Series of posters for Hotline, a succession of three events organized by Arte Faact and Combo Bongos at a local club in Nantes called Macadam. The identity had to be inspired by the retro flyers of sex chat line advertising, using a real phone number to give the practical informations for the event.

I used a mix of script fonts from different eras, as it was a good way to tell the story of a phone number quickly written on the napkin of a bar or a restaurant. The generously curved lines of West Cooper Nouveau Swash also provide a feeling of seduction and give coherence to the identity.

Risograph printed at Collectif Bonus.

Berliner Jugendclub e.V. was founded in 1960 as an initiative to provide West Berlin’s youth with age-appropriate venues to meet, party, and enjoy (live) music. The first of these Senatstheken was the jazz-saloon in Steglitz, which was renamed Pop Inn in 1967 (and closed its doors in 2010). It was followed by the Dachluke on Kreuzberg’s Mehringdamm (1961–1988), the Swing-Point in Spandau, and, since 1967, the sloopy at Kurt-Schumacher-Platz in Reinickendorf, the largest of the four.

Around 1968, Jürgen Spohn designed a DIN A1 poster promoting the four youth clubs. The little doll arms waving out of apothecary bottles apparently reference the cover art for the 1965 Beatles album, Help. For the typography, Spohn paired Fette Volta (1956) and Fette Künstler-Schreibschrift (1958).

Letterpress printed advertisement poster and animation series for Typographic-Printing-Program.com.

The posters have been printed from traditional wood type and additional pantograph-cut pear wood sorts of Plakatschrift Didot for the larger sizes (“RRRrrriing”, “Kerning Depression?”, “Sans or Serif?”, and “Legibility Emergency?”), traditional plastic poster type and additional laser-cut acrylic glass sorts also of Plakatschrift Didot for the secondary information (“Call the typographic helpline …”) as well as some Ludlow slugs of Gothic Condensed No. 2 for the smallest size and a piece of hand-cut linoleum for the phone.

The animations have been produced from photographic reproductions of the printed posters.

Minnie Bird is a fried chicken restaurant offering a menu of sandwiches, tenders, dirty sodas, and a special treat—free ice cream with every meal. The restaurant is partly owned by Sean Thomas (great grandson of Wendy's founder Dave Thomas) and named after his great-grandmother Minnie Sinclair. Opened in October of 2024, Minnie Bird is located in Schaumburg, Illinois.

The branding was created by Milwaukee-based designer Jim Kennelly. The Minnie Bird logo is custom lettering, but the featured font used in the headlines is Central Type's big, bold Dug. The body type is set in Tenso, but Etna, P22 Mackinac, and New Spirit are sprinkled in throughout.

“FINISH WITH A SCOOP” is Dug. Lines at the top and bottom are in italic caps from Tenso. “FREE ICE CREAM” and “Text Us!” are Etna. The phone number is set in P22 Mackinac.

Hand-lettered Dug painted in the store’s interior.

Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by cardboardamerica@gmail.com Jordan Smith and tagged with “smoke” and “futura”. License: All Rights Reserved.

Branded matchbook for the Hurricane Motor Lodge in Marathon, Florida, produced Universal Match, Miami. The left-leaning Smoke is here used to symbolize the impact of extreme wind.

Secondary text is set in Futura and News Gothic. The tagline “In the Keys – On the Gulf” is custom script lettering.

Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by cardboardamerica@gmail.com Jordan Smith and tagged with “smoke” and “futura”. License: All Rights Reserved.

Every six minutes, someone in the United States dies from opioid overdose. 855-HOW-TO-QUIT is a toll-free helpline by Anzen Health intended to reach people in the most critical moment – when they have a pill in their hand.

Each pill comes with a unique identifier imprinted, such as OP for oxycodone, IP33 for codeine, or C for fentanyl. The helpline transforms these imprint codes into phone extensions, connecting those who struggle with addiction with those who managed to quit that very pill.

Kimera created a custom Waldenburg Fett Schmal for the campaign, with a custom Q and parentheses.

Poster.

After a hiatus of nine years, the Celtic music festival Bol d'Eire took place again on September 29, 2023, in Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche, Brittany!

The festival is organized by the associations HBD Events, Ancre de Seiche, and the twinning committee, along with the youth space of the Noyal-Châtillon municipality. On the agenda for this Soirée Pub: concerts, catering, and refreshments.

Nathalie Almange, a graphic designer and illustrator, created the poster for this year's edition of the festival. Inspired by the red-haired figure often used in previous editions, she drew a violin player wearing an Aran sweater. Nathalie used Footic Italic as the font for her design, and the red hair of her figure serves as the background for the festival’s title. From the poster to the refreshments list and even the guiding sign along the road, the Footic font, originally inspired by the Brittany region, feels like home at this Celtic music night, typical of this area.

Ticket sale at the associations forum in Noyal-Châtillon

Facebook page of the festival

The band TALEA playing at the festival Bol d’Eire on September 29, 2023

Guiding sign along the road (Footic Regular is used here for the mail address).

From Florian Cornut, designer and founder of Habillage Graphique:

In recent months, I have had the opportunity to work with Shapes & Forms, a multidisciplinary motion design and creative company based in Los Angeles, New York & Medellín. The objective was to introduce the DNA of Shapes & Forms working with other different big companies (NFL / SuperBowl, Netflix, Stiiizy...) while collaborating with designers/motion designers all over the world. The visual identity had to be integrated into a simple and impactful design, based on the use of typographic and modular grids in order to highlight the different types of content while keeping a strong and identifiable graphic universe. The case study focused on the creative direction and design of different communication media such as: brandbook, stationery, signage, website, clothing and objects, environmental design, social network posts (Instagram, Behance, LinkedIn...)

The case study was made between March and June 2023, under the creative direction of Florian Cornut / Habillage Graphique. The fonts in use are Vinila by Plau and GT Alpina by Grilli Type.

Andrea Grudda was born in Augsburg, Germany, and is a renowned author, consultant and trainer. A few years ago, she began to specialize in the areas of strategy, lifestyle and sales. Today, she accompanies companies in their transformation journey into the new world of work, which is now characterized by digitalization, artificial intelligence and work-life balance.

Grudda teaches Trend Management at the European Media and Business Academy (EMBA) in Düsseldorf and joined the board of the Flexible Working World Foundation in 2020. Her clients include Aston Martin, Levi’s, MCM, Fraport, Dorint Hotels, Vero Moda/Jack & Jones, and Intergastra, among others.

Her website was conceived and designed by the Düsseldorf-based design studio vista. It is as multifaceted as her fields of work. Her competencies, CV and services can all be explored in a playful way in the über user-friendly website. Facts and suggestions complement each other elegantly and colorfully.

Her cell phone number (set in the distinctive Nikolai, just like the rest of the website) is unmissable because it takes up the entire width of the screen. For anyone who would prefer to write to her, you can start an online chat with the management consultant directly.

Andrea Grudda’s communicative power is reflected in both the unusual design and the typography used throughout. This aesthetic makes her website and brand clearly stand out from comparable offerings. Fontwerk’s Nikolai is the font of choice and is used throughout. It is a display family with a strong character and was created in 2020 by the Italian Designer, Franziska Weitgruber. Nikolai’s roots lie in the Renaissance, as it is based on a Jenson Antiqua. However, in the course of its creation between 2018 and 2020, it has clearly evolved in a more contemporary direction. Its Renaissance DNA is now barely recognizable due to its strong stroke contrast.

As her website is 90 percent text, the visual identity of the Andrea Grudda brand is primarily influenced by Nikolai’s identity.

The General Automobile Insurance Services, Inc., or simply The General, is an insurance agency focusing on auto insurance, with headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. From 1993 to 2000, the logo combines several styles from ITC Stone Informal – Bold for “General” (with faux small caps), Semi Bold Italic for “The” and Medium for “Credit General Insurance Company” – with stretched Industria for the phone number.

Apollo Bar is a capsule collection by Reception Clothing (Lyon, France). It is a tribute to a restaurant/bar place in the courtyard of the Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen called Apollo. The graphic and type work is made by Clément Bertrand, art director of the brand.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

If, back in 2000, you liked to shake your booty to DeFalla’s seminal “Vai Popozuda” (“Go for it thick-assed girl”), you might enjoy to discover a younger generation’s take on the same subject. “Bounce”, the song featured in this post, was written and performed by French artists Blasé, Manast LL’, and Rowjay.

The music video is a work by Paris-based Wwwesh studio. It places the musicians in a home shopping set where pills are advertised that will make everyone shake their booties. The visuals pick up on all stereotypes regarding the media, from dazzling colors to false physicians to rotating pillboxes.

You might miss a bunch of ground-shaking male dancers, but while you are here, just enjoy how splendidly PVC Banner fits in. The typeface was designed by Hélène Marian and released by Production Type. PVC Banner was conceived to best fill all surfaces horizontally and is just one member of a larger, frisky family that you should check out if you like your letters to “dance, dance, move yer ass.”

Other fonts featured in the clip are ABC Favorit by Dinamo, Ogg Display Italic by Sharp Type, Commercial Type’s Druk and Adrian Frutiger’s Avenir.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

From Wikipedia:

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is an upcoming computer-animated fantasy adventure comedy film based on the video game franchise Mario published by Nintendo, who also co-produced the film with Illumination and its distributor Universal Pictures. It is the franchise's third film adaptation, following the Japanese anime film Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach! (1986) and the live-action film Super Mario Bros. (1993). Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (in Jelenic's feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Matthew Fogel, the film features an ensemble voice cast including Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, Sebastian Maniscalco, Charles Martinet, and Kevin Michael Richardson.

Super Mario Bros. Plumbing is a viral marketing campaign to promote The Super Mario Bros. Movie in the form of a website and a video commercial for the titular business. Both the website and the commercial are stylized after advertisements from locale-specific businesses and contain Easter eggs to different entries in the Mario franchise and Nintendo history.

The Bold Font is used for the text “Plumbing” in the logo, and for location labels in the map shown in the commercial. The logo itself is custom, or at least no matching typeface has been identified.

Neue Helvetica Bold Condensed is used for the phone number and URL in the end card of the commercial, street labels on the map, and legal information.

The website uses Roc Grotesk for bold text and headers, and Acumin for body text. These fonts are also used on stickers and other site graphics.

Paulette Studios have made a start on Allegra Paulette's business identity, beginning with a sophisticated business card design utilising Metrik by M22 Foundry.

Metrik is a subtle grotesque 5-weight contemporary sans serif. Designed to be flexible and versatile, Metrik also has humanist qualities and is rooted in Swiss tradition – influenced by many of the classics, and a perfect choice for communicating excellence. Sitting comfortably somewhere in-between familiar and new, this typeface brings a touch of the unexpected to your regular Swiss style sans. It has a subtly unique character and what it lacks in flair, it one hundred percent makes up for in substance and craft.

Johann Baptist Däntl’s hardware store was established in 1839. In the early 20th century, it offered metal goods, home and kitchen appliances, furniture and building hardware. At the time this promotional card was printed, the household supply store was doing business as Däntl im Tal, referring to its address on the Tal, a street in the old town of Munich.

The name and the line above (“The long-established Munich household specialty store”) are rendered by hand in unadorned and relaxed blackletter styles. The list of items is set in three columns, center-aligned, in an unconnected brush script typeface. Devised by Stuttgart-based sign painter and poster designer Julius Kirn, it was issued in 1938, under two different names: while Weber in Stuttgart had it as Bison, Trennert in Altona issued it as Blizzard. Note the ligatures for ch and ck. There are at least three digital interpretations: Brush 738 by Bitstream, Blizzard by URW++ (sharper, a tad lighter, and more tightly spaced), and RMU Bison.

All other text is set in Wilhelm Pischner’s Neuzeit-Grotesk (1932), Stempel’s second and more down-to-earth attempt at a Futura competitor, after their Elegant-Grotesk from 1928. Neuzeit-Grotesk can be recognized by its flat-top 3. It here is used in the fett and Kursiv styles. The presence of the latter helps with dating this card: the italic wasn’t added before 1953, by Arthur Ritzel.

Mattmo is a strategic communication and design agency that creates inspiring solutions for questions by offering the added value of creativity at all levels of collaboration. The Mattmo book features introductory editorial contributions by Wim Crouwel, Paul Verhoeven, and Derrick De Kerckhove. The content of the book – set in Cholla Wide throughout – showcases various design projects delivered with a diverse range of media.

If it couldn’t be a better ‘In Use’ for this, the Sourdough Factory logo uses a typeface aptly named Sourdough.

The Sourdough Factory was conceived by Henry Ng. It is a bakery wholesaler of different kinds of bread for use in various food & beverage outlets and ship chandlers. Ng also owns a bakery cafe, Bread & Hearth, that sells entrées, pastries and desserts for dine-in and delivery.

Created by Darrell Flood, Sourdough exists as an all-caps with a possibly faux italic counterpart. It possesses a digitally hand-drawn appearance with seemingly sensitive pen pressure, having an initially thin width and becoming very thick at the stroke terminal. The overall character set doesn't consistently sit on a single baseline, with the right stem of U extending way below it. The strokes of some glyphs also seem to start short, such as N and W.

While the logo exists as a standalone wordmark, the company’s tagline (“Artisan Bread Supply”) can be at times seen added beneath. It is styled in Trajan, with the font also being used as body text for their print collaterals.

One-line variant of the logo

Product catalog cover

The Berlin ambulances adorned with Change

The Berlin Fire Brigade was founded in 1851 and brought unprecedented safety to the city’s citizens overnight. Today, with 35 fire and rescue stations, 1,050 emergency vehicles, 5,200 permanent employees, 59 volunteer fire brigades and 48 youth fire brigades, it is the largest fire brigade in Germany. Berlin also ranks fifth in the world, coming after Tokyo, New York, Paris and London.

Berlin would not function without a fire brigade. It is the city’s central crisis manager: for fire protection, rescue services, and in the event of a disaster. The rescue teams have more and more work to do because the city is growing and becoming more dense. The population is also getting older and older and so isolation is increasing and to top it off, the climate crisis is also causing more extreme weather conditions.

With its “Strategy 2030”, the Berlin Fire Brigade is preparing for the challenges of the future. With a focus on expanding material and human resources, job satisfaction, more diversity and helping to shape politics and urban development, the new directive and strategy requires a lot of communication. No wonder that the fire brigade has developed into a strong brand with a stringent corporate design.

The corporate design was developed in-house by the Press and Public Relations department in cooperation with a communication scientist. The two most important goals of the CD are the positive public perception of the fire brigade and the identification of the staff with their company. The national emblem, which has been in use since 1977, has been reduced to a few clear lines in a single color. The corporate colors are, of course, still red and white, but other colors have been removed. Furthermore, a uniform logo “Berliner Feuerwehr” (Berlin Fire Brigade) was developed using the Change Letter font, which used to be the headline font of the state of Berlin. When set in capitals, Change Letter, a variant that is planned to be released at a later point, differs only slightly from Alessio Leonardi’s Change, which is now available from Fontwerk as a completely reworked and revised font family. The fire brigade uses both Change and Change Letter for headlines on their website, in printed matter and annual reports, as well as on vehicles, buildings and equipment.

The in-house adoption and use of the new brand identity was overwhelming. Possibly the familiarity with the typeface, which became city-famous through the Be Berlin campaign, (see also the post on Fonts In Use) helped. “The implementation went surprisingly smoothly. First drafts of the new logo spread furiously and were eagerly used by staff long before a binding business directive came into force,” recalls Jens-Peter Wilke from the Press and Public Relations Department.

Fire station Pankow, set in Change Letter, which is no different from Change (Sans) in most capital letters.

Fire station Blankenfelde

Job advertisement in Berlin Fire Brigade’s annual report 2019

Statistical chart in Berlin Fire Brigade’s 333er Magazine

Statistical chart in Berlin Fire Brigade’s annual report 2019

Crafting instructions for those who want their own ambulance car at home

This board is designed using Nasser. Reading “Abu Saad”, it advertises a showroom for selling materials such as stainless steel, alucobond, mirrors, and colored glass. The phone numbers are set in Arial. The board was designed by the Al-Alamiyah firm.

The basic logo, to be turned into a neon sign eventually

Cry Baby is “a euphoric cocktail bar” coming to Asheville, North Carolina, in summer 2023. The lovechild of Lexy Rae and Zane Buchholz, Cry Baby will offer cocktails “inspired by martians and basketball.”

Connor Mikita already started working on the bar’s brand design. For the all-caps logo, he unearthed a largely forgotten Art Deco design of unclear origin. The hairline sans with added triangles looks a little as if Broadway (or rather its high-contrast cousin ITC Manhattan) had one martini too much. A film typeface was shown by Castcraft in their 1978 catalog as Ricky Tick, with numerous alternates. Shin Oka of Daylight Fonts points out loose similarities to a piece of lettering by A. Bardi, shown as “Publicité” in Vignettes Lettres Chiffres Monogrammes et Rehauts Modernes, Les Editions Guérinet, Paris, 1931. In 2010, Dick Pape made a freebie digitization named DXS Ricky Tick, based on a showing in Dan X. Solo’s Art Deco Display Alphabets, Dover from 1982.

Ricky Tick is paired with various 1970s (or 1970s-style) typefaces.

Business card featuring the logo in Ricky Tick, with Funkford (2018) for the slogan, “Cry now, cry later”. See Connor’s video for full glory. He comments: “This is most likely the start of a long tradition of gold embossing everything.”

The back of the business card additionally features ITC Pioneer (1970) for the title and phone number.

Announcement graphic with Zipper (1970)