The Philadelphia Museum of Art, in collaboration with design studio Gretel, rebuilt its identity with the goal of putting the institution in direct conversation with the city that surrounds it. Typography is the primary device for achieving this. The type palette mainly works on two levels: outside-and-inside, or community-and-institution.

Inspired by Philadelphia’s rich visual texture of storefronts, street vendors, and murals, the vernacular type palette brings the voice of Philly into the museum and injects the identity system with contrast and spontaneity. The current library is curated (exemplified by the likes of Shatter, Cooper Black, and Balloon), but it is designed to continue growing over time. Each of these display typefaces can be used on various seasonal activations, or specifically assigned to exhibitions or departmental roles. ITC Pioneer was used for the recent exhibition The Time is Always Now, a survey of contemporary Black and African diasporic figurative art. Purple Haze is the designated typeface for PMA Members, and Megazoid is used for PMA Kids.

On the other hand, the institutional typographic voice serves an evergreen role: echoing the museum’s classical character while embodying Philadelphia’s industrial sensibility. The core typeface, Fairmount Serif—named for the Fairmount neighborhood—was custom-drawn by Ryan Bugden after a study of Philadelphia’s typographic history. Searching for a balance between the industrial structure of 1930s American sans-serifs and a classical features brought Hess Neobold forward as a key reference. Its designer Sol Hess attended PMSIA—the precursor to the museum—and later succeeded Frederic Goudy as Philadelphia-based Lanston Monotype’s type director. Fairmount Serif evolves the Hess Neobold model while incorporating more contemporaneous industrial cues. It remains relatively neutral alongside the museum’s broad palette of display faces while providing a distinct, authoritative voice of its own. Fairmount Serif was also used as a starting point in rendering the various institutional logos.

For the more workhorse level, Klarheit Grotesk serves as the museum’s body text typeface. It is set at small sizes across branding, materials, signage, and exhibition text.

See more images in Gretel’s case study.

Mockups of exhibition catalogs

Banners.

Seasonal program.

TT Supermolot Neue is the signature font of SaiPa. From Wikipedia:

Saimaan Pallo (SaiPa) is an ice hockey team in the Finnish Liiga. They play their home games at Kisapuisto in Lappeenranta, Finland. SaiPa has many nicknames, such as “The Sputniks”, “Sputnik”, “Miracle of the East” and “Eastern Giant.”

The all-caps brush script seen in this application and the one shown below is Flood.

Uppercut Angle in use for the call-to-action of a video game trailer

Uppercut Angle used for headlines, UI elements, and more in the game app and for trailers and advertisements of the game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate published by Super Evil Mega Corp. Joachim Müller-Lancé’s action-oriented typeface is paired with Quasimoda by Botio Nikoltchev.

Uppercut Angle in use for UI elements

Uppercut Angle in use for UI elements

Uppercut Angle in use for UI elements

Three Devils by the Bedside is an exhibition of ten canvases by artist Jeongsu Woo, shown in May–June 2024 at the Art Sonje Center in Seoul, South Korea.

Jeongsu Woo references visual images and narratives from different eras, including illustrations from medieval scriptures and philosophical texts, major works in art history, and characters from fiction and comics. This exhibition begins with Woo’s research on insomnia. Woo came across the story of a medieval knight who suffered from insomnia for years due to three devils at his bedside, only to be miraculously cured when he encountered a monk at Canterbury Cathedral (Art Sonje Center).

The exhibition identity and graphics are designed by Kontaakt, using Persona (Abyme, 2022) and Optima. Small text is set in Routine (English) and AG Choijeongho Minburi (Korean).

Off Key Junior. License: All Rights Reserved.

Off Key Junior. License: All Rights Reserved.

Who is Off Key Junior? Junior, Marek, Cecil, and Andrew, residing in both Berlin and London, united by their shared passion for music and a particular affinity for French house and the indie vibes of the 2000s. As talented DJs, producers, and songwriters, they converge to form the sensational collective known as Off Key Junior.

For this collective, they opted to introduce themselves through a single character adorned with a mask designed by art director Julian Grönberg. Julian not only oversaw the graphic and typographic aspects but also spearheaded the transformation. Using a rugged a selfmade brush design as a starting point, they reimagined the original smiley face, turning it into a refreshing character.

The artist’s name uses the Overglow brush typeface, skillfully underlining every bold image and typeface within their visuals. “X Lovespeake” is set in the similar Flood. This attention to detail extends to their latest music video, “Taste Like Summertime,” where they employ Aachen typeface, famously featured in several Tarantino films. This choice not only creates a striking contrast but also infuses a cinematic and retro aesthetic into their artistic music world. In addition, there is Marvin Visions for the title and Credit for the first line.

Off Key Junior. License: All Rights Reserved.

Off Key Junior. License: All Rights Reserved.

Off Key Junior. License: All Rights Reserved.

Off Key Junior. License: All Rights Reserved.

Primary Practice is a non-profit art space based in Seoul, directed by curator Sungwoo Kim. It is established to capture today’s art in an expanded context with contemporary curatorial practice.

The identity was designed by Joosung Kang of Studio Remote, using GroteskRemix by Benoît Bodhuin and TWK Lausanne by Weltkern, with Sandoll GothicNeo 1 used for Korean text on the stationery.

The website was designed and developed by Min Guhong Manufacturing. GroteskRemix is here used for English text, paired with AG Choijeongho for Korean.

Spirited Away (2002) from Hayao Miyazaki.

Latest issue of French cinema magazine La Septième Obsession with a large focus (62 pages) on the master of Japanese animation, Hayao Miyazaki. It begins with all of his movies decrypted (from Future Boy Conan to The Wind Rises) and features themes of aviation, women, food, creatures, refuges...

For this issue, the atmosphere of Miyazaki and the Japanese theme are featured using various typefaces, such as Le Murmure (available from Velvetyne), Separat (Or Type), 衡山行書 / Kouzan Gyousho (Musashi System), 儷黑 / Li Hei (China Type, DynaComware) and Type Type (Family Type).

Sabon (Monotype) and Ano (Alias) are used throughout for repectively body text and lead paragraphs. The magazine logo is set in Flood (Adobe).

“Hayao Miyazaki” is set in Le Murmure. “Ma – Juin 2020” uses Separat. The tag line on the bottom uses Ano (Alias) and the vertically set Japanese line is Kouzan Gyosho.

“Obsession” is set in Gloss Drop (phospho).

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.

Karl-Marx-Straße, Berlin-Neukölln, May 2012

Shuriken Boy is the first published typeface design by Joachim Müller-Lancé, issued as an Adobe Original in 1996, together with his Ouch!. Named after the Japanese throwing weapon sometimes also referred to as “ninja star”, Shuriken is distinguished by its triangular counters that cut into the black. It was one of 99 typefaces awarded in the international bukva:raz! competition organized by ATypI in 2001, together with heavyweights like Gotham or Minion. Despite this accolade, I haven’t seen a lot of Shuriken Boy in use. With its technoid look, it could be filed under 1990s retro-futurism. Sounds like it’s about time for a reappraisal!

One highly visible in-use example in the local cityscape is Cutman Friseur, a hairdresser’s chain with shops in Berlin and Potsdam. The logo uses Shuriken Boy in tightly spaced caps, with double outline. The complimentary slab serif is City, which is used for the superhero-themed slogan “… rettet die Welt vor schlechten Frisuren” (“saves the world from bad hairstyles”), among other things.

Berlin-Wilmersdorf, 2012.

Berlin-Neukölln, 2012.

Berlin-Spandau, 2006.

The magazine name is in Flood by Joachim Müller-Lancé.

La Septième Obsession (meaning “The Seventh Obsession”) is a French magazine about cinema, published every two months. It comprises long interviews with directors (such as James Gray, Nicolas Winding Refn, Pedro Almodovar and others) and long themes depending on new releases (space in movies, seven deadly sins, horror cinema, etcetera).

Since issue #5 (2016), I aim to create an original typographic system for each issue according to the theme. In the September/October 2019 issue, the theme of space was featured with Karelia (Monokrom), Space Mono (Colophon Foundry), Space Grotesk (Florian Karsten), and Berreta Sans (205TF).

Roland Hörmann’s Gloss Drop is contrasted with Karelia.

Karelia and Space Grotesk.

The text typeface is Jan Tschichold’s Sabon. In this interview, it’s paired with Space Grotesk.

Karelia (headline), Space Grotesk (lead), and Space Mono (planet data).

Joachim Müller-Lancé’s Uppercut Angle was originally developed for the identity of the Krav Maga training center of San Francisco.

Krav Maga is a simple, efficient self-defense system that has become equally popular in Hollywood and with law enforcement. Joachim has spent several years training, hitting things and people whenever he needs a break from kerning. In addition to bearing the same impactful moniker as an upwards punch to the chin, the name Uppercut actually fell together quite naturally. It is a combination of “upper,” since it is an all uppercase typeface, and the word “cut” is historically used to describe a type style in metal type. For this slanted look, “Angle” felt just right (with thanks to Mia McHatton).

The typeface was used on T-shirts, in videos, and for other media. The identity is no longer consistently maintained, but Uppercut Angle can still be seen in the school’s logo. Delve Fonts released a retail version in 2011.

Original pencil sketches by Joachim Müller-Lancé for the center’s new identity. “Uppercut’s shapes are not calligraphic or handwritten, but more like lettering seen in comics or sports logos. Its brush movements are imaginary, not too literally brushy.” — Delve Fonts

Logo

Video titles

Publisher Gruner + Jahr just released the first issue of Guido, the lifestyle magazine led by and dedicated to German fashion designer and television icon Guido Maria Kretschmer.

The colorful content and design of the magazine is accompanied by the clean geometry of TypeMates’ very own Cera and Cera Compact, Scotch Roman-flavoured text with TypeTogether’s Abril, plus good old Bembo and some strong handmade aspects with Zooja, Flood and Madelyn.

Guido magazine represents the first public use of Cera Compact, the 2018 addition to the Cera series of geometric sans serifs. Shown here is the Bold style in use for a pull quote.

Core Circus (the dotted 2d dot style) is used sparsely. Here it is used for “Unterwegs mit den Mädels”.

FF DIN with customized hipsterlectronic ‘A’.

Steven Soderbergh’s retail site and blog has a cinematic air. It’s not a glamourous Hollywood look, but dark and raw, like film noir — a natural fit for the director’s ouvre. The design, by online studio Launchjam, doesn’t go overboard with the theming. The site is spare, with the feel achieved primarily through the type.

The main text is set in a typewriter font, emulating an old-school film script. The typeface, named MENCKEN, appears to be a proprietary design by Nuncle who has done title sequence work for Soderbergh (including the custom fonts and titles for The Informant! and CHE). Hundreds of weathered and worn typewriter fonts already exist (including the meticulously produced FF Trixie which offers a more realistic analog simulation), but I can understand why someone — especially an exacting director like Soderbergh — would want their own typeface that meets their own particular requirements for typewriter model and level of wear.

MENCKEN is paired with Joachim Müller-Lancé’s Flood which delivers short words like hand-scribbled notes on the screenplay. At this small size, Flood does a surprisingly good impression of a quick-jotting Sharpie, despite lacking any alternate glyphs to prevent repeating lettershapes, or ligatures for a more realistic flow. Of course, it could be even better with these features. Adobe, hire Müller-Lancé to expand the font!

Alternate Gothic No. 2 (used for product names) and the showy numbers from Normande round out the type palette, keeping within the retro-industrial theme.