These sets of “Party Loot Bags” use Cyrus Highsmith’s Eggwhite (2000). The designs probably date from around the mid-2000s, when Expression Factory (a brand of Regent House) used the typeface on their website, too. The domain is no longer in use since 2015.

“It’s Party Time!” additionally features Curlz by Carl Crossgrove and Steve Matteson.

TT Tricks is part of Aberlour identity, alongside Gotham, FF DIN, Segoe Script and a handful of other typefaces.

Aberlour is a Scottish whisky producer. The company was founded in 1879 and produces more than 3,200,000 liters of alcohol per year. Aberlour whisky is sold in more than 50 countries worldwide.

Christoffer Leka. License: All Rights Reserved.

I am a slow learner. This has its drawbacks, the most obvious one being that I am, well, a slow learner. But there are some upsides as well. For starters, I tend to remember the things I’ve learned quite well. The second upside, and the one more pertinent to the interest of the reader, is that I’m able to empathise with others who share my affliction. That is to say I understand where they’re standing, and what might benefit them.

In my youth I took a keen interest in what is known as Bhakti marga, or the path of devotion. It is a branch of Hinduism in which Krishna is seen as the origin of all and the main deity. But despite my attraction to the path of Bhakti I found myself struggling with the vocabulary.

Here was a tradition millennia old, born in a location distant from where I had taken birth in a cultural milieu far removed from anything familiar to me. On top of this the terminology was at times quite esoteric and steeped in layers of meaning. Add to this that almost all the words commonly used were in either Sanskrit or Bengali, and you can understand my plight.

Christoffer Leka. License: All Rights Reserved.

I have spoken thus far mostly about my shortcomings, but allow me to shift gears and speak about my superpowers. Or actually a superpower, singular, as I only have one. But it’s such a good one that it makes up for being the only one. You see, my superpower is that for one reason or another I have always had the good fortune of being surrounded by people much more accomplished and talented than myself. To make things even more fortunate for me these people have been willing to work on whatever hare-brained project I cooked up. So too this time.

My struggle with coming to terms with the terminology gave me an idea. It was perhaps neither an original nor an astounding idea, but nonetheless a very good one: why not create a small dictionary for persons like myself who need the occasional help in navigating the strange territory I found myself in?

The next step was to find someone to write the dictionary. And who would have been better suited for the job than my friend Dr Måns Broo, a university lecturer and Sanskrit scholar? I presented him with my idea, and without blinking an eye he told me he was onboard. In our discussions we quickly concluded that most dictionaries, as useful as they are, are also very, very boring. We wanted to make our small dictionary stand out from the crowd. To make it so pleasing in both form and content that even people with the mildest interest might pick it up.

Christoffer Leka. License: All Rights Reserved.

It is here that the third member or our team steps in. My partner Kaisa is known for her wonderful small unassuming illustrations and cartoons, and is able to catch the humorous essence in whatever topic she happens to be working on. It was decided that the contents of the book would follow a simple structure – the recto side would contain words and their explanation, whereas the verso side would host an illustration in which one of the words was depicted.

As for the form of the book we wanted to make it as cute and easily approachable as possible. For us this meant a small book with quirky rather than solemn typography to go along with it. And the printing color should not be black, but something softer. We opted for a dark brown tone that nicely complemented the bright yellow cloth-bound covers.

Christoffer Leka. License: All Rights Reserved.

Christoffer Leka. License: All Rights Reserved.

After trying out many classics, such as Caslon, Garamond, and many, many others, the typeface I landed on for this particular book was Lexon by František Štorm. It had just the personality and color I was looking for. That the bold cut suddenly turns into a sans serif just made it better in my estimation.

In this regard I do have minor indiscretion to confess to, asking for forgiveness now many years later. When transliterating terms from Sanskrit to the Latin alphabet a basic character set just doesn’t cut it. I needed an array of diacritic marks. Turning to an acquaintance, I had him produce the needed additions.

My only defence is that I acted with no ill will and perhaps that the crime has already expired. I really hope it has, because my admiration for Štorm’s typefaces knows no bounds, and I would hate having him be angry with me. (It was only much later I learned that Štorm has at least some affinity or at least an interest in Hindu cosmology, as he makes reference to the our current epoch known as Kali-yuga in an interview conducted by Irina Smirnova published in Typotheque’s book 158 Answers, published in 2011.)

Christoffer Leka. License: All Rights Reserved.

The typeface I complemented Lexon with was Zebrawood by Carl Crossgrove, Carol Twombly, and Kim Buker Chansler. It had just the right kind of boldness and audacity that I was looking for for the chapter beginnings.

The third typeface (or actually a dingbat) is present only in one character throughout the book, but then it is present several times on each text page. It is of course the pilcrow found in ITC Zapf Dingbats. The reason for going to another typeface altogether for a pilcrow was that Zapf Dingbats had a funky attitude that I didn’t quite find in Lexon’s own character equivalent.

We published the Little Book of Bhakti-Yoga back in 2006 and it was a great surprise to us how warm a welcome our small book got. We had countless people confess to us that they were really not that interested in the subject matter, but that the book just spoke to them in such a way that they had to purchase it. Thus this is one of our many books that soon sold out. Some years ago I found a box that we had missed, but even those are gone by now.

Christoffer Leka. License: All Rights Reserved.

I have for years been pestering my friend Dr Broo that we should do a free-standing sequel for the book containing 108 questions and answers about bhakti, but so far I have been unsuccessful in my attempts. I know he’s busy with so many other books, but I am hoping that this post just might compel him to think otherwise!

Christoffer Leka. License: All Rights Reserved.

Christoffer Leka. License: All Rights Reserved.

Gyllene Tider is the previous Swedish band by Per Gessle of Roxette. Gyllene called it quits in 2019. They wanted to quit while they were ahead. Please note that the band officially ended in 1985, the year before Roxette started, but they have been on several very successful tours since 1996. Anyway, the Corona pandemic came and they thought things over. Wouldn’t it be nice to do something after Corona? Said and done. They recorded the album Hux Flux (“wham Bam”, sort of) – released on CD and a few differently colored vinyls – and did another successful tour in 2023.

The album sleeve, designed by Pär Wickholm as per usual, uses a ton of different fonts. The titles all have their own font, while the “normal” texts on the sleeve and in the booklet are set in New Frank Regular and Noir Medium.

The Gyllene Tider logo is based on Palace Script. It was originally made in 1979, using dry transfer type.

[More info on Discogs]

Sida A: 1 Verlag Bold Condensed / 2 Marquee Moon / 3 Rosewood Fill / 4 NT Josefine / 5 Intro Black Inline
Sida B: 1 Charcuterie Cursive / 2 Poster Bodoni / 3 RTCO Flinton Texture / 4 Neue Metana / 5 Pretorian / 6 ITC Blair
The numbers are from Noir, the credit line is in New Frank.

The signs on the campus of the Schule für Gestaltung Aargau (SfGA, Aargau School of Design), Switzerland, uses a wide range of different typefaces.

The signage concept was developed by Andrea Gmünder of Feinform Grafik, Zurich. It was installed in 2012, when the school’s building on Weihermattstrasse 94 was converted and extended by the architects of Baumann Projektmanagement, Basel.

From a 2012 press release (translated):

For the school, which also teaches typography, it was important to focus on this topic. Andrea Gmünder has succeeded in giving the building a strong identity of its own through a playful overlapping of colors and typography.

See more images on the websites of Feinform Grafik and photographer Jean-Claude Jossen.

The typeface used for room numbers and labels is Neustadt by Jörn Oelsner.

Detail with Neustadt caps in two weights

Co Headline by Ron Carpenter

TheSerif by Lucas de Groot

Biome by Carl Crossgrove and Effra by Jonas Schudel / Dalton Maag

Clarendon by Hermann Eidenbenz

Bodoni by Morris F. Benton after Giambattista Bodoni

ITC Bauhaus by Ed Benguiat and Victor Caruso

Data 70 by Bob Newman

FF DIN by Albert-Jan Pool – which is also used for the main sign at the entrance

Title and main menu of Sega Swirl; screenshot from the Windows 95 version

Sega Swirl is a puzzle video game released in 1999 for Windows, in 2000 for Sega Dreamcast, and in 2001 for PalmOS (according to Moby Games); an Adobe Shockwave version was available back when you could play Shockwave games on the web.

On the Windows version, the appropriately swirly (and curly) Curlz is used for menus, and in-game text; advertising for all versions often uses Curlz. Curlz was made available only a few years earlier, in 1995.

The PalmOS version does not use Curlz, nor any other custom font. Probably a deliberate choice in order to fit the game onto some quite limited PalmOS models.

The game was released as both a teaser and a demonstration of the Dreamcast’s online play; the Windows version was freely downloadable, and the Dreamcast version appeared as a cover-disc and in various promo discs. The Dreamcast had a built-in modem and Sega Swirlz supported online competitive play, including with players of the PC version.

Gameplay screenshot (before i have made a move). Somewhat generic Windows 95 fonts for the button text and the running score.

Options screen. Note the Swirl motif replacing the O (the Swirl motif is not present in the font file).

Scoreboard

Promo art for PalmOS version

Dreamcast title screen (probably)

Last year my youngest son was in a circus class. I am normally happy to volunteer for anything as long as it is not graphic design. This time, to my surprise, I heard myself casually offering to design the poster of the annual final performance, named Droomwandelaar (“dreamwalker”).

The lack of a clear briefing, storyline or professional photos was easily made up for by infectious enthusiasm and besides: designing the poster offered a chance to finally play around with some fonts that had been sitting on my computer for ages, patiently waiting to be put to use.

The fonts of The Pyte Foundry's one-release-a-week year (2016) generally had a compact character set, but often enough the fonts included an extra surprise. In the all-caps Dosage, for example, the uppercase characters are of a bolder weight than the ones found in the lowercase. It also includes a funky manicule, but the stylish pointing hand on this poster can be found in Alcove, Mortar, Galore, Plakat, and Prhyme. The frames behind “Ticket Sales” are from QFWFQ. A ready-made boxed font like Granblue is harder to fit on a curve than I thought; the pre-existent logo is set in Rosewood Fill.

Since 2006, the Grupo Maria Cutia is based in Belo Horizonte and is dedicated to research on street theater. To celebrate the group's 10th anniversary, we created a visual identity inspired by popular urban posters. Similar to these media, the work consisted of a diverse typographic composition, creating a texture of juxtaposed information.

Another important aspect of the project is its vibrant orange Pantone color. In addition to posters and flyers, the group distributed a free commemorative newspaper composed of images and texts that narrate the company's trajectory.

The number 10 uses Rosewood minus the ornamentation.

The front cover in Adobe Jenson.

This little book comprises two essays by husband and wife Robert Bringhurst and Jan Zwicky, plus an afterword which amounts to a critique of Stephen Pinker’s then-recently-published book Enlightenment Now.

The book addresses how to most nobly embrace our impending doom. Despite my disagreement with some of its points, every word in this book was worth my time reading, and I expect to read it several times, which I confess is rare for me with any book. Their writing is simply the best one can find from living Anglophone writers today. And there are indeed many parts I do agree with.

The cover and jacket, designed by Duncan Campbell (University of Regina Press) use Adobe Jenson in more than one optical size. The book interior was typeset by Bringhurst. The body text is typeset in Bembo Roman, combined with Fairbank for italics. Bringhurst substitutes the alternate earless italic g which reminds me of the g from Arrighi. This is more microtypography than one normally gets inside body text.

Fairbank’s backstory, relation to Bembo and recent revival are interesting in their own right. I’m glad this book demonstrates how harmoniously they can combine. As executed here, it makes a good alternate italic for Bembo. It reminds me of other multi-italic designs like Fairfield and Seria.

It’s beautiful enough to stare at over and over. Buy it, own it, read it, stare at it.

The back cover in Adobe Jenson.

Bembo body copy with Fairbank for italics

More details of the italic. Note the Centaur-like f and g.

Graphic identity and wayfinding system for the Rotes saludables (“Healthy routes”) of Carlet, a town in the outskirts of Valencia, Spain.

The logo is inspired by the region’s landscape, known for its fertile soil and productive crops, resulting from the irrigation of one of Spain's longest rivers, the Xúquer.

The color green is chosen to unify all the signs, conveying both health and nature. The humanistic Slate is set tightly tracked, making an allusion to the project’s main aim: to link the neighbourhood altogether.

RAUW – Club Night Amsterdam / Utrecht 2003–2016. The branding of the RAUW club night was created using a huge mix of different types of fonts on flyers and posters. After 13 year the end of the club night was celebrated with the RAUW BOOK, printed in a single black colour.

From Baddeley Brothers:

Family-run London printer Baddeley Brothers is marking its 160th year with the creation of a distinctive logo, designed by acclaimed graphic designer David Pearson. Taking inspiration from the tools of the printing trade, the typeface pattern is reminiscent of the intricate leaf patterns on Baddeley Brothers’ postage stamp perforators that were in use at the turn of the last century. The shape of the numbers reflect the physical form of the hand lever embossing presses, creating a traditional yet contemporary feel.

Pearson chose an German typeface, Walbaum, which was first designed in the mid-1800s and was recently re-released by Monotype. Drawing on the original style of the typeface, the remastering of Walbaum includes variations that are size optimized, allowing it to work effortlessly for both print and digital. Pearson explains: “I decided on an ornamental version of the Walbaum family, as the typeface blends affability and high-style, creating a celebratory feel which is a perfect fit for such a momentous occasion for Baddeley Brothers.”

Series of prints for the Düsseldorf edition of Beyond Tellerrand, a creative conference in Germany. Typeface is Walbaum in medium and heavy weights. Graphics created in Houdini.

See also this post about the conference identity.

Beyond Tellerrand is a conference about creative web design and development founded in 2010 by Marc Thiele. Beyond Tellerrand runs in Düsseldorf in May and in Berlin in November each year, selling out with 500 attendees each time. In 2018, Munich was added to the list of shows as well.

The name beyond tellerrand expresses the aim that everybody involved wants look a bit further, look beyond the edge. It also reflects the global perspective of the event. The expression is a mix of the English word beyond and the German phrase “über den Tellerrand schauen,” which means “to think outside the box”.

The typeface used for the most recent events is Pulpo (Floodfonts, 2019). On the conference badges, it’s used in bold and italic styles. The weekdays are set in caps from a display cut of Walbaum (Monotype, 2018).

Coilbook is an educational multimedia company. They produce colorful 3D animation videos in several languages, directed at young children. Their series include Shawn the Train, TOYS featuring Max the Glow Train, and Real City Heroes.

The rainbow-colored logo shows 3-dimensional lowercase letters from Curlz, some of which are toppling over, crashing into their neighbors.

Golden Burgers is a catering service best known for its red food truck that can regularly be spotted in the streets of Berlin. The golden letters in the logo are from Susa, a low-contrast script typeface by Hubert Jocham. In addition to more than fifty typeface families, the Allgäu-based designer has created quite a number of custom logos, too, including many for food brands. Still rather unusual for script fonts, Susa comes in five weights. The stylized in-use suggestions on Jocham’s website incidentally show a script logo on a truck, among other applications.

The secondary typeface used for the web address and the slogan “We give a Truck” is another informal connected script with unmodulated strokes, Vernon Adams’s Pacifico.

In 2014, the lettering on the truck used Rosewood. Adobe’s revival of a 19th century decorated wood typeface is still used for the website.

A great example of the work Tracy Ma did for Bloomberg Businessweek — challenging, fun and delightfully typographic. As if Curlz wasn’t curly enough.

The Cadillac Bar & Grill in the Civic Center of San Francisco offers Mexican delicacies like Fajitas, Enchiladas and puffy (can’t-get-enuffy) Tacos – but the true jewel is the Margaritas Menu. Every Margarita’s unique flavor is represented with a unique typeface! A feast for the eyes (and taste buds)!

The font selection is interesting: some obvious defaults and system fonts (Copperplate, Rosewood, Gill Kayo) are mixed in with less-often seen typefaces (Rage Italic – perhaps more appropriate for the California Margarita).

The ones most difficult to identify were Doghouse (Spicy Pineapple Margarita) from the House Industries General Collection, and Morteza, from the now-defunct Bright Ideas foundry. (Thanks to Nancy Windesheim, the designer for helping me figure those out!)

Found walking around Whitby, North Yorkshire.

Lippincott is a creative consultancy with services in brand strategy, design, innovation and culture change, est. in 1943 in New York City. [Wikipedia] The typography of their current website pairs the seriffed Noe Display Medium for larger sizes with the sans serif Slate Book for text, both with occasional italics. The combination was introduced with the 2016 redesign, replacing the previously used Stymie LT.