Legal recourse is excluded. We wish you good luck!

 

Werkschau 2020—Peter Behrens School of Arts

Posted on by eric_fritsch

These days, the browser window seems to replace the one in our apartments and gives us a view on the world. It has never been so important to stay connected to a transforming technical world. Also in universities being digitalized is more evident this semester than ever before. At the same time, new challenges are emerging for students as obstacles on the path of graduating Bachelor and Master students are showing up. A topic, which is dealt with at the digital exhibition launched on October 16th for the subject area of design for the Hochschule Düsseldorf, Peter Behrens School of Arts, where about 80 bachelor and master graduates studying Communication Design, New Craft Object Design, Retail Design, and Exhibition Design showcase their thesis works.

Instead of a physical tour through the building—where the student works are normally shown—this semester the Werkschau 2020—Peter Behrens School of Arts will be an online gallery where graduates of the four courses can introduce themselves and their work to virtual visitors. Each graduate has their own individual space in their individual form language to support the theme of their graduation work. The online gallery itself with an overall arrangement is according to a theme of Digital Overkill which can be explored on the exhibition website.

The works are diverse and reach from photographic examination, dealing with the momentary drag scene in the USA (butterflies and caterpillars—Ardelle Schneider), to the rebranding of a pharmacy (MyMeds—Philip Siegel) or editorial projects like A book as time capsule?! from Valentin Schnitzler. Let’s see if your curiosity brings you to look through the browser window on the inspiring works of Peter Behrens School’s Werkschau 2020.

Werkschau 2020—Peter Behrens School of Arts

You can take a look at the presented final theses of the summer semester 2020 here or check out their Instagram

Praktikum bei Slanted Publishers 2021 – jetzt bewerben!

Posted on by Julia Kahl

Slanted Publishers hat ein 6-monatiges Praktikum im Bereich Redaktion/Grafik ab März 2021 zu vergeben: Wir suchen eine(n) engagierte(n) Studierende(n) mit großem Interesse an Typografie und redaktionellen/organisatorischen Aufgaben, der/die Lust hat zu erfahren, wie wir arbeiten und für 6 Monate Teil des Slanted-Teams wird.

Wir bieten: 

  • Einblicke in unsere Verlagstätigkeit (Konzeption, Redaktion, Organisation, Vertrieb, PR etc.)
  • Redaktionelle und grafische Mitarbeit am Slanted Magazin und anderen Verlagspublikationen
  • Redaktionelle Mitarbeit in unseren Onlinekanälen (Blog, Social Media)
  • Studiofotografie und Reportagefotografie
  • Verantwortungsvolle, selbstständige Arbeit und unter Anleitung
  • Organisatorische und administrative Aufgaben
  • Mögliche Teilnahme an Designkonferenzen im Rahmen unserer Medienpartnerschaften

Das sollte der/die BewerberIn mitbringen:

  • Abgeschlossenes Grundstudium im Bereich Grafikdesign (o. Ä.)
  • Sehr gute Deutsch- und Englischkenntnisse
  • Sichere Anwendungskenntnisse in InDesign und Photoshop
  • Interesse an neuen Strömungen in den Bereichen Design, Kunst und Kultur
  • Begeisterung für Typografie, aktuelle Strömungen im Typedesign
  • Redaktionelles Interesse
  • Selbstständigkeit, Weitblick, Flexibilität, Kreativität und Ideenreichtum
  • Organisationstalent und Kommunikationsstärke
  • Gewissenhaftes und genaues Arbeiten
  • Das Praktikum erfolgt im Rahmen eines studienbegleitenden Pflichtpraktikums

Das Praktikum bei Slanted Publishers findet vom 01.03.–03.09.2021 in Karlsruhe statt und wird vergütet. Bewerberinnen und Bewerber sollten erklären, warum sie ihr Praktikum bei uns machen möchten. Bitte richtet Eure vollständige Bewerbung als aussagefähiges PDF-Portfolio ab sofort bis spätestens 24.11.2020 an Julia Kahl: [email protected]. Die Bewerbungsgespräche finden anschließend ab 26.11.20 statt.

Wir freuen uns sehr auf Eure Bewerbung!

Visual by Lara Zettl

Leafy House Plants

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Nature is one of the most multi-faceted sources of inspiration that exist on our planet: endlessly complex yet simple, exciting and unique but also calming and unpretentious. How incredible—that there is a way we can bring a piece of this nature into our own four walls. But the cultivation of house plants does not always prove to be easy. With many plants there are special peculiarities that should be considered.

In 1899, the German botanist Udo Dammer wrote down his knowledge of the ins and outs of different houseplants and published the book called Zimmerblattpflanzen. Since completing his studies at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart Benjamin Wurster has been deeply interested in exploring the topic of inspiration. So when he accidentally came across a copy of this encyclopedia 120 years later, Benjamin had the idea of a modern version of this book including every plant illustration as well as the original German texts translated into English for the first time.

Leafy House Plants includes all the original 1899 texts and pictures, as well as a comprehensive introduction to the whole project with thoughts on plants, art, and inspiration. The heart of the book is made up of the 46 beautifully detailed plant illustrations from the original publication. These as well as other original content are supplemented by an overview of all plant names and miniatures of the original book pages.

A must for all plant lovers!

Leafy House Plants

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Authors: Udo Dammer, Benjamin Wurster
Design: Benjamin Wurster
Release: November 2020
Volume: 224 pages
Format: 16 × 24 cm
Language: English, German
ISBN: 978-3-948440-15-2
Price: 30.– Euro
Buy

Radical Passion. The Worlds Longest Produced Electric Train and a Vibrant Train Culture

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

Radical Passion. The Worlds Longest Produced Electric Train and a Vibrant Train Culture book project unveiled the untold history about brutal design, visual culture, and the community of radical train lovers. The publication is more than 500 pages visual story about the extraordinary train model EN57 and the creative impact it had on society. This unit was the worlds longest produced electric train, born in Wrocław (Breslau), Poland in 1962 and operates until now. The authors spent four years traveling around the country, interviewing passionate spotters, graffiti writers, model makers, photographers, painters, train drivers. This diverse community often have a clashing point of views but share love to this same object. You will find in this book new content which has never published until now from private and neglected archives.

There is also something for typography and graphic design fans. A new typeface—Tor Grotesk was developed for this book by Threedotstype. This font is a revival of the lettering used on the train EN57 and signage dating back before World War Two. 

This project is not only about the sentimental world of the train culture. It is also about raising awareness about trains as an inspiring model of sustainable public transport with its positive impact on our lifestyle and (as the authors trying to prove) also on human creativity.

Torypress is a team of four researchers and designers exploring the intersection between visual culture and design. 

This book project needs your support and is available to preorder on Kickstarter until November 15th, 2020.

Radical Passion. The Worlds Longest Produced Electric Train and a Vibrant Train Culture

Publishers: Torypress and Threedotstype
Format: 21 × 28.5 cm
Pages: 500+
Authors: Dawid Błaszczyk, Tomek Czechowicz, Maciej Janus, and Marian Misiak
Languages: Polish and English
Typefaces: Tor Grotesk, Di Grotesk
Preorder now!

Type on Earth

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Everyday life is full of inspiring typographical situations. Especially when you keep your eyes open, you will discover beautifully and absurdly used typefaces on places you won’t expect them. For the love of typographical bits and unintentional design processes, Sebastian Bissinger and Laure Boer, from the German-French design agency BANK™ in Berlin, decided to reveal not only their type photo archives, but also to call for entries to create a common place Type on Earth for designers, who share the same passion worldwide. They had this project in their heads for a very long time, and finally, just a few months ago they launched their website for Type on Earth.

This curated online archive is about sharing photos of letters you came across. It doesn’t matter if the letter designs are done in an amateurish or professional manner unless they are striking and surprisingly unique. And the picture itself? Well, it simply needs to be a good photograph. With Type on Earth BANK™ creates an online archive about typographic culture from all over the world.

Categorized by countries, Type on Earth features already type-photos from more than 30 countries. But to make this a real community project, we call for entries. Ed Fella, Åbäke, Dina Benbrahim, Peter Bil’ak, Yukiko, Piero Di Biase, Carlos Segura, Slang, Nolan Paparelli, Open 2 Type, Svenja Prigge and many others are already on board. While scrolling through the website you will come across Logotypes from the Czech Republic—A maximum of absurdity achieved with total reduction: strokes with just two directions. Or official display types for the whole metropolitan region of Lille in the north of France with complex grids, which seems challenging to display letters with it.

When you share the same interest in spreading fancy typographic findings to others, you can send your high resolution photos using the submit form. Please name your files after the country where they were photographed. Sebastian Bissinger and Laure Boer are very thrilled about submissions, the more outrageous and extravagant, the better.

Type on Earth

Photographs from:

STRAJK

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Last week in Poland, the street protests lived to see their own typeface. On Friday people all over the world followed the banners appearing on protests in Poland with fascination. The posters and banners, that appeared to mark the protests of the women’s strike in many polish cities from the turn of October and November 2020, triggered a storm, also visually. Inspired by slogans, the graphic designer Michał Berger digitalized letters from handwritten strike banners and designed the font STRAJK. It is a typeface inspired by protests against tightening the anti-abortion law.

The slogans written spontaneously on cardboard and sheets of paper seemed to be honest, while supporting at the same time direct and strongly an important message—the rejection of Poland’s new abortion ruling. “Recently I felt like writing something about handmade banners for protests and women’s strikes. Not from a political perspective, but from the perspective of a designer, a creator. I am impressed by human creativity and often a cool sense of humor. Although I look at these cardboard banners and boards, I know that one hour of art in school is definitely not enough.” says Michał Berger.

Instead of analyzing, however, the creative director of the polish design agency BERGERCHOJNACKI and graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, treated the phenomenon creatively and turned it into his own project. From the visual storm he chose the most characteristic letters and arranged the alphabet from them. They are curved and irregular, sometimes not written correctly, but at the same time bold and devoid of complexes. And what is most important: strong and striking. For the time being, STRAJK is a rather truncated version, but the author announces that he will develop it in subsequent versions adding more letters and characters.

STRAJK is available for free download, so that it can serve everyone, not only in protests. Michał Berger writes shortly about his font: “A little bit dull, but very real.”

STRAJK

Designer: Michał Berger
Release: November 2020
Price: Free for use
Download

 

ÉTÉ

Posted on by Lara Zettl

For two years, with their 4 × 5 large format camera in their luggage, a lot of patience and great physical effort, two photographers from Munich were on the road in winter sports resorts between Lake Geneva and Nice. Their astonishing photographical documentation ÉTÉ covers once hypermodern holiday colonies, created in the building boom from the 1950’s until well into the 1970’s, that mark the euphoric departure into the future and have landed like gigantic spaceships in the middle of nature.

With the photography series, called ÉTÉ, Olaf Unverzart and Sebastian Schels explore Alpine landscapes in shots that have nothing in common with stereotypical postcard images. The two photographers have captured a total of 33 ski-resorts in the Western Alps of France and Italy using plate cameras. Their pictures, taken in the years 2018 and 2019, portray a world marked by the architecture and infrastructure of the tourism industry. They show winter sports centers that were conceived from scratch on the drawing board as holiday resorts. From the 1960s onwards, these structures shot up in a way that is nearly unimaginable today. They were designed for the general public as places undisturbed by traffic, offering space-efficiency and high-density in line with the functional leisure architecture of the 1960s and 1970s.

These utopias from a bygone era seem divorced from the present time in which more and more ski resorts are falling victim to climate change. Owing to their subtle, almost poetic perspective, Unverzart and Schels have created a photographic monument to the ideas of that age. All photos were taken during the summer months: the deserted places without snow exude an eerily disconnected, melancholic mood.

ÉTÉ

Design: Alexandra Rusitschka
Publisher: Verlag Kettler
Essay: Dietrich Erben
Photography: Olaf Unverzart and Sebastian Schels
Volume: 184 pages, 98 Images
Release first edition: October 2020
Workmanship: Hardcover, Linen, 24 × 30.5 cm
Printing: Special Edition + Prints
Buy via Mail or on the website