Experimenta Typografica

Experimenta Typografica sets itself as a new ecosystem of experimental graphics that focuses on type, taking past and contemporary ideas as inspiration. In this project, which embraces the editorial and digital world, the desire to build an environment free from traditional canons therefore becomes definite. The project consist in a group of 10 experimental typefaces designed through various ideas explored in the physical magazine and downloadable on the official site: experimentatypografica.it

Hinko

Hinko Smrekar, a Slovenian painter and illustrator, was renowned for his caricatures, political drawings, book covers, and theatre posters. Born in 1883 in Ljubljana, he was killed by Italian fascists in 1942. Known for his political caricatures, he often used hand-drawn typographies in his posters. Influenced by Viennese Secession, his typography also represent an unique style. Font Hinko, based on his exhibition poster, predates WWII yet resembles the vibe of 1980s black metal bands.

Casting

Nightscape. A portrait is revealed in the light from the street lamps through the windows. A glimpse in the dark. Confronting, one experiences the intimate moment although it’s not directed at the viewer. For a moment will the light last in this instance and give it its form. The aim of abstracting the portraits is to represent the essence of the place, the temporal aspects of emotions, and the intangible momentum of time through colour.

Ordinary people

I’m highly observant, curious. I’ve always stopped to observe what happens around me; I’m deeply attracted to human behavior. The small things in everyday life, workers, ordinary people who go unnoticed, are a source of inspiration for me.

I enjoy telling stories full of visual meaning and conceptual construction. I aim to express the protagonist’s reality through rhetoric. I use chromatic contrast to replicate life’s dialectics: light and darkness, good and bad, happiness and its opposite.

Adania Shibli words (Political types)

On the occasion of the Leteo Prize awarded to the Palestinian writer Adania Shibli, Un Mundo Feliz holds an exhibition and designs a series of posters as a tribute. The work uses the experimental Impact(o) font redesigned in 2005 for the Political Types project. The idea behind the redesign is that the superficial appearance of the alphabet is used as a gateway to deeper reading. The reworking of these fonts starts from letters, minimal elements of language, as a potential basis for creativity.

1. Aetherial Marks; 2. Untitled; 3. Wake Up – Marcus Aurelius, 5.1; 4. Law Is Our Master – Marcus Aurelius, 10.25

1. Gestural calligraphy captured in a three dimensional projection.
2. Abstracting calligraphic lines and rearranging them into a new composition free of meaning.
3. Brush calligraphy with a double negative space, achieved by cutting out the background with a scalpell.
4. Does calligraphy need to be legible? The piece challenges this perception and invites the viewer to look more closely and research the original text.

How to Book in Berlin

Discover the essential guide to bookmaking and publishing with How to Book in Berlin. This comprehensive resource provides valuable insights into research methods, funding strategies, production techniques, and distribution approaches, all informed by seasoned publishers. How to Book in Berlin aims to ease the challenges of creating artists’ books and to cultivate connections within dynamic creative communities. Dive into mastering the art of bookmaking today. Available now at Slanted.

Contributors include Vanessa Adler (Argobooks), Franziska Brandt & Moritz Grünke (Gloria Glitzer & We Make It), Ipek Burçak (Well Gedacht Publishing), Andreas Bülhoff (sync.ed), Jonas von Lenthe (Wirklichkeit Books), Anja Lutz (The Green Box) and many more.

Published by: Small Editions
Editors: Hanson Coleman and Hannah Yukiko Pierce
Design: Jae Kyung Kim
Risograph: we make it, Berlin
Price: €20.00

Buy here.

In Praise of Distortion

In contemporary Japan, the appreciation of imperfection is fading. Geert Hofstede’s (2016) studies highlight Japan’s high value on perfection and success, seen even in design. Growing up in Japan, I felt the suffocating nature of strict societal expectations. My project explores ‘distortion’ in typography, inspired by Okakura’s The Book of Tea (1961) and the Shino Tea Bowl, celebrated for its imperfect beauty. The Yugami typeface, with its bumpy forms, aims to revive Japan’s historical appreciat

Unletters/Reletters

In a scenario where humans and nature are disconnected, misunderstandings may emerge, creating a sense of distance. To bridge this gap, a machine combined typefaces from the Google Fonts Library with slime mold simulation images. An AI was trained to produce unrecognizable letters, revealing hidden elements. The visual result, curated and sorted, offers new perceptions of letter shapes, emphasizing form over readability. Can these symbols be an alternative language? Are they imaginary logotypes?

Knit Hello Infinite Variation Scarf

Knit Hello is the second Typeknitting Font by Rüdiger Schlömer made especially for hand knitting. Knit Hello is for beginners: knitters with little knowledge in typography, and graphic designers who have just picked up the needles. The Knit Hello Infinite Variation Scarf is a wearable protocol of your exploration process in Typographic Knitting. Starting with simple layout grids, it invites you to bring your Typeknitting skills to a next level, segment by segment, stitch by stitch.

Everyday Forms

‘Everyday Forms’ is an ongoing drawing project that delves into the boundaries of shapes. Inspired by the ‘prototype theory’ from linguistics and cognitive psychology, the project examines how central examples define categories. Prototype theory suggests that objects are classified based on a typical form rather than rigid rules. This is evident in how cultural backgrounds influence interpretations of graphics, such as pictograms and Japanese characters.

Spoiler

Spoiler involves framing abstract forms within the context of manga, altering their perception. Despite juxtaposing seemingly unrelated elements, placing them in a manga context imparts a deliberate appearance. The title is derived from online manga spoilers. By imagining the cognitive activity of filling gaps in fragmentary Japanese spoilers, the production of ‘Spoiler’ aligns with this process, albeit at a higher cost.

Sala Bar

The Sala Bar at the Santa Mònica arts center has adopted a new graphic identity to communicate its weekly activities, inspired by movie credit titles. The underground touch and cinema reference recall the anomalies of antenna TVs that distorted the image. The Redaction typeface allows for the use of different styles that gradually lose definition. A specific color code has been assigned, with each color linked to a day of the week.

Scacco Matto

Scacco Matto is part of Federico’s bachelor thesis project. It’s a typeface divided into three styles inspired by chess (Cavallo, Torre, and Alfiere, also known as Knight, Rook, and Bishop). Each letter in a style is constructed on an 8×8 grid, mirroring a chessboard, and traces its path from the starting square of the chess piece, adhering to the allowed movements of each chess figure. The result is a total of 165 glyphs for each style, with compatibility for Western European languages.

SCHAUBAU: NEUROPA 2024

Schaubau is an international summer school held in the heart of Dessau, the Bauhaus city, since 2018. This NEUROPA design camp is aimed at designers from all disciplines, offering different workshops over three days.

When, if not now? Who, if not you? Where, if not here? Climate change and the environment, health, the economy, social justice, equality, peace, globalization, values and rights, the rule of law, security, digital change, democracy, migration, education, culture, youth, and sports… These are what Europe stands for. But what are YOUR topics on Europe? What does your Europe look like? What is your creative commentary on the Europe you want to live in?

Join Schaubau and design your personal key visual on the NEUROPA theme! Choose between three different design techniques: an environmentally friendly risoposter, screen printing on paper or fabric, or a photograph as a holographic image in downtown Dessau (LED flash stick). The engaging supporting program will ensure sunny summer days in the province, so don’t forget your laptop and swimming gear!

SCHAUBAU: NEUROPA WORKSHOPS 2024

When?
Thursday, August 29th until Saturday, August 31st. 202

Where?
Bauhaus Dessau
Gropiusallee 38
06846 Dessau-Roßlau
Germany

What?
Workshop 1 / Alexander Branczyck /Risograph
Workshop 2 / Jennifer Becker / LED-FLashstick 
Workshop 3 / Alexander Lech / Stencil

Book here.

fragmented memories

The poster is dedicated to complex feelings about one’s memories and past. Out of hundreds of dusty film photos depicting relatives and unfamiliar people, a photo of two children playing in the sea used for work — the sea of one’s memories, fragmented and blurry. The text on the poster refers to the rare conversations with the mother about the photos. Despite attentive listening, it is easy to forget who is photographed along with all the other details.

Tweaker

Tweaker is a high-contrast sans serif typeface inspired by Figgins’ 1845 serif typeface, Zig Zag. It modernizes the concept, pushing the bending style of the letters to a 45-degree angle. As a variable typeface, users can adjust the bending degree from 0-45 on either side. The typeface includes the Latin alphabet with accented letters and OpenType features like ligatures. This project was done as part of the Alphabettes Mentorship Program, under Fabian Dornhecker’s mentorship in 2021-22.

Interference

Growing up in a household of sisters, Alma Egeskov became attuned to beauty as a surface that disguises complex internal experiences. In “Interference,” she isolates moments that exist in the space between exteriority and interiority, exploring the tension and underlying dynamics of these in-between moments. While there is an underpinning of beauty in her work, there is also an underlying feeling of being trapped.

Folded Alphabets

The ordinariness of paper as an object introduces complexity in content, material, and format. The 26 paper-folded alphabets challenge the relationship between the ephemeral and the ethereal, demonstrating how a mundane object can be transformed into a meaningful state. The folding technique serves a dual purpose: it embodies conceptual duplicity and allows modulation to dominate the realm of paper-based thought. Engaging with the fold reconnects us with the fundamental tactility of paper.

Processed Lifestyle No.5

Getting inspired, we process contexts and meanings around us and produce an outcome, influenced by our personal vision, taste and reflection. Anyway, in a world so overloaded with everything, most likely any noise we perceive is already covered in layers of processed contexts. That’s probably what Processed Lifestyle means. I’m not completely sure anyway, hihi✌🏻🤭

Processed Lifestyle No.4

Getting inspired, we process contexts and meanings around us and produce an outcome, influenced by our personal vision, taste and reflection. Anyway, in a world so overloaded with everything, most likely any noise we perceive is already covered in layers of processed contexts. That’s probably what Processed Lifestyle means. I’m not completely sure anyway, hihi✌🏻🤭

Explorations of prosodic typography

This research project explores the relationship between the human and typographic voice. When words are spoken, read out loud, or performed, they expand beyond their semantic meaning. Unlike uniform digital text, speech is inherently human and chaotic. What if typography could capture these layers of expression? Can the human voice be a design tool? Studio Pointer* use code and tools for sound and speech analysis, envisioning variable typography’s potential to transform communication.