Every two years, the World Design Organization awards the title of World Design Capital to a city or region. In 2026, the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region will become an international stage for design. Together, we will bring to life groundbreaking projects and numerous events that showcase what design can achieve for society and democracy, for our shared lives, and for our daily routines.

In this booklet, published by the City of Offenbach in collaboration with the University of Art and Design Offenbach, all WDC events, sites, workshops and exhibitions are listed with short descriptions and dates. In addition, a detailed map shows all the locations. The booklet is designed by Masha Egorova and only uses typefaces that originated in the HfG type design class. The front and back cover are perforated stencils that can be torn off and used to scribble inside the booklet.

HfG Offenbach’s current graduation magazine (formerly diploma magazine) presents the diploma and Master’s theses of a total of 93 graduates from the classes of 2023 and 2024 on 368 pages. It was conceived and designed by Helene Hohmann under the supervision of Prof. Catrin Altenbrandt.

The magazine opens with a visual table of contents that serves as a conceptual introduction. The foreword by HfG President Prof. Dr. Brigitte Franzen is followed by the practical diploma and Master’s theses from the departments of design and art, supplemented by insights into the theoretical theses. A consistent guidance system connects the table of contents, practical projects, and theoretical section, thus providing orientation and guiding. The dust jacket consists of a sheet of stickers that allows readers to design the cover themselves, making each magazine a unique copy.

The magazine makes early use of dito-typo’s upcoming Trax. It’s used together with Samira Schneuwly’s Mule (not shown here) and Mule Mono.

Poster for a lecture by the Amsterdam-based photographer Johannes Schwartz at the HfG Offenbach. Poster design by Studio Laucke Siebein, with a photograph by Johannes Schwartz.

The Plattform™ is an initiative for academic exchange at HfG Offenbach. It is an opportunity for exchange, toolkit, get-together, network and workshop. With a clear focus on collaborative learning, mutual feedback, space for questions, disclosure of processes and sharing of resources.

Real Talk is a lecture evening on internships in the field of art and design. Three students gave an insight into their portfolios, talked about their internships and answered questions about application processes, working hours, experiences, … Open to all semesters, departments, subject areas, specializations. No more gatekeeping!

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.

Illustration on the right by Rosa Viktoria Ahlers

The Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach offers students an interdisciplinary, diverse and collaborative environment. During the Rundgang, the university's annual exhibition, students from all disciplines can present their work. Because of this comprehensive diversity, a formal appearance that is as abstract as possible is needed each year for the Rundgang, in order to represent the various disciplines in the same way. For the 24th Rundgang, students themselves had the opportunity to contribute to the visual identity to represent the university in the best possible way.

The advertising materials contained only the information about the tour, which was placed like a frame around a white area in the center. This acted as a kind of “blank canvas”: here, all students were given a space to integrate their own design/art into the appearance. Each of the posters, invitations and billboards thereby became unique, a work of art created by different participants. The students were offered a platform to show their own works away from the actual tour in the public space. In addition, the concept visualized the range of the university’s internal teaching.

A large part of the posters were painted by students before they were hung, while a small part of the posters and the rented large surfaces were only available for display after the posters had been hung. The “blank canvas” was also intended to initiate an active discourse—both within and outside of the university. It offered the opportunity to enter into a shared exchange.

With the help of this democratic design, the values of the university (diversity, interdisciplinarity, and community) were shown in a creative way, and the location of the Rundgang was expanded to include places away from the exhibition venues.

In total 400 posters, 5,000 invitations and seven billboards were painted.

View the list of participants.

Illustration by Rosa Viktoria Ahlers

The Festival der jungen Talente (“Festival of Young Talents”) offers students from various universities the opportunity to implement art projects with cross-university collaborations and present them in a two-week exhibition. Within the framework of this festival, concepts and ideas were initially submitted, which were then developed into final projects within six months. These ranged from performances to installations.

On the occasion of the tenth Festival der jungen Talente in 2022 (see the previous post), a retrospective book was published. For this I worked with different styles of Waldenburg by Michael Clasen.

Published by the HfG Offenbach in February 2023.

Object Mode is a group exhibition by students of the Electronic Media Department of HfG Offenbach at TOR Art Space in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The exhibition features moving images and objects in the form of spatial installations and video sculptures, and poses questions of intermedial and interpersonal entanglements.

The poster series takes up the movement of animation, in which elements distort in a block-like or object-like manner.

The Set Up is a group event with sound, performances and dance – also by students of the Electronic Media Department at HfG Offenbach. It takes place at Studio Naxos and accompanies the exhibition Object Mode.

The graphic design was created by Kongreta. Moki by Benoit Bodhuin can be seen in early use. It’s supported by Christian Robertson’s Roboto Mono.

Diploma poster for HfG Offenbach (University of Art and Design Offenbach), November 2020.

The fonts used are NN Noire by Nouvelle Noire and Sporting Grotesque by Velvetyne.

I’d suggest Harbour is not a very Spin-like typeface. Nevertheless the students of the Typeclass at HFG Offenbach University used it to advertise a lecture given by Spin and Unit Editions founder Tony Brook. I hope he liked it.

Babel #1 is an international type symposium held right now (the 27th of November) at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach am Main. Apart from Offenbach’s other delights (among them Äppelwoi and others), the symposium scores with speakers like Peter Biľak (typotheque) and Na Kim, who art-directed the renowned Korean Graphic magazine.

The simple, one-page website uses Radim Peško’s Larish Neue, a typeface rarely seen on today’s screens. The font is inspired by letterforms that the Viennese typographer Rudolf von Larisch drew about a century ago.