A Shade Colder is a platform for discussions about and around art in Estonia and beyond, published by the Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), designed by Jojo&me Studio (Johanna Ruukholm & Martina Gofman), featuring Aktsidents (WIP), Adieu, and Quadrant Slab Duo for texts; and Slack in the logo. For the most part, A Shade Colder is published online, accompanied by one print issue per year. Thematic issues are published following the seasonal logic of the Estonian and international art calendar.

Identity and ephemera designed by French design studio Bizzarri-Rodriguez for Cercle Valrose, an experience in contemporary art. The logo is set in Harker (OTT) and the text is set in Vincent Chan’s Quadrant Text Mono by Matter of Sorts.

The pink text is set in caps from Moreau-le-jeune. It’s probably not a part of the art space’s identity.

Series of vintage postcards with the overprinted Cercle Valrose logo. The fonts used on the original postcards include ITC Avant Garde Gothic Condensed, Van Dijk, and ITC Souvenir. Again, these are not part of the art space’s identity.

SOLITARY SUMMER. Collezione di rovine e case d’autore in Sardegna is a personal project initiated and designed by Efisio Fenu. The book is a collection of ruins and author’s houses in Sardinia.

island S. f. [from Latin insula] word of uncertain origin.
Place, isolated environment, situation of isolation, even spiritual. To be, find oneself, feel on an island, or as if on an island; or environment, mostly ideal, place, which constitutes one dreams of as an oasis of tranquility and serenity in which to find refuge from a troubled world or environment, from an uncertain, tormented situation: to look for an island to land on; to close oneself in the island of one's own interior world.

The Summer Reading Guide (SRG) is Australia’s leading independent bookseller catalogue, published annually since the 1990s for the holiday period. Organised by Readings in Melbourne and Gleebooks in Sydney, it is distributed through a network of 18 independent bookshops nationwide. For the 2024/25 edition, TRiC was tasked with redesigning the guide to make it more engaging and contemporary, positioning the bookshops as independent tastemakers. This edition introduced editorial contributions from authors, incorporating a more literary design language while maintaining its format as a catalogue. Key considerations included ensuring legibility for a diverse readership and addressing colour usage on lightweight paper to prevent show-through.

The redesign drew inspiration from contemporary book design, literature, and editorial layout. Australian-designed typefaces, such as Quadrant Text for headings and Herbik for body text, were chosen for their distinct and humanist qualities, enhancing the guide’s storytelling energy. A simple structure was established for the reviews, using typographic hierarchy, generous spacing, and pops of colour to highlight special-price books. Leading the publication is a striking cover illustration by Ilya Milstein depicting an iconic ocean pool scene that captures the magic of summer reading in a richly coloured and distinctly Australian setting.

The result is a fresh and engaging Summer Reading Guide that combines a contemporary literary aesthetic with accessible design, elevating the reviewed content and reinforcing the guide’s position as a key resource for book lovers across Australia.

Rhea Karam is an artist based in New York, NY. Her branding and website uses Pirelli by Jung Lee Type Foundry and Article Text by Matter of Sorts. Pirelli is distinguished by its unusually high-waisted capitals. The capital R is especially striking, making it the perfect font for Rhea’s wordmark.

For his second Supernova appointment, Damien Chazelle presents a selection of his early films that explore the debut and subsequent uses of sound in films. The program comprised:

• Walter Ruttmann’s Weekend (1930)
• Finding His Voice (1929)
• Scene from Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929)
• Three scenes from Fritz Lang’s M (1931)
• Scene from Dziga Vertov’s L’Entusiasmo (1931)
• Black and Tan Fantasy by Dudley Murphy (1929)
• Opening scene of Love Me Tonight by Rouben Mamoulian (1932)
• “Battle on Ice” from Alexander Nevsky (1938)

Graphics by Arnoud Verhaeghe, using Adriano Etc and a yet unidentified monospaced serif [edit: it’s Quadrant Text Mono, see comments]. The Supernova logo (not part of this poster design) is based on Antique Olive Nord.

The fresh interface design of Amigo & Amigo mirrors the lightness, playfulness and empathy of the interactive light art studio, which specialises in installations for public spaces.

Their website, designed by A Friend of Mine, features vibrant images and videos documenting their work. Sans Plomb appears as the logo and headline typeface next to the expressive Easy Grotesk for body text, supported by Quadrant Text Mono in capital letters for navigation.

Front page of the first print issue of Heimildin from 13 January 2023

Heimildin (“The Source”) is an Icelandic media company committed to use investigative journalism to provide the public with access to independent information. The firm was founded in 2023 following the merger of Stundar and Kjarnan. It publishes a daily news website and a biweekly printed newspaper that’s also named Heimildin.

The new look was conceived by Jón Ingi Stefánsson, co-founder and former design director of Stundar. For the logo/nameplate, Stefánsson chose the Bold weight of Rector. This lapidary serif was designed by Hrvoje Živčić, and won him a Certificate of Typographic Excellence by the TDC. With its sharp details – like the wedge-shaped bars in H and e – Rector perfectly reflects Heimildin’s aspiration to be an incisive voice in Iceland’s media landscape. It’s also used for the logo of the supplement Menning (“Culture”), here starring its sculptural M and the defiant g. Rector is available from Production Type in a family of six weights in roman and italic. There is also Rector Display with Hairline and Outline styles.

Main headlines in the print edition often feature Mānuka. This tall, compact sans was designed by Kris Sowersby, taking inspiration from old German poster types. It was released by Klim Type Foundry, alongside Mānuka Slab and an even narrower Mānuka Condensed. The serif used in the newspaper and on the website is Tiempos, by the same type designer and foundry. It appears in two of its three optical sizes, Headline and Text.

Heimildin’s font stack is completed by Sanomat Sans by Commercial Type. This typeface was originally designed for another Nordic newspaper, the Finnish Helsingin Sanomat, and is part of a series that also includes Stencil and Slab variants. Heimildin makes use of its Sans Text styles optimized for small sizes.

Issue 006 with headlines in Mānuka

Covers of the supplement Menning with cultural news, featuring Rector Bold for the nameplate

“This is just the beginnning” in Tiempos Headline – front page from issue 038, January 2024, about the volcanic eruptions in the Reykjanes peninsula

“The government was warned” – when the situation in the area around Grindavík got more serious after the eruption on 8 February 2024, Heimildin deviated from the standard layout for issue 041 and placed the logo on top of the ominous photograph.

Heimildin homepage

A selection of pages from the A4 handouts printed for each exhibition

ISSUES is a contemporary art gallery in central Stockholm, initially set up as an ambulancing space in 2014 by Oscar Carlson, Johan af Geijerstam, Julia Eriksson and Peter Ström.

Between 2014 and 2021 the gallery produced thirteen shows around Stockholm, where the geographical location was of equal importance as the artist. For Issues #3 in 2015, Ryan Trecartin’s work CENTER JENNY was shown in the local Mediamarkt store on all 196 TV screens simultaneously. For Issues #4 in 2017, a group exhibition took place in an (at the time) empty space on Södermalm shaped like a display window, where the artworks were rotated every fifteen minutes in order to let that specific space come to its fullest.

Because of these new physical and geographical locations, the visual identity for the gallery was changed each time, adopting different typographic references to the current space.

In 2021 a more permanent space on Vattugatan 13 was found, turning the gallery into a commercial one in a fixed location – at least for the time being.

A permanent design system was introduced with the new space, where the location was less important – almost the opposite, as the new space was in a location almost unheard of even for the most hardcore Stockholmer, in an area filled with governmental buildings.

The design system takes its starting points in concrete poetry and early computer art (mainly ASCII) using Vincent Chan’s Quadrant Text Mono, complemented with the addition of a typeface and treatment picked for every artist – giving each artist their own visual identity connected to the space. Each typeface and treatment picked either refers to the artist’s practice or is connected to the idea of a place in downtown Stockholm – or in some cases, both.

The grid is based the word “ISSUES” written 16 by 10.5 times on an A4 sheet — because, you know, too many ISSUES…

The visual identity for ISSUES 4 took its typographic starting points in the typeface Eurostile found at the logo of a left over vacuum cleaner in the space.

The new space at Vattugatan 13 uses Quadrant Text Mono on all its signage and printed matter, as well as on the website and social media.

Insta stories using frame-by-frame tap animations, mixing ASCII and logo typography in ABC Honeymoon

Selected front and back covers from the A4-sized catalogue that comes with each exhibition.

Covers featuring Brush Script, Crowbar, Horizontal, and Jannon

Insta stories featuring P22 Arts and Crafts, Antique Olive Nord, Purple Haze, and PC Myungjo

For most of the shows, merchendise has been made in order to promote the shows with and to the local community and scene that ISSUES is part of. Reflective wests for Henning Hamilton using ABC Maxi Round, gym bottles for Hampus Wernemyr in Jannon, hats for Zoe Barca in Monaako, and candy, T-shirts and mugs in Quadrant Text Mono.

For DOWNTOWN ISSUES 2 in September 2023, one T-shirt with a typographic identity was designed for each participating artist printed in a single copy only. Seen here is a selection of the almost 70 T-shirts in total.

A few examples: The typography for Elis Monteverde Burrau with Tesla references the big amount of Teslas in the neighbourhood (and indicates where this Swedish poet might be heading in the future?). The typography for Georg Nordmark in Amsi references local pet food chain Arket Zoo because of Georg’s interest in animals in his art. The typography for Militza Monteverde Burrau uses Dinamo’s ABC Honeymoon and connects to her organic sculptures in glass. The typography for Ilja Karilampi links to his meme lord status via its use of Impact. Siri Carlén was treated with the never-to-be-released Småländsk Antikva by Konst & Teknik – which started around the same time Siri was a student of Konst & Teknik at Konstfack. Viktor Fordell got a Ford logo knockoff typeface because of... you know... Ford.

The non-personal T-shirts come with one front cover and three different back versions: The big 2 is based on the most downtown building Stockholm offers, parking house Parkaden and its beautiful brutalist numbering system and fascade. “DOWN TOWN” refers to local clothing brand Our Legacy WORK SHOP that is often seen on T-shirts around town. A version of the T-shirt with all the artist names overprinted was made in an extra limited edition of only five copies. All T-shirts printed in white ink on black fabric by Everynight Studios.

Fonts in USE!

From Outdoor Retailer:

After three decades in business and in the mountains, Mountain Hardwear, leader in performance equipment and apparel for climbers, mountaineers and outdoor athletes, introduces a brand evolution centered around its purpose: Seek Wilder Paths. Kicking off the rebrand is a campaign of the same namesake, defining Mountain Hardwear’s wild and wise identity, rooted in the brand it has always been with updates to the logo, brand colors, and brand expression that speak to their progression and innovation in the ever evolving industry.

Montain Hardwear’s new identity was developed at Gretel. Together with Andrea Trabucco-Campos and Fabiola Mejía of Supercontinente, they developed a custom typeface series named Hardwear that “combines the rugged precision of technical engineering with the comforting confidence one feels when geared up in Mountain Hardwear.” It comes in four flavors: Display, Round, Round+Sharp, and Sharp, each in five weights. One source of inspiration was a wood typeface shown in a French specimen by H.W. Caslon & Cie as Nº 205, which is a version of Ancient Gothic.

According to Gretel, “the supporting Quadrant Text and Mono are subtle references to maps and topographic notations, adding an important typographic texture that contrasts the boldness of Hardwear.”

The logo combines the word “Mountain” typeset in the new custom typeface, paired with “Hardwear” in custom script caps based on Roger Excoffon’s Mistral, which were made simpler and more consistent in weight and proportion.

See the full case study on Gretel’s website.

Packaging

Out Here product catalog

Label ft. Quadrant Text

Caption ft. Quadrant Text Mono

The Mountain Guides product brochure

Homepage detail with Hardwear Display Extra Bold for the headline and Hardwear Round+Sharp Bold for the menu

Text on the website is rendered in Roboto Serif.

Product page

Campaign landing page with all-caps Quadrant Text Mono at the very top

Issue #36, Jul/Aug 2023, with cover illustration by Sean Suchara

The New York Review of Architecture is a bi-monthly architecture review journal, published in newspaper form. The print edition’s illustrations share the common theme of rats (a mainstay in New Yorkers’ lives), and their rough line-work style cleverly leans into the raw nature of cheap newsprint. The yellow accent is not only cost-effective to print but also creates a strong and flexible visual identity element.

NYRA’s headlines are set in HB Type’s HB Margin, designed by Berton Hasebe. This typeface apparently is loosely based on Dick Dooijes’ Mercator, but with a curiously back-slanted italic. Body text uses Quadrant Text from Matter of Sorts, designed by Vincent Chan.

The NYRA website was recently expanded to include richer information and an online article reading experience, in addition to subscription management, extending the same illustration and typography to the digital screen.

Art direction by Laura Coombs, with web development by Seth Thompson of A Lot of Moving Parts.

Printed publication that showcases voices and creative minds from the Arab world. I Came For Couscous presents itself as a human experience, where writers, photographers, filmmakers, designers, illustrators, and poets explore openness and diversity, and the beautiful contrasts of the MENA region.

This first issue was designed focusing on a graphic system that could accommodate and elevate contents from a variety of cultures and visual heritages. A high-end collectible, the act of balancing the full and colourful with the empty and white was key to develop the pace of the magazine.

Website design and photography for Johnson Partners, executive search specialist who help organisations find CEOs and other board staff for leading organisations. The brief was for corporate but edgy. Christopher Doyle & Co. designed the brand identity first.

The website uses the Austin News Condensed for headlines, quotes and super large headings (on large browsers) adding an editorial feel while Kommissar is used in short bursts for stats, subheads and the massive logo in the footer. Untitled Sans does a great job for body copy and is super legible and holding up at small sizes (filter links on top of the news tiles).

Website design and art direction: Harley Johnston Design
Brand identity: Christopher Doyle & Co.
Photography: Prue Ruscoe
Web development: ED.

Mono is the premium print edition of the digital Argentinian information platform called Red/Acción. Every issue shows slow-reading articles, illustrations, cartoons and infographics in an unconventional format that unfolds into different classic journalistic layouts, from magazine to tabloid and (unfolded) broadsheet.

Cover illustration Diego Parés

Evangelisches Frankfurt is the newspaper of the Protestant Church in Frankfurt. It was designed by German newspaper designer Jan Famira.

The newspaper gets published five times a year and is sent to all Protestants living in Frankfurt free of charge. It seems the newspaper’s new design has easily convinced the audience as the post by a regular reader suggests: "The new design is really well done, very beautiful, appealing, and lively. Thanks a lot for that!"

Art director Jan Famira puts it this way: "Evangelisches Frankfurt has chosen its 40th anniversary to introduce readers to a completely redesigned newspaper, with a new nameplate, headline and body type. Among our core objectives was an improvement of legibility, especially for older readers. The newspaper’s new text face, Sindelar, along with an increase in text size, makes reading the paper far more easy."

Sindelar’s great legibility qualities can been seen throughout the newspaper.

Logo, bottles, labels, boxes, branding for Remity, a dietary supplements brand.

Since September 2011 Fast Company, an American business magazine with a focus on technology and design, is doing well with TypeMates’ space-efficient Meret Pro for text.
Not using the Book weight​ but the lighter Regular gives the layout of Fast Company magazine a fair and fresh feeling.

Alongside Meret, three typeface families from Commercial Type are doing the main work of editorial design: Custom tailored condensed sans serif Kaiser (available as Kommissar) and Antique Olive flavoured Zizou Sans and Slab (renamed for the retail release to Duplicate Sans and Slab).

Besides performing their fixed tasks in the typographical hierarchy, every now and then all typefaces are used for different sizes as well: e.g. for slide-in quotes in layouts or subtitles on the cover, depending on issue and topic.

In 2013, toward the end of my time designing Seattle Met magazine, I introduced Giorgio. Looking back on my work, it seems like I was trying to freshen things up without going through a full redesign. It started from a pure place: I wanted a condensed sans because Colfax, used throughout the magazine, didn't have one. But I knew I was tempting fate, because I've always felt like condensed faces are an easy way out for editorial design, almost like cheating — they're all too happy to squeeze in and save you. For instance, the "Bad Blood" opener. It's not really doing anything but it's nice and big and doesn't spoil the stunning photograph. That said, Giorgio and Giorgio Sans were designed for a specific magazine and purpose — “bringing runway proportions to the page in contrasting ways” — and I think it’s impressive that they made italics for both typefaces (which was a big selling point for me). So my opinons about using condensed fonts is a critique on designers who reach for them in times of need, as I did. But hey, when the clock is running down on the monthly production cycle, they sure do save a lot of time.

Brooklyn based design duo Anton & Irene detail the process of working on artist Shantell Martin's new website in a great blog post. Make sure to check it out for a detailed study on the customized typography and identity work.

Shantell is an artist who is best known for her black and white compositions that result in an autobiographical and dreamlike meditation of lines; a language of characters, creatures and messages. Her work bridges the fine art and commercial world, and is instantly recognizable. And democratic.

When we had the overall direction, we spent some time looking for the right typeface, and chose Kommissar [Ultra] by Commercial Type. Not only does it contrast with her hand-drawn work, but it’s also bold and strong, just like Shantell.

The logo uses Kommissar with some custom tweaks.

From the Commercial Type blog:

Helsingin Sanomat is Finland's major daily newspaper, with a circulation of around 400,000 on weekdays. A broadsheet since its founding in 1905, the paper made the switch to tabloid format on 8 January 2013. We provided all of the type for the new design: Sanomat, a serif family for headlines in 8 weights, designed by Paul Barnes with Berton Hasebe; Helsingin [later released as Sanomat Sans], a sans family for display use in 9 weights, designed by Christian Schwartz and Vincent Chan; Helsingin Text in 6 weights, for captions, sidebars, info graphics, maps, and listings; and text is in a custom grade of Publico Text which has been fine-tuned for the Helsingin Sanomat’s presses. The redesign was conceptualized and executed internally, headed up by group creative director Sami Valtere along with art directors Hannu Pulkkinen and Ari Kinnari.

The tabloid layouts are built on a strong grid of square elements. Sanomat is designed to play against this, with organic forms that warm up the coldness and precision of the underlying page structure. Sanomat is an unusual hybrid: a serif face with flared sans terminals, influenced by ‘serifless romans’ like Optima and Albertus.

Helsingin [Sanomat Sans] is a fairly straighforward geometric sans serif, tempering the quirkiness of Sanomat. The pointy terminals reference the iconic geometric architectural lettering in Helsinki's main square, close to the Helsingin Sanomat's offices. To counter the potentially monotonous texture caused by the many repeating letters in Finnish words, we made the bowls a little bit asymmetrical, more like a humanist sans than a typical geometric.

Following the release of Sanomat Sans in 2015, the seriffed Sanomat is now available for general licensing, too.