Every year, the MTV VMAs (Video Music Awards) stake a claim as the ultimate anti-academy awards, with a colourful night of jaw-dropping performances watched by a vast global audience. From Britney’s serpentine co-star to Ye’s infamous interruption, headline-grabbing moments play a key role in VMAs folklore. The branding follows suit, with MTV’s archetypal, in-your-face attitude shouting louder than other awards. For 2022 and 2023, MTV invited Studio Dumbar/DEPT® to create a campaign identity encompassing motion design and social media visuals.

For the type, Studio Dumbar chose Signs (by Swiss foundry Maxitype)—a chunky, spirited typeface that communicates with clarity whether static or in motion—combined with Selecta for the informative text displayed in compact sizes.

From the website of publisher Taschen:

Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History presents the bling culture of rappers and their jewelry. Using 40 years of iconic imagery and compelling stories, this visual history shines a light on the world of hip-hop, where mega stars from Run-DMC to Tupac and Jay-Z to Migos and Cardi B flash brilliant custom pieces to show status and personal style.

The book is fully set in Flecha with support from an unidentified sans serif, while the book title on the cover and spine uses the Bold weight of Migra. The sans serif used for body text (and some page navigation) is yet to be identified.

I’ve said before that type, like music, sparks conversation. At Plau, our mission is “to make fonts and type as pop as music”, but I never would have guessed that could mean Tenez on the cover of the next Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion collaboration.

Time and time again I think Tenez is picked up by what sets it apart, namely the organic shapes and the quirky letter R (thanks Lucas Campoi, for forcing me to go out of my comfort zone and keep it as default… you changed my life!).

The mix of elegant photography and minimalist typographic setting plus the iconic styles of Cardi and Meg make for a truly stunning cover. And the styling, especially the hairstyle is… Just. Wow.

It’s interesting to imagine the thought process in choosing the typeface. Was it defined by the photographic direction? Would it be pretentious to think the photo came from the type? Maybe I’m getting way over my head, but to see how they interact, how they work together, makes me thrilled to see how Tenez could be used next.

[More info on Discogs]

The BET Awards were established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate African Americans and other American minorities in music, acting, sports, and other fields of entertainment over the past year. The awards are presented annually, and are broadcast live on BET. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by artists, and some of the awards of more popular interest are presented in a televised ceremony. — Wikipedia

For the visual identity of the famed award's 2019 ceremony, Sibling Rivalry Studio decided to pair two contrasting display typefaces, Brik and Grandmaster, both distributed by The Designers Foundry.

It is a particularly well-suited use of the extra-condensed Grandmaster, as the typeface was partly inspired by hip-hop (for its name as well as for its design), a music genre that is central to the BET Awards.

For the 2018 Art Issue of W magazine, design director Cian Browne & art director Jeff Burch chose Signal Compressed as the main titling typeface, paired with an extended style of Neue Helvetica for subheads and pull quotes. Body text is set with Whitman, captions with Graphik Condensed and page number and running foot title with Platform, a signature typeface from the magazine.