Slanted #36—Coexist Special Edition

Posted on by Lara Zettl

On occasion of the release of Slanted Magazine #36—COEXIST, a limited special edition has been published which is exclusively available in the Slanted Shop. The edition contains a high-quality shirt from Reell with a design by the AGI member Andrew Ashton. Show your love!

Coexist–One and all, me and we
Born in 1969, Andrew Ashton grew up in between the leafy suburbs of Sydney, and rural life in the Blue Mountains, Australia. Ashton works as a graphic designer, image-maker, strategic communicator, educator, writer, gardener and parent. His creative practice is paradoxical; a meeting of artful and strategy, research and inquiry, people, and place, clients renowned and modest.

In September 2020 Ashton explained “All living things, including people are facing incredible changes and adaptations (as they have for eons), and yet have to get on with the business of living. I wanted to make a motif that spirited Coexist, that could be understood with little explanation, as a semiotic. I questioned our senses and Coexist in the context of a black and white poster image. Can Coexist be an emotion? Can Coexist be an action? How do you see Coexist? Can Coexist be simply defined? The dictionary defines Coexist–as an attitude of existing together or at the same time. In my poetic brain I responded with a line of copy: Coexist–One and all, me and we. Everything fell into place from that notion.”

Slanted × Reell—A perfect fit
Founded in 1997 with a simple idea, functional, well-designed pants, Reell is a pan-European brand on a mission to innovate. Well beyond simply being a pants specialist, their backbone remains quality products at honest prices. A passion for aesthetic and clean design makes what they are. The Reell family has grown with athletes, artists, and free spirits who manage to pursue their passion and remain true to themselves. These individuals represent who they are.

The shirt is available in a unisex size of S–XL. To find the right size, please check Reell’s size chart online.

Slanted #36—Coexist Special Edition

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Design: Andrew Ashton
Brand: Reell
Release: October 2020
Language: English
Material: 180 grams combed cotton jersey
Size: S, M, L, XL
Edition: 250 pieces
Buy

Photos by Reell

Call for Entries Yearbook of Type 2020/21

Posted on by Lara Zettl

After the successes of its first four editions the Call for Entries for the Yearbook of Type 2021/22 starts again. The book will be published in spring 2021 and will follow the same design concept as the fourth edition. It presents a selection of contemporary typefaces from larger typeface publishers as well as smaller, independent typographers and foundries in the form of a clear, comprehensive compendium.

Each individual typeface in the Yearbook of Type is presented on one spread. The left side shows a visual with a detailed view of the type and an initial visual impression. We will take a close look at each typeface and its specifics and then develop a design that shows its character, language support, styles, weights and widths, special glyphs, OpenType features, and possible application areas. On the right side more detailed background information about the designer and the foundry is provided as well as a list of the typeface’s different features.

The catalog is followed by an index of all the included typefaces arranged by category. Short texts provide information on individual type foundries and an essay section offers sketches, background knowledge, technical information, instructions and descriptions from the world of typography. Additionally, it offers an overview and a description of the technical supports of each typeface and, as a new component, includes a key with information about OpenType features. The Yearbook’s microsite shows the presented typefaces on screen. It simplifies the connection between print and web and helps the user to select, try, or buy a typeface.

The informative presentation of the typefaces serves graphic designers and advertising agencies as a source of inspiration and helps select the right typeface. As a catalog and reference work it is also of interest to all those who are interested in the contemporary world of typography and the latest in typeface design.

Conditions for Participation

It is possible to submit several typefaces as well as custom fonts. Latin and non-Latin typefaces are most welcome! Every submitted typeface must been published within the years 2018 to 2021. Typefaces can be submitted via our website until November 15th, 2020.

Are you an author in the field of typography? We also accept submissions for essays and advertorials by mail.

We reserve the right to reject applications. We want to ensure a constant quality of content. Therefore we check every application carefully and get back to you with personal feedback.

In order to participate in the project, there will be a production fee per submitted typeface, to cover the costs of the high quality production, as well as sending you one copy of the book.

In addition to the presentation in the book, we offer for the first time additional features on Instagram (99 K followers) with a booking.

Early Bird rate (EB) (+ VAT) available until October 23rd, 2020
Regular rate (R) (+ VAT) available until November 15th, 2020
1 typeface: € 199.– (EB) / € 229.– (R)
1 typeface + 1 Instagram story: € 249.– (EB) / € 279.– (R)
2 typefaces + 1 Instagram story: € 379.– (EB) / € 409.– (R)
3 typefaces + 2 Instagram stories: € 559.– (EB) / € 589.– (R)
4 typefaces + 1 Instagram feed: € 739.– (EB) / € 769.– (R)
5 typefaces + 1 Instagram feed + 2 stories: € 919.– (EB) / € 949.– (R)
Prices for 6+ submissions upon request

Get detailed information about the book, special rates for multiple typeface submission in combination with all Slanted online features, and our media reach from this PDF.

Call for Entries Yearbook of Type 2020/21

HOW TO reserve and book a space:
1. Get in contact with the number of typefaces to be submitted, your invoice details, and possibly questions.
1. Pay the submission fee.
2. Now your space is booked. We’ll get in touch with more information about the upload.
3. Upload the requested files and information until November 15th, 2020 (latest!) and you will be guided step-by-step through the process.

More information here

DDCAST—Was ist gut?

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Once, Jason Silva, a well known techno futurist from the USA, said “What we design designs us back.” Design has a great influence on our existence and living together, which is exactly the message of the DDCAST—Was ist gut? (“What is Good”) The call for fundamental changes in our planetary reality is getting louder and louder, as the sea level rises and a global crisis shows also the vulnerability of the Western world. It is not possible to continue as before and will inevitably plunge us into the next crisis. So right now, the DDC thinks, our creativity is more in demand than ever. In the Podcast they ask questions like “What is possible?,” “What is coming and what can we do better,” as well as “How can we rethink design?”. For this purpose, the DDCAST—Was ist gut? of the Deutscher Designer Club presents a strong voice every week. It comes from all areas of design, its related disciplines, from science, business, and politics.

The DDC invites highly inspiring people, who really ask themselves how they could have a good impact on our world. Like Prof. Friedrich von Borries, who is an architect and professor of design theory at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. He operates in the border areas of urban development, architecture, design, and arts. His work focuses on the relationship between design and social development. As Rainer Gehrisch, board and moderator of the podcast, asks for the professor’s opinion about good design, he gets the answer that—in a politic view—good design maps a field of tension of creating and submitting oneself.

Frauke Fischer is a biologist, who thinks poorly of only talking without acting, and subsequently founded PERÚ PURO GmbH, a start-up that wants to open the European market to Peruvian cacao farmers under fair paid conditions. She thinks that we should overcome planetary boundaries to make the world a better place. She answers the question of “what is good” very simple, that our actions should “make it better, not worse.”

The variety of the DDCAST’s subject areas is vast, as you can listen from upfront information technician David Gilbert, over social design consultant Madita Morgenstern Antao, to Atelier Brückner’s manager Shirin Brückner. But most importantly, the podcast inspires to ask oneself the question of how to design and to create in a world, that requests for change.

DDCAST—Was ist gut?

Editors: Prof. Georg-Christof Bertsch, Rainer Gehrisch, Nicolas Markwald
Animation: MOVINGK & Adrian Berger
Sound: db-tonstudio (Dirk Buro)
Language: German
Speaker: Gilles Kalolyi
IT: Lasse Nielsen
Social Media: Svaerm GmbH (Johanna Fertig und Steffen Mai)
Support: Hessisches Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Energie, Verkehr und Wohnen

Listen to the episodes below:
11—Shirin Brückner / Ausstellungen mit allen Sinnen erlebbar machen
10—Dr. Frauke Fischer / Design und Biodiversität gehören zusammen
09—Raphael Gielgen / Wir müssen in das Kollektiv zurückfinden
08—Daniel Cohn-Bendit / Wir haben ein falsches Effizienzdenken
07—Anette Lenz / à propos
06—Prof. Annette Bertsch / Eine gemeinsame Sprache finden
05—Benedikt Wanner / Von der Wiege zur Wiege
04—Madita Morgenstern Antao / Soziales Design in der Praxis
03—David Gilbert / Digital Design braucht Struktur und Gespür
02—Uli Mayer-Johanssen / Zusammen neue Perspektiven öffnen
01—Friedrich von Borries / Was ist gutes Design?

 

Ragtag

Posted on by michubenaim

Ragtag is an adventurous display typeface that’s fun, graphic, and loud. Each letter is unique and designed so it composes beautifully with all others—but can also stand on its own as an accent piece or as part of a design. Ragtag features three glyph sets (A–Z, 0–9) plus a few extra goodies like eñes and diacritics.

The typeface was inspired by the scattered crew of makers and designers at branding and creative studio In-House International, which is a fully remote creative home based in Austin, Texas. Ragtag also marks the launch of the studio’s foundry, which will be focusing on bold display typefaces.

In-House partner Alexander Wright drew individual characters so they could “stand on their own, like each one could be a logo, but keeping compositions and the system top of mind.” The typeface works best on very graphic headline displays, large visual uses like signs, t-shirts, and posters. Because it’s irreverent and dynamic, it’s especially good for brief, clever text that takes center stage. Rodrigo Fuenzalida developed the font. He noted that “what distinguishes this font is that every letter is a logo on itself. You could basically start a new alphabet from each of the letters.”

Ragtag 

Foundry: In-House International
Designer: Alexander Wright
Developer: Rodrigo Fuenzalida
Release: July 2020
Format: OTF
Styles: Display containing 3 glyph sets
Price: from 10.99 Euro
Available on: MyFonts and YouWorkForThem

dai—Designing with Artificial Intelligence Conference / Review

Posted on by Lara Zettl

“What would you think if a robot smiled at you? Would you think it was genuine, or incredibly creepy?” This question was among other things discussed at the dai—Designing with Artificial Intelligence Conference, and shows that Artificial Intelligence is no longer only concerning tech freaks. It is common and might be easy to assume AI has nothing to do with oneself, while in contrast it impacts the everyday life. In reality, AI is encountered by most people from morning until night. Even more as a concept, algorithms enriched and sharpened the philosophical debates concerning the nature of the mind, intelligence, and the uniqueness of human beings. 

However, the major opinion and acceptance of AI is that machine-intelligent systems have already penetrated all areas of our life and have had a trend-setting influence on our working and living environment. And yet there are areas in which the practical applications of future technologies have receded into the background or are only treated shabbily in academic dis­courses. AI-based, application-oriented design is one of these areas.

This is where Prof. Dr. Sebastian Löwe, Professor of Design Management at the Mediadesign Hochschule Berlin, and Marc Engenhart, multi-disciplinary designer, musician, and artist from Stuttgart, came in with dai—Designing with Artificial Intelligence Conference. The three-day digital conference from September 17th to 19th, 2020, addressed and discussed questions and topics arising from the design of, for and with machine learning algorithms. We, as the team of the Slanted Magazine, were thrilled by the great contribution to the field of design, better the status quo of design and AI and the obviousness of necessary cooperation between man and machine, showed through the event.

The organizers brought together a diverse audience of design practitioners, design managers, design theorists, design leaders, and interdisciplinary thinkers interested in questions that result from designing both with and for machine learning algorithms and assist systems. Rebecca Fiebrink, for instance, introduced her tool “Wekinator” a free, open source software, which allows anyone to use machine learning to build new musical instruments, gestural game controllers, computer vision or computer listening systems. Also Andreas Refsgaard presented loads of tools using ML, like for example Booksby.Ai or Doodle Tunes. Don’t hesitate to try them out. Moreover the dai provided the opportunity of in-depth discussions and chats to interact with the speakers, hands-on workshops, individual networking options. There were even robots amongst the audience.

Get more information about the dai here.

Designing Sustainable Cities

Posted on by Lara Zettl

The fact that by 2050, 70% of the world’s population will live in cities, the subject of “sustainable urban design” is an important issue for UNESCO’s Cities of Design. Taking into account that urban design can make a significant contribution to positive changes in environmental and social matters, the book presents seven inspirational examples for copying. Included are analyses and measures for the cities of Detroit, Graz, Istanbul, Mexico City, and Puebla, as well as non-location bound projects. The authors of  the publication Designing Sustainable Cities investigate the efficiency of certificates, climate installations for urban spaces, and new ecological, architectural, and sociological concepts for mega-cities. It is a  reader for stakeholders at the interface of social and urban design.

Designing Sustainable Cities is published by Sigrid Bürstmayr, who works and teaches at the FH JOANNEUM–University of Applied Sciences in Graz, Austria and Karl Stocker, a historian and head of the Institute of Design and Communication at the University. Their research approach covers topics from sustainable design, design activism, design theory and society, as well as socio design. They make a great contribution to the question, creative people are discussing everywhere you go: How can we change the world? For some years now the teaching in Graz has increasingly shifted its content-related orientation towards an understanding of Design as a means to improve, repair and save the world. The institution upholds the opinion that the confrontation with societal and social issues cannot take place without considering sustainable design, environment and nature, therefore they summarized their work in a new publication. Designing Sustainable Cities shows manageable approaches to make Urban Spaces better. Moreover it describes concrete and location-independent city projects that are recommended for stimulation and and imitation. Thus, a book was created that wants to attract international interest and also serves as basis for further discussion about current and future Design strategies.

Designing Sustainable Cities

Publisher: Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH
Editors: Sigrid Bürstmayr and Karl Stocker
Release first edition: May 18th, 2020
Language: English
Workmanship: Paperback with adhesive binding
Volume: 152 pages
Dimensions: 19.56 × 23.37 cm × 1.78
ISBN-10: 3035621985
Price: 39.95 Euro
Buy

Dédale

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Dédale, designed by Thomas Bouville in 2020, is a hybrid type family inspired by inscriptions cut into the stone of the underground passages of the Paris Catacombs.

Identified while exploring underground, the diversity of the inscriptions and their varying states of erasure inspired the designer’s unique approach. Rather than seeking to unearth the original drawings of the stone engravers (in an attempt to “rewind” the flow of time), Thomas Bouville sought to reveal links between the inscriptions and wanted, on the contrary, to give a sense of the passing of time.

The varying structure of the letters, common between styles, skillfully evokes the ossuary. It emphasizes an analogy between the letter and the human body, composed of both a skeleton and a physical envelope. The evolution of the three styles—from slab serif to lineal—shows the effect of time and the passage of life towards death.

The Light version—a slab serif made elegant by the contrast between its refined appearance and the prominent serifs—is designed for composing large sized titles with subtlety. The Regular—an incised typeface with pronounced extremities, is designed for reading long texts. The Bold version—a neo-grotesque sans serif that conserves certain details of the incised form—is useful for its strong lines. Each style has its own Italic.

Dédale is also available as a variable font, allowing the design to move freely between the three styles, with the technology seeming to play with time.

Dédale

Foundry: 205TF
Designer: Thomas Bouville
Release: October 2020
Format: .otf (desktop); .woff, .woff2, .eot, .ttf (web, app, epub); .ttf (variable font)
Styles: Light, Regular, Bold + Italics
Price family: 260.– Euro (desktop)
Price packages: 120.– Euro (desktop)
Try the variable font here
Buy

Basics Blog Post #2

Posted on by Henrike Uthe

Basics Blog Post #2 is now available: A curated selection of works from last years basic studies is published by UdK Verlag. Exploring essential design components such as lines, patterns and bodies the high-quality postcard set includes ten motifs from past semester projects. Its associated appearance and social media motion graphic were designed by students of the Visual Communications basic course. The postcard sets are now available from UdK Verlag. This project was initiated and implemented by the Basics Blog editorial team.

The four-year BA course in Visual Communication starts with getting to know the basic graphical know-how. In the first and second semester, students deal with elementary questions and possibilities of design. The focus is on getting to know the different media and testing their design languages with digital and analogue tools. The fields of observation are image, moving image, space and interaction.  During the creative process, the students go through all phases of the design structures in an exemplary fashion—from research and concept to variant creation and production. The tasks are formulated anew for each class. The results are recorded on the Basics Blog Post and you can now get a postcard of selected works in the UdK-Laden.

Basics Blog Post #2

Publisher: Basics, Visual Communication, Berlin University of the Art
Publisher: Verlag der Universität der Künste Berlin, July 2020
Editors: Henrike Uthe, Tessa Meyer, Willie Neumann, Pauline Luca Wunderlich, Stefanie Messner, Jean-Noël Teschauer, Paula Hornickel
With works from: Adel Akram Alameddine, Renata Altenfelder Santos Souza Dias, Nil-Berfin Cakmak, Vincent Carter, Dominic Gollanek, Henri Gimm, Maya Gräfin von Matuschka, Sarah Möricke, May Nguyen, Dain Park, Erik Anton Reinhardt, Manou Schatton, Jean-Noël Teschauer, Leona Elisa Tiemeßen, Pauline Luca Wunderlich, Yui Yamagishi
Photographer: Julian-Eric Christian
Design: Yui Yamagishi, Vincent Carter
Volume: 10 postcards
Format: 10.5 × 14.8 cm
ISBN: 978-3-89462-347-0 (print), 978-3-89462-348-7 (pdf)
Price: 5.– Euro
Buy

Vitra Summit 2020

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Vitra announces the program for its first digital summit, scheduled on October 22nd and 23rd, 2020. This year has radically changed our perception of space: We started avoiding places we share with strangers or any environment that could subject us to chance encounters. We were ordered to remain in our homes by governments worldwide. Companies were forced into the mass experiment of remote working. Our homes suddenly became a place in which to work, spend time with the family, learn, celebrate, grieve, and more—all at the same time.

Over the two days of the Vitra Summit 2020, the intention is to go beyond the obvious implications. Vitra believes that our surroundings continually shape our thoughts and feelings. Interior spaces can shift corporate cultures, lift spirits and impact the wellbeing of their inhabitants. Vitra is convinced of the power of human ingenuity and innovation. The time has now come to reflect on what the pandemic means for the future of great workplaces and the function of our homes.

“Never have changes to workspaces, homes and public been so urgent. Rarely before have we collectively questioned the function of these spaces so thoroughly. Over the two days of the Vitra Summit 2020, the organizers have invited scientists, creatives, business leaders, a chef, and even athletes to share their insights. Vitra is hosting this exchange that will go well beyond furniture” says Nora Fehlbaum, CEO of Vitra.

The Four main themes structure the Vitra Summit 2020 are “The human and the office,” “Design matters,” “Dynamic spaces,” “Remote world,” with discussions about new communication tools, up to office environments with a flexible design and a philosophy of change. In just a few months we had to get along with many changes and the program wants to investigate questions like what is the future of interiors? What makes a great workplace? How can we demand more from our homes? Over the two days of the summit, Vitra intends to go beyond the obvious considerations.

Vitra Summit 2020

When?
From Thursday, October 22nd to Friday, October 23rd, 2020

Where?
Online

Registration
The Vitra Summit is free of charge and open to all
Please register here

Today is Tomorrow’s Yesterday

Posted on by Lara Zettl

“These pages were never intended to be public so it’s kind of a personal exercise here. I like the idea of people seeing what’s in my brain somehow. I always have had the curiosity of seeing other artist’s notebooks and dig in their mentality in order to understand better their work. Now it’s time to share mine.” Slanted’s new Today is Tomorrow’s Yesterday by Rubén Sánchez grew from his wish “to do something with all (his) sketchbooks.” His dream finally got reality, because his project was selected by the Slanted × Kickstarter Publishing & Mentoring Program. The goal was reached, so today, we are very happy that the book is released by Slanted Publishers.

Rubén Sánchez is a self-taught artist, born and raised in Madrid (1979), adopted by Barcelona and Dubai in the past years. He is coming from the subcultures of graffiti and skateboarding with graphic design and illustration as a background as a creative, but he has always been interested in applying his work onto different formats such as wood, resins, or ceramics.

With Today is Tomorrow’s Yesterday the artist gives an insight into his very personal sketchbooks for the first time, diaries full of notes, experiences, drawings, printing experiments, quotations, tickets etc. Sketches of many works, which can be found in many countries around the globe in the context of art festivals, commissioned works, humanitarian projects or international exhibitions, but also as any kind of “uncommissioned” works.

“My work is made of messages to depict through strong interactions and chain reactions. A visual balance always surrounded by a Mediterranean vibe, in a journey with no destination.”

Today is Tomorrow’s Yesterday

Artist: Rubén Sánchez
Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Release: October 2020
Design: Lars Harmsen
Volume: 192 pages
Format in cm (w × h): 14.9 × 24 cm
Language: English
Paper: Munken Pure, Munken Lynx 150 g/sm
Bookbinding: Thread stitching
Workmanship: round corners, Hardcover, Ribbon, Rubber band
ISBN: 978-3-948440-10-7
Buy

Corporate Language

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Corporate Language is the interface of the future for companies! Companies that successfully position themselves in the market have one thing in common: they speak a unique, distinctive and recognizable language as part of their corporate identity. They talk to their customers and not about them. They speak recognizable and understandable, consistent and consistent across all brand contact points. And often in different national languages. They understand this language as an essential part of their corporate identity and culture. And they let this language live. How do you create such a distinctive and independent corporate language for your company, your brand, your institution? Or for your clients?

Language can answer the question of what a brand stands for, language can highlight differences and extend the lead. Language can address specific target groups, values can be clasped. It can describe complex things in a simple way and thus create proximity. It can condense information, transform the abstract into tangible and thus understandable stories and narratives. Language conquers hearts when it hits the words and tone of voice of the target group. Then it wins hearts and inspires purchase decisions or triggers sympathy. People understand each other—in the truest sense of the word. This book provides the answer. Practical and tried and tested.

Not with boring theory, but with real cases that led to success. And provide you with inspiration, know-how and arguments. Supported by tools that make your everyday corporate language work easier. Guaranteeing you success and efficiency. And with numerous before-and-after examples that clearly and lastingly convey text competence.

Corporate Language

Publisher: Hermann Schmidt
Design: Eva Finkbeiner
Format: 17 × 24 cm
Volume: 224 pages
Language: German
Workmanship: cloth binding with two-color hot foil stamping and two ribbons
ISBN: 978-3-87439-881-7
Buy

Ultra Violenta Fanzine

Posted on by Lara Zettl

A new Edition of the expressive Art Publication, called Ultra Violenta Fanzine was just published. The theme is all about addiction, with which the artists dealt various and free, but still in their explicit language of form.

The Ultra Violenta Fanzine is an artistic fanzine founded and edited in Portugal by art director Miguel Correia since the beginning of 2020. This visual and conceptual exploration project brings together several artists, most of them from Portugal, but also from around the globe. To this moment the collective consists of 28 artists and we believe that by the time the twelfth edition is issued they will amount to 50. So far there are five issues available and numbers six and seven are already in the editorial stage. Each edition has a unique theme and compiles the works of up to five artists from different artistic areas. Each artist will freely interpret the chosen theme. On each edition the artist is given a textured and colored sheet as a means to entice the creative process as well as to create an editorial guideline. There are no additional briefings or any other conditioning to the artists’ process apart from the given sheet. The final results have been rather expressive and varied with compositions ranging from the punk and grunge culture to the urban graffiti culture, and even extending to the Dadaism movement’s manifestations.

This project takes us back to a “pre digital time,” a time where information was scarce and transmitting it was best conveyed through these fanzines, thus, making them the preferred method of divulgation of a given ideology by artists, music bands, photographers, writers, and illustrators. Fanzines are mostly self-published and they are created using simple production methods in which artists make use of a myriad of different techniques. From photography, drawings, collages, and cutouts to the use of risographs and even taking advantage of the iconic Xerox printers’ very unique expressiveness. All these were used to create a new form of transmitting art, a form that people could share between them and through which they could assert and discuss opinions on a given matter.

Ultra Violenta Fanzine’s goal is to encourage this form of artistic expression and to enfold the participating artists in a creative process of sharing and experimenting.

Ultra Violenta Fanzine

Author & Editor: Miguel Correia
Volume: 24 pages
Format: 148 × 210 mm
Language: mostly Portuguese and English, but sometimes also other languages in addition
Retail price: 35.– Euro per five issues bundle
Buy

Look inside

Monopoli

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Monopoli is an Apulian city and not a board game, because this is written at the end with a “y.” Also, you will not find an avenue of castles or a bathing street. No, in the charming old town of Monopoli there are alleys with names like “Via Santa Maria” or “Via Guiseppe Garibaldi.” Monopoli was founded by Greeks in the classical antiquity and later over the centuries Normans, Byzantines, Staufers, Habsburgs, and Bourbons ruled here. And all of them left their traces in architecture, music, dialects and foods and beverages. But one thing had never changed and still won’t. The people of Monopoli have a very close emotional bond with their sea.

The photographer Stefan Braun, from Munich has been drawn to Monopoli in Puglia time and again for 25 years. With his camera he has documented the life in the narrow streets, the hustle and bustle of the fishing port and the delicacies in the cooking pots. When you look at his pictures you can feel that Stefan Braun has fallen in love with this little town and its people. The people of Monopoli trust him and let him get close to them. The pictures of Stefan Braun are not just snapshots. The pictures tell stories without words. Thus the tired, fearful faces of the fishermen tell of the difficult and often dangerous days at sea. The women proudly hold freshly baked, delicious foccacia into the camera and the old men tell each other stories from their youth while playing cards every day.

Who wants to understand what Monopoli is, should travel to Puglia or buy this impressive book. Or even better: do both.

Monopoli

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Editor: Stefan Braun
Design: Lars Harmsen, Hannah Pohlmann (Melville Brand Design)
Format: 19.5 × 27 cm
Volume: 192 pages
Language: English, German
Workmanship: Soft cover
ISBN: 978-3-948440-07-7
Buy

Text provided by Andreas Bönte

Munken Rebranding and Munken Sans

Posted on by Lara Zettl

This year Munken amazes with a rebranding that has it all. Collaboration, diversity, and unique experiences formed the roots of the creative concept. Today, the paper company combines these elements to kick off the new Munken CoLab initiative, which is done together with the Swiss Type Foundry, Lineto. The result was the Munken Rebranding and Munken Sans. Inherent to collaboration is the idea of sharing, a concept that is essential to Munken’s cultural identity. The new brand appearance which was designed by JUNO is based on the visionary, nature loving and Swedish personality of the company. Because that was not meant to be enough, Munken Sans was designed in the spirit of collaboration with Laurenz Brunner and Selina Bernet, in dialogue with Jonas Williamsson and Cornel Windlin (Lineto). The elegant and modern sans serif typeface took inspiration from the Swedish traffic font, Tratex, designed by Kåge Gustafson for national road signs in the 1960s.

Munken Sans is the outcome of a collaboration between Munken and with Laurenz Brunner and Selina Bernet, in dialogue with Jonas Williamsson and Cornel Windlin. The Swiss typographers from Lineto have further developed Tratex timelessly beautiful and characteristic design for Munken Sans. Unlike Tratex, which consists of only one weight, the font is available in three weights: regular, medium and bold.

In a 448-page handbook, concepted and designed also by JUNO and printed on paper from the own design range, Munken Sans is displayed for the first time in a varied and playful way. Based on the themes of nature, paper and signposts, the font is shown off in several different applications. The Munken Handbook is an homage to paper as an object in book form. Moreover the Handbook brings together the new typeface and the company’s design range. The characters and the material form a tactile unity, presenting an organic coexistence following in the long tradition of the art of letterpress printing. Click here to find out more about the Munken CoLab, Handbook, and the free typeface.

With the goal of starting an open and creative process with this new font, the company is sharing the Munken Sans font with the design community. Munken Sans is available to download free of charge here.

Munken Rebranding and Munken Sans

Munken Sans

Designer: Laurenz Brunner with Selina Bernet, in dialog with Jonas Williamsson and Cornel Windlin (Lineto)
Type Foundry: Lineto
Release: October 1st, 2020
Weights: Regular, Medium, Bold
Price: free of charge (download here)

Munken Handbook

Volume: 448 pages
Paper: All eight grades of the Munken Design Range
Binding: Otabind
Screen: FM 20μ
Printing: four colors
Ink: Toyo Ink
Printing Press: Komori Lithrone S40P Hybride Print Technology

Typeface of the Month: Dashiell

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

We are presenting our Typeface of the Month: Dashiell by the New York-born, Dublin-based type designer Max Phillips and published by Signal Type Foundry. The Dashiell family consists of three optical sizes that make the font versatile in use. With its classic forms that are both elegant and adapted for easy legibility, the Dashiell typeface exudes a light and vibrant look that adds emotion and individuality to any design. This makes Dashiell a typeface that adapts to the modern and versatile demands of our time without losing its seriousness and quality.

Dashiell was made to be read. Designed by a devoted reader with terrible eyesight, it combines the warmth and openness of Caslon with the lucid elegance of Garamond. Counters and x-height are ample but not large. Apertures are moderately open, and unbracketed wedge serifs add crispness. It’s available in six weights and three optical sizes to meet a wide range of contemporary needs.

Dashiell Text is an all-round workhorse: sturdy but open, with modest contrast, and carefully balanced to work both onscreen and on paper. Dashiell Bright has more sparkle, and is especially suited to printed books and magazines. And the dramatic contrast and wiry hairlines of Dashiell Fine are made for large sizes; it includes a bonus Light weight for especially delicate work.

Named for Dashiell Hammett, whose succinct grace helped modernize twentieth-century American fiction, Dashiell supports over 140 languages and includes proportional and tabular lining and oldstyle figures, small caps, case-sensitive punctuation and delimiters. For the non-succinct, there’s also an opulent selection of borders and ornaments.

To see more of Dashiell, check out the Signal Type Foundry website. Free trial fonts are available for download.

Typeface of the Month: Dashiell

Foundry: Signal Type Foundry
Designer: Max Phillips
Release: October 2020
Formats: OTF, TTF, WOFF, WOFF2, EOT
Weights: 31 styles, 6 weights, 3 optical sizes
Price: From $ 50.–
Free trial fonts
Buy

Battle of Print 2020

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Battle of Print 2020 is a design competition organized by the Kommunikationsverband Bremen which focuses on different themes each year. This year, the Battle of Print is part of the Graphic Novel exhibition at the Wilhelm Wagenfeld Haus gallery in Bremen. Invited are all designers, graphic designers, and illustrators to submit their drafts and take part in the 2020 design competition. The submitted works will be included in the exhibition from October 30th, 2020, to February 28th, 2021, whereby the top twelve designs will be featured in the 2021 Battle of Print calendar. The calendar is a non-profit product and will be available for a nominal fee of just 5.– Euro. The artists who make it into the top twelve will receive five specimen copies each. In addition, the winner will receive a prize valued at 500.– Euro, comprising  250.– Euro prize money and a voucher for ten fine art prints from Steintorpresse.

In contrast to a classic comic or cartoon, a graphic novel elaborates a literary model or creates its own novella-like narrative, more often than not with additional autobiographical features. It generally takes the form of a book or booklet. Barbara Yelin’s definition is “The comic is an independent medium at the crossroads between literature, film and the visual arts, where the wide-ranging possibilities of the narrative interweaving of image and text fascinate and challenge me time and time again.” Will Eisner formulated it thus: “The future of graphic novels lies in the choice of worthwhile topics and the innovative way in which these are presented.” Although the focus is on Graphic Novels, the time won’t be enough to finish a whole story by the submission deadline, so a compelling excerpt of the graphic novel and the cover design are sufficient.

Battle of Print 2020

Submissions
The closing date for submissions is October 15th, 2020
Please send your submission as a printable PDF 
This year, creativity knows no bounds. Whether you’re from Germany, Europe or anywhere else in the world—anyone and everyone is welcome! More information here

Exhibition

When?
Opening event: Thursday, October 29th, 2020 at 7 p.m.
Exhibition: Friday, October 30th 2020 to Sunday, February 28th, 2021
Opening hours: Tuesday: 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Where?
Wilhelm Wagenfeld Stiftung
Am Wall 209
28195 Bremen

More information here
Illustration by: Erik Kriek
A cooperation project of Kommunikationsverband Wirtschaftsraum Bremen e. V. with Wilhelm Wagenfeld Stiftung.

Typodarium 2021

Posted on by Lara Zettl

As trend radar and typo-inspiration, as up-to-date-keeper and as eye-catcher on designer tables the Typodarium has conquered its firm place—and designers are eagerly waiting in August to see which small, fine extra Raban Ruddigkeit and Lars Harmsen have given the cute calendar in the Schriftschatz collection box this time. Before we tell you, we would like to say that the Typodarium 2021 shines in twelve cheerful colors and, in addition to typo vitality, brings colorful joy to everyday creative life. Once again, it is packed in a colorful, solid collection box in which your special font treasures are well protected and waiting to be used. As always, you will find the degree of expansion and where to buy the fonts on the back of the daily papers.

But what is the “Typo-Schmankerl” 2021?
On Sundays there is not only more variability in the appointment calendar, but also in the Typodarium 2021: 52 variable fonts are presented by the classic among typo calendars. Flexible in use, they solve even the trickiest challenges in graphic design.

Lars Harmsen and Raban Ruddigkeit not only have their ears very close to the pulse of the typography scene, they are an integral part of it. Every year they succeed in tracking down the hippest new creations in type design, discovering new type designers before they are on everyone’s lips and in all designs. Over the years, the two editors have developed an unmistakable feeling for the grassroots movements of serifs—so the Typodarium brings a breath of fresh air to agencies and production departments, magazine and book design, web and print, packaging and fashion. And on your desk. Have fun and a happy 2021!

Typodarium 2021–A 365 Day Type Calendar

Editors: Lars Harmsen, Raban Ruddigkeit
Publisher: Verlag Hermann Schmidt
Design: Jonas Rose
Format: 8.5 × 12 cm
Volume: 384 pages in 12 colors, printed on both sides
Language: English
Specials: Packaged in a sturdy collecting box for archiving the type samples
EAN: 42 6017281 086 9
Price: 19.80 Euro
Buy

Photos: © Verlag Hermann Schmidt

Lottery: Beautiful design notebooks from nuuna

Posted on by Julia Kahl

Slanted and brandbook have known each other for over 10 years now. In 2010 I discovered the beautiful notebooks at the Creative Paper Conference in Munich and we immediately realized that we share a passion for design, print and paper—without further ado we cooperated for our first common notebook: The Future Won’t Be Set in Garamond

A lot has happened since then and a lot of books have been produced by us and by brandbook. For two decades now, the Frankfurt company has been producing notebooks, image books and calendars for renowned design and advertising agencies and hundreds of top companies in various industries worldwide. In the meantime they have even founded their own retail label nuuna, with which they live their passion for beautiful notebooks.

In their studio, the nuuna team develops new book concepts and tests materials and finishing processes with the aim of constantly reinterpreting the medium of the book. Every nuuna notebook has an individual 360° cover design, which also includes the book edges and turns the books into real design objects. The books are made of premium paper, thread-stitched and bound in recycled or vegan materials. The covers are screen-printed or digitally printed or finished with effective metallic embossing.

Out of conviction, nuuna notebooks are produced 100% in Germany. They are produced regionally in compliance with the highest environmental, social and safety standards in factories where you know exactly what you are getting: the most intensive screen prints and the highest quality thread bindings, for example. nuuna has been using Munken paper, which comes from sustainably managed forests, for years to produce the book blocks. Since summer 2020, the premium paper has also been freshly awarded the Cradle to Cradle certificate. No resources are wasted during production and no environmentally harmful waste is produced: further confirmation that nuuna does everything right with this paper. The result: thoroughly sustainable idea memories, small design objects, collectors’ items—and the beginning of the end of boring notebooks.

Just recently we produced another joint notebook as part of our L.A. Special Edition and are still happy about the brilliant result: a flashy notebook in neon orange with dark blue screen print on high gloss—a real eye-catcher!

Now you also have the chance to call a nuuna notebook your own: We raffle nine notebooks of the Bad Book, Been There und Metropolis series (three of each). To take part in the lottery, write an email to [email protected] with the subject “nuuna,” name your favorite notebook and let us know your postal address (for dispatch). The lottery ends October 5th, 2020, 11 a.m. (UTC+2). 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!

Wer bitte ist Rudolf Koch?

Posted on by Lara Zettl

The new book Wer bitte ist Rudolf Koch? meets the concern that one of the most influential persons in Offenbach’s cultural history could be forgotten. The Klingspor-Museum in Offenbach owns and cultivates the estate of Rudolf Koch, who died in Offenbach in 1934 and whose work is still influential and inspiring today. The internationally renowned typeface artist shaped the understanding of type as a field of the fine arts and made a significant contribution to the international success of the Klingspor Brothers Type Foundry in the first half of the 20th century.

For the first time in over 50 years, a book is published that sheds light on Koch’s wide-ranging oeuvre. The designer’s work at the Klingspor Museum over the last 20 years the plays a decisive role. Thanks to the designers at the HfG, Laura Brunner and Leonie Martin, a compendium has been created that makes it pleasureably to get insight in Koch’s work. Furthermore Wer bitte ist Rudolf Koch? brings a striking chapter of art history to light, which has taken place in Offenbach. The fact that there hasn’t been an approach to the artist Rudolf Koch is evident in the design of the book. Laura Brunner and Leonie Martin, who study visual communication, have found an appealing yet appropriate form for Koch’s multifaceted personality. The cover pages of each book were screen printed in different colors, also the typeface was used in several variations. Especially for the title and the separator pages, the two students, have developed new varieties of Koch’s Types. The book is a homage to Rudolf Koch and his inspirational work, which is still appreciated in these times.

Wer bitte ist Rudolf Koch?

Designer: Laura Brunner and Leonie Martin
Publisher: Klingspor-Museum
Concept: Stefan Soltek and Martina Weiß
Format: 18 × 24 cm
Volume: 276 pages
Paper: Union Enviro Top, Union Pop’Set
Language: German
Price: 25.– Euro
Buy

Magalog DDC Award Gute Gestaltung 2019

Posted on by Lara Zettl

For the Deutscher Designer Club Award Gute Gestaltung 2019 yearbook the design studio formdusche invented a whole new format, by adding an editorial part to the traditional winning catalog. formdusche designed a magalog and gave the format two sides: one for the catalog and one for the magazine.

We are proud to be a part of this year’s jury selection and for this reason we are also happy to listed in this beautifully designed catalog. Slanted Magazine #33—Prague was awarded with Bronze and TOTOAL ARMAGEDDON—A Slanted Reader on Design with an Award.

By using a twin brochure, the design supports the change of perspective of the medium and makes the magazine a special object. This function invites the reader to endorse it on both sides. Attentive readers can look forward to references in the form of analog links that invite them to switch back and forth between the two parts or simply enjoy reading the magazine. No magalog—no fun.

Beton me up!—Sometimes there is no need to do exactly the obvious and logical, nevertheless sometimes there is. In this year’s DDC MAG, the graphical concept is based on “fit to use” not “be different.” The approach of the architect collective Brandlhuber+ formed the inspiration with its intention of creating spaces and by reusing or changing the existing. Don’t start from scratch, but continue to sharpen what is there with good ideas. Wow: How sustainable is that? It is about exposing places, peeling out concepts and leaving traces, but also with a focus on the material: concrete. The imaginary 3D optic of the last DDC MAG, was literally meant to be more comprehensible this time. The visual idea was going out of the computer and into reality. In the middle of the Corona lockdown, the’ve got their hands dirty in a detail-loving DIY action in the home office, touched concrete, paid homage to materiality, poured moulds, and continued with patience and passion until they thought it was finally finished.

The formdusche team was fascinated by the unique results and their imbalance. Furthermore they asked themselves, together with the DDC, “How do we want to live? The courage to be imperfect is a first step. But what comes after the concrete?”

Magalog DDC Award Gute Gestaltung 2019

Design: formdusche
Client: Deutscher Designer Club
Paper: Gmund Bauhaus Dessau Weiss
Format: 22.5 × 33.5 cm
Volume: 136 pages
Language: German

Photos: © formdusche

Typo Ping Pong #1

Posted on by TypoGraphicDesign.de

Typo Ping Pong #1 is a new free font from the independent Foundry Typo Graphic Design. It is the result of the collaboration between Manuel Viergutz and Luis Herke, who were using their home stay for creating their new typeface.

Its extraordinary Look comes from a design procedure, called the ping pong method. By creating free forms individually, like letters with faces and eyes, smileys and icons of the letters A–Z and the numbers 0–9, the designers created an exceptional text image. In total, the font includes a variation of 100+ glyphs, which creates an exciting reading rhythm and provides what a display font should create—impact and fun.

On the one hand the letters were designed analog—which is easy to recognize by the rough structure of the glyphs, and on the other hand digitally designed. The individual letters from the Typo Ping Pong #1 are still in the creative development process, which results in new typefaces. Due to its large number of different characteristic and creative traits, there is a wide range of possibilities for use. Moreover the headline-font invites to experimentation with its different alternative forms for both, print and web.

Another collaboration is already in sight with new creative impulses, new designers and promising ideas.

Typo Ping Pong #1

Designer: Manuel Viergutz and Luise Herke
Type Foundry: Typo Gra­phic Design
Release: May 2020
Weight: Regular
File formats: print (.otf) and web (.woff)
Price: free for one user, from two users 15.– Euro
Get the typeface here 
Type specimen posters here

 

Typografie intensiv

Posted on by Lara Zettl

Typografie intensiv (En: Typography intensive) is a proven seminar about typography and design, extra-occupationally in four semesters. It is all about experiencing the rules of typography and design, testing and solving challenging design tasks, meeting design demands for the future, and having fun at learning.

The typographic and creative demands have increased on a large scale thanks to the computer. By using it you need to have appropriate skills and knowledge about the best way to achieve good legibility and an attractive graphic image through typography. Typografie intensiv could be seen as an alternative to the studies of communication design; at the same time it is a continuation for media designers. The teaching content reaches from micro type and composition, to color and grids. The focus of the course is on practical exercises, whereby the theoretic modules are monthly planned and online to some extent. In between there are extensive homework assignments, which results are discussed intensively. In addition, the lecturers give valuable advice from their own practical experiences.

Typografie intensiv

When?
Ongoing from September 26th, 2020
320 hours in four semesters + monthly block-seminar
Friday,  9 a.m to 6 p.m
Saturday,  9 a.m to 5 p.m

Where?
Saarstraße 6
80797 München
Germany

Further information can be found here
apply here

schaubau 2020

Posted on by Lara Zettl

schaubau 2020 is an international summer school that is taking place for the third time in the heart of the Bauhaus city of Dessau. A design camp that is aimed at creative students, schoolchildren, craftsmen and value creators from all creative disciplines, including design, architecture, fashion, and art. This year the schaubau summer school is dedicated to the controversy.

For a week the attendees research and design powerful texts and expressive images with the Berlin designer Alexander Branczyk (DRUCKEN3000) as a formulation of democratic participation on an equal footing. Terms such as “left-wing filthy,” “asylum tourism,” “sleeping sheep,” “do-gooder” and “coronary dictatorship” damage the coexistence in a peaceful and diverse society. But also statements like “You will be allowed to say that,” “I have nothing against … but! …” ignore that a democracy is based on common truths—a non-discriminatory, turned language is its expression.

The results are finally put on paper with the risograph. You will need a laptop for the workshop.

In addition to the drafting and creation, a cultural framework program ensures a varied—and hopefully sunny—workshop week. So don’t forget your swimming gear.

schaubau 2020

When?
From September 27th to 30th, 2020

Where?
vorOrt-haus
Wolfgangstraße 13
06844 Dessau
Germany

Tickets
50.– Euro
Material and lunch are included in the ticket price.

Please send your application by mail.

If you have any questions, please get in contact with the schaubau team.

 

 

Typotable No. 7

Posted on by typotable

Typotable No. 7 — Lettering. Typedesign. Skincare is part of the independent lecture series Typotable, where current type design and typography positions are shown and discussed. The lectures are held by established type and graphic designers as well as by young designers and students. After two cancelled events, Typotable No. 7 is back as conference format with five speakers and a wide range of topics.

– Chris Campe will talk about her different fields of work, techniques, and workshops and answers frequently asked questions about her passion
– Mark van Leeuwen will talk about his experiences from classic lettering to type design (presentation in English)
– Natalie Rauch will take the audience on a journey into the world of non-Latin writing systems
– Henning Skibbe will tell how to design fonts with strong characters and what actually distinguishes a font family
– Charlotte Rohde shows her typefaces and their experimental usage, as well as her skincare routine

Typotable No. 7

When?
September 26th, 2020
1 p.m. until 6 p.m.
(doors open at 12:30 p.m.)

Where?
Museum für Druckkunst
Nonnenstraße 38
04229 Leipzig
Germany

Tickets
30.– / 40.– Euro
Buy

We ask you to bring your mask to the event and to keep a distance of 1.5 m to other participants.

Photographic/film and sound recordings will be made during the event. By participating in the event, you agree that the organizers may use the photo/film and sound recordings for advertising purposes (on websites, social channels, for press coverage or similar) without any restrictions in terms of time and space.