From Other Means (with added links):

The Institute for Studies on Latin American Art’s visual identity draws on Latin American contributions to Modernist design history that are not often accentuated. A bold color system is paired with a new typeface reminiscent of the inventiveness of South American concrete poetry. As can be read in the “L” shape of the logo, sometimes a strict grid allows for a play on words.

The Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) is a private research institute based in New York City that has supported Latin American art research for over a decade. Other Means was drawn to ISLAA’s own idiosyncratic collection and groundbreaking research initiatives, which have made new connections between lesser-known movements in Latin American art and canonical design movements in both the United States and Europe.

Figures such as Tomás Maldonado, who developed the Ulm Model and oriented design education towards systems-thinking, were involved in avant-garde movements in Argentina, (like Arte Concreto-Invención) before their more well-known and undeniable contributions to design history.

By some accounts, concrete poetry emerged simultaneously in Europe and Brazil in the year 1953—Augusto de Campos working from São Paulo, the Swiss-Bolivian poet Eugen Gomringer publishing in Ulm, and the Brazilian-born Swedish poet Öyvind Fahlström writing from Stockholm. ISLAA’s exhibitions and events have shed light on the Swiss Concretist Max Bill’s participation in the art worlds of South America, including a seminal exhibition in São Paulo in 1950 that is cited for its contributions to the realm of thought that sprung “Poesía Concreta”.

Building on these transatlantic transmissions, the visual language, and the website, we designed and developed, present the institute with an aesthetic assertiveness that supports the bold research and commitment to new forms of scholarship that ISLAA undertakes.

This exhibition poster uses Affix alongside an unidentified sans.

Exterior signage

Endless Shout was the title of a series of performances, held in 2016/17 at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), University of Philadelphia, whose ambition was to explore how collectivity and improvisation can create new forms of social and political interaction within a museal space.

On display here is the visual communication around the event, conceived of and designed by Other Means, a graphic design studio based in New York City that has been working for the ICA since 2014.

The visual identity stems from three elements: sharp-edged graphic shapes that seem to overlay or distort the overall picture (and that are not easily translated into a wide range of applications and techniques), the use of colored paper and special colors in printed matter, and, most importantly, the strong recognizability of the Proto Grotesk typeface, designed by Production Type’s Jean-Baptiste Levée.

In this project, Proto Grotesk can show all its capabilities, from comfortable reading at small sizes to poster qualities at big sizes. Especially in the semibold and bold styles, Proto Grotesk’s idiosyncrasies work as a real eye catcher.

Endless Shout monthly posters

Website

Youth by AllCaps is used for the visual identity of the Vera List Center Forum 2019: If Art Is Politics, designed by New York-based studio Other Means. From the Vera List Center for Art and Politics:

The Forum highlights Pan-African collective Chimurenga, recipient of the 2018-2020 Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice who will install its Pan African Space Station (PASS) at The New School. PASS lands at The New School from October 23–25 for a three-day broadcast that explores the participation of African American artists, activists, and intellectuals in FESTAC '77, the 2nd World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture held in January-February 1977 in Lagos Nigeria. On Friday, October 25, Chimurenga presents a rare performance of composer and trombonist Craig Harris' suite titled FESTAC '77 at The New School's Tishman Auditorium.

The Forum also includes Global Voices, conversations on art and politics with Jane Lombard Fellows hailing from four continents: Liz Johnson Artur, Tiffany Chung, Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art and Research, Naine Terena de Jesus, and Jasmeen Patheja on Saturday, October 26.

Youth Bold is used throughout the identity. In the program booklet, it’s paired with Neue Helvetica for text.

Poster for Global Voices: Conversations with the Jane Lombard Fellows, Oct 26, 2019

Program cover, edited by Carin Kuoni and Eriola Pira. The booklet is available in pdf format.

Stage graphic for Craig Harris’ performance of “FESTAC ’77”, Oct 25, 2019

Brand identity and web design for Brooklyn-based clothing designer Samantha Pleet, created by Other Means.

The primary typeface is a custom digitization of Baldur. The font as used on the website is simply named Samantha. Baldur was originally issued by the Julius Klinkhardt foundry in Leipzig, Germany in 1901. Its Art Nouveau curves are a good match for Pleet’s fantastical and feminine clothing. Generally available digitizations of Baldur include a freebie by Dieter Steffmann and Ralph Unger’s Reznicek.