Biber, which means “pepper” or “chilli” in Turkish and Serbo-Croatian, is an Austrian magazine that covers diversity, education, economy, politics, society, and culture, with a particular focus on Austrians with a migration background. Its first issue was published in 2006. The magazine ceased publication in 2023 but was relaunched in April 2025 with a print run of 100,000 appearing twice a year.

The first issue of the redesigned Biber magazine focuses on the people who keep Vienna running, both visible and invisible. Visually, the relaunch embraces a clean, contemporary editorial design grounded in clarity and contrast. Bold sans-serif typography, modular layouts, and an expressive colour palette define its new identity.

From layered interviews and street-level photo features to graphically minimal infographics, the magazine balances youthful energy with editorial discipline. The design aims to reflect Vienna’s cultural mosaic not through ornamentation, but through thoughtful hierarchy and human-centred storytelling.

The designer Valerija Ilcuka combined several typefaces with Farmacia by Nguyen Gobber used for headlines, and Exposure by 205TF, Triptych Roman by The Pyte Foundry, Aether Mono by DDOTT, and the sans-serif Athletics by Family Type for running and supporting text.

The anthology Samtidens Idehistorie (“Contemporary History of Ideas”) was printed by Narayana Press and published by Baggrund in 2021. The design was created by Mathias Skafte, and the text was set in Reply by Approximate Type.

Freiheitsschock is a best-selling book dealing with the recent German history. Written by Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk, it’s centered around the thesis that in 1989/90, East Germany suffered a “freedom shock”.

The jacket design is by Kunst oder Reklame, using a photo of the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz, around 1990. The typeface is Brandon Grotesque Black, used with ample tracking.

This is a short novel written by Maximiliano Cárdenas, edited by Ricardo Cabral and designed and illustrated by Santiago Guerrero using Perec and Perec Scripte (both by Alejandro Lo Celso, PampaType).

Democratic Futures is a collaborative inquiry between BA Hons Graphic Arts students at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton and the Parliamentary Archives. The project explored the political archives of the 1872 Secret Ballot Act on its 150th anniversary and the implications of this act then, and now, to the democratic electoral system.

Before the Secret Ballot Act, voting consisted of employers, landlords, political operatives and clergy using strategies of intimidation to exert their influence on citizens who had to vote by voice or show of hands. Voters would be bribed or coerced into voting for candidates regardless of their personal opinions or views. The 1872 Secret Ballot Act introduced a radical reform which ensured privacy in the procedures and the act of voting, introducing the democratic electoral system. With the progression into the third and fourth Industrial Revolutions there have been rapid shifts in the quantity and quality of political information that we consume. BA Graphic Art students at Winchester School of Art have speculated on and explored how the expansion of new technologies are changing how we interact with political information, and with it, the validity, reliability and authenticity of political content.

Rather than look for answers, students worked by proposing questions of alternative futures rather than a conventional design problem. Here, investigating through speculation acts as a tool of enquiry by provoking societal and political debates while challenging existing norms. Asking questions beyond the project title allowed students to expand the boundaries of the project through developing outcomes that consider potential future realities. Students also questioned their use of conventional design decisions, and adherence to organisational structures and universal systems. Such formal principles represent a limited definition of design. To challenge conventions and norms of design approach, students participated in a series of multidisciplinary workshops which aimed to challenge these existing design structures that might allow for more shared thinking and more ‘democratic’ visuals.

The process of collaboration and speculation within a project such as Democratic Futures was fundamental to developing new learning frameworks. In this publication, which acts as a record and an extension of the project, each contributor responded to a question that frames key issues, dialogues and related debates giving context and meaning to the work produced, beyond face values. We thank the following professional contributors for their supporting roles in enhancing student understanding and helping develop alternative approaches to challenging norms: Penny McMahon – Outreach Archivist, Parliamentary Archives; Ed D’Souza – Professor of Critical Practice, Winchester School of Art; Dem Gerolemou – Designer Google; Jonas Zieher – Motion Designer, Andy Reaney – Printmaking Technician, Winchester School of Art; and the in-house design studio of Winchester School of Art, Studio 3015.

São Paulo based alles blau studio designed all three of the Brazilian editions of Jacobin magazine, a left-wing periodical offering a socialist perspective on a variety of themes. Jacobin was started in the U.S. in 2010, and the Brazilian version was founded in 2019 releasing once a year.

The whole publication is set exclusively in Brazilian typefaces: the titles are set in Fabiano Procópio's Durango Kid, body copy and headlines are set in Naipe Foundry’s Discórdia and additional text is set in Typefolio’s Stevie Sans. All the illustrations commisioned for the magazine are also by Brazilian artists. The nameplate, which could be either lettering or based on an existing typeface, was inherited from the magazine’s US version.

Among the magazine's readers is former Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva.

Kapitalistinis realizmas: Nėra jokios alternatyvos? (“Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?”) by Mark Fisher, published by publishing house Hubris and designed by Vilmantas Žumbys. This publication was set using Suisse Int’l and Suisse Works by Ian Party. The pixel lettering is custom.

Description from the publisher’s website:

Capitalist realism is considered to be the most popular idea from Mark Fisher. It is based on Slavoj Žižek's idea that "it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism". Fisher’s aim in this book is to review the conditions that make the current system seem inevitable. His conclusions are shocking: while Capitalist Realism recognizes that capitalism is not an ideal system, it persuasively leads us to believe that a different system is simply impossible. The result is a society with atrophied imaginations, a whole bunch of psychological disabilities and general apathy.

Racist Traces is a project by Zinografie curated by Setareh Alipour for a peaceful coexistence.

On Saturday, 25 September 2021 portraits of people affected by everyday racism with their stories of experience were exhibited in Büsingpark in Offenbach am Main, Germany. It is about different negative experiences with fellow citizens, in the search for a job, the housing search, to discrimination by authorities or security apparatuses.

The aim is to encourage people to deal with the issue of everyday racism, to take a stance as an observer and to consciously stand up in everyday life against the statements and actions of others and for a respectful and peaceful society.

Seeing Annie Szafranski’s post about The Theatre of the Absurd reminded me of the 1931 Spanish Constitution I came across a few years back while researching the Super Veloz typographic system. The colors and the center-aligned Futura Black recalled this image for me.

“The Spanish Constitution of 1931 was approved by the Constituent Assembly on 9 December 1931. It was the constitution of the Second Spanish Republic (founded 14 April 1931) and was in force until 1 April 1939. This was the second period of Spanish history in which both head of state and head of government were democratically elected.” — Wikipedia

According to the image credits on Wikimedia, this version of the constitution was printed by Sucesores de Rivadeneyra S.A., a printer based in Madrid, who is still in the business of printing. The date, 1931, is reminiscent of the date set on the cover of the calendar produced by Sucesores de Rivadeneyra S.A. in 1932. The overall design style and the use of Futura Black are consistent with the modernist design aesthetic popular in Spain during the Second Republic. The prevailing style merged Art Deco-inspired influences with the more avant-garde cues emanating from Germany and the Soviet Union. The three bands of colors echo la tricolor, the flag of the Second Spanish Republic.

The interior pages are set in Linotype’s Antique No. 1 or something in the Bookman vein with the obliqued italics. The subheadings are set in a Fat Face that looks like Normande (Monotype’s recently released Falstaff is similar, too). The opening page shows a bit of a geometric sans also mixed in. It looks a lot like Futura, but has a wider C. Grotesca Radio (Gans) and Predilecta (Iranzo) come close, too, but don’t match.

Redesign of the culture and politics magazine il Mulino, founded in 1951. Tomo Tomo studio were inspired by the strength and formal neatness of the magazine covers of the 1960s and 70s. And from there we started to update the magazine. A new simplicity that gives space to the contents and value of the magazine’s texts. This clarity and simplicity of typography is then balanced by a strong chromatic component of the covers, also borrowed from the history of the magazine. The interiors, composed in Financier Text (Klim Type), are focused on legibility for a reading experience that is as pleasant as possible. The new masthead/logo and headlines are instead composed in Union by Radim Peško. The cover artworks are by Cristiana Couceiro. Every issue the two cover colors will be different.

Golnar Kat Rahmani is a designer of Iranian origin living and working in Berlin. After graduating from the Weißensee Kunsthochschule, she founded Studio Kat Rahmani. In her studio work, Golnar specializes in typography, type design and visual identities, featuring a strong expertise in multilingual typography with a focus on Persian/Arabic typography. In 2019, she designed Ropa Sans Arabic together with Botio Nikoltchev for the local Lettersoup foundry.

Her Type & Politics project is an initiative aimed at “freeing Arabic/Persian Type from its ideological connotations.” Golnar offers workshops that introduces designers and other interested people to Arabic and Persian type. The Type & Politics website shows visual impressions from previous workshops, including many examples of Arabic/Persian lettering. The website texts themselves are in English only, and feature Hypatia Sans for headings. The typeface named after the Hellenistic Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician is paired with Roboto for text, while the top menu is rendered in all-caps Futura PT. The Type & Politics logo appears to be custom drawn, using (Latin) unicase pixel letters that seem to reference square Kufic lettering, and a deviant ampersand that hints at the reversed writing direction used for Arabic text.

On 8 June 2021 Golnar Kat Rahmani will talk about the Type & Politics project at Typographics 2021. Fonts In Use is proud to be a media partner of the conference. See more work by speakers of the 2021 edition.

The publication series Recht + Politik (“Law and politics”), published by Verlag Basel-Landschaft is a series of judiciary handbooks that thematize basic legal aspects of constitutional and municipal law in the canton Basel-Land. NN Nouvelle Grotesk by Anton Studer is used on the book covers, and for headlines, footnotes and page navigation in the book interior. Body text is typeset in Adobe Caslon by Carol Twombly.

Recht + Politik 35 was added in 2020.

NN Nouvelle Grotesk is used for running titles, headings, and footnotes. Body text is set in Adobe Caslon.

From James E. Arsenault & Company:

An exceedingly rare broadside printing on silk of the American Anti-Slavery Society’s inaugural document, establishing the Society as the main activist arm of the American Abolition Movement which pushed for the immediate abolition of slavery in the U.S. […]

Issued by the AASS following their inaugural Philadelphia convention, this remarkable broadside calls for a “National Anti-Slavery Society” through promulgating a “Declaration of Sentiments.” Printed in two columns, the Declaration, written by Garrison, pointedly builds upon the spirit and principles of the American Revolution, and demands the immediate cessation of slavery throughout the entire United States. […]

Garrison’s text is surmounted by a wood-engraving by Reuben S. Gilbert (active 1833–1846). The classical illustration of Hercules and the Nemean lion is here powerfully repurposed to illustrate a verse from Psalm 91: “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.” […]

Printers Merrihew & Gunn of Philadelphia are known to have published other abolitionist materials

The titling text is set in Caslon’s Italian (or a very similar imitation) accompanied by Meridian Shade(d) for sub-titling, and some kind of Modern/Scotch serif for the body text. There is also an abundance of decorative borders framing and dividing the composition.

The Library of Congress offers a high-resolution image of another copy of the broadside where the type can be inspected in detail (view the full-quality 27.6 MB TIFF to avoid lossy image compression that otherwise makes the type hard to evaluate).

A detail from a high-res image hosted by the Library of Congress

This book is a collection of essays by John Berger, named after one of them: ‘Art and Property Now’. It is the first Croatian translation of Berger published in book form. It is also the first book in a newly founded series called ‘Tendencija’ (eng. tendency) which will deal with topics like art in the real world, the political aspects of art and the potential of the artist as an activist. The book was published by BLOK with support from the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung.

The layout and type choice are a contemporary interpretation of pocket-sized books printed in Europe (more specifically Yugoslavia) during the 1970s and 1980s. The book uses bolder weights of Druk for titles, a rigid sans serif that combines very nicely with the delicate and balanced curves of William, a modern Caslon interpretation used for body text and the cover.

The design contrasts the full color coated cover with the more rough interiors printed in Berger’s tradition, only in black on uncoated paper.

11×18.5 cm, 94 pp, stitched and glued in Otabind style.

Unfinished Conversations: New Work from the Collection brings together works by more than a dozen artists, made in the past decade and recently acquired by The Museum of Modern Art. The artists that make up this intergenerational selection address current anxiety and unrest around the world and offer critical reflections on our present moment.

The design language for the exhibition takes its form from artistic and political manifestos—large, bold, and declaratory.

For more information, visit damiensaatdjian.com and devapardue.com.

In the run-up to Malaysia's 14th General Election in 2018, Malaysians felt pressured by the ruling government, they were in dire need of a change, they needed a new direction, they needed a new Malaysia. How do we express our voice? Easy! Through typography.

Designing it was an easy task, it was a clear plan, it had to be chic with a strong statement, it had to be in Bebas and Didot.

The packaging was part of the statement, interconnected in spirit. A simple label, “Challenge Accepted” in Bebas, accompanied by Georgia.

Minimal. Absolutely in love with the end product. We did it!

Inimigo Público (“Public Enemy”) is a series of political protest and memory wheatpaste posters. In an electoral year (2018), probably the most challenging for Brazil in recent years, it's very important to remember who said what and who has already clearly stood against the people. Every list is an edition, this is ours.

The first part of the series, produced by Vertentes Coletivo, consists of four posters. They present João Dória Jr. ("Poor people have no food habit"), Geraldo Alckmin ("There's no shortage of water in São Paulo"), Michel Temer ("We need to keep it going"), and Jair Bolsonaro ("I won't rape you because you don't deserve it").

Their words are framed in big and sturdy straight quotes, with the quote's source set in smaller type below it. Both quote and source are set in Clarendon. The background is pack-jammed with large letters forming the words Inimigo Publico, set in David Jonathan Ross’s typeface Fit.

The posters are being spread all over the streets of São Paulo.

“There’s no shortage of water in São Paulo”

“I don't rape you because you don’t deserve it”

“Poor people have no food habit”

“We need to keep it going”

“The Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival is a unique collaboration by a range of civil society organisations interested in the protection and promotion of human rights at home and abroad. For over five years the Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival has seen a diverse range of organisations working in partnership to develop an annual programme of events which celebrates human rights both locally and internationally.” – description from The NIHRF website

The clean and friendly design is making use of JAF Bernina Sans’s wide range of weights and widths – great to see that the typeface is not only used for the identity but also for the continuous text on their wide range of promotional materials.

Styleframes / title designed for the the serie Baron Noir for the French television.

A political story about a war between two candidates for the president election.

The idea of this antagonistic conflict is precisely the opposition. The opposition to the Salazar dictatorship of the twentieth century. Referring generally to the course of events during the regime and the MFA acts (Armed Forces Movement) on April 25, 1974. António de Oliveira Salazar defends the principles of the Portuguese dictatorship and its monarchical power wishes, while General Humberto Delgado is one of the main opposition names advocating the democratization of the country. There are several factors relevant to the characters in the evolution of the Portuguese politics in the twentieth century, which makes this “versus” also a demonstration of the ideal socio-political conflicts.