The Philadelphia Museum of Art, in collaboration with design studio Gretel, rebuilt its identity with the goal of putting the institution in direct conversation with the city that surrounds it. Typography is the primary device for achieving this. The type palette mainly works on two levels: outside-and-inside, or community-and-institution.

Inspired by Philadelphia’s rich visual texture of storefronts, street vendors, and murals, the vernacular type palette brings the voice of Philly into the museum and injects the identity system with contrast and spontaneity. The current library is curated (exemplified by the likes of Shatter, Cooper Black, and Balloon), but it is designed to continue growing over time. Each of these display typefaces can be used on various seasonal activations, or specifically assigned to exhibitions or departmental roles. ITC Pioneer was used for the recent exhibition The Time is Always Now, a survey of contemporary Black and African diasporic figurative art. Purple Haze is the designated typeface for PMA Members, and Megazoid is used for PMA Kids.

On the other hand, the institutional typographic voice serves an evergreen role: echoing the museum’s classical character while embodying Philadelphia’s industrial sensibility. The core typeface, Fairmount Serif—named for the Fairmount neighborhood—was custom-drawn by Ryan Bugden after a study of Philadelphia’s typographic history. Searching for a balance between the industrial structure of 1930s American sans-serifs and a classical features brought Hess Neobold forward as a key reference. Its designer Sol Hess attended PMSIA—the precursor to the museum—and later succeeded Frederic Goudy as Philadelphia-based Lanston Monotype’s type director. Fairmount Serif evolves the Hess Neobold model while incorporating more contemporaneous industrial cues. It remains relatively neutral alongside the museum’s broad palette of display faces while providing a distinct, authoritative voice of its own. Fairmount Serif was also used as a starting point in rendering the various institutional logos.

For the more workhorse level, Klarheit Grotesk serves as the museum’s body text typeface. It is set at small sizes across branding, materials, signage, and exhibition text.

See more images in Gretel’s case study.

Mockups of exhibition catalogs

Banners.

Seasonal program.

Typ Recruitment, stylized as {typ_, had the energy of a misfit collective, but the identity told a far safer story. Behind the company lived curiosity, experimentation, grit, and a very particular kind of humor. None of it reached the surface.

The new identity brings that internal culture forward. Built for people who explore before they read, the system filters through behavior rather than brand language.

At the center sits the {typ_ logo, a small manifesto reflecting the idea that identity is never finished, but always shaped by context and iteration.

Instead of a traditional corporate website, we designed a layered desktop-like environment with terminal interactions, overlapping windows, hidden details, and subtle narrative clues. The visual language draws from tech culture and open-source systems, modular, exploratory, and intentionally imperfect.

ALLSIDES is a cutting-edge A.I. technology company specialising in high-performance 3D scanning. The company hired CRU for their visual identity. The designers chose Vanity by Emily Klaebe as the brand typeface, and paired it with MSCHN by Milos Mitrovic. The monospaced typeface used for UI elements on the website is CoType’s Aeonik Mono.

This project involves a complete redesign of Gemeinschaft Immanuel e.V. – a Catholic community in Germany. The logo is based on the letters “iMM” and the idea that, if we focus on the things that unify rather than divide us, we move closer together. From this concept and the values of the community, the overall design language was developed.

Rather than relying solely on photography, typography plays a vital role in the design language. Aeonik is used as the default font, combined with the condensed and soft Instrument Serif. It is complemented by the monospaced JetBrains Mono on informational details, an intentional touch that simplifies the modification of dates and times.

The magazine was issued in five cover variants. Shown here is the one with art by Oklou.

From the magazine’s website:

Ic3y Mag: The Archive Issue (2025) is our debut in print, capturing a moment where music, design, and technology converge. Conceived as a 100-page testament to the notion of archives and how the creative past feeds into the present and future, this issue highlights a roster of artists, collectives, and institutions who are reshaping the cultural landscape.

Featuring: Oklou, Boy Harsher, William Arcand, Gus Dapperton, Tileyard London, Fvckrender, Honeydrip, Pretty Girl, Kučka, Mutek, Centre Phi and Valentin Hansen.

In this first print edition, conversations span continents and disciplines—touching on identity, emotional depth, innovation, and personal growth. With a blend of interviews, visual essays, and concert photography unearthed from our years online, The Archive Issue stands as both a reflection of Ic3y’s evolution and a blueprint for what’s next.

123 pages
6.5 × 9.25 inches

Our logo is printed with silver ink.

The 9th edition of Bolsa Pampulha was titled “Camará”. The name is an homage to a small flowering plant used by Burle Marx (Brazil’s most famous modernist landscape architect) on a lot of his works – including those of Lake Pampulha.

The plant was used as a starting point for the curators of the program to establish links with the art world and with the city of Belo Horizonte and its surroundings.

The design of the catalogue, designed by Andrea Gomes and Fernanda Monte-Mór, embraces the 9th edition visual identity – pairing CoType’s Aeonik and Mostardesign's Archeron – while still maintaining some of the program's traditions – such as the square format and the use of the custom MAP font.

One Morning is a modern mental health offering designed to support employees and reimagine what employee assistance programs can be. The identity strikes a balance between sophistication and approachability—built to resonate across generations.

Set in all lowercase, the logotype uses The Seasons, a refined serif with subtle humanist touches. Custom letterforms bring hidden meaning to life: a 1 is embedded in the stems of the n and m, while the g is simplified for a more grounded feel.

To complement the logo, the typographic system combines Items and Aeonik—each bringing distinct texture to the brand. Items, used for headlines, is a contemporary serif with crisp contrast and sharp detailing that brings an editorial edge and quiet confidence to the system. Aeonik, used for body copy and secondary headlines, is a geometric sans with just enough warmth in its curves to feel human without losing structure. Together, they create a dynamic and flexible system—balancing clarity with character, and structure with empathy.

Polish furniture producer Górna Półka asked us strategic questions about its verbal and visual identity. We embarked on this journey developing its brand-new narrative and essential content architecture that will unfold over time. On top of that, we created a complex brand identity system deriving from the modularity of the furniture on offer and the crucial notion of an “upper shelf.” The brand can flexibly apply its variety of elements, and we look forward to seeing how this system develops.

Best of the Bone makes bone broth. Not the miracle-elixir kind, or the drink-this-and-your-chakras-will-align kind, but the real-100%-organic-grass-fed-slow-simmered-and-genuinely-good-for-you kind. In evolving their brand, Universal Favourite took cues from the product itself: unfussy, honest, and quietly full of goodness. They reduced everything down to its bare bones, embracing the blunt, matter-of-fact nature of bone broth while finding playful ways to amplify what’s inside. It’s a brand that knows bone broth might seem simple, but when you boil it all down, it’s anything but boring.

The brand is built around its own custom typeface, Exposure Bone. Created in collaboration with 205TF, it’s a refined cut of Exposure, with a narrower width and a few subtle tweaks that nod to what’s inside the jar. A gentle bend here, a modified bar there. Just enough to feel considered, without veering into costume.

It’s a continuation of the brand’s bare bones philosophy; stripped back, purposeful, and quietly full of character. The result is a typeface with enough personality to carry the brand on its own, letting the voice do the talking without the need for extra layers.

On the website, the custom typeface is supported by Aeonik.

To design the visual identity of Arrecife Audiología, Pixelarte chose to move away from the traditional clinical codes of the sector. Instead of portraying hearing loss as a disability, the agency focused on the emotional benefits of sound: conversations, memories, music, and everyday moments. This warmer, more inclusive approach is grounded in a deep understanding of the target audience and the narratives they can relate to.

The central element of the graphic system is a series of abstract waves evoking sound visualizations. Deployed flexibly across all touchpoints – logo, website, stationery, signage – they bring movement and vitality to the identity. Paired with a natural color palette and a typographic duo combining precision with RM Neue by MashCreative and expressiveness with Inferi by Blaze Type, the brand finds a voice that is both technical and sensitive.

This strategically-led work allows Arrecife Audiología to stand out in a medical field often seen as cold or impersonal. With an art direction based on real-life scenes and strong messages such as “Your hearing, in harmony with your life,” the brand becomes a trusted everyday partner. An emblematic project showcasing Pixelarte’s ability to create visual experiences filled with meaning, connection, and trust.

Principes fondamentaux de l’histoire de l’art (“Fundamental principles of art history”) was written by Heinrich Wölfflin and first published in 1915 in German as Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe. This French edition was translated by Sacha Zilberfarb and published by l’écarquillé. Atelier Tout va bien provided the design.

The body text is typeset in Immortel Acedia by Clément Le Tulle-Neyret, distributed by 205TF, with secondary texts in Ambit by Mark Bloom, distributed by CoType.

Beyond the Brand’s Grave is an editorial project made for my thesis at Politecnico di Milano. It reimagines a digital afterlife for brands. In this speculative world, a brand’s legacy—its ethical choices and societal impact—defines its identity in a second, virtual life. The project combines visual storytelling and structured data-driven content, exploring themes of judgment, memory, and transformation.

The typographic system plays a crucial role in communicating these ideas. Romie asserts a bold, authoritative presence in the titles, embodying the weight of legacy and permanence. LD Mono brings a technical edge, reinforcing the speculative framework through a sense of structure and code-like precision. Aeonik, a contemporary sans-serif, balances these elements with clean, approachable body text, ensuring readability and grounding the design in modernity.

Together, these typefaces support a narrative of ethics, identity, and digital rebirth, blending conceptual depth with editorial clarity.

To design and create Kahaw Gelato’s identity, we brought flavors to life, imagining them as characters with distinct personalities. “Strawberry Fizz” is bright, “Tiramisu Magic” is alluring, “Dark Chocolate” is seductive – each flavor crafted to feel friendly and relatable, sparking connections and smiles.

The identity is built around a carefully curated typographic system that enhances this storytelling. Beatrice Display by Sharp Type, with its elegant contrast and refined details, evokes the richness and indulgence of Kahaw. Güggeli by Fabio Biesel introduces a playful contrast, adding character and charm, while Aeonik from CoType provides a neutral, structured balance, ensuring clarity and simplicity.

From naming the flavors to designing the packaging and establishing the overall art direction, Labaki Studio shaped every detail, crafting a cohesive and immersive brand experience for the tastiest gelato in Lebanon.

Between Too Late & Too Early is an exhibition catalogue for artist Andrea Chung’s acclaimed mid-career survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. Through her work, Andrea examines the legacies of slavery and colonialism in the Caribbean via explorations and reworking of archival material. Although the themes she deals with are difficult, her work is exceptionally beautiful, and I wanted typography of her catalogue to mimic this beauty.

Roslindale – “a balancing act of style, service, and sentiment” – was selected as the title and heading typeface because, in it, I found lovely alignment with Andrea’s work, given that its designer also reworked archival material (1890s De Vinne and its successors) to present something that addresses the past, while feeling very contemporary. The cutout image treatment of Roslindale on the cover of the book is also a nod to Andrea’s work with collages. While Roslindale was doing the most on essay openers, pull quotes, and such, balance was created through the clean functionality of Aeonik to help clearly convey the concepts in the essay texts, and for its readability at small sizes for the captions.

The logo for Love Cocoa’s packaging is set in Eros by VJ-Type. The accompanying sans is CoType’s Ambit. The brand describes its mission as follows:

Inspired by his great-great-great grandfather, James Cadbury founded Love Cocoa with the purpose of producing delicious, high-quality chocolate in an ethical and sustainable way. They are on a mission to drive positive change within the chocolate industry, creating chocolate that is loved by people and planet alike.

We designed a portfolio book, showcasing a curated selection of our UI/UX designs that have redefined user experiences across various industries. Each Brand Vision design is thoughtfully presented to highlight the creative process and its impact on enhancing digital interactions.

The book features the elegant Aeonik, adding a modern and cohesive touch to the visual narrative. The second font is Rounded Elegance, which was also used for our logo. This font combines modernity with sophistication. Its sleek and rounded forms make the designs not only visually appealing but also an embodiment of elegance, yielding a portfolio that both celebrates our designs and provides inspiration for future projects.

Dayside’s (4pm Collective) EP Vices was released by Velours Records, the music publishing branch of Montreal based creative studio Velours. Vices is a raw plunge into the chaos of addiction. This project isn’t just a set of tracks, it’s a journey meant to be experienced, looped, and lived. Fully immerse, fully indulge. All songs are written, produced, arranged and mixed by Dayside.

Off Stream is an inclusion-focused initiative that helps organizations make contemporary art and culture accessible to everyone. From October to December 2023, ten museums in four cities across Greece were transformed into meeting points for inclusion and co-creation as part of this project. This action brought together organizations, museums, and participants to emphasize that everyone deserves the opportunity to experience art, offering participating museums the chance to expand their collections’ accessibility.

These Meeting Points, the independent organizations, the 120+ participants of the experimental workshops at the ten museums, and the ten selected artworks are being interconnected on the poster utilizing the concept of an invisible map. The events are displayed in topological rather than chronological order. The background represents the reason for the meeting, the artwork, which is given a new dimension – inclusive and relevant to all – through the participatory process of creative audio description by both sighted and non-sighted individuals.

Initially presented as a solid, simple, two-dimensional entity, the artwork undergoes a metamorphosis during the meeting, evolving into a detailed image in the minds of attendees and those who will later explore it through hearing or reading. Each meeting is equally accessible to adult individuals with and without disabilities, with simultaneous interpretation in Greek sign language and tactile aids.

The visual communication of these projects must be describable to individuals with visual impairments. Therefore, the design incorporates simple forms and high-contrast color combinations.

Located in Beirut, Lebanon, Nation Station stands as a testament to resilience and unity. Originally an abandoned gas station, it was transformed after the tragic Beirut blast into a community kitchen that nourishes and supports residents in need. It invites everyone to participate, whether by volunteering in the kitchen or helping with meal preparation, fostering a welcoming environment for all community members.

The branding embodies these core values through thoughtful typographic choices that leverage local Arabic elements. The incorporation of the kashida—a typographic elongation of characters—alongside the Inline Arabic typeface by Arabic Typography, ensures a sense of unity and inclusiveness. These decisions not only enhance the visual identity but also reflect the collaborative spirit that defines Nation Station. In the logo, it is paired with Aeonik from CoType.

This is further maintained through the use of both Arabic and Latin scripts. Gawhar, designed by Heheh Type, was selected as the secondary Arabic typeface for its readability across various platforms and sizes. The pairing with the dashing and elongated Formula from Pangram Pangram introduces a dynamic interplay between x-heights. This contrast creates a visual balance and a sense of aliveness in the identity. Each language and script contributes uniquely to the branding, adding depth and character.

Bridging these distinct typefaces – differing in language, script, proportions, and style – symbolizes the cohesion and collaboration at Nation Station. This typographic strategy, complemented by the use of contrasting colors, underscores the message of unity in diversity.

The okaydev.co homepage with interactive logo.

Okay Dev is a creative development community with branding designed by Geist. The interactive logo uses Megazoid by David Jonathan Ross with body copy set in Aeonik and Aeonik Mono by CoType.