A customized TT Norms Pro is the basis for the new logo of Sartorius AG. It is also used as the corporate font.

Sartorius AG is an international pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier, covering the segments of bioprocess solutions and lab products & services.

Kéroïne and Authentic Sans are paired in the flyer and the brochure for Like Lava Inside Me. The exhibition by artist Klara Charlotte Zeitz, shown at Museum for Sepulchral Culture in Kassel, Germany, from September 10th to November 13th, 2022:

How do we deal with the representation of violence and loss and what language do we find for it? How do we address feelings of pain, powerlessness and grief? What gives us the courage to change things in the long term? In the uprising against injustice and death, anger is the transformative force. It is generally considered negative and yet it is an essential part of rebelling against personal or societal grievances. It makes us stand up for self-worth and upheaval and is our moral compass against injustice.

Never Felt Better is an art installation / audio visual experience by Jan Grebenstein, shown in May 2022 in Kassel. The font in use is Skanaus by Daniel Gremme. Photos by Can Wagener.

Archives des luttes des femmes en Algérie (“Archives of women's struggles in Algeria”) is a collective lead by Awel Haouati, Lydia Saïdi and Saadia Gacem, and an independent project whose objective is to shed light on the history of the Algerian women’s movement since 1962, which has long been marginalized and unknown. Through the construction of an open access digital archive, the project aims to make accessible a set of written, printed and visual materials produced within the framework of Algerian women's organizations and collectives, which are today preserved by women who have participated in such mobilizations.

Launched in March 2019 in the context of the hirak (popular uprising in Algeria), the project emerged from the observation that only few resources about the history of struggles in independent Algeria exist today, and even less when it comes to those led by women for emancipation and equal rights. The material “traces” of their actions and mobilizations remain inaccessible and little known to the new generations.

In this publication, made in the framework of documenta fifteen, they relate a particularly dense and prolific part of the history of the Algerian feminist movement, from 1988 to 1993. In 1989, a brief democratic opening enabled many women's collectives and organizations to exist legally and more freely than at the time of the single party. The publication gathers photographs and documents - some of which were fundamental in the evolution of the movement - from this period of intense political and militant activity.

The publication, design by Studio Akakir, is trilingual, featuring its text in Arabic, French and English languages. The Arabic texts are set in Amiri by Alif Type for the titles and 29LT Zarid Serif by 29LT for the running text. NaN Success Text and Sans by NaN are used for French and English titles, while Bitter by Huerta Tipográfica carries captions and running text.

From a typographic point of view, this publication (and this archive in general) might be as interesting for its layout as it is for its archived material showing, among other things, graphic material (journals, political tracts, posters, bulletins…) produced in Algeria between the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s.

A note: During documenta fifteen Kassel, this project (and another art piece, not linked here) brought the topic of antisemitism in the conversation through the exhibition of an issue of the Algerian feminist magazine Présence de femmes from 1988. It focuses on Palestine. The article features illustrations by Burhan Karkoutly and Naji Al-Ali criticizing the Israeli army. Those illustrations have been judged as antisemitic by a part of the audience (source: wikipedia.fr). Here is the answer given by the collective.

For more information, see the project’s website and the book’s page.

Founded in Leipzig in 1828, German publishing house Reclam Verlag is notorious for its popular “Universal-Bibliothek” paperback series, whose brightly-coloured covers have been familiar to high-school and university students in Germany for more than fifty years.

The most recent update on the classic “UB” cover template was undertaken in 2012 by Cornelia Feyll and Friedrich Forssman, who chose Frank E. Blokland’s DTL Documenta as the main typeface. They also strengthened the famous colour scheme which identifies each range within the series: yellow for the most popular one (literary classics in German), blue for study guides, orange for bilingual editions of literary and philosophical classics, magenta for non-fiction, red for books in other languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, etc.), and green for source texts aimed at university students.

The Feyll/Forssman design replaced the one established in 1988 (see this post) by Brigitte and Hans Peter Willberg featuring Stempel Garamond.

For those of you who can read German, the whole 2012 redesign and the history of the publishing house are summed up in this very nice publication (pdf).

This edition is set in Erbar-Mediäval lichtfett (1922) and Genzsch-Antiqua (1906–1910). It was printed by J.G. Oncken Nachf., G.m.b.H., Kassel, probably in the 1920s. The ad on the back cover mentions two of Polak’s pudding brands, “Mändelchen” and “Dreimühlen”.

Weihnachten im Liede is the title of a booklet with Christmas carols, produced as promotional gift by the German subsidiary of A.J. Polak, a manufacturer of custard powder, in Weener/Ems, East Frisia. There were at least four editions, each with a different cover typography.

Abraham Josef Polak founded the host company in Groningen, The Netherlands, in 1899. His uncle, Calmer Polak Gzn., had moved there in 1866 to trade in “colonial goods” and liquors, and became best known for his lemonade sirup brand “Ranja”. To distinguish the two entrepreneurs, uncle Calmer (1840–1922) was popularly called the “wet” Polak, while nephew Abraham (d. 1924) was known as the “dry” one. [De verhalen van Groningen, Joods Amsterdam] Kantoor Groningen:

During the Second World War, the German occupiers introduced the “ordinance of expulsion of Jews from the business world” which meant the end for the Polak family, since they were of Jewish origin. While they were being deported to Auschwitz to be murdered, the factory kept running under a German manager.

In the course of this “Aryanization”, Wiard Popkes, former director of the factory in Weener, not only usurped the German subsidiary, he also became the new owner of the parent company in the occupied Netherlands—much to the chagrin of the managers of German industry giant Dr. Oetker, who had hoped to take over the Dutch competitor themselves. [Dr. Oetker und der Nationalsozialismus]

The factory in Groningen had to close down in 1963, the one in Weener held out until the 1990s. The famous brand name “Polaks Mändelchen-Pudding” was acquired by RUF in Quakenbrück in 1993 and is continued to the present day.

This edition (1940s?) uses Nordland, a cursive with blackletter elements. The typeface was first cast by Trennert in 1935, based on drawings by Heinz Beck. The back cover is lettered.

Another edition printed on cheap paper (1950s?), featuring the same illustration, but another 1930s script typeface: This is Reporter, designed by Carlos Winkow and issued by the Norddeutsche Schriftgießerei in 1938. The font contained a number of ligatures. This setting uses ch and en (but not ei).

According to eichwaelder.de, this edition might have been issued in the 1960s. The serifless roman is Colonia, designed by Walter Ferdinand Kemper and released by Ludwig & Mayer in 1938.

The wordmark for this promotional specialty beer is built from the Gryffensee Eins typeface, with minimal adjustments (bending of some straight stems).

From sufferheadbier.de:

Sufferhead Original is a craft beer inspired by the experience of African immigrants living in Europe, especially Germany, and communicates some of the received stereotypes, politics of difference and integration associated with their expatriate fate through the brewing and branding of the beer.

The name ‘Sufferhead’ derives from the 1981 track by Fela Kuti, ‘Original Suffer Head’, in which Fela sings about the deplorable political and economic situation in Nigeria at that time. The 80’s was a decade of mass emigration by Nigerians due to the harsh economic and political situation in the country. The name also plays on the beer’s strength, with a high alcohol by volume (ABV) and the possibility of a suffering head the day after.

Sufferhead Original (Kassel edition) is a documenta 14 project by Emeka Ogboh, and was brewed in collaboration with CraftBEE. It is presented by daBierLab (Das Afrikanische Bier Laboratorium) – “Transmuting the African immigrant in Europe experience into craftbeer, & beer branding campaigns.”

“Who’s afraid of black?” — campaign poster in Kassel

“Once black, always black”

Coasters, bottle openers and other merchandise

The logo was also printed onto glasses.

Weserstraße, Kassel

Window lettering on a store for laboratory and hospital supplies on Weserstraße, Kassel. The script is modeled after Stempel Elan, originally designed in 1937 by Hans Möhring and revived in 2010 by Frank Grießhammer.

Leipziger Straße, Kassel

Spohr’s Gasthaus „Zur Bürgerschänke“, Kohlenstraße, Kassel

Hot panties have set Banco on fire. Seen at the Titus shop in Kassel, Germany.