The publication New Contemporaries 2026 was conceived as a continuation of the eponymous exhibition at South London Gallery rather than a record of it. Structured as an A–Z, it brings together 26 entries, one from each artist, forming a shared vocabulary of ideas, concerns, and positions emerging from this generation. Part reference book, part collective artwork.

The design follows this A–Z logic throughout. Two typefaces, Artistik and Zénith, were chosen to embody the span typographically: one expressive and unfamiliar, the other stable and readable. The idea of A–Z is also resolved through colour. The book is printed in registration black, using 100% of each C, M, Y and K plate. For New Contemporaries, where colour is usually prominent, this produces a deliberate shift: all colours present, but resolved into black.

The format sits between A5 and A4, giving the publication a familiar scale while allowing it to feel more substantial than a typical zine. Letters replace page numbers, the contents move onto the cover, and the typography carries the structure across the book.

The result is a publication that functions as index, object, and artwork at once, extending the exhibition while standing on its own.

This Christmas compilation featuring ten songs by five of their artists was released by budget label Holiday Records in 1981. With the exception of Eckmann, all display typefaces (printed in red) were available from Letraset, with several of them being originals by the British dry transfer pioneer. Annlie (1966), here used in italic with the alternate swash cap, was conceived by Fred Lambert. Revue (1968) and Octopuss (1970) are both designs by Colin Brignall. University Roman by Mike Daines was added in 1972, and Maurice Schlesinger’s Cut-In Bold by 1973.

The secret star of this album cover is Crafton Gothic, though: the narrow sans used for the titles in green was shown by Photo-Lettering already in 1960, in four weights, without designer credits. The label in their 1971 catalog indicates that Crafton Gothic originated elsewhere, but it doesn’t say where.

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Vinyl version, front cover

In July 2016, Australian electronic group the Avalanches released their second album, Wildflower.

While the front cover has no type at all, except for a sticker with Jersey M54 for the band name, all-caps Arnold Böcklin for the album title, and ITC Franklin Gothic for additional text, the typographic party takes place on the back: it features a different style for each track on the album, with embroidered letterforms. Most of the song names are based on fonts, with or without modifications.

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Vinyl version, back cover

The Leaves Were Falling: Brush Script
Because I’m Me: handwriting?
Frankie Sinatra: Benguiat Caslon (or a digital version thereof, like Emfatick NF)
Subways: Arial Bold
Going Home: Gillies Gothic
If I Was A Folkstar: West Barnum
Colours: Electric Circus
Zap!: (similar to) Strand Midnite
The Noisy Eater: Baby Teeth
Wildflower: Arnold Böcklin
Harmony: Tango
Live A Lifetime Love: Allura
Park Music: ITC Avant Garde Gothic (?)
Livin’ Underwater (Is Somethin’ Wild): loosely based on Williamson Skidoo (?) and an unidentified script
The Wozard of Iz: Pretorian and Futura
Over the Turnstiles: Motter Femina and Turnpike or similar
Sunshine: Broadway
Light Up: lettering?
Kaleidoscopic Lovers: Commercial Script
Stepkids: Kabel Black
Saturday Night Inside Out: Druk Condensed or similar?

The headings for the sides of the vinyl version are in Windsor Extra Bold Condensed.

The art direction is credited to Chris Hopkins at Lost Art and band member Robbie Chater. Hopkins also provided design and illustration, the latter together with Emi Ueoka. Fergadelic (Fergus Purcell) did the butterfly logo. Kris Vierra took care of quilting and textiles.

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CD version, front cover

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CD version, back cover

Source: www.discogs.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Inner sleeve with more octagonal caps

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Inner sleeve ft. a naïve sans and script lettering based on Kalligraphia

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Inner sleeve with more Baby Teeth and lettering similar to Williamson Skidoo. The Biz Markie photo is by David Corio.

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Sheet with five promo stickers

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Vinyl record label

All-caps Flash for the poster signed by D. Wust-Calame, printing: Imprimerie du «Journal de Genève»

Drawing is a common practice in the field of botany to visually describe a plant. Allowing interpretation, even cheating, a drawer dare said, scientific illustration has didactical advantages over photography. From 1960, when Charles Baehni was director of the institution, and during more than 30 years, the Botanical Garden of Geneva in Switzerland employed a dedicated team of women for the task. Their names appear vertically, often along the stem of each illustrated plant: Line Guibentif, Saskia Pernin-Wikström, Suzanne Van Hove, Danielle Wüst-Calame.

Housed by the lake, on the first floor of the historical building called La Console, the “atelier de dessin et décoration” comprised a complementary team dedicated to decoration (advertising or graphic design nowadays).

The series of posters entitled “Tulipes” announces most likely outdoor “exhibitions” of the tulip flower in bold colours with various typefaces leading to a striking effect. Showcased below, these posters symbolise the porosity of practices, the warmth as well as importance of drawing by hand, from that era.

To conclude, when I was conducting my research for proper dates and names, working in this very institution as an in-house typographer, I spotted this remark in one article by Line Guibentif from 1984: “Made with simplicity and economy of means botanical illustration should be as easy to read as clearly typeset text.” (translated from French by the author).

Acknowledgments: Samuel Anderegg, Pierre Boillat, Patrick Bungener, Martin Callmander, Sylvie Dunant, Mona Mahmoudian, Raoul Palese, Nathalie Rasolofo, Rodolphe Spichiger, Gisèle Visinand

Letraset’s Desdemona for a poster signed “SaskiaW”. Note that the 9 is an upside-down 6.

All-lowercase Baskerville Old Face

All-lowercase Monotype Grotesque and Helvetica for a poster signed “Line G.”, printing: Imprimerie du Journal de Genève

Hand-rendered (?) Cooper Black with non-standard forms for U (inspired by ITC Souvenir?) and P. “Rocailles” is shown in an unidentified wide slab serif. Volta fett with a trimmed R leg and unbracketed serifs would come close [see also the comments]. This poster is signed “SaskiaW” and was printed by imprimeries populaires. Smaller text is in Helvetica.

Zipper and Helvetica for a poster signed “SaskiaW”, printing: Imprimerie du «Journal de Genève»

Artistik for a poster signed “D. Wust-Calame”, printing: Imprimerie du Journal de Genève

More Helvetica, including stacked glyphs for the months for a poster signed “D. Calame”, printing: Blanc-Wittwer SA (not part of the Tulipes series, provided here as a bonus for the eyes)

In the 1988 film Big, thirteen-year-old Josh Baskin, played by Tom Hanks, makes a wish in front of a fortune teller machine called Zoltar. Frustrated at his age, he wishes to be “big”. The card dispensed by the machine had a front side with an illustration and hand lettering spelling, “Zoltar Speaks”. On the reverse side is “Your Wish is Granted” in an art-nouveau style. The typeface is Artistik, a late-19th-century design that was revived in the 1970s by Letraset, which is likely how the type was applied for this prop.

Production Designer: Santo Loquasto
Art Directors: Speed Hopkins, Tom Warren

Every year the music blog New Commute asks graphic designers from all over the world to make some artwork depicting their top five albums released in the passing year. For this project, I scanned in some of my personal matchbook collection to rework my favorite albums into fake, long forgotten matchbooks. Using a wide array of my personal favorite typefaces from across eras I was able to put together this depiction of my favorite albums.

In 1931, Les Editions Guérinet in Paris brought out a book titled Publicité Vignettes Lettres Chiffres Monogrammes (“Advertising, Vignettes, Letters, Numerals, Monograms”). One of the alphabets reproduced in it is titled “variante de la ‘Boule’ en moderne” and credited to lettering artist A. Bardi. Sometime between 1950 and 1960, Photo-Lettering in New York turned it into a typeface named Halloween (shout-out to Jay Mellor for finding the source).

In 1967, the Halloween typeface was used for Houdini’s Magic Kit. This beautifully designed paper assembly kit was issued by Platt & Munk, a publisher of children’s books, jigsaw puzzles and educational materials, probably best known for The Little Engine That Could. The box set includes a magician’s wand and a forty-eight page instruction book and allows for 75 different magic tricks.

The other typefaces on the box lid are from Photo-Lettering’s library, too: the sans-serif caps used for the words “Amazing” and “Delightful” in the ribbons are from Ventura. The numerals for “75” belong to Xenotype 3471, PLINC’s adaptation of Neptun. Last but not least, the rounded sans is the Shaded A style of Republic, a family that appeared already in PLINC’s 979 Basic Alphabets catalog from 1946.

See the Peculiar Manicule for more images of the kit.

A. Bardi’s “variante de la ‘Boule’ en moderne” as shown in Publicité Vignettes Lettres Chiffres Monogrammes

The contents of the kit

The cover of the instruction booklet pairs Halloween with a hand-drawn bottom-heavy serif of condensed proportions.

The titles on the sheet are in bichromatic Graphique, with instructions set in News Gothic.

“Magic Mask” is free-form lettering, patterned after Kalligraphia.

The cover features Romanisch (two weights) and Eckmann. The latter is used with the long s (ſ in “Nebst”), the former isn’t (in “seine”).

This guide to Trier and the surrounding area was issued in 1905 by Heinrich Stephanus. The local publisher and book seller was established in 1878 and still is in business today. The cover and the title page bring together a number of typefaces that were typical for the place and time. The building shown at the top right is the Porta Nigra, a city gate from Roman times.

Detail: “Healthy children has every mother who uses Alippi’s Hygienic Milk Bottle and Rubber Cup Dripper.”

Eckmann-Schrift was first cast in 1900 by the Rudhard’sche Gießerei in Offenbach, which from 1906 on was known as Gebr. Klingspor. In 1902, a bolder weight was added. This ad uses the original style, with its double hyphen, long s (ſ), and ligatures for ch, ck and tz (in “Chemnitz”, but not in “benutzt”). The ornaments are part of the typeface, too, while the manicule was not. “Triumph-Nasenbecher” is set in Carola-Grotesk (Berthold, 1896).

The Alippi company was established in 1877 as a specialist store for rubber goods and bandages. While founder Oskar Felix Alippi dedicated himself to the development of a seamless rubber hose, his wife Agnes Elisabeth took over the business side of things. In 1908, around the time this ad was issued, she ran the store on Innere Plauensche Straße in Zwickau, Saxony, named “A.E. Alippi”. Hermann Friedrich Alippi (their son?) was in charge of the manufacturing business in nearby Chemnitz.

Detail: “Bathe the nose with the Triumph nose cup. Best remedy for colds and nasal catarrh, suitable for steam bath.”

From Wikipedia:

The Supremes is a 2000 box set compilation of the material by Motown’s most popular act of the 1960s, The Supremes. The set covers The Supremes’ entire recording history, from its first recordings as The Primettes in 1960 to its final recordings in 1976.

[More info on Discogs]

Kalligraphia was also used for a promo CD with eight tracks, here together with Trajan.

Frères comme ça was designed by Annegret Beier while at Lubalin, Smith, Carnase Inc. This book is subtitled “36 photographies de Marcel Imsand, 10 histoires d’Emile Gardaz.” It is CRV no. 75 (Cahiers de la Renaissance Vaudoise), printed in Lausanne, Switzerland. Beier used Eckmann for the book cover and chapter heads.

Louis Miethe was a plumber in Leipzig, Germany, and purveyor to the Saxon court. The business is long gone, and the building at Arthur-Hoffmann-Straße 28 (in 1900: Äußere Bairische Straße) now houses a wool and yarn shop. The mounted letters on the shopfront have been preserved, though. They bear witness to the fact that in early 20th century Germany, Eckmann (1900) was ubiquitous – not only in printed matter, but also in the streets.

For 25 years, the neighboring house at number 30 was home to Louis Miethe Buchhandlung, a bookstore run by Andreas Bode. The great-great-grandson of Louis had to close shop earlier this year.

The pictures were captured by Google Street View in August 2022.

Detail: the first A was mounted the wrong way – a slip that went unfixed for more than 100 years.

Das Buch für Alle (“The book for all”) was a German family magazine started by Hermann Schönlein in 1866. It was aimed at a lower middle-class audience and the growing middle class. From 1890, the periodical was published by Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft in Stuttgart.

Shown here is the cover page of volume 44, issue 1, from 1909. The magazine’s title is drawn by hand, but closely patterned after Eckmann, in outline, and featuring the ch ligature. “Illustrierte Familien-Zeitung / Chronik der Gegenwart” is lettering based on Eckmann, too. So is the publisher’s credit, here with wider letterforms. The small lines at the very top and bottom are typeset in Eckmann directly.

The art is signed by “Dreher K.A.” There’s also a second signature (?) that reads “ſurvel” or similar.

First cast in 1900, Eckmann appeared in Das Buch für Alle at least since 1902, and served as the main titling typeface for several years. By 1907, it had been replaced in this role by Behrens-Schrift. In this regard, the shown cover page represents a return of Otto Eckmann’s typeface.

Since 2018, the majority of volumes of this magazine has been digitized, see the index on Wikisource.

Regular readers of Fonts In Use might have encountered the name Jerry Matejka as the designer of Soul, a geometric sans he published with VGC in 1972. Around the same time, Matejka also worked as illustrator. Here’s an example for this aspect of his work: the cover of the Cue magazine issue from July 15, 1972. The credit inside the magazine reads:

Jerry Matejka depicts the calm, bucolic joys of outdoor dining

The title “Outdoor Dining” is shown in tightly spaced caps of Eckmann, a German typeface first issued at the turn of the century which saw a new lease of life from around the late 1960s.

Diego Ballester is an Argentine designer specialized on wine labels. When vintner Eduardo Soler and friends launched a new series of wines made from Mediterranean grape varieties, he let the name determine the design direction. Ver Sacrum is Latin for “sacred spring”, but better known as the title of the magazine published by the Vienna Secession. The three typefaces Ballester selected were all popular in the Art Nouveau era: Desdemona is a version of Quaint Roman from 1886, Eccentric was first cast in 1881, and Eckmann is the quintessential German Jugendstil typeface, issued in 1900.

Drei Rosen was a Konsumgaststätte in Rötha, Saxony, just south of Leipzig. Located at the town square, the inn went under this floral name already in 1908, albeit with a different sign. The building goes back all the way to around 1410. According to Schwarze Lichter der Stadt, the once popular restaurant has been disused since 1995. The adjacent Theater der Drei Rosen offered film screenings from 1924 until 1991, and was demolished in 2015.

The sign with letters patterned after Eckmann was installed during GDR times. It’s framed by the Konsum logo (designed in 1959 by Karl Thewalt) with a sublogo for the state-controlled restaurants on the left and the titular three roses on the right.

Documented by Monsier Adrien in March 2024.

Ana Frango Elétrico is the most effervescent and innovative voice to surge up from Brazil’s new wave. Already with two critically acclaimed albums and a swathe of award-winning production turns under their belt, Frango Elétrico’s third album presents their most confident and accomplished work to date. Gesturing to a tradition of Brazilian boogie music, but bouncing with modern pop ebullience, the album sees the Rio artist evolve from a captivating upstart into a surefooted scene leader in full stride.

Maria Cau Levy’s design for the graphic identity and packaging for the album Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua / Call Me They That I’m Yours aims to translate the musician Ana Frango Elétrico's experimentations on sound understandings and feelings about queer love. The visual choices for typography, photographs, and illustrations dialogues with the album’s diverse range of references from the 70s and 80s with a contemporary take, resulting in a vibrant and timeless feel.

Graphic design by Maria Cau Levy with photography by Hick Duarte and a cover illustration by Fernanda Masotti. The linework illustrations are by Ana Frango Elétrico, the image processing by Marcelo Guarnieri. See more images on m-cau.com.

[More info on Discogs]

A selection of pages from the A4 handouts printed for each exhibition

ISSUES is a contemporary art gallery in central Stockholm, initially set up as an ambulancing space in 2014 by Oscar Carlson, Johan af Geijerstam, Julia Eriksson and Peter Ström.

Between 2014 and 2021 the gallery produced thirteen shows around Stockholm, where the geographical location was of equal importance as the artist. For Issues #3 in 2015, Ryan Trecartin’s work CENTER JENNY was shown in the local Mediamarkt store on all 196 TV screens simultaneously. For Issues #4 in 2017, a group exhibition took place in an (at the time) empty space on Södermalm shaped like a display window, where the artworks were rotated every fifteen minutes in order to let that specific space come to its fullest.

Because of these new physical and geographical locations, the visual identity for the gallery was changed each time, adopting different typographic references to the current space.

In 2021 a more permanent space on Vattugatan 13 was found, turning the gallery into a commercial one in a fixed location – at least for the time being.

A permanent design system was introduced with the new space, where the location was less important – almost the opposite, as the new space was in a location almost unheard of even for the most hardcore Stockholmer, in an area filled with governmental buildings.

The design system takes its starting points in concrete poetry and early computer art (mainly ASCII) using Vincent Chan’s Quadrant Text Mono, complemented with the addition of a typeface and treatment picked for every artist – giving each artist their own visual identity connected to the space. Each typeface and treatment picked either refers to the artist’s practice or is connected to the idea of a place in downtown Stockholm – or in some cases, both.

The grid is based the word “ISSUES” written 16 by 10.5 times on an A4 sheet — because, you know, too many ISSUES…

The visual identity for ISSUES 4 took its typographic starting points in the typeface Eurostile found at the logo of a left over vacuum cleaner in the space.

The new space at Vattugatan 13 uses Quadrant Text Mono on all its signage and printed matter, as well as on the website and social media.

Insta stories using frame-by-frame tap animations, mixing ASCII and logo typography in ABC Honeymoon

Selected front and back covers from the A4-sized catalogue that comes with each exhibition.

Covers featuring Brush Script, Crowbar, Horizontal, and Jannon

Insta stories featuring P22 Arts and Crafts, Antique Olive Nord, Purple Haze, and PC Myungjo

For most of the shows, merchendise has been made in order to promote the shows with and to the local community and scene that ISSUES is part of. Reflective wests for Henning Hamilton using ABC Maxi Round, gym bottles for Hampus Wernemyr in Jannon, hats for Zoe Barca in Monaako, and candy, T-shirts and mugs in Quadrant Text Mono.

For DOWNTOWN ISSUES 2 in September 2023, one T-shirt with a typographic identity was designed for each participating artist printed in a single copy only. Seen here is a selection of the almost 70 T-shirts in total.

A few examples: The typography for Elis Monteverde Burrau with Tesla references the big amount of Teslas in the neighbourhood (and indicates where this Swedish poet might be heading in the future?). The typography for Georg Nordmark in Amsi references local pet food chain Arket Zoo because of Georg’s interest in animals in his art. The typography for Militza Monteverde Burrau uses Dinamo’s ABC Honeymoon and connects to her organic sculptures in glass. The typography for Ilja Karilampi links to his meme lord status via its use of Impact. Siri Carlén was treated with the never-to-be-released Småländsk Antikva by Konst & Teknik – which started around the same time Siri was a student of Konst & Teknik at Konstfack. Viktor Fordell got a Ford logo knockoff typeface because of... you know... Ford.

The non-personal T-shirts come with one front cover and three different back versions: The big 2 is based on the most downtown building Stockholm offers, parking house Parkaden and its beautiful brutalist numbering system and fascade. “DOWN TOWN” refers to local clothing brand Our Legacy WORK SHOP that is often seen on T-shirts around town. A version of the T-shirt with all the artist names overprinted was made in an extra limited edition of only five copies. All T-shirts printed in white ink on black fabric by Everynight Studios.

Fonts in USE!

A psychedelic poster/calendar for the year 1969, published by the underground counter-culture publication International Times with their edition for December 13–31, 1968.

The circular sun-inspired design – printed in three slightly misaligned, overprinted spot colors of pink, green, and black – features a lumpy (possibly hand-lettered?) rendition of Eckmann for the names of each month along with other handmade lettering and numbers for the weekdays and date numbering.

The credits for the issue attribute “images/layout” to Graham Keen (a notable photographer of the era as well as the art editor and director at the publication) and another person referred to simply as “Reg”. Presumably one or both of them worked on the calendar design.

Fonts from the Flea Market #1338

Boutique in use on the sleeve of the only release credited to Harmonic Dominos, issued in 1974 on the French Evasion Disques label.

The bold advertising face with the bone-like stems originated in Germany in 1900. It initially went under the name Moderne Reklame and subsequently acquired many different names, by various foundries. It was probably the Swiss Haas foundry that introduced the name Boutique. The version used here almost certainly is the adaptation shown by French phototype provider Hollenstein in their 1974 catalog.

[More info on Discogs]