The Mess front cover. Notice the inner sleeve within the die-cut circle.

From YAGOW:

The Mess takes you on a drive across a desert wasteland in a big old rust bucket of a car — with sunglasses on and your head bobbing to the music of the bumps in the road. YAGOW set a timeless mood that transports you away from the meddles of everyday life and into higher spirits.

Four years after their self-titled debut album, the psychedelic rock trio YAGOW return with The Mess. The album is released through Berlin-based independent label Crazysane Records. The album cover is printed in a combination of PMS neon orange on top of purple hues built up in CMYK. The cardboard stock is coated — matte on the outside, and glossy on the inside.

Like on the artwork for their previous release, the revived Hershey Fonts, a type family with roots just as obscure as the music, appear all over. Frank Grießhammer dug deep and told their story at TypeCon2015 in Denver. The album’s typography combines different fonts:

Yagow’s “logo” is rendered in (Hershey) Italian Gothic, a set of Lombardic caps that A.V. Hershey modeled after Will Bradley’s Missal Initials (ATF, 1904). The album title is set in Simplex Script. Ornaments and the large word mark on the back are set in a customized version of Italian Gothic. The side indicators A and B are set in Complex Script. The track list uses the triple stroke Triplex Roman with initials set in a mixture of Italian and English Gothic (depending on the look). To fit long words on a single line, the O’s of Triplex Roman are swapped for their Italian Gothic counterparty, which are a touch narrower. The two emblems are composed out of various Gothic glyphs. Liner notes and other small information are set in Simplex (single-stroke) and Simplex Script – and there are probably more combinations which I forgot to mention, sorry!

The “special feature” of The Mess is a die-cut circle that acts as a picture frame for the artwork. The uncoated black front cover forms a haptic contrast to the coated innersleeve and the coated inside of the album jacket (which is also printed in 5 colours). A peacock, the new mascot animal of the band, is shown before a Suminagashi background on the innersleeve in a resting position. Once you draw the innersleeve out, the printed inside of the jacket is visible and shows that same bird, but proudly crowing.

It should be noted that the vinyl labels are a part of the Crazysane Records corporate design, developed by Fabian Bremer. The labels are basically the same for all CSR releases and the color is adapted to suit the cover artwork.

Designing The Mess was, once again, a joint project of my dear friend Daniel Fuchs and myself (Manuel). Thank you, Daniel, for being there! And big ups to the band whom we call friends for a decade now. Thank you for letting us do whatever we want, especially letting me fool around with these lovely-yet-slightly-silly fonts.

The Mess front cover and the limited edition “peacock” vinyl color option

The Mess front cover the partially drawn out innersleeve — the crowing bird appears

The Mess back cover with Hershey Fonts typeface combinations, and the black vinyl color option. The vinyl labels use the Crazysane Records template with all text set in a Scangraphic’s Ad Grotesk: a copy of Akzidenz Grotesk.

The Mess, the complete story: cover, innersleeve and “peacock” edition record

The Mess back cover, details

Detail photo of the front cover, showing the contrast between matte and glossy cardboards and 1C (outside) and 5C (inside) printing methods.

Androides sonham com ovelhas elétricas? book cover with illustration by Rafael Coutinho.

Book jacket for a Portuguese translation of Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) published by Aleph Editions, Brazil.

The idea behind this design was to introduce Philip K. Dick to a new audience, people who never heard about the author but knew Ridley Scott’s movie adaptation from 1982. The title appears as Blade Runner on the front, but the real title (in its Portuguese translation) is shown on the back.

Rafael Coutinho’s illustration can be revealed in steps: first, we see this woman with strange eyes; she may be interpreted as an android by her lack of expression. On the back, we see a man with a tender expression holding a smoking gun. When the jacket is totally open we get to see the whole scene: the man has just shot the woman/android.

Daniel Lameira, the art director, asked for a noir feeling to the title. So I chose Binner for its dramatic look. Although there are digital versions of Binner, for this cover, I used a vintage specimen to compose the titles and added a shadow to the letterforms. There’s some noise and imperfections wich I find charming and could connect to this dystopian-retro-future world.

The main reference for the type was 1970s record covers as Aretha Franklin’s Master Of Eyes and Gilberto Gil’s Refazenda (wich was designed by Rogério Duarte).

The synopsis and the author bio on the inner flaps is set in Chalet Book.

About Mary Ponomareva’s practice:

Mary Ponomareva is a visual artist, multidisciplinary designer and researcher based in Amsterdam. In her works, she uses graphic design, virtual reality, CGI and 3D modeling as a tool to envision and question possible futures. She speculates and envisions grotesque realities in order to reflect on future societal and ethical implications of currently emerging technologies. She critically investigates the role of graphic design in what she calls ‘Dark Aesthetics’. Implying the influence of corporate imagery in the construction of dubious ideologies and their normalization by way of their aesthetics.

For her personal website, Mary Ponomareva build a strong grid system adapted to video formats and 3 animations. Mostly pictorial, the website shows a nice use of Apoc (Blaze Type) in different sizes and scales discreetly associated with Neue Helvetica for descriptions.

About Caesura:

Caesura is a modest project to collect the scattered fragments of art and criticism working to escape the aimlessness that plagues the present. What is necessary is a break, a pause, and some room to breathe. We are looking to publish visual art, poetry, prose, and music as well as fundamental criticism and commentary from artists and writers that recognize the task before us and the need for something new. We have no schemas or positive ideals to enshrine, nor do we endorse particular styles, techniques, or media. What we have to offer is a sense of history, of the dead-end of the present, and the disappointment of the past: “a total absence of illusion about the age and at the same time an unlimited commitment to it.” What we ask is simply that art prove its right to exist.

Renata Cruz Lara creates a harmonious aesthetic through multiple layered grids, using different weights of Apoc (Blaze Type) in combination with Violet Office’s Violet Sans which comes in a single style.

Esotica per Bambini by GSQ is intended to be a library inspired by 1980s Japanese cartoons.

A tale in which valiant knights, half-human and half-demonic creatures, mythological animals, witches and lively children are intertwined in 15 short stories soundtracked by exotic and smooth beats with psychedelic and mystical moments. Babil Junior, Princess Aurora, MF Doom, Crystal the Swan, Rensie the Witch are just a few of the main characters.

Soundshape XP01 is combined with Schmalfette CP, a revival of Schmalfette Grotesk, and ITC Garamond.

Altered.Code is a student project made at Elisava, created by Marion Garnier and Desislava Danova as part of their Master’s degree.

Altered.Code is a [fictional] monthly online magazine that tackles the prejudice and negativity regarding our future as a society. It is a platform for the curious, for the digital, and the creatively fearless. For those who seek what tomorrow might bring and are ready to push the boundaries of the expected. The platform adopts an attitude of positivity and eagerness for the future. We feature creatives, artists, and brands shaping their industry in regards to the digital era in which we live. We welcome those who are ready to step out of the norm and create a new reality.

The visual identity uses Mhtirogla in all caps as display typeface. Aktiv Grotesk is used for text.

Studio Work worked with hair salon Alchemy to revolutionise their visual identity. Following the alchemist philosophy, we developed an experimental identity that is bold and sharp with alchemist inspired symbols and a minimalist colour palette of black, white, and ember. Spray paint, steel, silver, foiling, and letterpress are the design’s subtle heroes.

Ancient Hyper Present is a Graphic Design MFA thesis of Sophie Loloi at the Rhode Island School of Design. This book is a collection of two-years of research, influence and experimentation towards a transmedial practice consisting of media, images, and virtual space across different eras and time signatures.

Graphic design can exist in a gallery, on the screen, inside headsets or in the streets. Like a lucid dream, it can be disorienting as it opens up to a more-than physical ground of experience; within the virtual, within shared memory. This book documents a reflective practice that considers experiences of exile and diaspora, and grapples with a singular question: what does it mean to visualize and materialize nostalgia for a distant world? Ancient Hyper Present gathers an array of forms: editorial, kinetic, typographic, spatial, and experiential. Calling forth a practice of reflection, to go through the process of seeing the unseeable or the unacknowledged.

The title and display typeface is Apoc by Blaze Type foundry, tightly spaced and used in all caps. It is paired with SangBleu Kingdom for text. Captions use GT America Mono.

The entire thesis can be accessed online.

The belief in witches is a topic that is inevitably associated with superstition - but very few think of a connection with the butterfly and its word origin. According to medieval superstitions, witches turned into butterflies at night to spoil or steal cream or milk. Schmetten, Schmette (Slav. Smetana) is the old east/central German word of Slavic origin for sour cream or butter.

This book deals with folk beliefs and symbolism based on passages from Malleus Maleficarum by Heinrich Institoris, Walpurgisnacht by Moritz Busch, Tiefe Schatten (“Deep Shadows”) by Theodor Storm, and other texts.

The booklet was made during a course at the Hochschule Düsseldorf (University of Applied Sciences) with Prof. Holger Jacobs, and produced as a single edition in 2019.

The selected typefaces reflect the topic of the book and the atmosphere through the illustrations. Apoc (Matthieu Salvaggio) is used for texts. Desert (Leah Maldonado) is used for numbers and illustration captions. Headlines and section pages are set in Kaliste by Antoine Brun.

Número Zero is the first publication of a series—an always ongoing project. Número Zero, a student project from the Escola Britânica de Artes Creativas in São Paulo, contains articles, reviews, translations, interviews, graphic essays, illustrations, shared practices, and much more, in a working progress never defined format of publication: an always ‘to-be shaped’ enterprise of critical thinking.

The use of multiple typefaces seeks to push the boundaries of editorial design conventions and illustrates the several voices behind this project. This is a key element of the publication that together with different uses of the grid spotlight the form of the text and its constant transformation, be it varying position, weight, size or style.

In short, the choices of design are inquisitive and integrate elements in order to reflect the new perspectives and critical reflections proposed by this publication. The magazine as it is presented today is a transdisciplinary platform designed to constitute a space for students and professionals to present and articulate a critical reflection on the broader field of creative arts.

Laser- and risoprinted billboard at Fabrique Pola’s Volcano Bar.

Sphères is a quarterly magazine that focuses each issue on a very specific community of passionates – pipe smokers, deep-sea divers, pilgrims, historical reenactors –, with an important place accorded to photography.

Body text, captions and subtitles are set in Minotaur and Minotaur Sans (Jean-Baptiste Levée, Production Type) with discretionary ligatures, paired with several typefaces for headlines and quotations: Boogy Brut Poster (Julien Priez, Bureau Brut) Motter Ombra (Othmar Motter, Motter Fonts), Obviously Narrow and Ohno Blazeface (James Edmondson, OH no Type Co.). The logo has been drawn by Océane Juvin in September 2020 ft. Fazeta (Andrej Dieneš, Adtypo).

From Sphères no. 4, January 2021. Half title page set in Boogy Brut Poster.

From Sphères no. 4, January 2021. Boogy Brut Poster paired with Minotaur Sans, both in all caps.

From Sphères no. 4, January 2021. Headline in caps from Obviously, introduction in Minotaur.

From Sphères no. 4, January 2021. Boogy Brut Poster paired with Minotaur Sans.

From Sphères no. 4, January 2021. Motter Ombra paired with Minotaur.

From Sphères no. 4, January 2021. Quotation set in Minotaur and Minotaur Sans.

From Sphères no. 4, January 2021. Boogy Brut Poster paired with Minotaur Sans.

From Sphères no. 4, January 2021. Headline in Minotaur Sans.

From Sphères no. 4, January 2021. Headline and quotation in Boogy Brut Poster.

—

Different typefaces has been used in the three first issues, for headlines and drop caps, before a slight redesign for the fourth one: such as Charon (Matthieu Visentin, ECAL Typefaces) and Radiator (Ellmer Stefan, The Pyte Foundry) in Sphères no. 1, or SangBleu OG Serif both in Sphères no. 2 and 3.

From Sphères no. 3, September 2020. Headline and drop cap from Ohno Blazeface, paired with SangBleu OG Serif.

From Sphères no. 3, September 2020. Ohno Blazeface paired with SangBleu OG Serif, both in all caps.

From Sphères no. 1, January 2020. Radiator (Ellmer Stefan, The Pyte Foundry) in all caps.

From Sphères no. 1, January 2020. Radiator (Ellmer Stefan, The Pyte Foundry) in all caps.

From Sphères no. 1, January 2020. Charon (Matthieu Visentin, ECAL Typefaces) in all caps.

From Sphères no. 1, January 2020. Headline in Minotaur Light Italic.

Poster (70×100) and variations for Mutek festival 2020 in Barcelona, Spain:

MUTEK Barcelona marks 11 clicks around the sun on March 4-7, 2020, with 4 days and nights of live electronic music, audiovisual performances, professional activities and more. After a decade of explorations and discoveries, we are preparing for a new era as a platform for dissemination and innovation in digital creativity with activities that will be developed throughout the year.

The festival theme, Lux Terra, is set in italic caps from Apoc with an e and A from Kraft. The sans serif is Surt.

Apoc in use for the album art for the debut release of Belgian post-punk band Whispering Sons as well as the accompanying merchandise and their website:

Feeding on the dynamics of the city, their music unveils feelings of alienation, propelled by an urging and ominous sound. Their live performances feel agitated and uneasy, yet always remain raw and honest. Whispering Sons' first EP ‘Endless Party’ was released in 2015, followed by two 7 inches in 2016 and 2017. After winning Humo’s Rock Rally in 2016, one of Belgium's most prestigious national contests, the band has been touring Belgium and Europe extensively, establishing their strong live reputation. Their debut album ‘Image’ was released on October 19, 2018.

From Pavillon de l’Arsenal publishers:

Road traffic, noise pollution, air pollution, globalization of the commercial offer, partitioning of spaces and uses, "the most beautiful avenue in the world" is thwarted.

Its squares and gardens, deserted by Parisians, must now begin their transformation and allow everyone to reclaim this exceptional heritage. Beyond urban issues, the challenges of the new climate regime must govern this transformation.

There are many challenges: reducing the number and intensity of heat islands, making soils more permeable; free, unify and increase green spaces; favour soft mobility; enhance the existing heritage; build without consuming more; continue to grow without increasing environmental debt, invent new types of funding and partnerships…

The Champs-Élysées, history & perspectives study, carried out by the PCA-STREAM agency on the initiative of the Champs-Élysées Committee, commits to reinterpreting the symbolic urban construction of this territory. It makes the diagnosis with regard to local issues and contemporary issues to offer a new vision, which is based on the collaborative work of a large team of international experts - researchers, historians, economic and cultural players, scientists, artists …

The expected and calculations demonstrate the feasibility of this transformation and, in anticipation, the possible evolution of public and tourist spaces in the metropolises of tomorrow.

Apoc and Cosmica are used throughout.

Publication Ästhetik der heilsamen Orte, Lucia-Verlag Weimar, 2019

Economic pressure and increasing efficiency have led to a rationalisation of the health care system, which is reflected by interpersonal deficits as well as in spatial design deficiencies. As part of a research project at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, an interdisciplinary team led by Gabriel Dörner analysed the state of hospitals in Thuringia and developed approaches for the holistic design of healing architecture.

The hospital sector is an example that shows the negative implications of the integration of the German health system into the so-called free markets. The health system has come to be largely dissociated from its original task: the promotion and maintaining of people’s health in a sustainable way. What does society gain from the fact that health care and pharmaceutical companies (and their shareholders) make money by making people sick and keeping them sick? What responsibility can we, as designers, take in order to take action despite the complexity of the problem? Based on these questions, Ästhetik der heilsamen Orte declares the hospital a public place. A place of a discourse in which the vision of health for all people can be negotiated. Ästhetik der heilsamen Orte also turns the hospital into a health house.

As part of the Bauhaus centenary, a competition was launched in which the students themselves were supposed to plan and implement teaching and research projects. The goal was to deal with the philosophy of the Bauhaus and current socially relevant research fields in an interdisciplinary environment and to enrich the university’s teaching with innovative learning formats.

Gabriel Dörner has interpreted the Bauhaus’s approach that integrates all design disciplines in the “Bau” in a contemporary way. The project he developed and managed dealt with the current situation and potentials of the healthcare system. In relation to the spatial and structural analysis of hospitals, holistic artistic and design concepts were developed, which can be both conceptual solutions and artistic utopias of future healthcare architecture.

20 students and several renowned scientists accompanied Gabriel Dörner during the project. At the end of the project, conceptual and visionary drafts and approaches were presented and discussed in an exhibition as well as in a discussion forum and a publication.

382 pages
17×23,5×3 cm
ISBN 978-3-945301-43-2
half binding with offset and silk screen printing
Published by Lucia-Verlag

Poster for the release event

Electronic music night in Phoenix, Arizona featuring all local acts. Feb 2018

Anonymity in Cyberspace is a contribution to Desire Press’s campaign “Visual Transaction”. The campaign invites to bring art to the oversaturated flyer walls of Manchester, UK.

It was designed by Annika Soja (@iinnas) using Apoc Revelations and Eurostile.

In the age of anonymity on the World Wide Web, avatars and gender swapping, we have the opportunity to try out diverse roles, enjoy them at will, change – and – discard them again. The anonymity of the Internet offers us a space in which we can reinvent ourselves again and again. At the same time, it raises the question of who we really are and what our real identity is.

Book Děsivá Setkání: Dilema sražené zvěře a odpovědi na nepoložené otázky (“Frightful encounters: The dilemma of roadkill and answers to questions not raised”) is based on texts by Richard Pecha and illustrations by Eduardo Lara Alvarez Tostado.

Published in 2019 by Pecha’s publishing house named Vršovice 2016.
Illustration: Eduardo Lara Alvarez Tostado

This paperback series of novels and stories by Polish science fiction writer Stanisław Lem (1921–2006) was published by Volk und Welt in (East) Berlin between 1980 and 1982.

All titles as well as the author’s first name are set white on black in Data 70, Bob Newman’s typographic interpretation of the MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) aesthetic for Letraset. Such angular letterforms with abruptly thickened vertical elements emerged in the mid 1960s and early 1970s and quickly became a signifier for computers and futuristic technology in general.

For each volume, cover designer Klaus Krüger rendered the word “Lem” in another catchy display face. There’s Stop (customized with a stenciled L and a square-cut M), Black Line (tight-and-touching, with white lines), New Zelek (with an elongated bottom bar on E), Motter Ombra (in alternating glyph colors, with the L scaled to x-height), Countdown (with a custom L and counterspaces filled in blue), and Lucky.

The publisher’s zigzag logo (VUW for Volk und Welt) was designed by Klaus Wittkugel.

Sterntagebücher, 1980. 2nd edition 1982. First published as Dzienniki gwiazdowe (The Star Diaries) in 1957.

Eden / Die Maske, 1980. First published in 1959 as Eden / in 1976 as Maska.

Der Schnupfen / Test, 1980. First published in 1975 as Katar (The Chain of Chance) / in 1959 as Test (The Test).

Der Unbesiegbare / Die Jagd, 1980. 2nd edition 1982. First published as Niezwyciężony (The Invincible) in 1964 / as Polowanie (The Hunt) in 1965.

Der Planet des Todes, 1980. 2nd edition 1982. First published as Astronauci (The Astronauts) in 1951.

Gast im Weltraum, 1980. Translated by Rudolf Pabel. First published in ca. 1955 as Obłok Magellana (The Magellanic Cloud).