The AI Designer

Posted on by tanvel

The Russian Art. Lebedev Studio is breaking new ground in design with The AI Designer. Real customers were confronted with the fact that their request for a brand identities to the design studio was answered by an artificial intelligence designer using randomly generated forms. This creates new and unimagined creative paths that human designers would probably never have taken, but it is also a threat to the market and its credibility. Because if we assume that a visual identity and the success of a company can be completely left to computer-generated chance, then the trust in the basis and knowledge of our profession can be doubted. It is exciting to see how AI-based technologies can be combined with our knowledge in the future and thus be developed further.However, we should always do this with a critical eye on quality and credibility and include the designer as a social being in the design process.

The project was developed in complete secrecy by an isolated team at the Studio. In the name of conspiracy, the AI was introduced as a remote employee with his own profile, portfolio, and name—Nikolay Ironov. This meant the team could manage any risk of leaks, while also gathering valuable feedback from clients on Nikolay Ironov’s work—free from any prejudice against generative design.

The results exceeded all expectations. Over the last twelve months, Ironov has developed logos for real clients (cafes, bars, influencers, apps, and consumer goods).

The photo of Nikolay was also generated. It was created by a neural network from photos of all employees of the studio.

All clients were unaware that their designs were being created by a machine. All of Nikolay Ironov’s work was approved by clients and then released to huge audiences. Today, Ironov’s work can be seen in businesses throughout Russia, on branded products, and in endless YouTube clips. The AI’s unique style led to a number of the logos attracting considerable public interest, media attention, and discussion in online communities.

Designers, even the more daring and progressive ones, are often defined by the work of their peers, international award juries, and their own experiences. Given that Artificial design intelligence sidesteps all this, Nikolay Ironov is free to utilize techniques that no human would ever consider. By taking bold and unexpected steps, he is able to create the genuinely new.

This event marks the moment that the mass automation of creative processes becomes a reality for businesses.

Take a look at Nikolay Ironov’s own portfolio site and check out his generated design. 

Slanted in L.A.: Jens Gehlhaar

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

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.

Jens Gehlhaar, born and raised in Germany, is a commercial artist living in Los Angeles who works in film, design, advertising, and music. He has directed commercials for Apple, Volkswagen, Emirates Airlines, and many other brands. He has designed identities and titles for MTV, VH1, and This American Life, and has drawn typefaces for TV Guide and two different Tom Cruise movies. He is currently a commercial director represented by Logan & Sons.

Jens Gehlhaar’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!

Re:Post

Posted on by Henrike Uthe

Re:Post shows visualizations of the basics class of Visual Communication at the Berlin University of the Arts, which demonstrate a digital dialogue between text and image.

A text is posted by each student in a specified order, which refers formally or in terms of content to the preceding one: a chain of quotations is created, the components of which are visualized by the class.

The project accompanied the entire online summer semester 2020 and thus contributes to a constant exchange between the students. Both in selection and in sequence, the quotations testify to the moment of their selection, negotiate current events and trigger reflections on dominant structures. Questions on copyright, diversity, female authorship and their representation are actively negotiated, especially since the critical view always focuses on your own quotation selection and visualization practice and thinks auto-reflexively about responsibility in design.

Re:Post

Editors: Basics, Visual Communication, UdK Berlin
Release: Summer semester 2020
Course by: Henrike Uthe
Text: Stefanie Messner
Website: Hauke Irrgang
Visit

Forward Festival 2020 Vienna

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

For six years now, the Forward Festival has been a popular hotspot for creatives and those interested in the creative scene. With this year’s motto Digital Eyes, the Forward Festival 2020 Vienna will take place October 8th and 9th, digital, analog and yet anything but binary.

Digitization and technology are no longer exclusively future-visioned terms, they came to stay. It affects us all, our work, the market, it changes and will no longer become less. With our heads in our smartphones, we seem to have entered a post-digital age.

This year Forward Festival decided to go live and make a livestream from the already sold-out Viennese festival. The livestream will broadcast all lectures on the main- and forward stage on both festival days. Find the entire line up of the main stage with Refik Anadol, ARS ELECTRONICA, Irma Boom and many more here.

Forward Festival 2020 Vienna

When? 
October 8th and 9th, 2020

Where?
Livestream:
Early Bird Festival tickets EUR 45.– instead of EUR 85.–
including a Forward Festival goodie bag worth EUR 35.–

Typologie, a Typographic Palette

Posted on by Studio Recto Verso

Through more than a hundred unique font specimens, Typologie, a Typographic Palette is an immersion in contemporary French type design, in its broadest, most eloquent and heterogeneous expression. The book takes the form of a color chart in order to illustrate the plurality of type design in France, and the multiple inspirations and compositions of the type foundries behind it, with their similarities and their singularities. In this way, this typographic palette is a gateway to a better understanding and knowledge of the world of French-style type creation.

Typologie includes two introductory essays written by Philippe Apeloig and Geoffrey Dorne. The lettering composed for its cover is a creation by Stephane Lopes.

Each graphic designer has their own habits, and fonts to which they keep coming back, (a little) out of habit, and (a lot) out of laziness. However, by doing so, they miss out on a multitude of original characters created by type foundries and type designers, each of whom has their own approach of type lettering, and their own understanding of it. Typologie aims to highlight this vibrant creativity through the selection of a hundred contemporary French fonts. Say goodbye to Garamond and other Didot, and greet Sbire, Garaje, or Retiro.

Recently the project was financed by crowdfunding and will soon be available here for sale.

Typologie, a Typographic Palette

Publisher: Studio Recto Verso
Authors: Philippe Apeloig, Geoffrey Dorne, Pierre-Yann Lallaizon
Release: June 2020
Volume: 130 pages
Format: 60 × 20 cm
Language: French and English
Retail price: 25.– Euro
Buy

Slanted in Rhineland-Palatinate: Beratungsstelle Formgebung

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

The newly released Slanted Special Issue Rhineland-Palatinate deals with regional design as well as arts and crafts. The German federal state has a long tradition of arts and craftsmanship, supported and kept alive by a strong middle-class as well as strong regional institutions and cultural drivers. Awards such as the State Prize for Arts and Crafts promote, amongst others, outstanding gem and jewelry designers, ceramists, silversmiths, carpenters, barrel makers, and textile designers of the region.

The Beratungsstelle Formgebung is an institution of the consortium of the Chambers of Crafts in Rhineland-Palatinate, which advises crafts enterprises on questions of product design and marketing. It is a key task of the institution to create awareness and visibility for the creative diversity within crafts by means of exhibitions, competitions and participations in trade fairs.

Due to its manifold activities and involvement the Beratungsstelle Formgebung has a profound overview of the arts and crafts scene in the state, which manifests in the triennially awarded state prize that brings together the most talented craftsmen in the region. The presented pictures show a selection of laureates.

Get an impression of their work from the current Slanted Special Issue Rhineland-Palatinate or visit the institution’s website.

Supported by descom—Designforum Rhineland-Palatinate.

Pictures:
1. Edu Tarin @edu.tarin, edutarin.com, Photo: © Michael Jarmusch
2. Roswitha Kaster @roswithakasterphotographie, roswithakaster.de, Photo: © Roswitha Kaster
3. Philipp Gröninger @philippgroeninger, philipp-groeninger.de, Photo: © Philipp Gröninger
4. Tischlerei Sommer @tischlerei_sommer, tischlerei-sommer.de, Photo: © Michael Jarmusch
5. Monika Nickel, flechtwerk-gestaltung.de, Photo: © Michael Jarmusch
6. Martina Stertz, martina-stertz.de, Photo: © Michael Jarmusch
7. Podium.Wert.des.Handwerks, podium discussion at the Federal State Representation RLP in Berlin, 2019.

Slanted in L.A.: Greg Lindy / Lux Typographic + Design

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

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.

Greg Lindy is the founder and creative director of Lux Typographic + Design. The L.A. studio is based on Greg’s expertise and innovative work in type and brand. With a strong vision and approach, Greg has developed fonts for retail sale as well as custom fonts for brands in the retail, cultural, and corporate arenas. Greg currently teaches Type Design at Art Center of College of Design in Pasadena.

Greg Lindy’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!

Digital Underground Vol. 1

Posted on by Vincent Tavano

In Digital Underground Vol. 1, editor and art director Vincent Tavano reflects on the new approach to the discipline of digital design and its impact on the over all world of graphics.

Artists have always given birth to movements; Cubism, Dadaism, Pop art, Brutalism, movements that marked their era and forever influenced the world of art. The 21st century and the advent of the digital medium have also drawn the framework of a new creative practice, digital design. The internet is a limitless playground, an interactive platform where text, image, sound, and video intermingle in an open virtual environment.

In recent years, Vincent Tavano has seen the invisible formation of an avant-garde artistic circle, with its codes, its style, and an ultra-modern approach to the discipline. Sometimes funny, futuristic, experimental, brutalist, or unexpected, this book offers a compilation of references from websites that Tavano has selected for their aesthetic sensitivity and their cultural root. A publication that also questions the key players of this “nouvelle vague” about their approach and vision of this new era in graphics. A written record of a new generation of thinkers working behind the “screens.”

Featuring Bureau Cool, DVTK, Ezra Miller, International Magic, Selam X Studio, Studio Moniker, Yehwan Song, Zach Lieberman, etc.. Foreword by Marc Kremers from Future Corp.

Digital Underground Vol. 1

Editor: Vincent Tavano
Format: 11.5 x 17 cm
Volume: 256 pages
Edition: limited to 300 copies
Workmanship: Otabind brochur
Language: English
Price: 28,– Euro
Buy

Pictoplasma in Isolation

Posted on by pictoplasma in isolation

Since 2004, Pictoplasma has been celebrating the best in contemporary character design and art at its annual conferences in Berlin and NYC. For the first time, and for obvious reasons, this year’s physical conferences had to be cancelled.

No matter how devastating this year may be, Pictoplasma refuses to give up on 2020: This September 18th and 19th, the first ever digital Pictoplasma in Isolation is set to take place as a free 2-day livestream broadcast, awaiting all global character pioneers, creatives and enthusiasts with more than 40 inspiring artist talks, 77 hand-picked animation shorts, and a special symposium track featuring conversations and talks by academics, theorists, and activists on the new-normal iconic symbol of today: The Mask in Visual Culture.

Special focus: the mask in visual culture
This year’s edition of the festival puts a thematic emphasis on the mask and expands on Pictoplasma’s ongoing research into how characters relate to, invade, take over and warp the human body, reexamining one of our most ancient cultural artifacts in a new light. Among the artists featured are Damselfrau and threadstories, two of the most prolific artists currently working with masks. Two digital artists will reflect on how face filters function as a way to change our identities online: David OReilly and Ines alpha.

Pictoplasma in Isolation

When?
September 18th and 19th, 2020

Where?
Online

Find the full speaker line-up, program, and registration information here.

Troublemakers Class of 2020

Posted on by Madeleine Morley

The Troublemakers Class of 2020 is a remote workshop for design research and writing, and a support network for the killjoys, underdogs, outcasts, misfits, rebels, and downright troublemakers asking difficult questions on design campuses worldwide.

Ours is a para-academic environment to nurture and hone ongoing research; a safer space for those yearning to find others who they can share, learn, and grow with. The Troublemakers reject the idea that design is an all-powerful, problem-solving discipline, understanding that design itself is complicit with multiple systems of oppression that reinforce structural inequalities. They believe that design research is more than just a step in producing products and services—it’s a worthwhile endeavor in and of itself. Together, the Troublemakers tap into the power of research and journalistic storytelling in order to surface the oppressive complexities that shape our lived realities.

Each Troublemaker brings their ongoing research to the workshop. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have produced one final article relating to your research topic, which will be edited and published on the online design magazine Futuress.

Troublemakers Class of 2020

Application deadline: September 18th, 2020
Workshop runs: October 2nd, 2020, to January 24th, 2021
Basic price: 120.– Euro
(3 × 40.– Euro, for students, recent graduates, and starting-out professionals)
Solidarity price: 240.– Euro
(3 × 80.– Euro if your institution / employer is paying, or you can and want to pay it forward)
Reduced price: 0–75.– Euro
(If you are accepted to the workshop but cannot afford to pay the basic price, we will reduce the price or waive the fee completely depending on your situation)
Apply here

SAND Issue 21

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

To mark a decade of publishing SAND, the editors are calling 2020 their “year of archaeology” and have filled SAND Issue 21 with a mix of new discoveries and excavated favorites. And in the midst of a pandemic, they have gotten to know the pieces even more intimately, seeing them in a surreal light they could not have imagined when they began this issue.

Archaeology is the study of context. It’s not just about digging up and admiring an elegant sculpture, but about reimagining the vanished context it came from, a day-to-day landscape in which that sculpture made a different kind of sense. In Jeff Gu’s “The Grieving Emperor,” an editor puts a red pen to a Roman love story. Zophia McDougal humanizes the same empire’s abstract units of measurement. J.M. Parker’s characters visit a Canaanite arch in the crossfire of the Israel-Palestine conflict, juxtaposing the old silenced stones against today’s cacophony. In Singapore, Hsien Min Toh describes a ledger of donations towards funeral expenses, a written record that swallows its wordless grief. However, sometimes in the issue, it seems as if the past also gazes forward from behind us, unapologetically at us, anticipating our present. The poem “Anxiety” foresees our agitation in a storm of thumbnails and nerves—a fragmented, flattened portrait like Morgan Stokes’s evocative cover. Or, in Siru Wen’s video installation stills, a simultaneous reach back into an intimate, domestic history as well as a foreshadowing of an insular and physically-distanced present.

This moment’s solitudes are more collective than ever. We’ve learned overnight that our whole species is linked by a chain of touch and breath. We’ve grown aware of the thousands of extinct viruses whose bodies are still archived in our cells. That connectivity terrifies us, no matter how poetic. We’ve come to think of our personal and global excavation processes as being a bit like trying to understand the ocean by fishing, yanking the fish out of its watery habitat and inspecting it in the open air.

You can watch selected performances and animations of the issue’s work on this YouTube channel, along with the full replay of the 10th anniversary issue launch festival.

SAND Issue 21

Editor in Chief: Jake Schneider
Managing Editor: Simone O’Donovan
Editorial Coordinator: Matthew Deery
Editors: Ashley Moore, Melissa Richer, Crista Siglin, Emma C. Lawson
Art Editor: Ruhi Amin
Distribution & Funding Coordinator: Natalia Dumont
Designer: Dimitris Gkikas
Communications & Outreach: Ruby Mason
Event Coordinator: Courtney Gosset
Verein Coordinator: Christina Wegener
Publisher: Self-Published
Release date:
Digital version: June 2020
Printed version: July 2020
Format: 14.8 × 21 cm
Retail price: 12.– Euro
Buy

GRAPHIT 2020

Posted on by aennsing

The GRAPHIT 2020 — Festival for Illustration and Urban Sketching is taking place in Erfurt from September 23rd to 27th.

GRAPHIT explores cultural, artistic and creative-economic aspects of drawing, reflects contemporary visual culture and brings creative people together in a scientific festival format. The five-day symposium is taking place from September 23rd to 27th, 2020, packed with workshops, lectures, debates, and open workspaces. In addition, various special formats are being planned, such as urban sketching tours of Erfurt. Check the full program here. Also check out the event’s blog for news and inspiration.

GRAPHIT 2020

When? 
September 23rd to 27th, 2020

Where? 
Klanggerüst 
Magdeburger Allee 175
99086 Erfurt
Germany

Tickets

 

Slanted in L.A.: Jeremy Mickel / MCKL

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

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.

Jeremy Mickel runs MCKL, a L.A.-based type foundry and design studio, publishing original fonts and creating custom designs for clients. Founded in 2012, MCKL has collaborated with leading design firms, corporations, and organizations around the world to provide custom typeface and logo design services.

Jeremy’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!

Letter&Co.

Posted on by Julia Kahl

Letter&Co. is an intensive multi-week, hands-on type program, conceived for creatives, that want to take their first steps into font making. It accompanies through the process of creating a unique concept for a font. If you would like to learn how to do it, from sketch to working font, including ways of publishing and marketing it, this is your chance! Registration is open from Friday 4th September until Friday 11th September, 2020.

THE PROGRAM

Letter&Co. is an online program for type design. Our approach combines traditional letter drawing, and lettering techniques, with modern software, providing attendees with a solid theoretical basis and practical tools to create their own display font. The schedule includes field trips, lectures and critique sessions with international specialists that will assist the attendees throughout the process.

➸ Read more about the program

THE INSTRUCTORS

Renowned type designers and experienced instructors will carry out special lectures on lettering, and provide introductions to modern software. Guest critics will host type crits and live-sessions to answer the student’s questions.

The instructors are: Martina Flor, Sol Matas, Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer, Dan Reynold, Ulrike Rausch, Elías Prado, Bianca Berning, Ivo Gabrowitsch and Ferdinand Ulrich.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

You will acquire specialized skills to design display typefaces, and know how to manage various softwares involved in the creation process. You’ll leave the program with a working font that you can use and sell!

WHO CAN ATTEND

Tailored to designers, lettering artists, illustrators, creatives and makers. No previous knowledge on type design or lettering is required. Letter&Co. will help you develop a unique concept for a display typeface from ground up. Type design is a great tool for designers and lettering makers. It can help you put the focus on creating well-crafted letter shapes, but also it may actually become part of your creative work.

HOW TO ENROLL

Registrations will open on Friday 4th September until Friday 11th September, 2020. The Early Bird Registration fee (1,200 USD) will be available only from 4th September until 7th September. The Standard Registration fee (1,800 USD) will be charged from 8th September until 11th September.

More about the program here:
academy.martinaflor.com

 

Slanted in Rhineland-Palatinate: Communication Design—University of Applied Sciences Mainz

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

The newly released Slanted Special Issue Rhineland-Palatinate deals with regional design as well as arts and crafts. The German federal state has a long tradition of arts and craftsmanship, supported and kept alive by a strong middle-class as well as strong regional institutions and cultural drivers.

This also includes the Communication Design course of the University of Applied Sciences Mainz, which is one of the three fields in the university’s Design Department. The University of Applied Sciences offers a Bachelors and Masters program in study fields like Advertising, Coding, Conceptual Design, Corporate Design, Design History, Drawing, Editorial Design, Illustration, Interactive Design, Marketing, Photography, Typography, and many others.

Get an impression of the Communication Design department of the University of Applied Sciences Mainz from the current Slanted Special Issue Rhineland-Palatinate or visit their website.

Supported by descom—Designforum Rhineland-Palatinate.

Pictures: 
– The Poem Lab, Isabela Dimarco (alumna), Installation, book, 2020. Master projects: bauhauslabor.de. Photos: © Chungbin Kim
– Between Us, dance, fine arts, digital research, and science, cooperation between University of Applied Sciences Mainz, Staatstheater Mainz, and Kunsthalle Mainz, 2019. Photo: © Ronja Butschbacher
– Şimdi heißt jetzt, Eva Feuchter (alumna), 2020. Editor: Maviblau, publisher: Slanted Publishers, watercolor, digital collage
– Singles, photography: Evelyn Dragan (alumna) – Isolation, DIE ZEIT, 2020. Photography: Evelyn Dragan (alumna)
– Bachelor- and Master Exhibition, Julian Lehmann (alumnus), poster design for a virtual exhibition tour 2020, Department of Design University of Applied Sciences Mainz, 2020

Van Gogh. The Complete Paintings

Posted on by Julia Kahl

I have always been a big fan of Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings and I own several books documenting his work. This 752-page, 3.5 kg compendium by TASCHEN brings together all 871 paintings alongside writings and essays for the first time and thus provides the first comprehensive presentation of his work.

In Taschen’s press release it says: Today, the works of Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) are among the most well known and celebrated in the world. In paintings such as Sunflowers, The Starry Night, and Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, we recognize an artist uniquely dexterous in the representation of texture and mood, light and place.

Yet in his lifetime, van Gogh battled not only the disinterest of his contemporary audience but also devastating bouts of mental illness. His episodes of depression and anxiety would eventually claim his life, when, in 1890, he committed suicide shortly after his 37th birthday.

This comprehensive study of Vincent van Gogh is charting the life and work of a master who continues to tower over art to this day!

Van Gogh. The Complete Paintings

Editors: Ingo F. Walther, Rainer Metzger
Publisher: TASCHEN
Format: 21 x 26 cm
Volume: 752 pages
Workmanship: Hardcover
German: ISBN 978-3-8365-7290-3
English: ISBN 978-3-8365-7293-4
French: ISBN 978-3-8365-7292-7
Spanish: ISBN 978-3-8365-7291-0
Price: 40,– €

BUY HERE

Designing with Artificial Intelligence

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

From September 17th to 19th, 2020, the online conference Designing with Artificial Intelligence will discuss how new technologies can change the world of design and what opportunities and risks are involved. A detailed description and information about the program and the speakers you find here.

Machine-intelligent systems and processes are no longer simply science fiction. Users are now surrounded by an overwhelming amount of digitally intelligent applications. These applications, while running seamlessly in the background of customer-centered products and hence going unnoticed by users, become deeply influential in the design of digital products’ user experiences. This pervasive implementation contrasts starkly with the absence of digitally intelligent applications in the critical academic discussion of applied AI-based design practices.

The digital conference Designing with Artificial Intelligence aims to bring together a diverse audience of design practitioners, design managers, design theorists, design leaders, and interdisciplinary thinkers interested in the questions resulting from designing both with and for machine learning algorithms and assist systems.

Designing with Artificial Intelligence

When?
September 17th to 19th, 2020

Where?
Online

Get your ticket here

Organizers: Prof. Dr. Sebastian Löwe (Mediadesign Hochschule), Marc Engenhart (Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd)

Spitzkant

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

Spitzkant is a serif typeface family that is characterized by strong contrasts. Pointed, sharp serifs and edges contrast with round and fine forms, making it very individual and expressive. This makes it particularly suitable for branding, editorial, packaging, and advertising. The high-contrast display version has been complemented by a lower-contrast text version, making Spitzkant in combination suitable for both strong headlines and extensive body text. An allrounder that can be used for many purposes.

The Spitzkant Head and Text family has a total of two optical sizes, five weights and 20 weights, from Thin to Bold and matching Italics. With over 850 characters, it covers over 200 Latin-based languages. It also has an extended set of currency symbols and a whole range of open type features. For example, there are alternative characters as Stylistic Sets, Small Caps, automatic fractions and many other features.

Especially the extensive selection of ligatures (standard and optional) is a special feature which is worth mentioning. With over 95 different ligatures there are many possibilities to give headlines and logos an individual touch.

After the designer Julien Fincker had spent about a year designing the two Finador families Sans and Slab, he needed an absolute contrast to the round and soft forms for his next typeface. He tells us here something about his design process:

“After a few first sketches the plan was set. It should be pointed, edged and with strong contrasts in the lines. At the beginning still sans serif, I soon noticed that it still lacked distinct markings. Serifs were needed. But what is best suited? Hairlines like a Bodoni? Or modern triangular serifs? After a few quick attempts, I decided to use strong contrasts in the serifs as well. Soft, rounded transitions with a pointed terminal.

Already in the conception phase I sketched the first ligatures. From the beginning I attached great importance to the development of an extensive ligature collection. It offers many possibilities to form very individual headlines. For me, especially as a graphic designer, this is one of the most important features for discovering new things with the font and to just have fun with it.

Originally Spitzkant was intended as a pure display font. As something ‘quick’ after the extensive Finador families. However, the first print in small sizes looked rather promising. So the ‘quick’ was quickly thrown overboard and I decided to add a lower contrast text version to it. And if you already run the extra meter, you run two more—I thought so. So many more languages and features were added. So Spitzkant has become a very well-rounded and extensive family in terms of content, which can be used for many purposes. Extrameters that have definitely paid off.”

Spitzkant

Designer: Julien Fincker
Release: May 2020
Weights: 20 weights, from Thin to Bold and matching Italics
Price per style: from 23,99 Euro. The weight Text Medium is available for free
Buy at MyFonts
Buy at Fontspring

 

Walzstipendium 2021

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

In the 550th year of Johannes Gutenberg’s death, the Verein für die Schwarze Kunst (En: Association for the Black Arts) therefore initiated the Walz für Handsatz und Buchdruck, in the context of which it enables friends of artistic handicraft professions to go on several “walks” each year to currently up to 17 different workshops all over Germany. For 2021, the association will offer up to seven walks for two months each in changing workshops. Four of these are reserved as Walzstipendium 2021 (En: Walz-Scholarships) for scholarship holders under 30 years of age, which the association supports with 1.000 Euros each.

The application deadline for the Walzstipendium 2021 is October 1st. Apply here!

From October 17th to 31st, 2020, the works of the nine scholarship holders will be shown in an exhibition at the Papiermühle Homburg by Johannes Follmer. The theme of the exhibition is Impressive.

Indiecon 2020

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

This weekend from September 5th to 6th, Indiecon 2020 will take place in Hamburg. There is still the possibility to register for a visit.

Indiecon is a two-day publishing festival set at Hamburg’s Oberhafen, a former freight yard now creative quarter right in the city centre. Its mission is to bring together independent publishers from all over the world and share the ideas usually bound on paper.

Founded in 2014, Indiecon has since developed into a regular platform for an international scene of publishers—and become an annual destination for visitors from media, arts, book trade, and the creative industries.

Indiecon is powered by a grown community of independent publishers. It is organized by Die Brueder Publishing, an editorial and design office based in Hamburg and Berlin.

Indiecon 2020

When?
Saturday, September 5th, 2020
10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
after 6 p.m.: night market with music
Sunday, September 6th, 2020
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
 
Where?
Oberhafen, Hamburg
Stockmeyerstraße 43
20457 Hamburg

Register here

Collection of Research on Chinese Typography

Posted on by thetype

As the earliest and leading research & culture project about typography & graphic design culture in the Chinese speaking world, The Type has pioneered reports, dialogues and research since 2007. It is now launching its first bilingual publication (English & Chinese), Collection of Research on Chinese Typography, a three-volume bundle that aims to introduce the international audience into Chinese typography from the insider’s perspective.

Titled Shanghai Type: a slice of modern Chinese type history, the first booklet provides a historic overview of state-sponsored type-founding practices in Shanghai since the 1940s. Calling for a re-establishment of the Chinese aesthetic standard in typography, the second booklet Kongquè Project: restoring the mindset of Chinese typesetting excavates Chinese typographic traditions that had been forgotten in recent decades and brings them to the digital era. The third booklet Transcultural type: a dialogue from China records a panel discussion between typographers and designers, both domestic and overseas, about design contexts and strategies in an increasingly multicultural world.

Collection of Research on Chinese Typography

Publisher: The Type
Design: Atmosphere Office, Shanghai
Release: April 2020
Languages: English & Chinese
Size: 105 × 145 mm
Pages: 116, 106, and 122 pages in 3-volume bundle
Paper: Munken Lynx + Munken Print White
ISBN 978-1-9162848-0-7
Price: 23.– Euro
Buy

Slanted in L.A.: Benjamin Woodlock / Abstract Office

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

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.

Benjamin Woodlock is a designer and educator based in Los Angeles. In 2013 he launched Abstract Office, an independent foundry through which he has released four of his typefaces. He is an art director and designer at Elastic, a motion studio in Santa Monica, specializing in typography and branding. Benjamin teaches at Otis College of Art and Design and at California Institute of the Arts. He has a BA from Yale and a MFA from CalArts.

The Benjamin’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!

FCK RCSM PSTR

Posted on by thekitchen

FCK RCSM PSTR is a poster platform to support the Black Lives Matter movement. You can download these posters for free to demonstrate for justice, equality, and against racism. You can print them, hang them in your windows, protest on the streets, and post them on social media!

To create the website and posters, graphic design studio thekitchen used typefaces that were designed by Black designers only.

Society is still dominated by white privileged men. Working in the creative industry is also part of the running system, but we can be the ones who do better and create change. We have to reflect ourselves, our language, our daily life. We want to use our privilege to give a voice to all the people who haven’t been heard for too long. Having the privilege to work in design industry enables us to break through these longterm structures of repression. With this project we try to take action to support more diversity in design.

You can also to submit your own poster designs to this website.

FCK RCSM PSTR

Used Typeface on the platform: The Neue Black by Tré Seals
design studio: thekitchen
creator/designer: Lisa Jasch
Visit FCK RCSM PSTR

Slanted in Rhineland-Palatinate: Monika Debus

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

The newly released Slanted Special Issue Rhineland-Palatinate deals with regional design as well as arts and crafts. The German federal state has a long tradition of arts and craftsmanship, supported and kept alive by a strong middle-class as well as strong regional institutions and cultural drivers. Awards such as the State Prize for Arts and Crafts promote, amongst others, outstanding gem and jewelry designers, ceramists, silversmiths, carpenters, barrel makers, and textile designers of the region.

Renowned ceramic artist Monika Debus lives and works in the Westerwald region, best known for its clay deposits and especially the saltfiring technique, which has existed for centuries till today. She uses this old firing technique with a slight modification to achieve subtle, distinctive surfaces that transfer the ceramic into the contemporary aesthetic of art and design.

Get an impression of Monika Debus’ work from the current Slanted Special Issue Rhineland-Palatinate or visit her website.

Supported by descom—Designforum Rhineland-Palatinate.