Is Polish design polished—or is polish the design? PLOP #01—Polish Design Revue
explores the tension between Polish identity, global aesthetics, and the endless act of polishing. Through sharp questions and critical perspectives, this quarterly revue investigates what happens when Polish design becomes polished, overpolished, depolished—or something entirely new.

Published by Slanted Publishers in collaboration with Threedotstype and the Polish Graphic Design Foundation, PLOP invites readers to rethink authorship, style, quality, and cultural context in contemporary Polish graphic design. The first issue features works by Martyna Wędzicka, Kuki Iwański, and Paweł Mildner, an essay by Aleksandra Tulibacka, and edgy forms of the Radius typeface.

PLOP is a thought-provoking snapshot of current debates in Polish visual culture—questioning whether polish enhances identity or erases it.

The English-language magazine was edited by Rene Wawrzkiewicz together with Lars Harmsen and Marian Misiak who took care of the design. The saddle-stitched brochure was offset printed and has 24 pages measuring 21×29.7 cm. ISBN 978-3-69202–007-5

Building on the success of its acclaimed predecessor, Yearbook of Lettering #2 brings the global lettering scene to life like never before. From elegant calligraphy and expressive hand lettering to bold graffiti, street art, and dynamic 3D-lettering, this volume celebrates the creativity, diversity, and energy shaping contemporary lettering today.

The book is divided into Ambassadors with in-depth interviews from leading figures, Artists showcasing 90 creators from 31 countries, Findings featuring 216 standout Instagram works, and an Index with detailed artist information.

Yearbook of Lettering #2 is both an inspirational showcase and a practical guide for designers, agencies, and lettering enthusiasts worldwide. Explore the stories, techniques, and personalities that make contemporary lettering such a dynamic and ever-evolving field.

Published by Slanted Publishers, the book was managed by editor Linus Haug and designed by Lars Harmsen (Creative Director) and Linus Haug (Art Director), with Juliane Lipp and Samira Niedermayer. The cover artwork was created by “Xesta” Hugo Moura. Printed in full-color offset and bound as a stiff brochure with thread stitching, the book measures 16×24 cm and spanning 272 pages. It carries the ISBN 978-3-948440-92-3 and will be released in November 2025.

Slanted magazine #46, “Cairo”, is a visual journey into the vibrant heart of Egypt’s creative scene. The dynamic design culture of Cairo – and beyond – reveals just how diverse, innovative, and powerful creative voices in Egypt are today.

From graphic design, typography, and visual communication to architecture and product design, Slanted #46 showcases outstanding projects that are shaping the cultural present and future of the region. Whether through progressive branding concepts, experimental approaches, or striking visual storytelling, this issue reflects the powerful creative energy flowing through Egypt. Slanted gives space to designers, illustrators, and artists from Cairo, other Egyptian cities, and abroad—highlighting their work and personal statements. In-depth essays and articles on cultural, social, and creative topics related to Cairo and Egypt round out the issue.

Slanted #46 is a compelling portrait of a design scene in motion—bold, diverse, and brimming with fresh perspectives. On our trip to Cairo, we conducted numerous interviews with people from the creative industries, which have been edited into the short film Cairo Unscripted—Exploring Cairo’s Past, Present, and Creative Future by design studio Ntsal. It is available for free from slanted.de/cairo.

To mark the release of Slanted #46, Slanted is launching a special edition with five stunning photo prints by Markus Lange, as well as a striking hoodie collaboration with Reell and Negmedine Khaled.

The World’s Best Typography, Typography 46 brings together the work of the winners of the latest TDC competition for typographic excellence from around the globe in communication design, lettering, and typeface design. For the past seventy years, the Type Directors Club has encouraged the design community to achieve excellence in typography through annual competitions. This high-quality volume showcases the award-winning selection while redefining the boundaries of visual communication.

Curated by the Type Directors Club, this year’s selection features outstanding projects from 33 countries – including Germany, Japan, Georgia, Israel, New Zealand, Peru, Thailand, Ukraine, the United States, and many more. The result is a compelling display of creativity and global diversity in contemporary typography.

In the Judges’ Choices section, each juror highlights their favorite entry, accompanied by personal commentary and insightful statements from the designers – offering readers a deeper look into the passion and process behind the work.

The Young Ones TDC winners provide an exciting glimpse into the future of typography. With their bold ideas and fresh energy, they inspire and challenge the status quo.

A carefully compiled index of the main typefaces used, complete with the names of their designers—makes this book not only a visual delight but also a valuable reference tool.

The World’s Best Typography, Typography 46 is more than just a design annual. It’s a tribute to the power of type, the craft of design, and the global community that continues to shape and advance both.

The book is published by Slanted Publishers and edited by the Type Directors Club, with Griffin McCabe, Joe Newton, and Carol Wahler serving as editors. The design was developed by Slanted Publishers under the creative direction of Lars Harmsen, Pola Małaczewska, and Marian Misiak. Publishing direction was managed by Lars Harmsen and Julia Kahl, who also oversaw the final artwork. The book was released in October 2025, the book measures 21×28.5 cm, comprises 288 pages, and is published in English. It features a softcover with open thread-stitching and high-quality offset printing. Printing was carried out by NINO Druck in Germany, with bookbinding by Buchbinderei Spinner. The publication uses fine papers by Fedrigoni Paper and features the typefaces Heneczek, Radius, and Extract Semislab, all by Threedotstype. The ISBN is 978-3-948440-98-5, and the retail price in Germany is €69.

Imagine—Embracing Chaos and Possibility in a Planetary Emergency is not a non-fiction book or practical guide, but rather an interdisciplinary collection of conversations, reflections and contributions that explore life in times of global crisis—what some call a “planetary emergency.” The editors shed light on the ecological, social and cultural challenges of our time from various perspectives and aim to create up space for further reflection and solutions.

The book was edited by Laura François and Natalie Seisser. Viola Dessin provided the design, with art direction from Lars Harmsen. It was printed by Stober Medien and published in September 2025 by Slanted Publishers, with the kind support of Awe Exchange.

The hardcover publication has 160 pages and measures 12×19 cm. It comes with a headband, hot-foil embossing, thread-stitching, full color offset printing, changing papers.

ISBN: 978-3-948440-89-3

Book cover featuring Tor grotesk Bold and Tor grotesk Mix Max

Support Independent Type II is the follow-up book to the acclaimed 2020 edition, continuing to celebrate the bold, vibrant world of independent type specimens. Showcasing over 300 cutting-edge type foundries, the book highlights a wide range of fonts—from experimental to boundary-pushing designs—offering a compelling alternative to mainstream font distributors.

More than just a catalog, it’s both a manifesto and a visual art object, reflecting cultural shifts and typographic innovation through carefully curated specimens and design.

The book features Tor grotesk Mix, a custom remix of Tor Grotesk with reworked punctuation and diacriticals—designed for playful exploration between letterforms and geometric form. Created specifically for the book by us at Threedotstype, it’s joined by our Tor grotesk and Di grotesk type families.

Edited and designed by Lars Harmsen, Marian Misiak, and Pola Małaczewska.

Spread showing A2Z Foundry with A2Z Faucet

Support Independent Type is a book about the new culture of type specimens, their impact on design and typographic culture at large. It’s a manifesto for independent type foundries showcasing their work in an effort to promote freshly designed fonts, and why we should support them.

The authors believe that “independent type design reflects culture in its ambition to build an exciting alternative to the monolithic corporate font giants.

All editorial text from the cover design to captions is set in Di grotesk.

Spread showing Optimo with Theinhardt Extended and Gradient with PolySans.

Spread showing Fatype with Beausite and Baton Turbo.

Spread presenting OPS Facitype by OPS Type.

Alphabetical index of foundries.

Spread ft. Stellage by SM Foundry, FR Blokk and FR Kraken Slab by Frank Fonts, Rockbox by The Designers Foundry, and Coign by Colophon.

NN Colroy, Nouvelle Grotesk and Rekja (all by Nouvelle Noire) in use for the fifth issue of fortytwomagazine.

From Slanted:

The Interview Magazine for Those Who Wonder

Where does the universe begin, where does it end? Imagining these dimensions is no easy task. However, the fortytwomagazine #5 tries to figure that out, because the universe does not only offer place for speculations about extraterrestrial life or romantic dreams with the view into the starlit sky. Even if it feels far away, it has a direct influence on our lives. As in every issue, they also illuminate ten different disciplines and thus ten perspectives.

Among other things, the magazine deals with the problem of space debris, the role of government space agencies and the question of what it is like to live some 400 kilometers above the earth and to master everyday life in the International Space Station ISS in the most confined space. The works of the artist Protey Temen form an exciting interplay with the interesting interviews.

For this fifth issue, the fortytwo-team has not only ventured into space in terms of content, but has also broken new ground here on Earth: fortytwomagazine is now distributed by Slanted Publishers, an internationally oriented publishing house based in Germany, which is also responsible for the issue’s new design.

In Spring 2018 the Slanted editors took a close-up look at the contemporary design scene of Dubai. A city—when described by many people—that is all sickening shine and has no soul. But Dubai and the whole region, originally a piece of desert sparsely populated by bedouins, is now transforming itself rapidly into a center, if not the world’s greatest center, of trade, finance, and tourism—and moreover, something important happened in the last few years: Culture!

Damien Text is the primary typeface used for Yearbook of Type 3. This compilation published by Slanted “presents an independent selection of new typefaces created all over the world—from larger publishers to smaller, independent typographers and foundries.” The third edition (after 2013 and 2015) brings together recently released typefaces by no less than 91 foundries. The collection of typeface portraits is enriched by articles and essays by Boris Kochan, David Jonathan Ross, Ferdinand P. Ulrich, Laurence Penney, Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer, Stefan Hattenbach, and Viktor Nübel.

Damien is used for all text. Small caps from the bold weight were chosen for the rotated running heads. The contemporary serif typeface by the Revolver Type Foundry is paired with headings in Berlingske Sans Display. Damien adorns the book’s spine and back cover, too. The front cover shows a potpourri of other recent fonts, featuring the interlocking Gustan Display Forma, Fino Stencil (with OO ligature), Pilot, Italian Plate No2 Extra Condensed (on an escalating baseline), and Saol Display for the number. The publisher’s logo is in Suisse Int’l.

Creative Direction: Lars Harmsen
Art Direction: Julia Kahl
Graphic Design and Managing Editor: Clara Weinreich
Graphic Design Assistant: Nicole Lichtner
Volume: 440 pages
Format: 16,8×24 cm

See more images on Slanted.de.

Since 2014 Slanted magazine’s design team uses Suisse Int’l as part of their editorial identity (except n°23). Inside they also use other type families from the Suisse font collection, namely Suisse Works and Suisse Neue.