Chrome letters, enclosed in a glass box, exploring light and reflection.
R.E.A.D.
R.E.A.D. is a letter building block set. Within the grid of 3 x 3 all 26 letters can be formed by rotating the semi circles in angles of 45 degrees.
Connect
Connect invites to playfully construct letters. The 3 x 3 system allows the forming of all 26 letters by rotating the discs in 45 degree angles.
Glyphs
Glyphs is a series of high-end letterparfums, based on the historical origin of the Latin alphabet: A is for Ox, B is for House, C is for Boomerang. These parfums are an unique ‘synthetic synaesthethic’ approach to our alphabet.
Atypography
This approach transforms conventional typography into abstract yet readable forms, providing a new visual language that challenges the perception and interpretation of letters. In other words, for example, we can create an abstract painting like Piet Mondrian’s, but so that it is not made up of random shapes but of legible text.
Patience is crucial in understanding Atypography. What initially appears as difficult legibility is, in fact, a fundamental aspect of this art movement – encryption.
Abcus
‘Abcus’ is a wordplay on the Abacus, a hand-operated calculating tool which is used from ancient times. This Abcus is not a counting tool, but a letter-forming tool.
soft metal
The artwork reveals an intriguing blend of flowing fabric and hard metal. The challenge was to make the metal appear so soft that it seems as if it would yield to touch. The indefinable fabric looks like it’s blowing in the wind, yet remains perfectly still. The delicate background suggests the object is very light, showing no sign of giving way.
Out of thin air
Andreas Trenker typeset poems in the South Tyrolean dialect, exploring fleeting moments and ephemeral feelings. To visualize the emotions, he created letters from air bubbles in water. By filling an aquarium with fizzy mineral water and treating the surface, bubbles formed words that continually shifted, capturing the poems’ essence. This process was documented in a video, accessible via AR on postcards featuring the poems, merging physical and digital realms in a dynamic visual representation.
Lass mal kuscheln
Experimental type used for train and bus seats
GHOST_TYPO
GHOST_TYPO is an experimental 3D font that was created in Blender.
Decostetica Display
Decostetica display is the summary of a deconstructivist approach to typography and graphic layout. The font is made up of elements that break, or rather, deconstruct another font, in this case the linear “helvetica” par excellence. Studying the deconstructivist movement, non-forms and its experimental approach, the idea was to restore the same attitude on paper: illegible, non-linear, a means for non-writing. This is “decostetica”.
Your data is their profit.
Data is the currency of the future – is it worth it?
Taxgorkhan Performance Poster – Misfornøyelsesbar, Oslo Dec. 2017
Taxgorkhan is a project that aims to manifest a highly personal dreamworld into a tangible presence. It spans music, performance and graphic arts. Like dreams, the form of expression contains hints of meaning absorbed in real life, and incorporates a very wide spectrum of influences. A family of typefaces were developed following this principle and are used extensively in a variety of ways, like in this poster for a performance in Oslo in 2017.
Serex / Serif Escalation
I wondered what would happen to the appearence of the font, when the serifs would stretch longer and longer. I had to try it out. The outcome is Serex.
I expanded it to a variable font, so everybody can stretch the serifs to ones taste.
Also it is possible to adjust the contrast for higher esthetic.
TOOTH
TOOTH
[novella]
Tooth was written in 2020. The main character is named Vova, and in this story, he’s a scoundrel. He has a wisdom toothache, which becomes the beginning of something that can’t be removed with Novocain on the dentist’s chair.
TOOTH depicts a metaphor for deviant behavior inherent in all of us — mortal humans. A spiral is braces, an accordion is a jaw.
Call for Submissions: Slanted Magazine Experimental Type 3.0
After the success of the first two editions, Experimental Type is now set to become a series of publications. Working in collaboration with students from FH Dortmund under the direction of Professor Lars Harmsen, the team is currently preparing the third edition. This call for entries aims to provide an opportunity for all interested parties to participate in this upcoming issue.
Experimental Type explores experimental design strategies within typography and graphic design. The publication features projects that integrate accidents into the design process, works that embrace mistakes and imprecision, and fonts that originate from a specific concept or system—ultimately showcasing designs that experiment or take unconventional paths. It presents cutting-edge approaches and new experimental techniques, ranging from processing to AI-generated typefaces and variable fonts.
Graphic designers, illustrators, journalists, authors, and artists are encouraged to submit their artwork along with a statement or quote explaining their work. Essays or articles are also very welcome, please submit your idea via email! Submissions are open until July 31st, 2024.
Thank you for your submissions. We will contact you if your work is selected for inclusion. The magazine is scheduled for publication in February 2025.
Being
Being is an exploration of the physical textures and material in the digital world. To create the type, extroo gathered all their black clothing and arranged it on the floor to form the desired letters. This clothing served as the source material, photographed and then manipulated digitally. This was an exercise to push the boundaries of the digital medium by incorporating the physical world.
Folkwang Rundgang from 18th to 21st July
From July 18th to 21st, the Folkwang University of the Arts will hold its Rundgang—the annual exhibition of photography and design. Visitors can anticipate a large-scale exhibition with a diverse supporting program. With over 300 participating students, the Folkwang Rundgang offers a comprehensive look into the disciplines of photography, industrial design, and communication design. Numerous collaborative projects with students from Folkwang’s music, dance, and drama disciplines will also be on display. Alongside the exhibition, there will be a varied support program including brunch, workshops, performances, and guided tours. Admission is free.
The program will be available shortly on the website and on Instagram.
Folkwang Rundgang 2024
When?
Thursday, July 18th until Sunday, July 21st, 2024
Opening hours:
Thursday, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Friday, noon to 10 p.m.
Saturday, noon to 8 p.m.
Sunday, noon to 7 p.m.
Where?
Folkwang University of the Arts
Zollverein World Heritage Site Campus
Martin-Kremmer-Straße 21
45327 Essen
Germany
Photo: Hanna Andal
Poster design: Kim Süß
Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design: Rundgang
From 19th to 21st July 2024, the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design (ABK Stuttgart) invites you to its annual “Rundgang” at the Weißenhof Campus. For a long weekend, the approximately 900 ABK students will open their studios and classrooms to present their current works and the latest projects in the fields of Architecture, Design, Art/Art Education and Art-History-Conservation. Award ceremonies, guided tours and other exciting activities are part of the program.
The “Rundgang” officially opens on Friday, July 19th, at 6 p.m. with a greeting by Prof. Dr. Prof. h.c. mult. Eva-Maria Seng, the new Rector of ABK. State Secretary Arne Braun from the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts will give the welcoming address, which will be followed by the award ceremony, where a number of prizes, including the Academy Prize, the DAAD Prize and the Performance Art Prize, will be presented.
The exhibition is open from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and from noon to 8 p.m on Saturday and Sunday. Themed tours through the faculties will be offered on Saturday and Sunday, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., beginning every full hour.
Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design: Rundgang 2024
When?
Friday, July 19th until Sunday, July 21st 2024
Opening: Friday, July 19th 2024 at 6 p.m.
Opening hours: Friday, 6 p.m until 11 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, noon until 8 p.m.
Where?
Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design: Campus Weißenhof
Am Weißenhof 1
70191 Stuttgart
Germany
For further information here.
13th GRANSHAN Type Design Competition
The winners of the 13th GRANSHAN Type Design Competition have been announced.
Every two years, the competition recognizes exceptional typefaces from scripts beyond Latin. The awards ceremony, titled Common Characters: GRANSHAN Talks & Ceremony, took place on June 17th in Reading, where the GRANSHAN Foundation unveiled the winners. A panel of over 60 judges evaluated submissions across ten script categories through a rigorous three-stage process.
Ana Sanikidze, who completed her Masters in Typeface Design at the University of Reading three years ago, returned to receive the Grand Prize of 3,000 Euros for her typeface Adapter Georgian. She also received a second prize for Nocturno Georgian. Reflecting on her achievement, Ana expressed her delight: “It feels amazing, I’m still flabbergasted. I like the fact that I got the award in Reading, a place that still feels a bit like home to me.”
In addition to the grand prize, there were 9 first-place, 16 second-place, and 9 third-place winners, along with 24 Special Mentions.
Veronika Burian, chair of GRANSHAN, noted, “The competition’s standards have always been exceptionally high; only truly outstanding typeface developments receive awards.” This year, Toshi Omagari, serving as co-chair alongside Burian, highlighted Ana Sanikidze’s success: “The jury was impressed by how well Ana Sanikidze has translated the concept of a sans serif into a text font. Her typeface Adapter Georgian is modern, very legible, and adheres to the principles of Georgian proportions.”
The GRANSHAN Type Design Competition stands as the premier professional competition dedicated exclusively to non-Latin typefaces, including categories for non-Latin/Latin combinations and multiscript designs. New additions this year included a Georgian script group and an expanded Southeast Asian script group covering Burmese, Lao, Khmer, and Thai.
Special recognition was given to the Armenian Script Group, which received the 13th Edik Ghabuzyan Lifetime Achievement Award for Armenian Type Design. The competition facilitated free submissions for type designers, with entry fees sponsored by GRANSHAN.
At the conclusion of the Common Characters: GRANSHAN Talks & Ceremony, GRANSHAN President Boris Kochan announced plans to present the Lifetime Honor Medal to Edik Ghabuzyan at the Mesrop Mashtoz Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Armenia on September 7th. Additionally, a study trip to Armenia is scheduled from September 5th to 13th, organized by the GRANSHAN Foundation e.V. in collaboration with other institutions such as the Typographische Gesellschaft München (tgm).
Further details here.
Typeface of the Month: Cera Mono
Welcome Cera Mono, our new Typeface of the Month!
Cera Mono brings a human voice to code-inspired aesthetics. With a technical texture, controlled dissonance and inharmoniously balanced shapes, Cera Mono pairs the “undesigned” qualities of typewriter fonts with geometric focus. In artistic and cultural contexts, the resulting bureaucratic and slightly glitchy texture gives its light weights expressive power while for those that generate value from code and data, its utilitarian design and carefully-selected spectrum of six weights can refine the noisiest data into information.
With a fixed-width defined by an almost-perfectly round lowercase “o,” Cera Mono brings Cera’s circular emphasis to a utilitarian uni-width typeface. The results give a new tone of voice to Cera’s elementary shapes. True to Cera Pro’s approachable attitude, narrow letters such as a “l” and “i” are not mechanically stretched to become monospaced but use the momentum of their outstokes to adapt to their new spacing.
Suggesting raw data and industrial qualities, Cera Mono is well-suited to no-nonsense typography: equipment manuals for hovercraft, captions in industrial material exhibitions, visualizing the data from volcanoes, and technical documentation for deep-sea farming.
Cera Mono is a fixed-width typeface, but it’s not fixated. For a less raw typographic texture and more balanced whitespace, activate Stylistic Set 15. Narrow characters like l and i now sit on half the space of their companions: maintaining a monospace flavour and providing a better reading experience.
Available in six weights, with useful arrows and an extensive range of geometric symbols, the pan-European Cera Mono supports around 270 languages in the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts. With 1,270 glyphs per style, it cares about localized letterforms and is approved by native consultants.
Typeface of the Month: Cera Mono
Foundry: TypeMates
Designer: Antonia Cornelius, Jakob Runge
Release: June 2024
File Formats: Variable: TTF & WOFF2 | Static: OTF, TTF, WOFF & WOFF2
Styles & Weights: Thin, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, Black, Variable
Price per style: € 50 / Full font family: € 260
Berlin Letters 2024
Berlin Letters 2024 is set to be the premier festival for lettering, type design, calligraphy, and sign painting. Over the course of three vibrant days, this event will bring together international experts, passionate enthusiasts, and creative professionals.
Berlin Letters promises a variety of engaging activities designed to spark creativity and foster connections among attendees. Highlights of the festival programme include live sign-painting demonstrations by renowned sign painters, exhibitions and installations showcasing works from acclaimed artists and designers, and panel discussions on industry trends, challenges, and innovations with leading experts. Additionally, there will be ample networking events providing opportunities to connect with fellow attendees, share ideas, and collaborate on creative projects.
Attendees can look forward to a rich lineup of international lectures, where leading figures in the world of type and design will share their insights, trends, techniques, and the stories behind some of the most iconic works. These lectures are designed to inspire and inform, offering a unique glimpse into the minds of top designers. Speakers include Claire Coullon, Chris Campe, Doro Ottermann, Luc(as) de Groot, Gianpaolo Tucci, and Beatriz Lozano, and many more.
The festival will also feature a series of professional workshops. Participants will have the opportunity to learn new techniques, experiment with different styles, and broaden their creative horizons. Workshops include Type Knitting by Rüdiger Schlömer, Introduction to Type Design with Glyphs by Sol Matas, and Fileteado Porteño—Traditional Letters from Argentina by Gustavo Ferrari, among many others.
Berlin Letters 2024
When?
July, 5th to July, 7th, 2024
Where?
silent green Kulturquartier
Gerichtstr. 35, 13347 Berlin
More Information here.
gggrafik design—slay allegories
Le Signe National Center for Graphic Design in Chaumont announced an upcoming exhibition featuring the eclectic and impactful works of renowned graphic designer Götz Gramlich. slay allegories promises to provide an in-depth look into the creative world of a designer who has significantly influenced the field of graphic design through his innovative and socially engaged work.
Götz Gramlich, born in 1974 in Heidelberg, earned his diploma in Communication Design from the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. His career began with a pivotal role as an assistant to the legendary Niklaus Troxler at Studio Troxler in Willisau, Switzerland. In 2005, Gramlich established his own studio, gggrafik, in Heidelberg, setting the stage for a prolific career that spans nearly two decades.
Beyond his professional achievements, Gramlich is deeply committed to using graphic design as a tool for social and political commentary. He is a co-founder of the political poster festival Mut zur Wut (engl.: courage to be angry), an annual competition that highlights posters with critical, social, and political messages. During the festival, selected posters are displayed in public spaces, transforming these areas into platforms for visual protest. This initiative underscores Gramlich’s belief in the power of posters to effect change and his dedication to political and social causes.
The upcoming exhibition at Le Signe in 2024 offers a unique opportunity to explore the diverse work of Götz Gramlich. Visitors will experience the breadth of his designs, characterized by eclectic styles and a deep exploration of techniques and imagery. This exhibition not only celebrates his artistic achievements but also his ongoing commitment to cultural and social issues through graphic design.
gggrafik design—slay allegories
When?
From 26th of June, 2024 to 5th of January, 2025
Where?
Le Signe—National Center for Graphic Design
Centre National du Graphisme
1 Place Émile Goguenheim
52000 Chaumont
France
More about gggrafik design—slay allegories here.
Forward Festival Hamburg 2024
What do Mieke Haase and Jean-Remy von Matt have in common? After two days at Forward Festival, we know: Their enthusiasm for Pippi Longstocking.
Von Matt quotes her as saying: “I’ve never done that before—I’m sure I can do it.” AI-artist Mieke Haase based her avatar on her with red hair and freckles and advises all creative people to use their talents courageously.
Jo Marie Farwick von Überground also talks about having the courage to do chice (reference to the german word for “shit”). With a lot of humor, she talks about the sometimes not so easy situations in everyday creative life and about a lot of teamwork: “I’m only as good as the people behind me and around me—no one is a genius on his own.”
Many more speakers talked about collaboration and working together as a team. For example, Deutsche & Japaner, a creative studio based in Munich and Berlin, who presented their current project for Reebok and others under their claim “Teamwork is Dreamwork.” This interdisciplinary collaborative team showed what the future of graphic design work could look like.
But also big names like Jung von Matt with more classic set-ups showed how they go forward: Max Lederer, Chief Innovation Officer, questioned the authenticity of all images opening his presentation on working with artificial intelligence with the question if there is any real image. In addition to his call for a debate on the natural impacts of generative AI, he predicted a change in the relationship between customer and brand. His vision for the future is the democratisation of brands.
The illustrative world of Cachetejack, Nuria Bellver and Raquel Fanjul is the result of living democracy with a good dose of humor and irony. Their tips for overcoming blockages, with practical examples of application that got a lot of laughs, and their work examples immersed us in the positive diversity and different perspectives of our world.
With more than 30 speakers on two stages, design workshops, and talks on the topics of graphics, brand, illustration, typography, AI, UX/UI, video, these two days of Forward Festival gave us a lot of inspiration and motivation to make a difference as creatives, also with regard to this year’s motto: Don’t move right—move forward.
All of these impressive speakers have shown that the creatives are going to shape the future world, even more so with UX/UI an AI. Just like Pippi Longstocking said: “I make the world as I like.”
Text and images by Theresa Birnkammer, PACOON.