The visual identity of the 2024 graduation show for ENSAV La Cambre, an art school based in Brussels, Belgium, celebrates the school's upcoming centenary.

It features visual elements from the school, including the digitized typefaces Erasme and Grotesque Commercial, as well as geometric shapes inspired by the garden plan of La Cambre Abbey.

The design aims to blend historical explorations with a contemporary message.

Cast was used by the communication agency avenue.ch to design the new visual identity of the Canons Monastery of St Michael in Beromünster. The typeface is used for the logo, website, signage, stationery and various pieces of lettering.

The Canons Monastery of St Michael in Beromünster has existed since the middle of the tenth century and is one of Switzerland’s cultural assets of national importance. Construction of the present church began around the year 1000. Since then, this place of prayer has become an impressive religious and cultural centre. The so-called Abbey District includes more than 40 buildings and many outstanding works of art.

The site is owned by the foundation, which has existed for more than 1,000 years and was confirmed and reorganised by Count Ulrich von Lenzburg in 1036. Today it is governed by the chapter of the abbey, to which the canons belong and which is presided over by the provost. The canons are secular priests who dedicate themselves to the service of prayer and liturgy and are committed to the maintenance of the abbey. Each canon runs his own household. Until 1806, they mostly came from the nobility or the patriciate. Today, they are deserving clergymen who spend their retirement there.

Valentin Magaro’s new book covers his oeuvre of the last fifteen years. It shows his fantastic figures, fictional worlds, repetitive patterns and references to art history, which he assembles into modern world theatres. The book comprises 168 pages with 400 drawings and paintings, as well as texts by Lucia Angela Cavegn, Nicole Seeberger, Shirana Shahbazi, Thomi Wolfensberger, and Valentin Magaro.

The entire publication was set in NN Konrad by Martina Meier. The layout refers to letterpress Bible pages—this reference is again clarified by the choice of typeface and its historical context.

Published by Sam Scherrer at Wolfsberg Verlag, Zürich
Concept and design: Jan Reimann, Sam Linder, Ivan Becerro (Studio Fuser & UFO)
Printed by J. E. Wolfensberger AG, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
ISBN 978-3-85997-670-2

Kapuzinerin Sprudel is a small batch brand for sparkling water from the Kloster Maria Opferung in Zug, Switzerland.

The “Kapuzinerin” logo is custom drawn in-house (or rather, in-cloister) by Martin Iten. For remaining text, the blackletter typeface Schmaltzy is used alongside Tiller, Rijsenburg, and Smillingen, complementing the ornamental illustrations. The labels are designed by Peter Voth, who writes:

The monastery existed for over 700 years, since 1309 to be exact. In the historic monastery building, the heart of the entire property, the Catholic lay organization Anima Una has been operating since the fall of 2018. The organization realizes creative projects that want to preserve the historical place and give it a future. One of these projects is this monastery product.

The label design features a major illustration of Sister Anna (1930–2019) the last Mother of the Capuchin Sisters of Maria Opferung. Also featured on the label is a historic engraving style illustration of the monastery and some herbs like nettles, peppermint leaves and Rosemary.

Saisons Zéro is a temporary occupation project of the Poor Clares Convent in Roubaix, France. A team around architects collective Zerm works towards the rehabilitation of the building, and to open it to the neighborhood.

Imagined as a truly alternative action on architectural heritage, the temporary occupation of this building enables its residents to experiment with practical, economical and simple ways to cater to essential needs such as housing, working, celebrating and living together as the days and seasons go by.

The visual identity and signage were inspired by the experimental feature of the project, as well as the need to make the building accessible to the visitors and the neighborhood residents.

Neue Montreal by Pangram Pangram is used in a single style, all caps, throughout the identity.

A former Augustinian convent became August – a modern-day sanctuary that embodies its sacred soul while charming one-and-all with modernist touches in every intricate detail. August is an ambitious restoration with the sole purpose to be a meeting point in the neighbourhood, and deliver an experience to remember for travelers of all ilk.

The geometric and functional character of Euclid Circular A fits the project perfectly.
Its straightforward shapes are a reference to the rigour and purity that were once fundamental values in the convent. Euclid is paired with the characteristic Gza which enhances the overall branding with its distinctive sharp, triangular serifs. The room numbers are hand-painted.

In How to Live Like a Monk: Medieval Wisdom for Modern Life, author Danièle Cybulskie discusses “how medieval monastic practices—with their emphasis on a healthy soul, mind, and body—can inspire us to live fuller lives today.” The book was designed by Misha Beletsky with illustrations by Anna Lobanova.

Misha shared these comments about the typography:

For a book on modern lifestyle that takes some cues from medieval asceticism, we needed a text type that feels current yet would hearken to earlier times. The restrained calligraphic feel of Jesse Ragan’s Study based on lettering of Rudolph Růžička, added a flavor of a scriptorium yet was not overtly Renaissance-inspired like other calligraphic text types such as Robert Slimbach’s Brioso or Jovica Veljović’s Agmena. To make it a perfect match to our subject matter, the squared-off curves echoed the structure of black letter without copying it.

For display we used the black weight of Fine Gothic—a friendly blackletter, reimagined by Michael Harvey and Andy Benedek in the spirit of Rudolf Koch.

Kunsthal Extra City found its new location in a former Dominican monastery in the city centre of Antwerp, Belgium. It transformed the space into an inspiring exhibition space for contemporary art, a place to reflect on the city and our changing society. In their search for meaning, Extra City dares to make radical choices, guided by a deliberately open-minded – even slightly naive – attitude. The graphic identity embraces that attitude, in trying to build a meaningful relationship with the location and Extra City’s past. Settling down in a deconsecrated church also means that you will have to answer to the questions: how can you build exhibitions within this specific setting? How can you go all out with losing respect for the location itself? These questions translated into remarkable exhibitions and a fitting graphic identity.

The scope of the project overspend all sorts of logical, and illogical, applications: a logo, typefaces, colour scheme, printed matter, a new website, entrance stickers, signage, gadgets … The very specific location of the new Kunsthal was the starting point for the graphic approach. From the floor tiles to the windows with coloured glass, a square/hatch is present. This quickly became a structural element which could be manipulated to fit several supports. It’s a carrier of the word “Extra City” in the logo but can also become a grid for the constructions that form the permanent signage. (For this we used a metal roster that is often seen in Belgian churches, carrying the typical communal wooden crosses youngster leave behind.) The entrance desk of the museum was designed by the Brussels based Rotor, using leftover scraps from a previous exhibition at MuZee in Ostend. Circularity and Extra City’s nomadic existence go hand in hand.

The fresco above the former churches entrance gates could not be touched so we put a floating hatch in neon just inches above the tableau, mimicking both the Basilica of Koekelberg’s red neon cross and/or local night show signage systems. A nice blend of high and low culture, lighting up the space with losing respect for its past. The x marks the spot.

The main Extra City logo is spelled out in Dinamo’s ABC Synt. The vertical and distinguished feel of the typeface worked when paired with ABC Monument Grotesk: the perfect couple. For the main exhibition, branded Radically Naive/ Naively Radical, a full exhibition guide was put together. The two smaller shows (Periphery and Watermarks, silent traces) each got a leaflet, which nicely folds around the main exhibition guide. The purple for the RN/NR hints again to its religious past and pops out in the streets of Antwerp. Using a limited budget we put together a website design which could be implemented in the backend of the previous site. The same machine, but with a new look. (Sort of like the old winAmp skins.) Studio RGB was responsible for the code.

Bely Display and Bely in use for the exhibition catalogue of the Kibékülés (“Reconciliation”) exhibition at the Pannonhalma Archabbey.

The rich and diverse collections of the Pannonhalma Archabbey are among the most important church collections in Hungary.However, the graphic prints kept here are rarely displayed at exhibitions. The year 2018 is related to the philosophy of reconciliation in Pannonhalma. This gave us the opportunity to present a selection from the material that is closely related to the same subject. — pannonhalma.hu

“Greetings from place of pilgrimage Maria Eck”

Kloster Maria Eck is a Franciscan monastery in Siegsdorf, Bavaria.

The pen script on the first card is Arabella, designed by Arno Drescher and issued by the Ludwig Wagner foundry in 1936. The second one uses the similar Skizze, drawn by Walter Höhnisch for Ludwig & Mayer in 1935. While Arabella has been digitized at least twice, Skizze is not available in digital form yet.

Both cards were published by Foto-Kaesberg, Ruhpolding, probably sometime around 1980. From MTP’s ephemera collection.

Maria Eck is located 882 metres above sea level (“Meter über dem Meer”).

Convent Carmen is a new cultural and gastronomic space born in the neighborhood of the same name, El Carmen of València. Located in the old Carmelite convent of St. Joseph and St. Theresa, Convent Carmen is defined as an open space both to the locals and newcomers, a convent open to the community where they can participate in different cultural and gastronomic events.

We have designed a logo in black and white, where the letter T is transformed into a cross through a neon green square as a reference to the physical space that once was a convent. The logo was designed in two versions (horizontal and vertical) so that it can be adapted to different application needs.

Thus we have a visual system dominated by the use of the reticle, typography, photography, positive and negative and a point of color. The color helps us separate the different areas: green for cultural events, red for everything related to their gastronomic offer, blue for the future hotel, etc.

The typeface family chosen for the development of the brand and the pieces is Commercial Type’s Druk, sans serif and bold, in several versions, condensed and extended. As a complementary typeface we have Schick Toikka’s Chap, a classic but contemporary font that refers to the reconversion of this religious space, now open to the public.

Client: Calma Ventures
Architects: Francesc Rifé Studio

A quiet young girl has a dispute with her mother. She decides to enter the monastery to become a nun. Upon her arrival, she is given a new name, Maria, and a mysterious past is brought out along the way revealing the history behind her rebellious acts. — The Lab Studios

Film poster by Contempt for Maria, a short film written and directed by Indonesian commercial and fashion photographer Giovanni Rustanto and produced by The Lab Studios, Prague.

Weltenburger Kloster – Anno 1050

The Art Nouveau typeface Romic is put to good use on the labels of the entire product range of Weltenburger Kloster brewery. Both the brewery's wordmark and the beer style are set in the typeface designed by Colin Brignall for Letraset in 1979.

Weltenburger Kloster – Asam Bock

Weltenburger Kloster – Barock Hell

Weltenburger Kloster – Hefe-Weißbier Hell

Klausur — Vom Leben im Kloster (“Seclusion — On Life in the Monastery”) is a special exhibition at Kloster Beuerberg (Beuerberg Abbey), organized by the Diözesanmuseum Freising. The web banner and the posters use Traulha Regulara in all caps. Yoann Minet’s contemporary Latin is used for the exhibition graphics, too.

Regrettably, the exhibition graphics use a slanted Traulha instead of the dainty Traulha Italica,

FBA:

The Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha, originated in the century. XIII, for centuries been partially submerged in water. In 2008 it was restored and opened to the public as a national monument of historic importance. The brand was developed from a typesetting that evokes the history of ancient monument and the fact of having been partially submerged in water for centuries.