This book by Nolwenn Maudet explores the emergence of digital design as a distinct field since the second half of the 20th century. While rooted in various design disciplines, digital design is defined by its interactive and programmed nature. At a time when creating digital interfaces can seem reduced to assembling standardized components, the author offers an “archaeology” of the theories that have shaped the interfaces we use today. Each chapter revolves around a key question, highlighting both past and ongoing theoretical debates within the field.

By connecting historical ideas with contemporary issues, the book encourages designers and students to critically reflect on the habits and constraints that guide their work. It emphasizes that interfaces and the language used to describe them are not neutral: they embed political visions and technological imaginaries that deeply influence how we relate to digital environments and, ultimately, how we experience the world.

Éditions deux-cent-cinq used Cosimo and Yorick, both designed by Mathieu Cortat and distributed by 205TF.

This traditional Japanese folktales book was written by Yei Theodora Ozaki in 1908 and has been organized and illustrated in this 2024 edition by Janaina Tokitaka. It is published by Baião, an imprint of the Brazilian publisher Editora Todavia, dedicated to children’s literature.

Cy was chosen for this project primarily because some of its letters, such as N and A, resemble elements of traditional Japanese architecture, with the main reference being torii gates, which symbolize the passage from the profane to the sacred world.

Another notable feature of this typeface, highlighted in the project, is its playful and unpredictable nature, as the glyphs appear to alternate seemingly at random within words.

A low-grammage paper was selected for this project as a nod to washi paper, allowing the subtle transparency between pages to become part of the illustrations, linking elements across spreads and creating a unique composition.

Designed by Miko McGinty and Rita Jules, and featuring Retina by Frere-Jones Type, Prospect 4. The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp by Trevor Schoonmaker was published by DelMonco Books/Prestel in 2017. The cover typeface is LTC Kennerley.

Accompanying the international triennial Prospect New Orleans, Prospect 4. The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp, the publication features work by 73 artists and arts collectives illustrating transcultural connections through contemporary art. The fourth iteration evokes New Orleans's natural environment–surrounded by bayous, lakes and wetlands near the mouth of the Mississippi River–and alludes to the city’s unique cultural landscape as a creative force.

Future Graphic Language: New Directions In Verbal Communication is a collection of essays that sum up the Future Graphic Language symposium held in 2019 at the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw as part of Future Text.

The book is typeset in typefaces of Le Laïc: Type Foundry: Figiel for headlines and the yet unreleased Kompan for the body of text.

The design aims to celebrate multiple directions of reading and communicating as well as it tries to challenge the traditional way of handling book as an item. Multiple pieces of custom lettering were created for the Future Text project, including an inverted contrast logotype and a variable type header, which were 3D printed. Retor is used for the visual communication fo the symposium.

The book was designed between 2020 to 2021.

Ausstellung (In Klammern) is a student-initiated group show that took place in an apartment in Berlin. Theodor Schaefer designed the identity of the art exhibition, along with the poster series and all informational materials.

The identity combines two typefaces, OO Neureal (designed by Laura Csocsán, re-released on Outline Online in 2026) for the titles, dates and names of artists throughout all materials, and Arial – partly with faux bolding – for body text as well as smaller numbers serving as index points.

Most of the cover type is set in Erbar-Grotesk halbfett – with the exception of the year 1932 and the house numbers 11 and 12: these are added from Futura fett. Maybe the printer didn’t have numerals in these sizes at hand. The oldstyle roman is Tiemann-Mediäval.

This posts features selected pages from the guide published for the Mitteldeutsche Funk- und Phono-Schau that took place in Leipzig in the fall of 1932, including the front and back covers and a number of interior pages, with infographics and adverts.

We get to see a range of period typefaces, all released by German foundries in the first third of the 20th century. The oldest one among them is Aviso, which appears for the labels on page 23, listing commonly used electrical circuit symbols. Aviso was first cast by Berthold in 1903. The monolinear italic might have been chosen for its similarity to DIN 16, the standard letterforms used in technical drawings. See the captions for more notes on the type.

The printing – and probably also the design – was done by Leipziger Buchdruckerei AG, a local company with ties to the Social Democrats.

The “Central German Radio and Phono Show” was the third major radio exhibition by the Leipzig chapter of the Arbeiter-Radio-Bund Deutschlands (ARB, “Workers’ Radio Federation of Germany”). In the foreword, the organizers write (translated):

Despite the severe economic crisis, the ARB has taken it upon itself to organize this exhibition. Since the last major exhibition (ARA 1928), transmission and reception technology have seen an upward trend that shows no signs of slowing down. This exhibition is intended to be more than just a promotional and sales event. It aims to introduce the layperson to the wide-ranging and fascinating field of radio technology. The technical processes are explained to visitors in a simple manner, organized into educational groups, using models and practical demonstrations. For the ARB, the goal is to familiarize listeners with the technical processes involved in radio broadcasting. The dissemination of technical knowledge is a cultural endeavor that should not be underestimated and forms the foundation for the ARB’s cultural mission.

The inner cover advertises capacitors, transformers and other parts to DIYers who build their own radios. It uses the same typefaces, with a headline in Energos. The monolinear sript was first cast by Schriftguss in 1932, making it the youngest one used in this booklet.

The text typeface is Säculum. Note the use of tracking for emphasis at the beginning of the last paragraph. The heading uses Erbar-Grotesk with a ch ligature and the standard German quote marks.

The ad by Ludwig Fries relies on Erbar-Grotesk’s space-saving schmalhalbfett style.

The electrical symbols, labeled in Aviso

Tables with values for the electrical resistance of various types of wire and the weight of one meter of wire

Ohm’s law and a formula for calculating the power handling capacity of resistors

The ad for radio journal Die Mirag pairs Energos with two weights of Erbar-Grotesk. The copy is in the Zweite Garnitur that is distinguished by a shorter x-height.

More Energos with Erbar and Tiemann-Mediäval for an by Radio-Schnorr. The logo at the top has handdrawn letters.

Schaub’s ad introduces Kreß-Versalien. The arrow was composed from several sorts, see the small gaps between them.

The Telefunken ad on the back cover uses Futura together with Signal. This script typeface was first cast by Berthold in 1931, one year before Energos.

Diabetes Mellitus is a book featuring the work of artist Aucke Paulusma. Along with the eponymous exhibition curated by Bram Groenteman, it explores the (in)visibility of this chronic illness. The publication also offers a rich exploration of the exhibition’s themes, featuring essays by Edwin Becker, head of exhibitions at the Van Gogh Museum, and curator Bram Groenteman. It was designed by Studio Berry Slok.

Nell’alba del tuo sguardo is a book that explores the sense of sight while transcending any form of traditional narration. It aims to provoke the reader to look inward, to explore what happens before conscious seeing – or perhaps immediately after – when the mind attempts to grasp what cannot be instantly deciphered.

It is the first of five volumes inspired by the five senses – sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell – approached not through a descriptive or didactic logic, but as territories to be explored, where imagination becomes a critical tool capable of questioning perceptual habits and constructing new possibilities of meaning.

The book is part of the RETINA editorial series by Numero Cromatico. It measures 20×27 cm, contains 40 pages in Italian, and is Risograph printed on recycled Favini paper.

Expo U60 is a publication created for the 60th anniversary of Uldry, designed by Atelier Pol:

Uldry, the famous printer specialising in poster printing, celebrated its 60th anniversary by inviting 60 creatives that they have worked with in the past, to design a unique poster. The posters were then displayed for a short time in the city of Bern and in an exhibition at the Kornhausforum.

The idea of the poster exhibition carries a certain transience. In contrast, our concept for the accompanying publication should document the event in text, images, and posters.
The posters, as objects, were literally folded and included into the publication. Each publication contains fifteen posters, mixed randomly, making every copy unique. This uniqueness is also evident in the open-thread binding of the spine showing ever changing colours.

The graphic design utilises two distinct typefaces: OO Lyga by Samira Schneuwly (released on Outline Online) for the running text and BD Orange by Büro Destruct (released on Typedifferent) for the titling.

A mini book by designed by Julie Bassinot, introduced as follow:

A book no taller than an ear of wheat.
6 × 4 cm, 244 pages, bound with linen thread.

Text by Élise Demeulenaere and Christophe Bonneuil: ‘Sharing Seeds: The social and identity-building of a “peasant” collective centred on alternative seed-saving practices.’

The exhibition Antípodas – Tão Distantes, Tão Próximos (“Antipodes – So Distant, So Close”) celebrates the 130th anniversary of the Friendship Treaty between Brazil and Japan, developed in partnership between Sesc Vila Mariana and the Japan Foundation. The project unfolds as a visual identity and wayfinding system for the largest spatial occupation ever held at the venue. More than placing artworks within the space, the exhibition design and signage needed to structure, orient, and guide visitors across multiple floors and formats of artistic production.

The starting point comes from the title itself: antipodes are opposite points on the planet, connected by an imaginary line – a direct image to speak about distance, relationship, and continuity between the two countries. The solution balances references from Japanese visual culture, such as rounded typefaces and codes embedded in the kawaii universe, with a graphic logic that shifts between restraint and excess. At times, white backgrounds and minimal elements; at others, color, layering, and density. This contrast organizes the journey and creates shifts in rhythm throughout the visit, extending into the printed materials as well.

The bilingual logic is central to the system: across all touchpoints, content is structured so that Portuguese appears at the top in blue and set with Brazilian typeface Elza Round, while Japanese sits below in red set with M PLUS Rounded. The colors directly reference the national flags, but primarily function as a consistent reading code across the entire communication system.

As an extension of this experience, custom eki stamps were created for each artwork. As visitors move through the exhibition, they can collect these marks, turning the visit into a progressive physical record of the show while revealing the paths each person chooses along the way.

Publication for SO THIS IS REAL LIFE: punk-post-punk imagining 1975–85, an exhibition presented at John Hansard Gallery in Southampton, UK.

Curated by writer Philip Hoare, the exhibition looks at the impact of the punk and post-punk period of the 1970s and 80s, and its present-day reverberations.

The booklet was designed by Daly & Lyon using Facility by Malte Bentzen, released by Optimo.

The exhibition Acervo de Histórias: Fazeres em Movimento brings together 44 works created by artists who have taken part in the Espaço de Tecnologias e Artes (ETA – Sesc Santo André) over the years. Everything emerges from processes experienced in workshops, courses, and educational activities. The exhibition highlights productions by 35 artists, artisans, and art educators who participated in ETA at different moments in their trajectories.

Klaus Richter’s 300-page photographic documentary Yamakasa takes a look behind the scenes of the spectacular Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival in the Japanese city of Fukuoka.

Yamakasa is not a classic photo book, but a tapestry of culture, closeness, and movement. The book was photographed by a renowned rock and metal scene photographer and designed by his son, and is all about a 785-year-old Japanese ritual. A German-Japanese font ‘spectacle’ carries and supports the book. Yamakasa documents the Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival 2025 and translates its energy into a visual language that goes far beyond mere documentation.

The origins of the festival date back to 1241, when the Buddhist monk Enni was carried through the city on a festival float by the population in order to drive away the plague with prayers. Over the centuries, the ritual ceremony developed into a spiritual festival that is unique in the world. Every year from July 1 to 15, seven groups of men parade through the old town with their magnificent Yamakasas: richly decorated wooden frames weighing over a ton.

German photographer Klaus Richter, who has been a constant companion to the rock and metal scene with his camera since the 1960s, received rare permission in 2025 to accompany one of the teams during the festivities. His photographs document not only the procession itself, but also the preparations, the breaks, the sweat, and the audience. They show the pulse of a community celebrating its tradition.

The impetus for the book came from the photo platform LFI Gallery (Leica Fotografie International). LFI Gallery awarded five photographs by Klaus Richter as ‘Mastershot’, five additional images as ‘Selection’, and one photo as ‘Picture of the Week’ in 2025.

Yamakasa was designed by Klaus Richter and his son Gabriel Richter. They conceptualized the book as a spatial and movable object. The headlines and texts move across the pages like the Yamakasa carriers through the city. The open thread stitching is not only an aesthetic detail, but a deliberate reference to the ropes and cords that hold the Yamakasas together. With around 300 pages, the book has a physical presence that conveys the weight and power of the festival.

During the preparations for the festival, the men wear stylish Toban Happi coats. There are over 50 different types. The Nishinagare group, accompanied by Klaus Richter, wear dark blue toban happi coats with white characters.

In the German-Japanese typography, the typeface collection Tausend from Fontwerk plays a central role and Gabriel Richter was also involved in its development. Its compactness and slightly slanted ends correspond strongly with the structure of Japanese Kanji and their dynamic strokes. Tightly spaced letters create a feeling of density and cohesion, as exemplified by the groups of men carrying their palanquin. In combination with the Japanese typeface Hiragino Sans from Screen Graphic Solutions Co., whose subtle weight gradations could be precisely matched to Tausend, a captivating typographic dialogue was created – without striking effects or cultural simplifications.

Yamakasa is a book about community, trust, and movement. Tausend and Hiragino Sans are not neutral carriers of information, but part of the narrative: powerful, compact, rhythmic. The project exemplifies how type not only accompanies, but also carries meaning. And how typography can bridge the gap between form and content.

Just as the stretcher is carried through the old town of Hakata, the explanatory texts take up different positions on the double pages.

One of the five master shots awarded by LFI: At 38 degrees Celsius, the air shimmers, and water from the buckets of spectators provides cooling relief.

The fonts Tausend and Hiragino Sans engage in a typographic dialogue, either in positive or negative space.

On the morning of July 15, just before sunrise, the highlight begins: the Oiyama run. With rhythmic drums behind them, the runners storm through the alleys – a mixture of ecstasy, ritual, and pure devotion. After the run, the group ceremonially tears the stretcher apart in a kind of battle. If the participants manage to grab something, they can take it home as a trophy. Since this ritual is too dangerous, it is now only performed by the group that Klaus Richter accompanied.

язык тишины (Yazyk Tishiny, English: “Language of Silence”) was made as a student project at HSE Art and Design School.

We are used to thinking of silence as a lack of sound or image, a kind of “pause” between important events. In my book, the opposite is true: silence is the main character and the active material. It is the moment when the visual noise subsides, and we finally begin to notice the very structure of things: the grain of the film, the rhythm of the grid, or the physics of the paper. It is not “nothing,” but “everything” that we usually don’t have enough time for.

I wanted to understand how silence in art goes from being just an empty space to becoming a powerful tool. In a world where everything is loud and fast-paced, I wanted to find ways to slow down the viewer. My goal was to create a system that would make people stop, look closer, and experience the pause as a full-fledged event.

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.

Nick Sakagami’s Sushi Master: An expert guide to sourcing, making, and enjoying sushi at home was first published in 2019. The 2023 edition, designed in-house at Quarto and published in their Chartwell Books imprint, features Epitaph by Frere-Jones Type for the title design. The secondary typefaces are Martin Majoor’s Scala Italic and Underware’s Auto.

Author Nick Sakagami is the only person outside of Japan to earn the designation osakana meister, or fish master. In this book he shares his vast knowledge of all things sushi, including sourcing, evaluating, and preparing fish, plus delicious recipes for sushi, soups, vegetable dishes, and more, that are perfect for the home cook.

Source: jellobiafrasays.tumblr.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Barcelona Step By Step by Bert and Frances Strauss

Barcelona pam a pam is a city guide written by Alexandre Cirici Pellicer (1914–1983) and first published in 1971 by Editorial Teide, with photographs by Oriol Maspons (1928–2013) and drawings by the author. Bert and Frances Strauss translated the book to the English, as Barcelona Step By Step (1974). A version in Castilian Spanish, Barcelona paso a paso, followed by 1975.

Source: en.todocoleccion.net Maria28MM (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Barcelona pam a pam (original Catalan version), with Cirici’s name in Akzidenz-Grotesk

Source: srabsenta.blogspot.com Cosas de Absenta (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Barcelona paso a paso (Castilian version), with Cirici’s name in Helvetica

All three editions feature the same cover design by Victor Rahola – with the title set on a curve, in A.M. Cassandre’s Bifur – albeit it with different colors for the hat of the man peering in from above. The interior pages are set in Folio and two typefaces by Simoncini: Karlgeorg Hoefer’s Permanent and Francesco Simoncini’s Aster.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Title page with Folio halbfett and Permanent

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Table of contents in Permanent. The colophon on the left is set in Monotype Grotesque.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Folio mager for the chapter title “How To Use This Book”, Aster for the text

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Detail with text set in two weights of Aster

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Chapter opening with the number from Folio’s extrafett and the title in the mager.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Text is interspersed with bits of history that are presented in a smaller size, also from Permanent.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Spread from chapter 11 on Antoni Gaudí, with one of the photographs by Maspons. The caption is in Aster Italic.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Detail with text set in two weights of Permanent

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Glossary of special terms

The cover to Volume 1

The Witches’ Marriage is a yuri manga by Studio Headline. Initially published from 2021 to 2023, the series was localized by Yen Press from 2023 to 2024.

For witches, love is power, and to open the Door of Truth— the ultimate goal for any spellcaster—Melissa needs to forge the strongest bonds she can. By now, she’s perfected her routine: marry a naive witch, use her to gain power, and discard her afterward. Melissa’s next target is Tanya, a young girl who’s fascinated by magic and longs to follow in her new mentor’s footsteps. But Tanya has a charm unlike Melissa’s other brides, and her pure, innocent cuteness just might be enough to melt the ice-cold witch’s heart…

The title seems to use Dancing Script, with alterations made in red and white highlights added to replicate the style of the Japanese logo. Stars replace the tittles in the i’s. The author name uses Bodoni Bold. The header and numbers on the Contents page are set in Bernhard Modern, while the chapter titles use Aclonica. The letterer for the manga is Bianca Pistillo.

The Japanese volume 1 cover. The English title is set in Cochin Bold.

What are the characteristics of a supernormal stimulus? Are works of art that we recognise as masterpieces of history to be considered superstimuli? Can works of art today promote behaviours such as empathy, a sense of aesthetics, and community, thus functioning as a critical tool that generates change?

Superstimolo. Come il cervello partecipa all’opera d’arte (“Superstimulus: How the Brain Contributes to a Work of Art”) opens up an initial interdisciplinary debate on the subject, reflecting on the importance of art and the effects it can generate on individuals, cultures, and societies and contains texts by Numero Cromatico (Dionigi Mattia Gagliardi, Giulia Torromino, Manuel Focareta, Sara Cuono, Federica Marenghi, Salvatore Gaetano Chiarella), Emanuele Arielli, Dina Riccò, Renata Gambino and Grazia Pulvirenti, Franco “Bifo” Berardi, David Freedberg.

The book is part of the INTRA editorial series by Numero Cromatico. Size: 13×19 cm, 152 pages, Risograph printed on recycled Favini paper. This publication was realised thanks to the contribution of the General Directorate for Education, Research and Cultural Institutes. The publication is part of the research project Art as supernatural stimulus. The work of art as superstimulus in the era of digitalisation of intersubjective experiences supported by the Italian Council program, Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity, Ministry of Culture (2021).