Michael van Praag, former chairman of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) and the football club AFC Ajax, has written his memoirs, together with Willem Visser. “Behind the scenes of football” was published by Inside. The cover design by Studio Wesseling brings together two typefaces available from Retype Foundry’s Brutal Types: Brinkhuis and Kurversbrug.

Llibre Verd València is the commemorative publication of Valencia European Green Capital 2024, a reference for citizens, professionals, and public authorities that sets out the city’s urban strategy for the coming decades in terms of sustainability and climate action.

This book needed to be functional and embody sustainability, while also serving as a limited-edition gift. The aim was to create a singular object that connects with both the theme and the territory through an organic material made from orange peels that embraces the publication. A unique material that reflects the creative potential of biomaterials and the transformation of waste. Resource efficiency defines the design of the content as well as the choice of format, paper, and inks.

Typography is one of the defining elements of the publication. Since this is a trilingual book and the goal was to minimize the total number of pages, a different typeface was chosen for each language: Guyot (serif) for Catalan/Valencian; Acumin (sans) for Spanish; and Ionic Modern (which, although not strictly a slab serif, is close enough) for English. In addition to providing the necessary differentiation without having to specify the language of each text, this approach also helped balance the overall text lengths. To complete this typographic set, Forma DJR Mono (monospaced) was selected for navigation and other common elements.

You Can’t Make This Up was an exhibition by and about the work of Silke Schönfeld held at Hartware Medien Kunstverein (HMKV) in Dortmund:

You Can’t Make This Up is a fitting title for Silke Schönfeld’s solo exhibition at HMKV. Her films are political reflections that often take place in unexpected spatial and temporal contexts, seamlessly moving between documentary and fiction.

Ten Ten developed the appearance of the exhibition, consisting of high-contrast typography combined with stills from Silke Schönfeld’s films. Various media such as exhibition signs, catalog, posters and digital campaign motifs were created for this visual identity.

Exhibition view and signage

About Baret Scholars, via ICGS:

Named after Jeanne Baret, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe, Baret Scholars is a global gap year program that brings together a cohort of 180 just-graduated high school students from around the world to journey across seven regions (North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, India/Southeast Asia, and China/East Asia), over 200 days, in a semi-structured and self-guided gap year experience. These scholars will explore their personal interests in different regions via prominent local speakers, curated traveling Fellowships, and optional volunteer opportunities.

Baret Scholars’ mission is to provide students with a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the world, paving the way for years of fulfillment and achievement. The program serves as a foundation for the scholars’ future, fostering cultural literacy, a global perspective, and a desire to create a better world.

Luke Hayman and his team at Pentagram were commissioned to design a book about scholarships, gap years, and studying abroad. The typography combines Guyot (in Text and Headline sizes) with Founders Grotesk (in regular-wide and Condensed widths). The illustrations are by Adam Simpson (London).

From Schilt Publishing:

Produced in conjunction with the FotoFest Biennial 2020 exhibition, African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other brings together 33 artists of African origins from around the globe whose works challenge traditional notions of Blackness and transnational histories in relation to concepts of liberty, rights, and representation.

In their unique practices, the featured artists turn an eye to social, cultural, and political conditions that inform and influence concepts of representation as they pertain to image production and circulation in Africa and beyond. These artists question the ways in which subjectivity is constructed and deconstructed by the camera, and in the process, reveal legacies of resistance by those who defy traditional ideas of sexual, racial, gender-based, and other marginalized identities.

Kade by David Quay is used throughout in two weights. The typeface used for body text is Wei Huang’s Work Sans.

The cover image is by Rotimi Fani-Kayode.

Kurversbrug from Retype Foundry and Tobias Frere-Jones’s Nobel (Frere-Jones) (a revival of Nobel, released in 1929 by Typefoundry Amsterdam) are the brand typefaces of Wellfound Foods. From design studio Polygraph:

After studying in Amsterdam, Wellfound founder Sarah “Frim” Frimpong decided to bring the culture of fresh on-the-go sandwiches back to her home in the States. Frim wanted the Wellfound fare to stand out in cafe food cases and clearly show their high-quality ingredients. We designed a bold, colorful brand and system of labels for Wellfound’s varied containers and food styles, featuring a block map of Amsterdam’s iconic Oude Centrum. The core element of the new brand is the beautiful display type Kurversbrug, designed by Ramiro Espinoza. The bold, modern sans is a revival of the letters that appear on the historic bridges of Amsterdam.

Poster produced for the occasion of the Dave Matthews Band’s concert in the city of Amsterdam on April 2, 2024.

The book Van Spanga tot Moddergat writes about 22 Frisian village cafes. Written by Wio Joustra with photography by Anna Huizinga, it was designed by Foeke Vos and published by Wijdemeer Louw Dijkstra (ISBN 9789492052711).

Perhaps curiously, it uses a typeface associated with the Amsterdam School.

Jacket design for a book written by Femke van der Laan about her relationship with Eberhard van der Laan, former major of Amsterdam. Design by Moker Ontwerp, using Dejanire Headline by ReType Foundry. The book was published by Uitgeverij Nieuw Amsterdam.

Tiago Baptista is a Portuguese artist currently based in Lisbon. Throughout mostly painting and drawing, his work frequently expands into comics, installation and artists publications.

His portfolio website uses Roc Grotesk for all text except the artist’s name, which is set in Lavigne.

From the University of Texas Press:

Gone With The Wind is one of the most popular movies of all time. To commemorate its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2014, The Making of Gone With The Wind presents more than 600 items from the archives of David O. Selznick, the film’s producer, and his business partner John Hay “Jock” Whitney, which are housed at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. These rarely seen materials, which are also being featured in a major 2014 exhibition at the Ransom Center, offer fans and film historians alike a must-have behind-the-camera view of the production of this classic.

On the half-title and title pages, Medusa is used with swash initials and terminal forms, as well as flourishes from its Ornaments style. The italic caps are likewise from Medusa – these are provided as small caps. The author names use Ashbury in italic (Steve Wilson) and roman caps (Robert Osborne). The dust jacket features Finura, with Transat used for “Harry Ransom Center”.

Photos: Turner Classic Movies. See more images on Derek George’s portfolio website.

Barbieri is used for the posters to Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness. From Wikipedia:

Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness is a 2022 computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by nWave Pictures and directed by Ben Stassen and Benjamin Mousquet, based on the graphic novel Chickenhare by Chris Grine. The film follows the adventures and coming-of-age journey of Chickenhare, a one-of-a-kind hero born half chicken and half hare, who is eager to fit in and to become an adventurer in spite of his differences.

French-language version

Any Human Heart. The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart by William Boyd was first published in 2002 and nominated for the Booker Prize. Shown here is the TOC edition from 2022. It was printed in dark blue with a matching dark blue sewn binding. The letterpress printing was done by Die Lettertypen on an original 1954 Heidelberg cylinder. Set in Guyot by Ramiro Espinoza, plus FF Real and Haus Stencil by Erik Spiekermann. TOC comments on the typography:

Ramiro Espinoza studied type-design in The Hague and in Antwerp. There he came across the work of a lesser-known French punchcutter, François Guyot, who worked in Antwerp during the sixteenth century. Espinoza’s design combines the elegance of the historic model with contemporary efficiency. A good Italic was needed to distinguish the comments between the sections of the story. We also used swashes and embellishments, which suit the wide range of Boyd/Mountstuart’s imagination. Any Human Heart is written as a diary, conjuring the image of a printed calendar where you tear off a little note every new day. The aptly named Haus Stencil (initially designed for door numbers) gave us this look and provided a spot of color on the page.

Brami – named “the Italian verb Bramare, which means ‘to passionately desire’” is a brand of snack food made with lupini beans. Their packaging was recently redesigned by Joshua Kaplan. The logo is based on Kurversbrug, and Futura is used for all information.

Amsterdam, the city full of infinite stories, is colorful, green, surprising and cheerful. Walk along and discover the city again. Nine walks, kriskras through the city, starting point always from the dam. North, east, south, west, two routes through the harbor, one about the Herengracht, a walk for May 4 and one for the dark Decembers. The book also takes you to the most beautiful parks and cemeteries, along special architecture, artworks and craftsmen and much more. Floor van Spaendonck and Gijs Stork started during the first lockdown of 2020 with their walks in the city where they live, work and party. The city, quieter than ever, turned out to be more beautiful and more interesting than ever before. Jan Rothuizen made the drawings with their stories.

More information (in Dutch) on the pages of Gijs & Floor and the publisher, Uitgeverij Fjord.

Kade is used for Zöld Kilincs kávézó (“Café Green Handle”) at MODEM Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, Debrecen, Hungary. From the website of designer Tímea Andorka:

MODEM’s art café opened its doors again with a redesigned, green look in 2017. The main purpose of the renovation was to make Zöld kilincs a popular art scene in Debrecen city centre. The café offers a wide rage of programs, a possibility to scroll through art magazines from the shelves or to buy exhibition catalogues; concerts, literary events, museum education sessions and arts and crafts programs are organized to all visitors, regardless of age.

The cosiness and clarity of the space is based on an installative wall label made of Icelandic lichen of which one can catch sight far from outside the building through the huge windows. The wall label is complemented by the grass tables and cell-like lamps, the price-list which is a puzzle built from letters and the drink menus which hang on handles from the wall.

Concept: Zoltán Petromán
Art direction & graphic design: Tímea Andorka
Iceland moss decoration: Wallgo Design Studio
Cell-like lamps & grass clock: Zoltán Petromán
Installation: Norbert Rull, Plot GL Kft.
Photos: Zsolt Czeglédi, Tímea Andorka​

Poster for the Dutch film short Smartlap (a “tearjerker song”) about a bar owner who can no longer keep up with the changing world, starring Chris Peters and Jack Wouterse.

“When a father and a son make a film together, it must be about … Right, the bond between father and son. The television movie Smartlap was directed by David Eilander (1993), he wrote the screenplay together with his father Jan (1959).” — VPRO Gids

With rhetorical violence, the Italian Futurists proclaimed their radical break with the past.

They no longer had an eye for the beautiful works of art and monuments of Europe's glorious past. What they admired were racing cars, athletes, train stations, rebellious crowds and ornate factory chimneys. They sang about the nocturnal vibrating glow of armories and workshops. They glorified war.

Futuristische Manifesten (futurist manifestos), published by Flemish publisher Letterwerk, contains the most important manifestos by Italian author, journalist and futurist champion Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The book presents the verbal power of Europe's most striking avant-garde in a new Dutch translation by Thomas Crombez.

The cover was designed by Dominique Barberis (EHB Ontwerp), using Noyh (Typesketchbook). The interior, designed by Kurt Cornelis, is set in Retype Foundry’s Guyot.

Promotional poster for Roughmen, a creative talent agency in Amsterdam. The illustrations are by local artist Emanuel Wiemans, depicting a range of professionals from the field of graphic arts in (inter)action.

The names of the various roles are shown as boxed labels below the images. They are set in Ed Roman, with the words broken up into syllables. This look – a combination of irregular, didactic spacing and red seriffed letters – is probably a reference to the leesplankje van Hoogeveen. Introduced in 1896, this board with images and corresponding words was used over several decades for teaching Dutch children how to read. Ed Roman was designed by Ken Barber together with Ed Benguiat. House Industries issued the animated roman in 2004 as part of the Ed Benguiat Font Collection.

The slogan “Professionals van nu met het vakmanschap van toen” (“Professionals from today with the craftsmanship of the past”) uses Krul. This script typeface by Ramiro Espinoza is based on the iconic curly lettering found on the windows of many of Amsterdam’s traditional brown bars. Krul was released by ReType in 2012.

The poster was printed in a limited edition of 400 pieces.

On Monday, July 6, the leading financial daily Handelsblatt premiered a design that better accommodates its content while embracing its digital offerings.

The new redesign is the fourth García has been involved in for Handelsblatt. On his comprehensive blog, the designer explains the need to create a smoother design for a paper edition—more compatible with the shift toward online reading habits, “while embracing its digital offerings.” What has remained, García specifies, is the familiar logo and standard colour: orange. “However, almost everything else changed.” As for the editorial motives, the blog post quotes the paper’s editor in chief, Sven Afhüppe: “The optics help the readers identify sections better and to get through the newspaper faster.”

As García wrote in early June, Handelsblatt’s major transformation “includes the rethinking of the print design which launched today, as well as the upcoming projects for digital and mobile.” For months, Garcia set up an intensive long-distance collaboration with two designers in Düsseldorf, the newspaper’s hometown—design director Michel Becker and digital designer Henrik Balzer—and a team from Zurich agency Bodara, led by Tobias Peier.

Referring to the strategies developed for digital media, the new design focuses on facilitating the navigation of the printed page. Most editorial designers agree that a publication’s clarity starts with the judicious use of the “white of the page” as an element of its template. The design team for Handelsblatt has “incorporated white space as punctuation … to provide relief for the eye.” Yet the major element in reorganising a publication’s pages to guide the reader is arguably a more distinctive typography, using the range of the typefaces’ styles and weights to create contrast, and thus develop a lucid and less cluttered redesign.

Type palette: The main fonts utilized are Guyot for headlines and text and also Druk as an accessory font. You may see how type is used in these story structures that define how various type of stories are presented. Guyot is a type family inspired by the work done by punchcutter François Guyot during the sixteenth century. Ramiro Espinoza got acquainted with the work of Guyot while attending the Expert Class in Type Design at Antwerp’s Plantin Institute for Typography. Ramiro decided to give Guyot a modern interpretation aimed at the editorial market. Druk features the narrowest, widest, and heaviest typefaces in the Commercial Type library to date. “Druk was intentionally designed without a normal width, nor lighter than medium weights. Berton Hasebe, the designer, wanted to avoid shifting the focus of the typeface away from its most emphatic styles toaccommodate more general-purpose usage.”

Read more on the websites of García Media and ReType.