Valencia Plaza magazine celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2025 with two publications that compile and review this period.

A design project divided into two complementary volumes: on the one hand, a yearbook that reviews fifteen years of context and transformation in the Valencian Community, organising content and voices within a clear structure. On the other, an edition built around images, where the photographic archive of this digital newspaper offers a freer interpretation of the period and allows the photographs to set their own pace.

Typography plays a central role in the Estiu’s design. Schotis, by Juanjo López, sets the tone for the publications and articulates the hierarchies and typographic system, bringing identity and coherence to the whole. The supporting sans is Inter by Rasmus Andersson. The magazine’s logo (not part of this design) is in Capitolium by Gerard Unger.

Two distinct but connected publications, conceived as a way of looking back and building memory from the present.

Cпорт в Советском изобразительном искусстве / Sport in Soviet Fine Art was published in hardback by Sovetsky Khudozhnik, Moscow, in 1974. It comes with a text by A. Davydova.

The structure of the album—a system of two blocks, the inclusion of subjects not, at first glance, directly related to the main theme, and chromatic rhythmic contrasts—made it possible to convey the essential features of Soviet sport as an integral part of Soviet society, its social function, and its inherent dynamism. The album presents reproductions of works by A. Deineka, M. Manizer, M. Gerasimov, G. Savitsky, G. Toidze, S. Lebedeva, and many others.

From the publisher’s annotation:

The publishing house regards the reader as an active co-author of the album. By freely combining fragments of paintings in various arrangements, the reader will discover a wide field for imagination, construct their own rhythm, and independently create an image of a bright, joyful celebration—sport—one that most fully corresponds to their character, knowledge, mood, and emotional state.

Jhambo Ink, a boutique publisher in London, brought out a limited edition in 1,000 hand-numbered copies of a double book bringing together Caroll’s Alice's Adventures Under Ground and Alice In Wonderland. Ana Santiago of Index designed the two books joined by their spines in a dos-à-dos binding. The book is richly illustrated by Brazilian artist Zansky.

While the box containing the book is text-less, the covers are exclusively typographic, showcasing Le Murmure in a playful elongated and top-aligned layout. The font is used throughout the book in both its normal shape but also often vertically elongated (without distortions) or horizontally stretched (with distortions). It's accompanied by Viskjø doing a great job for inter-titles in all caps as well as for the text of the stories themselves.

Villa Libertad, Une communauté italienne en Argentine is the title of my Master’s degree project made at ÉSAD Pau. It is the result of a graphic and historical investigation initiated from genealogical research conducted in the northeast of Argentina. In the parish archives, I encountered a forgotten priest called Pedro Cisamolo who was living in a town named Villa Libertad and populated almost exclusively by Europeans. Between 1895 and 1901, this individual drew more than a thousand illustrations in those registers: animals, plants, landscapes, people, religious iconographies, buildings, smiling suns, etc.

This discovery was the point of entry into the history of the migratory and colonizing policies of 19th century Argentina. The law of 1876, in particular, is considered a turning point because it allowed, at the expense of the Argentinian Government, the coming of thousand Europeans who upon arrival were offered land to cultivate. Thus, in many provinces, colonies – as an artificial urban centers – were established. Villa Libertad is one of them, the first national colony of the Entre Ríos province.

This editorial project is made up of two complementary books. The first relates a historical study rooted in 19th century archives and more recent works conducted by Alejandro Fernández, an Argentinian historian. This book, through the faithful translation of these documents, contextualizes the founding and development of the Villa Libertad colony from 1872 to 1901. The second book compiles the huge amount of illustrated signatures made by Pedro Cisamolo in the parish archives. From scribble to calligraphy and finally to a whimsical bestiary, the evolution of his signatures eventually builds a singular repertoire of scriptural and figurative forms.

To emphasize the historical link between Italy and Argentina, typefaces from both countries were used. Titles and section markers are set in Borges Gris from the Argentinian foundry PampaType, and the body text in Etrusco Now, from the Italian foundry Zetafonts.

Cover of Volume 1 (of 2)

Parker’s description of all living organisms published in 1982 in a two-volume set by McGraw-Hill. The books cover the entire tree of life, with all organisms described in their taxonomic relation to each other and with (usually short) synopses. Lest you get too excited by the scope of this ambitious project (and it is in my opinion almost ludicrously ambitious) be forewarned that most taxa are described only down to the Family level, and of course, biology has moved on a lot since 1982. A modern equivalent is the Tree of Life web project.

The two volumes make a weighty addition to any biologist’s bookshelves.

The cover has the title foil stamped in VGC’s American Uncial Bold, and leads into a foil stamped rectangle around a depiction of a DNA molecule undergoing replication and a simplified tree of life. The volume number is from the original American Uncial.

No cover designer or typographer is mentioned specifically, but Edward J. Fox is credited as art design/production director.

Spines showing both volumes

Title page with frontispiece of Vol. 1. Names of editor and publisher are in Optima Bold. The locations use Baskerville.

Title page with frontispiece of Vol. 2. The illustrations are by Howard S. Friedman.

Covers of both volumes

Hollywood Guys & Dolls is a two-volume CD series released in 1994 by Parrot Records. It’s focused on renditions of popular songs as sung by Bing Crosby and several prominent Hollywood stars.

The designs of these two album covers are identical to each other. The title is Broadway, featuring Sabon and various other fonts as well.

This is a wild one. In 1972/73, a record company known as Audio Tape, Inc issued two pirated vinyl box sets containing music from various Beatles albums without any credits, in an attempt to exploit the Sound Recording Amendment of 1971.

From Discogs:

The “Alpha Omega” box set was a pirate/illegal collection of Beatles recordings sold in a four-part 8-track collection and 4LP box set in 1972. It also included several then-contemporary solo tracks, and was advertised in print, on TV, and radio, and sold via mail order. This compilation was sourced from American Capitol LPs featuring the Dave Dexter, Jr. edits found exclusively on those albums – compression, bass reduction, and additional reverb. Some of the tracks were edited haphazardly; Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band fades out early, for example.

Either a group or person titled Art Wing designed the cover, which uses Charles Papirtis’s Pink Mouse shaded “E” style, issued in 1970 by Photo-Lettering, with News Gothic used for the back titles. Alternate colored sleeves were produced along with single color ones. CD releases were also produced further in time with the same full-colored cover design.

Cover with color

Releases without “ΑΩ”, includes the numerals 1 and 2 for Pink Mouse

Detail

CD release

Gods and Fighting Men by Lady Augusta Gregory was first published in 1904. In 2022, New Island issued a new hardback edition as volume 1 of Irish Myths and Legends. A second volume, Cuchulain and the Red Branch of Ulster, followed a year later. Both books use Almost Gothic, with graphic design by Niall McCormack.

From design studio Keys (with added links):

For the exhibition Tupi or not Tupi at Palais de Tokyo, we were invited to create a publication documenting the work of artist Lívia Melzi on Tupinambá cloaks, from the Tupi warrior tribes who lived along the Brazilian coast.

Printed in 200 copies signed by the artist, the publication is made up of two booklets which bring together a text written by Lior Zisman Zalis and images created by the artist, questioning the discourses constructed around these artifacts preserved today in European museums.

Echoing Melzi’s work, the binding of the booklets creates an unexpected relationship between the facing images where French arts de la table, colonial travel stories and cultural cannibalism meet.

This project was realized thanks to the support of the Brazilian Embassy in Paris.

Totentanz is paired with a yet unidentified sans. [edit: it’s Acumin, see comments.]

Title pages of the two volumes. Titles are set in FF Super Grotesk with its alternate a and g.

Texte und Zeichnungen einer künstlerisch forschenden Exploration metaphysischer Themen in Zeiten von maschinellem Lernen (“Texts and drawings of an artistic exploratory exploration of metaphysical themes in times of machine learning”) is my final thesis at the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin.

Inspired by “Wenn die Sterne verlöschen”, the German version of Isaac Asimov's science fiction short story “The Last Question”, I have been experimenting with topics such as immortality, infinity, post- and transhumanism, artificial intelligence, the human body, cosmology and spirituality.

My two-part book is a foreign text collection, paired with my own notes, thoughts and drawings. With content that I have discovered, searched for, found, collected and sorted; stories, theories, essays, visions etc. from science, sci-fi, philosophy and art.

The work has nothing to do with theory or science, rather it is about an orientation towards the poetic, towards an artistic strategy and production. A personal confrontation with the present, with a view to the past and the future. The texts and the drawings are intended to attempt to open up new spaces of thought in their concatenation and to provide access to my thought structure, my universe.

In order to make it clear which contents are mine and which are foreign material, I have decided to use a color coding. So all “personal” contents, i.e. my notes, thoughts, awards and drawings are designed in the color blue — inspired by the infinite.

In my book every text is individually designed. Here, too, I have “quoted” and made the quotation the design principle. This way, the reader will always know when a new text begins or which text boxes belong together. In the best case the reading is linear, but there is also the possibility to read the texts crosswise.

The publication features 71 different fonts in total. Eight of them are shown in the included images, see the captions. The fonts that were used but aren’t depicted here are Akkurat, Aquinas, Arnhem, AT Apoc, AT Oroban, Azzurro, Beatrice Display, Big Caslon, Blazenburg, Brown, Century Schoolbook, Century Schoolbook Monospaced, Chap, Circular, Cirka, Courier Prime, Dia, Digestive, Druk Wide, Elastik D, Favorit, Five Years Later, Futura, Galapagos, Gotham, Gräbenbach, Grafier, GT Amerika, GT Pressura, GT Sectra, GT Walsheim, GT Super, Happy Times At The IKOB, Helvetica, IBM Plex Mono, ITC Franklin Gothic, Lausanne, Lexicon, Lucida Grande, Lyon, Lyyra, Meriva, Mineral, NB Architekt Neue, NB Grotesk, Neue Machina, Nitti Grotesk, Noe, Pensum, Rando, Sang Bleu King, Saol, Scto Grotesk, Serifbabe, Suisse Int’l, Suisse Int’l Mono, Suisse Works, Terminal Grotesk, Times New Roman, Tiny, Value Serif, Whyte, and ZXX.

In the second part of the book there are 112 drawings, where I have illustrated 112 terms from the texts. The respective terms are colored in the texts. The respective figure number is usually close to the term and can be looked up parallel in the drawings book. They are abstract illustrations of some of the most interesting keywords from the texts. Thus the drawings have helped me to better understand the contents of my selected texts. However, they are not a scientific representation but a personal interpretation. In addition, I had the drawings analyzed by an artificial intelligence.

I have used very durable materials in my entire design and the book format is also based on the infinite number sequence of Fibonacci, namely in a ratio of 1:1.618. The paper has a high durability as it is wood-free, there is thread stitching — the most durable way to bind a book.

Around the two books there is a transparent rubber and they are vacuum packed together. It was also a conscious decision to design the book as a raw book block without cover. It should draw attention to the incompleteness and incompleteness. To draw attention to the fragile personal.

All in all, my project is an investigative activity, which when and then confirms or redefines my views on the relationship between man and the universe and man and machine. In addition, overarching associations also arise. My attitude is fundamentally characterized by curiosity and a thirst for knowledge, which is not lacking in an appropriate skepticism towards the thematic complexity, but which always ventures out into new branches.

The index is set in the monospaced Nitti.

Pages 358/359 feature text in Times, ABC Favorit Mono, Suisse Int’l Condensed and Nitti.

This blue double-page spread is set in FF Super Grotesk again.

The typefaces used on pages 320/321 are Rosart and Ogg Display, with more FF Super Grotesk and Nitti.

Nitti is used for the index of drawings.

Page with a drawing and text in Product Sans and FF Super Grotesk

Publisher Atelier Éditions writes:

John Cage: A Mycological Foray draws readers across the idiosyncratic, mushroom-suffused, innermost landscape of celebrated American composer John Cage. Upon the remarkable journey with Cage, one encounters assorted photographs, compositions, and contemplations; all in the very same unexpected fashion one encounters various flora and fungi species while mushroom foraging. Volume I encompasses Cage’s mycological-oriented Indeterminacy stories, Diary excerpts, and essays; and the complete transcript of Cage’s 1983 performance, MUSHROOMS et Variationes. Volume II offers the inaugural reproduction of Cage’s 1972 portfolio, Mushroom Book; authored in collaboration with illustrator Lois Long and botanist Alexander H. Smith.

Text throughout is set in Monotype Baskerville, with headings in Traulha and Cage's own writings in Space Mono.

The colophon credits design director Capucine Labarthe and illustrator Katty Maurey.

The back cover features Traulha Regulara and Italica.

Every Mushroom is a Good Mushroom is a supplement to the book.

Identity and book design by Tomo Tomo for Gabriele Basilico. Le mie città, a monographic exhibition by the master photographer Gabriele Basilico. Ten years after his passing, Milan celebrates the work of the great photographer with a double exhibition at Triennale di Milano and Palazzo Reale.

The identity is based on minium red, the typical color used in the construction site to prevent steel corrosion and in all worksites as signal color. An industrial paint, closely connected with the Basilico’s passion for factories and industrial areas. Neue Haas Grotesk typeface is a reference to the urban landscape, normally plenty of signage composed in Helvetica.

The catalogue is a double book, spine connected, and displays in two volumes the two exhibitions, Milan and the cities of the world.

The book is published by Electa. The exhibition display is designed by Francesco Librizzi Studio at Triennale and at Palazzo Reale by ZDA Architettura. The project is curated by Giovanna Calvenzi, Filippo Maggia, and Matteo Balduzzi.

The covers and the various slanted pages

The two publications were born within a collaboration between Iuav of Venice and the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and were developed in the Communication 2 laboratory held by Professor Luciano Perondi, assisted by Bruno Calza.

The aim is to tell the story of the data on PNRR and PINQuA in an innovative way, with the only constraint being the omega-point bound A4 format.

The first book gives an overview starting with the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) at the European level and then focusing on the Italian situation. This track ends with an introductory sentence to PINQuA (National Innovative Program for Housing Quality). The second book, on the other hand, provides a general overview of PINQuA, with a specific focus on Mission 5 of the program.

The graphics in the book were created with a program created through P5.js, which repeats letters and changes their size based on the gray value of a previously uploaded image.

To further bring out this need for a change of perspective and to mark the fact that things change if people want them to, each page, in fact, undergoes a rotation of 11.25° from the previous one, leading the book to make a complete rotation of 180° as a whole, an aid in this is provided by the “handles”, visual cues that suggest how to position the hands to support the book while reading. This solution not only facilitates the enjoyment of the printed material, but also adds an interactive and functional element to the design.

Some internal pages

Inner page (rotated position for reading)

Inner page (starboard)

Posters

Video with all the pages

From the website of publisher Taschen:

From the 17th century to the advent of the digital age, color theories have been illustrated with opulent wheels, polychrome charts, and meticulous diagrams. Gathering over 65 works from around the world, with more than 1,000 images, this edition traces the many hues of a subject that inspired Newton, Goethe, Sanzō Wada, the Bauhaus, and many more.

The Book of Colour Concepts comprises two volumes in a slipcase. It was edited by Alexandra Loske and co-authored by Sarah Lowengard and contains multilingual texts (English, French, German, Spanish). Flecha is used on the cover and for titles, while Times New Roman or similar [edit: it appears to be Happy Times at the IKOB, see comments] serves for body text.

This set of two publications explores the age-old question: does fate or free will govern the universe? One book explores Fate, while the other explores Free Will. Connected via a hinge on the back covers, readers can read one book at a time by flipping them along the long edge, or unfold them to be read together.

The Fate book (You Were Always Going To Read This) is set in ABC Marist, a serif typeface, while the Free Will book (You Could Choose To Read This) is set in ABC Whyte, a sans serif. Whenever a term or concept pertaining to the opposite book is mentioned, the relevant typeface interposes. This creates not only a clear visual distinction between the two sides of the debate, but also gives a sense of how often they actually intertwine.

Type is also used to give the reader a point of reference in the books, which are each split into three sections. Each section dives into the relevant topic in increasing levels of complexity, allowing readers to jump around to wherever they feel comfortable; this alludes to the somewhat non-linear nature of the debate throughout history. The type starts out quite large in the introduction (section 1) to give a more elementary feel, while the type in the most complicated level (section 3) is smaller and split into columns.

This double publication was created as a student project at the University of Washington, supervised by Jayme Yen.

Christmas Follies is the third album by the Salsoul Orchestra, comprised predominantly of Christmas songs.

The title of the album uses a version of Bookman distinguished by wonkily-swashed letter forms: Bookman Meola. The track listing is comparatively restrained, though – it's a standard version of Bookman.

No designer is credited. The photograph is by Joel Brodsky.

[More info on Discogs]

The design was also used for a single release, featuring the same typefaces.

In 1981, a second volume followed. Christmas Jollies II has a red cover and a second mirrored woman.

Vivants / Le Voile dur Réel is a publication in two volumes, published at the occasion of an exhibition by photographer Matthieu Gafsou at the Musée d’art de Pully. The books, edited by Victoria Mühlig, were designed by Onlab:

The first one showcases the artist’s latest series, “Vivants,” which delves into his growing eco-anxiety. The second volume is a retrospective of his work so far, featuring eight thematic chapters that interweave his diverse series. A visual index of the photographs can be found at the end of the book.

The typography is set in Syncro Mono and Syncro, with the stylistic set soft on the spine.

192 + 160 pages
24×30 cm
ISBN 978-2-9701613-0-1

Simply titled Diplome, this catalog showcases the final diploma theses and projects made by students of the HfG Offenbach in the fields of art and design in 2021 and 2022. The book was designed by Biarna Diegmüller and Lea Johanna Becker, using Ambiant Sans and Ambiant Spiky.

Becker comments:

[…] the cube-like object in vivid orange challenges traditional norms and embraces innovative book design principles.

The names of the 82 graduates form the spine of the book. The catalog separates text and images to give the content a new room for unfolding. It consists of two equal parts, connected by the graduates names, emphasizing their unity. The layout is clear and precise, with an orange guiding system for navigation.

164 diploma projects in art and design, six theoretical, and 18 practical subjects, texts in German and English, various visuals, on 400 pages total. Accompanied by a preface, an essay and an index, the catalog encourages readers to actively immerse themselves in the content and engage with the presented works on a deeper level.

The book measures 17×24 cm and has 400 pages, with text in German and English. It was edited by Katja Kupfer and Jens Balkenborg, and published by the HfG Offenbach (Bernd Kracke) in July 2023.

Ever since his artistic beginnings, Julian Charrière has been exploring changing nature and the role humans play in it. In the cinematic work Towards No Earthly Pole, he combines different ice landscapes of our planet into a sensual, poetic universe. The work relates to the current climate crisis through subjective engagement with the particular topography of glacial landscapes and the historical figure of the artist as adventurer, investigator, and explorer. Charrière traveled with his team to some of the most inhospitable areas on Earth to realize the film—exhibited at MASI Lugano, Aargauer Kunsthaus, and the Dallas Museum of Art among other photographs, videos, and artworks—which questions the notions and images of nature. The artist appeals to our capacity to marvel at the world and encourages us to look for knowledge and be overwhelmed by the wonders of nature.

The publication features exclusively JJannon. The texts are in both English and German and set at the same size, in the same weight, the only difference being their alignment (left vs. right flush). Flipping through the publication, the text columns slowly drifts in the opposite direction, till they swap sides, a subtle reference to the movement and melting of icebergs. Stanley Kubrick’s black monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey has been used as a reference for the appearance of the book, which features an elongated shape and flaps that wraps around the fore edge creating a second spine and the illusion of a single block. The book is made of two volumes, separated at the center by a concertina fold landscape image.

Edited by Dehlia Hannah
Texts by Francesca Benini, Amanda Boetzkes, Anna Katherine Brodbeck, Dehlia Hannah, Scott MacKenzie & Anna Westerstahl Stenport, Shane McCorristine, Nadim Samman, Katrin Weilenmann, and a conversation between Julian Charrière, Dehlia Hannah, and Konrad Steffen

Mousse Publishing, 2020
306 pages
Softcover with Swiss binding, 17×28.5 cm
ISBN 9788867494347

Formular was used by Natasha Agapova for designing two books that look back at the exhibitions organized by the START Platform for Young Art, an initiative of the Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow.

About the START project:

An arrangement of a personal exhibition is one of the best ways for a young artist to declare about himself. Every month the START project contributes to support one artist to display his/her exhibition at Winzavod CCA. The aim of the project – to discover new names in Russian contemporary art.