Kurt Woerpel, Nejc Prah, and Tracy Ma had used Focal alongside ABC Marist and VCR OSD Mono for the report Inside Youth Basketball published by the Luka Dončić Foundation.

The Foundation uses Focal and Marist also for its branding – which was directly inspired by the design of the report. Focal is paired with different typefaces and illustrated letters to give an expressive and vibrant view on where basketball is with the youth around the world. It also stands a lone in some more somber instances of the report and the foundations branding.

More from the Luka Dončić Foundation:

Basketball changes lives. But today, too many kids are walking away from the sport. Five months of research across two continents revealed why—and how we can change it. Based in Ljubljana and Los Angeles, we're a youth development foundation creating positive change worldwide. Inspired by our founder's journey from Slovenia to Dallas to Los Angeles, we build bridges between cultures to transform young lives through the power of play.

In 2025, the Typographische Gesellschaft Austria (Typographic Society Austria, tga) organized the anniversary edition of what is one of the best typography conferences I’ve attended. The symposium took place in late August on Burg Raabs an der Thaya – which is, hands down, the most spectacular venue for such an event.

Visiting the symposium allowed me to revisit some of the places I had photographed on previous occasions. This includes the script lettering on the former shop of Josef Stallecker on Hauptplatz, the municipality’s main square. On two sides of the single-story building, it mentions his profession, “Sattler Tapezierer” (“upholsterer, decorator”), and the areas of services, “Polstermöbel Bodenbelag” (“upholstered furniture, floor covering”).

With their reluctant connections and the crammed m, the low-contrast letterforms reminded me of IBM Script, a monospaced script made in the 1960s for the IBM Selectric typewriter. However, the actual source is another three decades older than that: the unknown sign maker patterned the letterforms after Signal, a foundry typeface first cast by Berthold in 1931. Its slightly awkward shapes – strung like beads on a string, with built-in connectors – have to do with the fact that metal script typefaces from that era were produced to have no overhangs, so that no delicate parts would break in the stereotyping process.

The lettering was engraved into the plaster and then painted in. I’m not sure what happened to “Josef” and “Sattler” – were these words left uncolored? Did they use a different color that faded away over the years?

Established in 1912 (by Josef’s parents?), the family business is currently run by Thomas Stallecker. It’s now located about 200 m to the west, still at Hauptplatz. The painted sign on the yellow façade reads “Raumausstatter Stallecker” (“interior decorator”) and uses Tintoretto. This bicolor typeface – a shaded variant of Aldo Manutio – was issued by Schelter & Giesecke in 1894. It got a new lease of life after Letraset issued their version in the early 1970s. Stallecker uses it in two shades of brown, with an underline for good measure.

For comparison, a resetting of the words in FDI Lettograph. This 2024 digitization is largely faithful to the original, with the exception of the p. In Signal, this letter is open at the bottom, as in German school script models (and also in formal scripts).

Metal Signal came with two forms for the lowercase r, but without one that omits the exit stroke (FDI Lettograph automatically inserts such a contextual alternate, see above). The sign painter invented an optimized terminal form for “Sattler”, but didn’t use it for “Tapezierer”. In “Stallecker”, they made up for it with an impromptu swash.

The business’s new location with the name in bichromatic Tintoretto

View of Raabs, with the castle – the conference venue featuring the tga’s pink flag – in the background

The Metropol used to be a cinema on Malzplan in Eisenberg, Thuringia. Established in 1913, it operated until 1952, when it was superseded by the Karl-Marx-Lichtspiele on Schützenplatz. In 2018, the building was renovated and converted into five apartments. Around that time, a new painted sign was added to the façade. It’s based on a typeface that apparently was chosen to refer to the beginnings of the cinema in the early twentieth century.

The origins of the the typeface are unknown. Stylistically, it can be classified as Art Nouveau. The first known sighting is in a 1970 catalog by Californian phototype provider Lettergraphics, under the name Chianti. It’s not clear whether it was based on an older typeface or alphabet, or whether it was an original creation. Four years later, it appeared in a specimen book by Berthold Fototype, now named Freddy, and credited to Facsimile Fonts, another Californian company. In 1978, Castcraft in Chicago showed the bottom-heavy design as Talos (“similar to Chianti”).

The version that was used as the basis for the sign in Eisenberg likely is one of the many digital interpretations, which include Pantagruel (Scriptorium, 1993), Cordeballet (Alexandra Leopoldovna Gophmann, 2006), and Display Art One (Gerald Gallo, 2009).

The photo was taken by Monsieur Adrien in September 2024.

Large exterior mural for Blaze Media, designed and painted by Andrew Wolfenden in Liverpool using Tablet Gothic Narrow.

Prévelle is a Parisian restaurant born from memory, where chef Romain Meder crafts a free-spirited and instinctive cuisine. Its name is inspired by La Combe au Prévelle, a place nestled in the chef’s native village of Neurey-lès-la-Demie. Prévelle evokes quiet paths once explored and the gentle rhythm of walks through nature.

The logo uses Ninna Italic (designed by Margot Lévêque), combined with light caps from Ready (by Andrei Robu) for the chef’s name. The talented sign painter Victor Bert added the final touch by painting the logo on the door.

Parmizza is a Los Angeles-based restaurant that offers casual dining and drinks. Its signature dish, the Parmizza, is a playful fusion of “Parm” and “Pizza”. Parm, short for Parmigiana, is an Italian-American dish made with breaded and fried ingredients like chicken or eggplant, topped with Parmesan. The mix of these flavours with traditional pizza toppings gives Parmizza its culinary twist.

The restaurant’s visual identity draws inspiration from the aesthetics of Italian-American diners, creating a playful and inviting atmosphere. The wordmark Parmizza is set in Farmacia by Nguyen Gobber, displayed in all caps, and appears across various touchpoints, including the restaurant’s sign, T-shirts, caps, and other materials.

Dinette Market is a project imagined by Jérémy Raucq, crafting gourmet rugs and objects in Lyon, France.

The main typeface, Pimpit, was created by the talented Benoît Bodhuin and the secondary typefaces Chaumont Script and GT Maru are equally brilliant. The website was lovingly and humorously designed using Readymag.

Find out more about the project on the website of C’est par là or on Instagram.

Backdrop mural designed and painted for a promotional event by Adidas and JD Sports with Glass Events, using a mixture of Owners XXNarrow XBlack by MCKL and custom lettering by Andrew Wolfenden.

Window painting for 10 years of Maray, a restaurant on Bold Street in Liverpool, using CoFo Gothic Black. The art is based on their most popular dish, the disco ball cauliflower.

Schuhhaus Kahr is a footwear store in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany. The name on the façade is hand-painted in a cursive with distinct vertical contrast and only moderate slant. This style is not an invention of the sign painter: it’s clearly modeled after Daphne (hat tip to Fontastique Fonts).

Shoes are not hats, of course, but in way, Daphne came full circle, being used for a fashion retailer again: Georg Salden based his typeface design on a calligraphic advert that he had written with a broad nib pen for a hat store in Dusseldorf in the 1960s. It was produced as a font for phototypesetting and released with Berthold in 1970. A digital version is available from TypeManufactur and Ludwig Type.

For comparison: a resetting in the digital Daphne, produced with the help of Ludwig Übele

The shopfront with the Vercors massif as a backdrop

Atelier du 9 Bis is a tiny bike repair shop located in Die in southern France. Léa Chapon designed and painted the front shop. The name of the store, as well as the details of its services, are entirely hand-painted based on Le Murmure, a typeface designed by Jérémy Landes and released in 2018 by Velvetyne Type Foundry.

The charming sign with “BIS” underscored and set as superscript

Full caps and narrow line spacing associated with the lovely ampersand (arguably hard to reproduce)

Portland's unofficial slogan “Keep Portland Weird” appears in a few different styles and formats, but most commonly using Ad Lib, or lettering based on Ad Lib, and in yellow on black.

The original two-line slogan, on the side of Millennium Music, has “Weird” being based on Ad Lib (the E and D especially), and “Keep Portland” in a somewhat generic signwriter’s sans serif. The later and more popular one-line version is a little closer to Ad Lib throughout.

The slogan is an obvious opportunity for a variety of fan art and merchandising, much of which still retains Ad Lib, and often Antique Olive.

Brian Kidd who wants to Make Portland Weird (Again), on a T-shirt. This time it’s Ad Lib, with what looks like squeezed House Brush.

Apparently the site of the original “Keep Portland Weird” slogan: Music Millennium.

In the spirit of the original two-line slogan, Antique Olive for “Keep Portland” and Ad Lib for “Weird”, with the motif repeated in a few different colour ways.

Bumper Sticker design, again with Antique Olive and Ad Lib

Another example of hand-painted Banco, spotted by Étienne Pouvreau in the streets of the Ballainvilliers district in Clermont-Ferrand, central France. In this application, the swift strokes of Roger Excoffon’s design were made upright. Banco got small caps and a white shadow effect.

Comptoir Central des Bazars was a toy shop run by Micheline Bufferne. Born Chartoire, she took over the store from her father, who started the business in 1933. Micheline died in early 2020, at the age of 98. Pascal Guinard portrayed her and the shop in an article for Montagne (translated from the French):

Once you walked through the door, it was a breath of nostalgia and the sweet scent of childhood that hit you in the face. Nestled between the Bargoin museum and the Lecoq museum, in Clermont-Ferrand, it was the toy temple. But be careful, not just any one! At the Central Bazaar Counter, there are no flashy signs, no aggressive neon lights. Everything was period. A heavy metal curtain, attacked by rust, protected a storefront made of wood and glass. The peeling brown paint had also suffered from the ravages of time.

See the shop front on Google Street View, with graffiti that changes over the years.

Title for Episode 1

From Sky:

When two estranged brothers Glen (Ryan Sampson) and Lee (Danny Dyer) find themselves under one roof in “idyllic” suburbia, their lives start to unravel faster than a cheap carpet. Written by Ryan Sampson (Brassic, Plebs) this relatable, irreverent comedy about brotherhood, manhood and carpet sales in Essex also stars Harriet Webb, Adrian Scarborough, Fatiha El Ghorri, Ned Dennehy, Victoria Alcock, Geoff Bell, Nitin Ganatra, Judi Love and more. Mr Bigstuff comes to Sky this July.

A handpainted-effect and adapted Elephant is used for type for the trailer and main title.

Matthew Carter’s Cascade Script (1965), painted by hand with slanted and shaded letterforms, for the sign of a convenience store in Samer, Pas-de-Calais, in northern France.

Le jeu de la poule de Bazouges is a pedagogic tool inspired from board games such as Trivial Pursuit and Snakes and Ladders. This unique piece was hand-built from wood and painted by Léa Maraszek as a way to discover both the history and the art of Bazouges-la-Pérouse. The titling and the cases numbers showcase a hand painted version of Karrik.

Tifo unfurled ahead of kick-off between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers on Saturday 30th March 2024

Bradley DJR in use for a tifo design unfurled by the Vancouver Southsiders at an MLS Cascadia derby game between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers.

The display pays homage to the Vancouver Whitecaps’ current status as reigning champions of the Cascadia Cup. This supporters-created trophy is contested annually between the Vancouver Whitecaps, Seattle Sounders, and Portland Timbers, with the trophy awarded to the club with the best record among the three rivals at the conclusion of an MLS season.

The tifo was traced, painted and assembled by members of the Vancouver Southsiders supporters group.

Tifo painting session involving members of the Vancouver Southsiders supports group.

Tifo from the stands

Tifo practice session at BC Place ahead of the game

Tifo practice session at BC Place ahead of the game

Tifo practice session at BC Place ahead of the game

Musée du Débarquement Arromanches is a museum dedicated to the memory of D-Day in the Second World War, located in Arromanches in Normandy, France. It was initially built in 1954 facing the sea where the artificial harbour Mulberry B (B for British) operated. After almost 70 years of activity, a new building opened in 2023. The new museum was designed by the Projectiles architecture agency.

The graphic design for the permanent exhibition was done by WA75 (Laurent Mészáros & Yorel Cayla), using BN Times Gothic, LL Medium and Routed Gothic.

Each sequence in the exhibition is indicated by a solid white area. The imposing titles set in all-caps BN Times Gothic are the result of a process of analysis and synthesis, to keep just one title for all languages. Text is set in LL Medium, which functions as a true text font, sharing common roots with titles. The many maps produced by the agency are set in Routed Gothic, reminiscent of maps design with a pantograph font.

See also the previous post about the museum’s wayfinding.

Musée du Débarquement Arromanches is a museum dedicated to the memory of D-Day in the Second World War, located in Arromanches in Normandy, France. It was initially built in 1954 facing the sea where the artificial harbour Mulberry B (B for British) operated. After almost 70 years of activity, a new building opened in 2023. The new museum was designed by the Projectiles architecture agency.

The graphic design for the wayfinding system and the exhibition was done by WA75 (Laurent Mészáros & Yorel Cayla), using BN Times Gothic. The imposing wayfinding information is painted on the concrete walls in a white area, which provides a brutalist response to the building. This graphic composition first appeared on the concrete caissons (Phoenix breakwaters) built as part of the artificial harbour.

A Phoenix breakwaters from the artificial Mulberry harbour in Normandy during World War II.

From the website of Polish literary magazine Cegła (“Brick”), translated:

The 44th issue of Cegła magazine “Tu i teraz / Podłóż Cegłę” (“Here and Now / Lay a Brick”) was prepared on six wooden yoga blocks, on which appeared poems by Julia Fiedorczuk, Klara Nowakowska, Julia Szychowiak, Konrad Gora, Edward Pasewicz, and Andrzej Sosnowski. The works in their expression refer and relate to the climate of meditation, Eastern culture, concentration and contemplation, and the body. All the prints were made using screen printing. The shape of the wooden pine yoga cube, which resembles a brick, is also not insignificant. The issue was first presented at the 28th Wroclaw Good Books Fair 2019 as an installation assembled into a square of 300 cubes, on which a mandala by Karolina Wisniewska (Love Gyyethy) was hand-painted. Because of this, each cube has an individual character and is a unique piece of a larger whole. All cubes are numbered from 1 to 300. We invite you to contemplate poetry and meditation!

Designer Karolina Wiśniewska used Pickle-Standard by Benoît Bodhuin and Suisse Int’l by Swiss Typefaces. A pdf is available to download.