Orfeus Publishing has published Historien om den norske løve, a richly illustrated book by historian Knut Johannessen. Designed by Halvor Bodin, the book follows Norway’s coat of arms from its beginnings as a royal emblem in the 13th century through centuries of unions and key political moments such as 1814 and 1905, and into present-day use.

The visual material spans everything from coins, banknotes and stamps to folk art, uniforms, banners, bookbindings, sheet music and the royal standard.

The book uses typefaces from Store Norske Skriftkompani, and is primarily set in Store Norske Leif Regular at 9/13 pt., supported by Store Norske Gangster and Store Norske Skandia Condensed. The mix gives the book a confident editorial voice, with clear hierarchy across long-form text, captions, and display elements.

Blason is a small yet extensive publication gathering more than 100 photographs of coats of arms collected in France, as well as elsewhere in Europe, during the summer of 2025. This curatorial work marks the beginning of my DSAA diploma project and my dissertation at ENSAAMA, both dedicated to this same theme. The investigation explores how these symbols appear across different media, using a range of techniques: embroidery, stained glass, engraving, stone, wood… Each spread thus connects a context, a technique, a material, and a coat of arms.

Zum Jahreswechsel 1914. Gestatte mir hierdurch meinen sehr geschätzten Geschäfts-Freunden die besten Wünsche zu unterbreiten mit dem Ersuchen, das mir bisher entgegengebrachte Vertrauen auch künftighin freundlichst bewahren zu wollen. Hochachtend, Schriftgießerei Eduard Scholz

Translation:

On the occasion of the turn of the year 1914. Allow me herewith to extend my best wishes to my esteemed business friends with the request that the trust they have placed in me to date will be most kindly maintained in the future. Yours sincerely, Eduard Scholz Type Foundry

A politely phrased New Year’s greeting from Schriftgießerei Eduard Scholz in Vienna, set in caps from their Neue Block. This typeface is basically a copy of Berthold’s Reklameschrift Block (1908), but distinguished by smooth contours. Like the precursor from Berlin, it came with a range of alternates and ligatures that helped justify a block of text – see for example the two widths for E in the last two lines. The card also features alternates for F H L T U. The type is framed by two facing griffins – the heraldic animal of printers and typesetters – in sejant erect attitude, holding a pair of ink balls.

Happy New Year! Here’s hoping that it will turn out better than 1914.

MadeByShape collaborated with Stoneletters, a leading creative letter-cutting studio, to revitalise its branding and develop a bespoke website. Stoneletters creates bespoke headstones and architectural pieces through a personal and caring service, so the brand and website needed to reflect this.

The project aimed to reflect the studio's craftsmanship and personal service through a sophisticated and human-centric design. Utilising Craft CMS, the new site emphasises visual and written content that showcases Stoneletters' high-quality work and the people behind it. The typography and design elements were carefully selected to convey professionalism and trust, ensuring the brand feels exclusive yet approachable.

Middlesex University is a public research university located in the northern London suburb of Hendon. Its history dates back to the late 1880s with the establishment of St Katherine’s College and the Hornsey School of Arts and Crafts. These educational institutions later merged to become part of Middlesex Polytechnic, founded in 1973.

Middlesex was granted university status in 1992. Between 2005 and 2013, it established three overseas campuses in Dubai, Mauritius, and Malta. The university offers diverse study opportunities, including undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as research degrees and distance learning programs.

The logo of Middlesex University features graphic elements derived from the coat of arms of the historic Middlesex County Council and the traditional flag of Essex. These elements consist of three notched Saxon seaxes (cutlasses) and a crown, displayed on a red field. The logo incorporates the crest of Middlesex County, serving as a symbol of the university's heritage, which dates back to the late 19th century.

Landscape variation of the current logo.

Poster for a Robert Johnson event in Offenbach, Germany, a venue for electronic dance music. On that day, it hosted for DJs Bambounou, Oliver Hafenbauer, Tasker, and Jaures, from record labels Whities and Die Orakel.

Designed by Alex McCullough, adept art director of the record label AD 39 (formerly known as Whities). The design features typfaces Oracle and a slightly altered version of Strassburg Fraktur. It also contains, at the lower portion, an intriguing wraparound text discusing the heraldry of lions; which corresponds to the vibrant, core illustration.

Mariupol in use for an exhibition on the City Day of Mariupol (September 27) at the Ukrainian House in Kyiv.

The exhibition name is a wordplay on the Ukrainian Де ти? (“Where are you?”) and the Russian Дети (“children”), written on vehicles, houses, fences and even the theater to point out the presence of kids, in hope that the Russian army will not shoot (but they did regardless).

The exhibition presented photos from the siege and further occupation by Yevhen Sosnovsky and drawings by children form Mariupol.

In 2019 we were commissioned to design the corporate identity of Skawina – a small town and municipality at the outskirts of Kraków.

The project was supposed to be based on the municipal Coat of Arms, however, its graphic form adopted in 1994 aroused many doubts. Thus, prior to beginning work on the CID project, the proper heraldic analysis of the historic symbol was carried out, based on which it was thoroughly redesigned.

In 2020 the new project of the Coat of Arms, the municipal seal and flag of Skawina was approved by the Heraldic Registry (part of the Ministry of Interior and Administration) and adopted for use by the resolution of the City Council. It became the foundation for the Corporate Identity System.

The main inspiration for depicting Skawina was the historical illustration showing a panorama of Kraków, Kazimierz and Skawina from the 15th century Hartmann Schedel's Weltchronik, or Chronicle of the World.

A town among the hills depicted there neighbouring the Royal Capital brought us thought, that a good neighbourhood is an important element of Skawina’s identity and that we shouldn't be afraid of the expression “small town” – as it actually has its many benefits such as peace and quiet, close community and small distances. At the same time, there is good infrastructure, easy access to a big city and a huge potential for development.

Skawina is – in a good way – a common small town. Good neighbours, easy access to everywhere, nice school, reasonable investment. We felt like this project should also be simple, easy to understand and to use. That is why we chose the most common typefaces: Arial and Times New Roman, and the simplest, easy-to-use layouts, illustrations and icons.

Grafika 1 (1970), ft. Bauhaus Prisma K from Ed Benguiat’s Bauhaus Prisma & Prisma Bauhaus. This series of multiline faces was introduced in the same year and showcased in PLINC’s Art Deco-themed Alphabet Directions No. 11.

Covers for various clip books of line art issued by Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio, Pleasantville, New Jersey. See the previous post about the clip books issued in 1955 for more information on Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio.

These booklets belong to a subseries titled Grafika. It was introduced in 1970. Until 1972, 18 numbered issues were produced. From No. 19 on, the number was no longer shown prominently, and Grafika were merged into the regular series of clip books. Collector Bart Solenthaler comments:

Volk published several titles in addition to the regular clip books – including Grafika – that started out with a distinct mission, but they all eventually became interchangeable in content to their other offerings.

Although not yet used for the first issues, ITC Fat Face soon emerged as the identity typeface for the Grafika series, and was maintained for later additions, see e.g. No. 113 from 1980. Like ITC Avant Garde Gothic and ITC Ronda, ITC Fat Face is the work of Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase. These three typefaces were all released in 1970.

Grafika 2 (1971) ft. ITC Avant Garde Gothic, with the numeral 2 from Craw Modern or similar tucked into the counter of the monocular a.

Grafika 3 (1971) appears to use a solid, filled-in modification of Bauhaus Prisma. When compared to Bauhaus Alpha or Bauhaus Geometric (PLINC’s precursors of ITC Bauhaus), the differences are most notable in the counters of R (not round) and A (much larger), as well as the K with more even arms. G was trimmed for tighter spacing.

Grafika 5 sees a return of Bauhaus Prisma K, here with an “Arabic” numeral. This thick-thin-thin-thick-thin face is also used for No. 7.

Grafika 8 (1971) proudly features ITC Fat Face, with ligatures for ra and fi. While the latter was included in the font, the former appears to be a clever custom invention. This eventually became the de facto logo of Grafika.

Grafika 9 (1971) uses a phototype version of Clearface. According to the One Line catalog (1971), Photo-Lettering, Inc. offered the design in 4 weights and 2 widths, plus italics. In 1978, ITC released a version in 4 weights, credited to Victor Caruso. ITC Clearface is narrower than the variant used here. The text in light lowercase letters inside the counter is set in ITC Avant Garde Gothic.

Grafika 11 (1971).

Grafika 12 (1971).

Grafika 14 (1972). “A Gallery of Contemporary Art” is in tightly spaced ITC Ronda.

Grafika 15 (1972).

Grafika 16 (1972).

Grafika 17 (1972).

Grafika 18 (1972).

“America” (No. G20, 1972) ft. tightly spaced caps from Futura Light, with a custom CA ligature. The small text here is set in all-caps Helvetica.

“Design Devices” (No. G22, 1972) ft. Advertisers Gothic.

“Ad Animals” (No. G25, 1972) ft. Mania.

Branding for Américo, a sales agent for clothing and accessories based in Porto. The design combines the sans serif Lack and the biform Didone Solide Mirage, both distributed by the Velvetyne Type Foundry. See more images on Behance.

Identity for The Michigander Bike Tour by Terry Sieting, pairing Paul Renner's Futura alongside a color palette that captures Michigan's rolling hills and brisk waters.

The Michigander Bike Tour combines the best of the Great Lakes state's scenic trails and breathtaking views. Presented by the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance and the Michigan Fitness Foundation, this ride selects a new set of paths each year for riders to enjoy. Rated as “One of the top 10 multi-day rides in America” by Bicycling Magazine, this scenic tour is sincerely unique and rivals the best outdoor experiences in the Midwest.

In November 2015, prior to the 25th ride event, Terry Sieting was invited to reimagine the brand identity for the Michigander Bike Tour. Working alongside Dennis Pace, board member of the MTGA and Michigander participant, the team crafted the now award-winning identity.

Sieting’s focus was on capturing the essence of the ride: adventure, verdancy, and joy. The identity was highly inspired by midcentury artifacts of the biking world, none less than the iconic head badge.

From Anne Quito’s article Branding the World’s Newest Country in Works that Work magazine, 2014:

South Sudan’s Independence Day was set for only six months after the referendum that established the new country’s independence from Sudan. In that short time state symbols had to be proposed, refined, adopted and promulgated to a country still torn by internal conflict.

From an outsider’s point of view, there is nothing remarkable about the design of the South Sudan coat of arms. It is formulaic, a non-design design, its eagle-shield-cartouche combination so commonplace that it looks ready-made, the graphic design equivalent of an instant meal: just add flag. (...) For a population so determined to separate itself from the north, South Sudan chose a design that is essentially a reinterpretation of the Sudanese coat of arms.

Toko:

Identity and logo design for Host, Australia’s largest independent communication agency. Central in the logo is the “coat of arms” (compulsory element from previous identity) which represents the “Host”. Around it are the individual letters, a symbolic reference to Host’s collaborative approach and it’s broader philosophy. Besides the logo, the visual identity comprises out of multiple patterns and a suite of energetic colours representing the independent studio culture and it’s individuals.

Animated GIF. Click to view.

“The name of the undergarment brand Escuyer comes from ‘Esquire' in old French. As its name suggests, Escuyer is dedicated to serve and facilitate the life of the busy working & entrepreneurial men. We created a visual solution based on the heraldic system. This typographic reinterpretation of heraldry is not only strongly linked to the brand's name, but it also conveys the brand's world.” — DesignPractice