Sperling is a Munich-based art gallery. Its new visual identity deals with both the online and social media profile as well as the design of printed matter, stationery and the gallery space itself. The website is extended with an online magazine giving contextual information and creating a platform for curators and artists.

A wide variety of colours were defined in addition to a new custom typeface: Sperling, designed by Ellmer Stefan. Its two styles (Regular and Italic, no additional weights) were designed for use across the gallery’s communications. With its grid based simplicity, the design is a nod to modernist design principles yet with a forceful and reckless attitude. The interplay of expressive artworks, strong colour palette and bold yet classic typography gives enough variety to react on the individual character of the different artists and exhibitions.

A text of John Baskerville’s fellow countryman, John Soane (1753–1837) runs throughout the website, designed for Chilean artist Martín La Roche Contreras. The layout draws its origin from the printed page and ends with “footnotes” in form of a contact section. The website utilises the potential infinity of digital material to push associations between word and image beyond a simple 1:1 relationship. Hover states are used to activate specific images to lure the user in to explore further. František Štorm’s flourishes (which are included in his Baskerville Original) rotate while major slideshows are being loaded in the background.

Past forward is an album recorded by the artist duo kozek hörlonski to celebrate 100 years of Kunstverein Baden and its members.

In reminiscence of its progressive past, which at the same time pointed into a neutral future, Akzidenz-Grotesk seemed to be a good fit for the record’s title. The packaging itself looks kind of neutral itself by using the same cardboard as the archives of the Kunstverein. So when the record is filed amongst all the other boxes in the archive it will blend in immediately and become a part of the history.