Gli Etruschi e l’immagine is a project by illustrator Luchadora (Alessandra Marianelli), developed in collaboration with the Museo archeologico nazionale di Firenze, exploring new ways of connecting contemporary illustration with the visual power of Etruscan art.

Among the series, one of the posters reinterprets the iconic Chimera of Arezzo, a masterpiece of Etruscan bronze sculpture, translating its complex form into a bold, geometric visual synthesis. Starting from the observation of the original artifact, the illustration reduces its features into essential shapes, offering a fresh and contemporary perspective on a historical symbol.

For the typographic layer, Bikeride from Zetafonts’ Quarantype collection was selected. While playful and expressive, the typeface is rooted in ongoing research into contemporary visual languages and historical references, bridging calligraphic gestures and graphic design to support the dynamic character of the composition. Fraunces by Undercase Type serves as the text typeface, its forms echoing those of the display font while adding richness and an extra layer of narrative information.

An assemblage of artistic reflections and perspectives that grew through and together with the collective experiences of inhabiting a garden in Villa Romana, Firenze.

The book design uses Ouvrières by Laure Azizi (in affamées and agricultrices styles), Grancy by Minjong Kim, BianZhiDai (in Base and Ring styles) and Kiddo by notyourtypefoundry, FA_AAAIEMOADDP and FA_PTGWDOBSHK by Full Auto Foundry, and OPS Cubic by OPS Type. Lincoln/MITRE was used as well, but isn’t shown in the images.

The project, titled “FAGS”, the plural of the word “fag”, which in English slang is equivalent to the Italian slur “frocio”, takes on a new meaning here. “FAGS” becomes an acronym for “Fightin’ Against Gay Slurs”. Just as in the 1990s, the LGBTQIA+ movement reclaimed the word “queer", which was initially used with a negative connotation meaning “strange, unusual, eccentric”, with this work, I wanted to reclaim the slurs that I and so many others like me have heard repeatedly throughout our lives.

The project consists of 28 artworks presented in the form of manifestos. The choice of the manifesto format is rooted in its social and political tradition as a tool for propaganda and raising awareness. The visual and conceptual contribution of the magazine FUORI! (Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario Italiano) and Marco Petrucci’s Testi Manifesti were particularly significant.

The central element of each manifesto is the slur itself, reinterpreted through the lens of irony and pride. The texts within the posters are in various languages (Italian, English, French, German, and Japanese), with a special focus on Italian and its dialects (Sicilian, Calabrian, Neapolitan, Roman, Tuscan, Bolognese, and Piedmontese) to emphasize the widespread nature of these types of insults.

The design of the posters is deliberately pop: the backgrounds, images, and fonts are crafted to capture attention and stand out from their surroundings. Two fonts were chosen: Milligram by Zetafonts for its readability and immediacy; and Brass by Fantasia Type, used not only for its bold and ironic shapes (deliberately reminiscent of intimate parts and acts) but also for the presence of an asterisk in every letter—a symbol typically associated with censorship, but here transformed into a symbol of uncensored expression.

Medusa has not always been a monster. She was originally a beautiful maiden, a servant in Athena’s temple. Poseidon, the god of the sea, fell in love with her and, unable to control his desire, raped her one night within the sacred temple. Athena, witnessing the violation and outraged by the desecration of her holy space, chose not to punish the perpetrator, Poseidon, but instead the victim, Medusa. She transformed her into the monster we now know.

For the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, I decided to design a poster that reimagines the mythological figure of Medusa as a symbol of empowerment and justice. The artwork depicts Medusa, proud and defiant, holding the severed head of Poseidon (a clear nod to Benvenuto Cellini’s sculpture of Perseus with Medusa’s head), overturning the patriarchal narrative of the myth. Medusa, a victim of violence and unjustly punished by Athena for the crime committed against her, becomes here a symbol of redemption for all women who have been violated and oppressed. Below the image, the caption reads: “FOR ALL THE RAPED WOMEN.” For all the women whose lives have been shattered.

This work serves as a visual reflection on the urgent need to break the endless cycle of violence and injustice women face daily. Now more than ever, we cannot remain passive spectators. We must act—especially us men—to protect women’s rights, educate our children on respect, and build a world where love is never violent.

Let us always remember that this is not the only world possible. And certainly not the best one.

The wayfinding for the fourteenth edition of the Florence Biennale was designed by Edoardo Matteoni. The compelling motto ‘I AM YOU. Individual and Collective Identities in Contemporary Art and Design’ invited artists and audiences to reflect on the complex interplay between personal identity and collective consciousness in our modern world.

The wayfinding is set in Uncut Sans by Kasper Nordkvist. The lettering of the biennial theme uses a different and yet unidentified typeface selection. See also a previously published post showing the catalogue.

Everett in use by Studio Moretti Visani. On Instagram, SMV comments:

Art Direction and design of ONESELF, a limited edition book in 100 copies born from a dialogue between Take Care Collective and MSGM, inspired by the Spring/Summer 2021 “Autoritratto – Self Portrait of a Generation” collection.

The book, characterized with a mirrored cover on front, focuses about the meaning of self representation through several medias and projects in a wide range of different fields like photography, art and fashion.

Gardulac (or Gar du Lac) is a botanical gin with a classic and fresh profile. The logotype is set in caps from Eros, with Selva Script used for “du”. The ingredients are added in Jugendreisen Small – with its curved open-bowl R, this typeface nicely complements Eros. Additional text is set in two widths of Interstate.

The label design, inspired by art nouveau typography, pays homage to the advertising posters tradition of Lake Garda since the 1930s. The yellow tone and the textured paper give the label an effect reminiscent of a real lemon peel.The identity is created by Davide Mosconi, Andrea Mastroluca and Federico Landini. Gabriel Cellini did 3D images. They've developed a product identity that uses elegant typographic compositions to express the exceptional quality of the product, its Italian roots, and the strength of the brand.

Intense notes of citrus and flowers blend with the delicacy of Lake Garda Lemons. The balsamic and resinous part of juniper supports the sip and connotes it clearly and distinctly. The freshness of cardamom and coriander is joined by the herbaceous note of olive trees grown on the shores of Lake Garda.

Design: Auge Design
Executive Creative Director: Davide Mosconi
Associate Creative Director: Andrea Mastroluca
Designer: Federico Landini
3D Artist: Gabriel Cellini

Catalogue for the XIV Florence Biennale, an art exhibition held in October 2023 under the motto “I AM YOU. Individual and Collective Identities in Contemporary Art and Design”. Since 1997, it has been held every two years in the exhibition spaces of the Fortezza da Basso, Florence, Italy.

See also a post dedicated to the biennale’s wayfinding.

TT Trailers is used in packaging design for the Gruvi ice cream bar by Sammontana.

Auge Design –

chose the product name thinking the different tastes of the ice cream as a groovy beat. The logo design, the typography, the shooting art direction, they all express the idea of movement and the exuberance of the ice cream and its contrasts. Smooth colors on the background and a “soft touch” finishing for the pack oppose a bold blue (brand color) typography, a catchy type and a high-contrast photography. The result is a striking pack that embodies the essence of the ice cream and that feels as inviting as its content!

Poster

From the Cavern to the Moon / Dalla caverna alla luna is an exhibition shown at Center for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci in 2017. Conceived and curated by Stefano Pezzato, it illustrates the contemporary art heritage collected by the museum during last three decades. The accompanying bilingual catalog was designed by Studio Moretti Visani using BC Liguria.

From publisher SilvanaEditoriale:

Since it opened in 1988, the Luigi Pecci Centre for Contemporary Art has pursued the collection and expansion of a “permanent collection”: a non-exhaustive but significant summary of the art of the last half century, marked in particular by the variety of genres and the heterogeneity of the forms and materials typical of the postmodern artistic research around which the collection centres. The collection is mainly comprised of sculptural works, large sculptures, installations and environments, paintings, photographic works and videos, created from the 1950s up to the present day.
As a whole, these works form the first public patrimony of topical artistic works in a region such as Tuscany, which is careful to encourage artistic developments and is active in promoting innovative cultural experiences such as contemporary art in Prato.

Magazine ad

Exhibition titles

Catalog cover

Comprehensive book about beloved French choreographer and dancer Jerôme Bel (b. 1964) and his craft, published on the occasion of his first solo exhibition at Center for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci in Prato, Italy, curated by Antonia Alampi. Studio Moretti Visani used BC Falster Grotesk for the bilingual book as well as for the poster.

From publisher SilvanaEditoriale:

The show brings together a selection of his most significant works to investigate the many possibilities of translating performance within the duration of an exhibition. It is time, more than space, that characterizes this project. Hence the title 76′ 38″ + ∞ that alludes to the duration, to the sum of the lengths of the videos on view: an encouragement to observe the works on display from the beginning to the end, a classical norm in theatres, an unusual behaviour in the museum. Here ∞ refers to the countless possibilities of a new dance, an on-going one created specifically for the Centro Pecci: a work without an end, thought to be experienced from a few seconds to eternity.

Floressence is a Tuscan dry gin with unmistakable aromatic notes inspired by Caterina De’ Medici, imagined in Florence. Every drop of Floressence comes from a delicate sensory balance, studied and created by an expert mixologist and perfumer. Oscar Quagliarini, Bartender Perfumer – a royal signature in the world of spirits – has studied and created the perfect synthesis of balance between balance, floral scents and eccentricity. It is inspired by the olfactory pyramid of the Queen's perfume – Caterina, ça va sans dire – created for her by René Le Florentin.

The logo is set in the Regular weight of Norman, with a golden foil. Norman is also used for the communication on social networks, paired with lettering. The accompanying serif is Feijoa.

Nel tuo tempo is an exhibition by Olafur Eliasson that was shown from September 22, 2022 to January 22, 2023 at the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy.

The accompanying catalog was edited by Kristina Köper and Mark Soo, with texts by Olafur Eliasson and Anna Engberg-Pedersen, and Arturo Galansino. It was published in English and Italian editions by Marsilio Editori.

The book design by Martin Stoecklin and Melina Wilson of Stoecklin is based on the floorplan of the palazzo, a walk through the Renaissance rooms permeated by flickering visions. The covers are made from three discontinued styles of Fedrigoni Constellation. The typefaces are Bembo and Store Norske Skandia. Printed by Grafiche Veneziane.

Cover of the Italian edition

Cover of the English edition

In December 2021 we had the pleasure of collaborating for a very special project with film studio Alto alongside D612 coffee roasters, making the visual system for the labels of a roasted coffee exclusively for clients and relatives of Alto.

The visual concept is a path that ends at the top and through which all kinds of colors merge, symbolizing the union with the clients and collaborators of the studio. The typeface is Basetica (by 205TF).

Graphic design by Clara Briones Vedia & Antton Ugarte Ibarrondo
Photography and video by Alto Stories

Detail of the lettering on the cover

The Terrace of the Map Room in the Uffizi Gallery is an environment whose murals represent the geographical maps of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, painted in 1588 to 1589 by Ludovico Buti and Stefano Bonsignori, while the wooden ceiling was decorated with paintings by Jacopo Zucchi that were transported from the Palazzo Florence in Rome during 1588 at the behest of Ferdinando I.

This volume, published at the end of the restoration that brought to light the qualities of style and technical peculiarities, documents the genesis and reasons for the commissioning of the room, its collecting history and the events that have marked it over the centuries, to finally arrive at the current perspectives.

In over 370 images (the result of an ad hoc photographic campaign) and with the multi-disciplinary contribution of 30 authors, not only the historical and artistic events of the environment are presented but also the analytical documentation of all the restoration works that have allowed to return the Terrazzo to the public in all its original splendor.

Published in both Italian and English by Nomos Edizioni, this precious volume pairs Sole Sans with Rialto dF, recalling the italian renaissance with dropcaps at the beginnings of the chapters. On the cover, type is playing with the wall paintings creating different layers.

Cover

Front and back cover

Cover of Italian and English edition

Italian and English spines

Table of contents

Opening pages

Restoration section double page

Opening page detail

Restoration section detail

Sign for a laundry shop on Via della Scala in Florence, Italy, featuring a rare use of Mira, stretched and scaled to fill each line.

From the press release:

Placed on the set of a slightly futuristic shoot for an even more futuristic sci-fi movie, A Future Together is a postmodern, multi-dimensional and many-layered reflection upon the exciting potential futures - a myriad of positive possibilities - that await us all.

Legendary German filmmaker Wim Wenders directed this short movie, about a love story happening on a sci-fi movie set, serving as the promotional video for Salvatore Ferragamo’s A/W 2021 collection.

As it is a silent film, SangBleu Kingdom is used on intertitles directly in the movie, but also on posters and promotional materials such as social media posts or making-of featurettes. The ultracondensed sans used for the credits is yet to be identified.

SangBleu Kingdom is part of the SangBleu collection, available from Swiss Typefaces.

Still from the movie.

Still from the movie.

Still from the movie.

Still from the movie.

Making-of interview with director Wim Wenders.

According to Discogs, “Xenon appears to be a group of musicians and producers coordinated by Marzio Dance, who was the DJ at Xenon, a Florence (Firenze) discothèque.”

The cover design for their 1985 Italo-Disco single “Xenon Opera” is credited to Dino Marsan
and Virna Comini. In the foreground, we get to to see mask-wearing cyborgs in yellow lab coats, operating screens and keyboards, one of them wielding a futuristic soldering rod.

The letterforms are made from a continuous line, with circular terminals, echoing the electric circuit in the background of the airbrush art. There are several typefaces from the 1970s that come close, like Eggomania, Neo Script, Tangui, to name but a few. In fact, the lettering apparently was made by taking Yagi Link Double and using exclusively its inline. All glyphs can be found back in the typeface design by Teruoki Yagi, including the linking N, the open P, and, most strikingly, the single-stroke X.

[More info at Discogs]

Posted by Buro Destruct as #1039 in their Fonts from the Flea Market collection on Flickr.

The back cover is set in all-caps ITC Avant Garde Gothic (with alternates) for the track titles and Futura for the credits.

Digerolamo is a Florence-based brand of leather accessories. Its name carries three generations of leather craftsmanship, and today it remains true to its artisan roots by proposing and creating unique handmade pieces. We were commissioned to redesign the brand, the packaging and new website.

The rebranding represented a change of stage for the brand, since it stopped selling physically and launched into online commerce. For communication pieces, the logo and ultimately all its identity, we use a two font pairing, a narrow sans-serif (Greed by Displaay Type Foundry) and a serif (Sometimes Times by Boulevard LAB) inspired by individualistic old-style serif and mid ’90s culture. This pairing expresses the modernity, the tradition and the elegance of the brand, all of them essential values of Digerolamo.

We also explored with playful graphic resources based on the silhouettes of the bags.

Everett in use by Studio Moretti Visani. On Instagram, SMV comments:

We have been called to design Beyond, a limited edition book dedicated to photography, art and fashion, curated by Take Care Collective.
Beyond brings to light the creative process of four artists who work mainly on long term projects (...) [who] describe their research process beyond the images, showing diaries, sketches, references, techniques.