Hamburg Alphabet

Posted on by Chris Campe

You walked past this corner shop for years. Its gorgeous neon sign was probably from when the business first started in the 1950s. But one day the shop was gone and the weird little building was empty for a while. And then it got torn down and replaced by architecture, all smooth and shiny—a pity. Signs and facade lettering characterize the cityscape. They advertise, designate, mark, they are visible from afar and serve orientation. Without lettering there is no city, and so a city can also be portrayed through its neon signs and lettering. The portrait that emerges is multi-layered. It is composed of common, typical, and unique names and designations, of the special relationship to their places, and of the design. And last but not least, it allows conclusions to be drawn about the transformation of a city.

In 2010, the designer Chris Campe took photos of over a 1,000 different shop signs in Hamburg and published the most remarkable ones in the book Hamburg Alphabet, as a typographic portrait of Hamburg. But like any portrait, the Hamburg Alphabet captured only a moment in the every changing city. So ten years after the first edition of the book, Chris Campe went back, took new photos of the signs and published an updated version of Hamburg Alphabet.

More than 40% of the signs documented in 2010 are gone by now. Sometimes they were replaced by more contemporary signage, sometimes an empty wall is all that is left and in some cases not only the sign is gone, but the whole building, too.

Shop signs are only a detail of a cityscape. But the changes in Hamburg’s typographic surface point towards underlying structural transformations. And the “before-and-after photos” in the two editions of the Hamburg Alphabet highlight these changes—and they’re also a great resource of lettering inspiration.

Hamburg Alphabet

Author and Designer: Chris Campe
2010 Edition: Junius Verlag
ISBN 2010 Edition: 978-3-88506-466-4
2020 Edition: Self Published
Run: limited edition of 250 copies
Format: 17 × 12 cm
Volume: 96 pages, 220 color photos
Language: Introduction in German and English
Price: € 14.90 plus shipping (Germany € 3.– , Europe € 5.–, World € 9.–)
Buy

Slanted in L.A.: CalArts and Michael Worthington

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.

Michael Worthington teaches in the Graphic Design Program at the California Institute of the Arts, and was Co-director from 1998 through 2005 and from 2008 through 2015. His design studio Counterspace was formed in 2000 working primarily with cultural clients. In 2018 he set up MW Books to publish short run art and design publications. His second book Inside Out & Upside Down: Posters From CalArts 1980 to 2019 has been released in late 2019.

CalArts—California Institute of the Arts is renowned internationally as a game-changer in the education of professional artists. The transformative cultural impact of our alumni shows why: We bring out visionary creative talent unlike any other university, school or conservatory. An all-inclusive community for a diversity of authentic voices, CalArts offers comprehensive degree programs across the full range of the visual, performing, media, and literary arts through its six schools. Admissions are decided primarily on artistic merit and creative promise.

The work of Michael Worthington 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!

Little People, BIG DREAMS

Posted on by Julia Kahl

Had enough of fictional stories about firefighters, dinos, pink pigs and princesses? Instead, real stories from real life that give children courage and at the same time convey sometimes complex situations in a simple and child-friendly way? Then the children’s book series Little People, BIG DREAMS from Insel Verlag is just the thing, now translated from Spanish and English for the first time and thus also made accessible to a German-speaking audience.

Each book tells of an impressive life story of great people: Each of these personalities, whether artist, pilot or scientist, has achieved the unimaginable. And it all began when they were still small: with big dreams.

The press release says: “For babies, the perfect gift to welcome them into a world full of dreams! And parents will be encouraged by these books on sleepless nights to make reading aloud a natural part of life. Toddlers will be enchanted by the illustrations—they will discover numerous things. Also, the books are great vocabulary trainers! three- to five-year-olds will just soak it all up, illustrations and text alike! six-, eight-, and ten-year-olds will have a more sophisticated understanding of the illustrations and the meaning of the story—it’s not just about accepting yourself and realizing your dreams for the future, but also about accepting others for who they are. Later books make good gifts for any occasion, because childhood dreams can become realities throughout life.”

I particularly like the fact that the books are drawn by different illustrators, so that they are quite varied in style, but still fit into the series. It is about people who have made history because of their behavior, famous artists, musicians, writers, but also current figures such as Greta Thunberg has already been dedicated a title. Finally, in the back of the book there is a chart of the protagonists’ lives, a nice moment that bridges the gap to reality.

Little People, BIG DREAMS

Publisher: Insel Verlag
Author: María Isabel Sánchez Vegara
Format: 20 × 25 cm
Size: 32 pages each
Version: Hardcover
Price: 13.95 Euro

More information here

100 beste Plakate 20 Deutschland Österreich Schweiz

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Who hasn’t already heard from one of the most important competitions for graphic designers with a passion for extraordinary posters, shouldn’t miss the following information, which were published only recently. The competition of the 100 beste Plakate 20 Deutschland Österreich Schweiz starts today on December 14th, 2020, and we can’t wait to see all the fantastic plays with color and typography artistry, the visionary illustrations and stunning graphic design. When graphic worlds of ideas in a wide variety of formal languages, student poster projects and commissioned work by established graphic designers come together, then it is in the exhibition for the competition 100 beste Plakate 20 Deutschland Österreich Schweiz.

Every year, the entries to the largest annual poster competition in the German-speaking world are selected. Only the hundred best make it into the highly regarded traveling exhibition, where the masterpieces can be viewed. Last year the jury had 695 posters in their final selection with 294 individual posters and 117 series with 401 posters from a total of 251 applicants. The jury, chaired by Julia Kahl (Slanted), Michel Bouvet, Benjamin Buchegger (Beton), Götz Gramlich and Isabel Seiffert (Offshore Studio), made their preselection online. Of the 100 winning posters and series, 45 came from Germany, 52 from Switzerland and three from Austria. Last year the 100 beste Plakate 20 Deutschland Österreich Schweiz shined unsurprisingly with bright gems from artists and designers like Eric Andersen, Zoe Barceló and many others.

The procedure is the same as in previous years: Eligible to enter are designers, clients and printers from the three countries with posters of all themes, formats and printing techniques designed and printed in 2020. Practice shows that the requirements and objectives for posters can vary widely. To create some clarity, a classification of the submissions according to categories is to be made, while the number of awards per category is not determined in advance. The decision in favor of one of the three categories must be made in the process of registration per poster or poster series. This year’s selection will be made amongst others by Xavier Erni, Andrea Gassner, Na Kim, Franziska Morlok, and Markus Weisbeck.

100 beste Plakate 20 Deutschland Österreich Schweiz

Registration: online
Deadline: January 20th, 2021
Selection: Online preselection with a final jury session at March 4th/5th, 2021
Categories: (A) Posters as advertising media for business, culture and social affairs, commissioned works with posting in semi-public or public space
(B) Posters as self-advertisement, as author graphics or as experiment
(C) Posters by students, realized with school accompaniment
Fee: Participation is subject to a fee (from 50.– Euro, graded according to the number of posters), students and members of 100 Beste Plakate e. V. receive a 50% discount.

All those interested in participating will find the information in the following days here or in this pdf

Visual by Bueronardin
Photography by Niko Havranek
Poster by Michele Forzano

graduation.studio

Posted on by Juliane Hohlbaum

In a radical envisioning of our present moment, the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design launched the digital platform graduation.studio, the school’s 2020 graduation show. Starting November 12th, 2020 and throughout January 2021, projects by the students take over a TV studio inside the University building, from where projects, narratives, fictions and speculations are broadcast to the world. Uniting art, theory and design in a transdisciplinary approach, the graduation show takes on a new dimension, overcoming the borders of the school and overflowing towards the digital space.

“At this moment, when everyone sees the reality of the world mediated through their screens”, says University rector Jan Boelen,” we offer a radical presentation in a pared-down TV studio, where the objects produced by the students become simultaneously actors and props for discourse and investigation.” From November 12th, 2020, to January 6th, 2021, graduation.studio will present interdisciplinary weekly themes and dedicated programming that offer deeper insights on the many different strands of art and research being conducted at the University’s departments. From Future of Memories to Rituals of the Now, the weekly programming investigates our current moment and its entanglements, exploring freedom and its myriad possibilities.

Graduation.studio presents work by graduates of communication design, product design, media art, exhibition design and scenography and art research and media philosophy. Its organization and coordination represents an interlinked undertaking. A specifically developed scenography has been designed by Christina Scheib and Sophia Stoewer. The program has been coordinated and curated by Anja Ruschival and Jandra Böttger. The sophisticated website was conceptualized by Felix Plachtzik and Marcel Strauss and programmed by Grischa Erbe. The innovative digital broadcast was directed by Anja Ruschival and Alejandra Janus.

For a complete list of works and artists presented please visit graduation.studio.

Next events:

December 14th, 2020, 3 p.m.
Chris von Frankenberg
Internet Music

December 15th, 2020, 3 p.m.
Julian Wallis
REVISION PREVISION

December 15th, 2020, 7 p.m.
Emily Ortlepp
Das kalte Herz

EDCH Talks

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Magazines thrive—despite having a hard time during the virus—among other things because they aspire to emphasis “The Act of Nevertheless.” This means that magazines and their creators design against resistance, meanwhile provoke it, and in doing so repeatedly creating new approaches to familiar topics, but equally surprising insights into the evermore unexpected. With a simple idea the EDCH Talks bring together leading editorial designers and design magazine makers with protagonists from the design scene, follow their personal insights and outlooks in short impulse talks.

One week before Christmas the conference wants to give a chance to simply talk among and with each other, in a time when it is harder than ever to socialize. Shared Content flourishs into inspiration: The EDCH Talks itself becomes a small “Online-Video-Podcast-Magazine.” Everyone who simply feels like it, can join the free conference, which is dedicated to designers of all disciplines, journalists and students, for decision-makers, entrepreneurs, agency, publishing and media people, and literally anyone who is interested in.

At the end of this crazy year, in which so much did not take place or only in a changed form, the makers of the EDCH conference invite you to two virtual evenings of relaxed and inspiring encounters: EDCH Talk: Designing Society and EDCH Talk: Designing Education.

Even before the pandemic, Jochen Rädeker published eight theses in PAGE, asked colleagues to critically examine them and called for discussion. What is the situation today with regard to his findings from back then? In the first conference of the EDCH Talks, called Designing Society, these  important question will be discussed amongst others.
In an article for the DDC magazine, Uli Mayer-Johanssen called for a shift from knowledge to action, and described the role of design as absolutely essential for survival. How can designers not only design sustainably, but also have an impact on society? Altogether the event offer you to get to know speakers like Gabriele Günder (PAGE), Jochen Rädeker (Strichpunkt), Martina Metzner (abaut—editorial office for design and architecture), Svenja von Döhlen and Boris Kochan (KOCHAN & PARTNER).

“How can design make a decisive contribution to adapting education to current social and technical needs?” asks Lutz Engelke and gives at the same time the answer in his manifest for future and education. On the second event of the EDCH Talk: Designing Education, you can also experience deep insights into Slanted’s independent publishing and media house. Julia Kahl, Slanted’s Founder and Editor in Chief,  will explain what it means to combine typography, people, and cultures from all over the world. More interesting talk will also be hold on the digital stage, like Nina Sieverding und Anton Rahlwes (form), Roland Lambrette (HfK Bremen), Lutz Engelke (TRIAD), Martin Foessleitner (high-performance Vienna) and Boris Kochan (KOCHAN & PARTNER).

EDCH Talks

EDCH TALK: DESIGNING SOCIETY
Tuesday, December 15th, 2020, 5:30 p.m. to approximately 9 p.m. at Zoom and YouTube
Get a ticket

EDCH TALK: DESIGNING EDUCATION
Wednesday, December 16th, 2020, 5:30 p.m. to approximately 9 p.m. at Zoom and YouTube
Get a ticket

Price: On a donation basis 
Limited tickets for a maximum of 30 people in a Zoom conference, meanwhile it will be streamed on Youtube for an unrestricted wider audience

 

 

Identity Letters

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Experienced designers know that choosing the right typeface is often worth its weight in gold. On the other hand, buying and managing the corresponding licenses rarely causes jubilation. Reason enough for type designer Moritz Kleinsorge to develop his own, deliberately simple licensing model for his typefaces.

Kleinsorge’s recently opened type foundry Identity Letters makes font purchasing as easy as child’s play: you only need to choose between two different licenses. While the “Studio” license already includes desktop and web use, the “Publisher” license also covers the use of the typefaces in Apps, E-Books, and Broadcasting. Can you add more simplicity? The price is solely calculated based on the number of workstations. All other factors such as page views, domains, or app installations are always unlimited.

Identity Letters starts with a library of eleven typefaces by Moritz Kleinsorge, such as the Allrounder superfamily. Further releases are in progress.

To celebrate the launch of Identity Letters, the coupon code IDENTITYLETTERS60 provides you a 60% discount on all typefaces until January 18th, 2021.

Compiler

Legible, technical, clear—with a hint of retro: Compiler is a no-frills font family straight from the heart of a microprocessor.

Inspired by console typefaces, the humanist sans serif typeface combines a large x-height with striking serifs on certain letters such as “i” and “l.” Those serifs evoke the aesthetics of monospace typefaces for programming. Even though Compiler is a proportional typeface, this detail improves glyph recognition and helps differentiate between individual letters. Combined with vertical stroke ends, which allow for particularly even spacing, the serifs make for an extremely legible typeface. (Even in small sizes.)

Brand recognition guaranteed: Compiler is ideal for applications that require a mechanical flavor without appearing offish. You can use it for websites, apps, branding, corporate design, annual reports, signage, and many other areas with perfect results.

Compiler includes an additional subfamily, Compiler Plain. In Compiler Plain, the signature letters lose their serifs and the forms of “a” and “g” are simplified. This way, the shapes are neutralized. The technical impression recedes into the background. Both families can be combined smoothly: you might use the standard Compiler fonts for display sizes and Compiler Plain styles for body copy. For total design control, you can toggle each of the defining design elements individually from Compiler to Compiler Plain and vice versa. Just use Stylistic Sets to fine-tune your Compiler fonts.

Compiler provides you with eight weights in four variations: Upright, Italics, Plain Upright, and Plain Italics. That’s a total of 32 fonts. Each style contains more than 900 glyphs, including advanced typographic tools such as proportional and tabular figures (both lining and old-style) or small caps—something you’ll rarely find in this genre. Other glyphs are optimized for display sizes, such as circled figures and various arrows. There’s also a set of glyphs designed for web use: with symbols for shopping carts, hamburger menus or checkboxes, you can implement your web projects elegantly and consistently without relying on third-party tools (like an external icon font).

Compiler

Foundry: Identity Letters
Designer: Moritz Kleinsorge
Release: November 2020
Formats: OTF, TTF, WOFF, WOFF2
Cuts: 32 cuts, eight weights, upright and Italics each Normal and Plain
Price: Single cut from € 40.–, family from € 209.–
Buy

Support Independent Type

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Support Independent Type is a book about the new culture of type specimens, their impact on design and typographic culture at large. It’s a manifesto for independent type foundries showcasing their work in an effort to promote freshly designed fonts, and why we should support them. An exhibit of over 400 of today’s most adventurous typography labels and designers, showcasing their physical and digital type specimens! The carefully selected collection gives a glimpse into the adventurous shift of this creative industry.

The authors believe that “independent type design reflects culture in its ambition to build an exciting alternative to the monolithic corporate font giants. In that spirit, we put together a collection of the most trendsetting, forward-thinking and provocative type specimens produced in the last decade.”

A manifest for independent type foundries and a visual firework!

Support Independent Type

Editors: Lars Harmsen, Marian Misiak
Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Content management, research support: Lisa Panitz
Research, editing support: Clara Weinreich
Retouching: Mahmoud Hamdy, Louis Hunt
Production Management: Julia Kahl
Release: December 2020
Volume: 296 pages
Format: 21 × 28 cm
Language: English
Paper: Munken Print White 115 g/sm, Creamy hi bulk 53 g/sm
Bookbinding: softcover, thread stitching, wrapped poster – dust jacket
ISBN: 978-3-948440-12-1
Price: € 37.–
Buy

Forward Festival 2021

Posted on by Lara Zettl

After a successful hybrid event premiere in October 2020, Forward Festival is entering the next round. The 2021 program promises diverse entertainment for on-site audiences as well as for livestream viewers and includes talks by top creatives, workshops and interactive formats from all areas of the creative industry.

Forward Festival 2021 will focus on the virtualization and post-digitization of creativity. The question of how a digitized world—reinforced by the current lockdowns—affects our lives is essential in order to open our eyes to all aspects of this development, especially in the areas of design and creativity. Where to draw the line between real and fictional, how does creativity work in this rapidly changing world, how to deal with the dominant online focus and how does digital overstimulation affect the creative process?

Collaborative work, creative networking, the future of online marketing, digital new-business, VR / AR technologies, artificial intelligence, leadership and positioning—lectures, panels and workshops focus on the most central topics that currently concern creatives and their environment. In addition, the high relevance of the creative industry for solving problems in other areas of society is highlighted, as well as the question of how communication, design and creativity can serve perspectives for our everyday lives in difficult times.

Forward Festival Munich will take place as part of the Munich Creative Business Week (MCBW) with this year’s motto “Shaping Futures by Design”. In Vienna, Austria’s largest cinema, the Gartenbaukino is the place to be. Both festivals are also broadcasted via livestream. Graphic design guru Stefan Sagmeister, film designer Annie Atkins, photography icon Martin Parr, consulting mastermind Emily Cohen, digital artists DVTK, Ines Alpha, Nikita Diakur and many more have already been confirmed as speakers.

“We are firmly convinced that there must not be a cultural and creative vacuum even in challenging times. Together with partners and speakers, it is very important to us that creativity is not neglected or even completely ceased at any time.” says Othmar Handl. He stresses that he is convinced that the creative industry and the many surrounding industries have an increasing need for knowledge transfer, inspiration and exchange—after all, the festival’s mission has always been to serve as a platform for creative people and to promote exchange.

Forward Festival Vienna 2020, which was organized under strict security and hygiene precautions and with reduced capacity, the on-site event was completely sold out. More than 2.000 additional viewers from over 30 countries were following the various programs with 20+ talks on two festival days via livestream.

Forward Festival 2021

When / Where
Munich, March 12th, 2021 at HFF, as part of MCBW
Vienna, April 15th–16th, 2021 at Gartenbaukino

Price: Several ticket categories (from 85.– Euro On-site and 55.– Euro Livestream)
Specials: Livestream, Video on demand, AR-App, Forward Print Magazine Special

fortytwomagazine #5—space

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Where does the universe begin, where does it end? Imagining these dimensions is no easy task. However, the fortytwomagazine #5—space tries to figure that out, because the universe does not only offer place for speculations about extraterrestrial life or romantic dreams with the view into the starlit sky. Even if it feels far away, it has a direct influence on our lives.

As in every issue, they also illuminate ten different disciplines and thus ten perspectives. Among other things, the magazine deals with the problem of space debris, the role of government space agencies and the question of what it is like to live some 400 kilometers above the earth and to master everyday life in the International Space Station ISS in the most confined space. The works of the artist Protey Temen form an exciting interplay with the interesting interviews.

For this fifth issue, the fortytwo-team  has not only ventured into space in terms of content, but has also broken new ground here on Earth: fortytwomagazine #5 is now distributed by Slanted Publishers, an internationally oriented publishing house based in Germany, which is also responsible for the issue’s new design.

fortytwomagazine #5—space

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Editor: Eliana Berger, Kurt Bille, Lara von Richthofen, Lena Kronenbürger
Release: December 2020
Design: (Slanted Publishers), Azziza El-Yabadri, Julia Kahl, Lars Harmsen
Volume: 176 pages
Format in cm (w × h × d): 16 × 24 cm
Language: English, German
ISBN: 978-3-948440-18-3
Buy

SCO100

Posted on by Jens Koenen

“Les temps changent et il faut aussi modifier et changer.” remarked Madleine Sophie Barat as early as 1831—“Times change and we have to change too.” As the founder of the Sacré Cœur Sisters, a Catholic women’s order, she understood that changes need to be perceived and that there is a need to react to them. Even if Barat’s statement was referring to how she understood her educational work, the sisters of the Sacré-Cœur Order in Bonn Pützchen interpreted this as their own conceptual approach to the development of an anniversary publication—100 years of the Sacré-Cœur Order in Bonn Pützchen. Dr. Marion Lisken-Pruss is responsible for the order’s public relations. She approached the Faculty of Design at Hochschule Niederrhein—University of Applied Sciences in Krefeld, asking it to initiate an internal student competition to develop a design concept according to this brief.

As small teams and individuals, 15 students took part in a competition, creating an array of diverse concepts, supervised by Prof. Nora Gummert-Hauser, professor of typography and editorial design, and by communication designer Jens Könen. The Society of the Sacred Heart had expressed the wish for a contemporary publication. The final presentation took place in December 2019. With their concept, Anne Clemens and Saif Zainalabdeen developed SCO100  and its visual language that translated the ideas and expectations of the jury members—consisting of sisters and employees of the order—into a contemporary and unusual overall concept.

Their concise anniversary logo of SCO100, which intelligently connects the initials of the order “SCO” and the number 100, was convincing. They placed this prominently on the publication’s cover and then derived an independent concept and design principle from the three-dimensional logo architecture, which they applied to various graphic details. Their interesting use of coloring, the striking use of photographs and graphics, active typography and finally a captivating mix of these parameters allow readers to immerse themselves unconventionally into the work of the order over the last 100 years at the Bonn-Pützchen location. Subsequently, the two winners of the competition worked the concept out, together with the other participants Nadia Natale, Lara Deißmann and Mostafa Ashraf Mahmoud Mostafa. They translated countless Word documents and images from the archives into a 143-page anniversary magazine. The team chose uncoated paper to give the publication a haptically created, emotional note and to make the striking color surfaces pleasant to look at.

SCO100

Subtitle: Centenary of the Society of the Sacred Heart in Bonn Pützchen
Designers: Anne Clemens, Saif Zainalabdeen, Lara Deißmann, Mostafa Ashraf, Mahmoud Mostafa, Nadia Natale
Authors: Dr. Marion Lisken-Pruss, Laura Moosbrugger, Ursula Kokoska, Christel Peters, Hanni Woitsch, Margret Fühles, Elke Daberkow, Reinhard Hallwirth, Béatrice Bödiker, Eileen Smith, Sigrid Beil, Karin Lüttken, Gisela Weber, Emily Kluth, Elke Daberkow, Dr. Anja Ostrowitzki
Editor: Dr. Marion Lisken-Pruss
Publisher: Gesellschaft der Ordensfrauen vom Hl. Herzen Jesu (Sacré-Coeur) Ordensprovinz Zentraleuropa, Herz-Jesu-Kloster Bonn-Pützchen
Release Date: May, 2020
Volume: 143 pages
Format: 20 × 26.3 cm
Language: German
Production/Finishing: Druckerei Kettler, Boenen

Other students on the course included Arabella Kuhn and Cherin Mohr (2nd place), Lena Möllmann (3rd place), Yllka Hulaj, Lisa Eppers and Jana Tillmanns, Nicole Bosquet, Kai Banasch, Melina Haase, and Alexander Fröhlich.

This article was translated by Dr. Dan Reynolds

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