Colossal presents itself as “an online art magazine based in Chicago that celebrates contemporary art and visual culture across a wide range of creative disciplines, and is focused on both emerging and established artists”. As a cultural agent, the team behind Colossal also “curates and produces several exhibitions annually, hosts artist workshops online and off, facilitates talks, and publishes opportunities for artists every month”.

From a typographic point of view, it is also a visual feast, which matches the mag’s editorial ambition with an impeccable art direction (as it should be).

On the About page, the editors state:

In a world brimming with information overload, an epidemic of loneliness, climate catastrophe, capitalism run amok, and social inequity, we curate Colossal to focus on the most positive, diverse, and impactful stories that bring about change and meaningful connection. We intend to amplify the voices of artists working toward more equitable and sustainable futures through innovation, unexpected materials, humor, spectacle, and vast reserves of skill and hope. We are supported largely by our extraordinarily generous members.

Such an editorial statement could only be paired with an excellent and vibrant design, and these people and their design partners deliver.

Colossal was redesigned by Firebelly, and it was one of the winners of the 2025 STA 100 Judges’ Choice, awarded by the Chicago-based Society of Typographic Arts.

Departing from the original logo designed by Armin Vit (Brand New), the Firebelly and Colossal joint redesign venture came up with a wordmark that spawned the bespoke Colossal Display, with two distinct wavy S glyphs that feel like they were ritually trimmed at the base with an ancient katana.

In the project page dedicated to their collaboration with Colossal, the agency says:

After rounds of aligning, playing, and imagining, we crafted a final direction on the logo that is dad & son tested and approved — really! This final, larger-than-life mark brand speaks to the core values: play, whimsy, and curiosity. Subtle adjustments to letterforms (especially the distinctive ​“S”) helped preserve Colossal’s recognizability while introducing a tongue-in-cheek referential nature.

As far as headline elements and body text are concerned, the two workhorses that power this publication and art endeavour are its trusty sans, Visuelt (Colophon), and a ridiculously elegant and legible Fabric Serif (Monokrom), which – dare I say – belongs in the same Hall of Serif Fame as Ivar Text, Tiempos, the Feature Collection, Newsreader, Victor Serif, Tid, IvyPresto, Aktuell, Reckless Neue, SN Litteratur Text, etc.

Both Visuelt and Fabric Serif are used in different hierarchy text instances, and they handle both responsibilities with ease.

Article headline with date, byline and share options in Visuelt

Text detail in Fabric Serif

Homepage detail (top)

Homepage detail (bottom with footer)

The Master Studio Speculative Software at the Design Department of the Fachhochschule Potsdam is dedicated to the design and exploration of creative, experimental software user interfaces. It is part of a full-time two-year Master’s programme, taught in English.

The informational and promotional website combines Scope with Geologica.

Scope is used as a variable font. The main title and first-level headings make use of live font interpolation, with the vowels in each word changing their width on cursor movement. Sub-level headings and student names are also set in Scope.

Geologica is used for the body copy.

Klipp og Lim has made a series of activity booklets for children, families, and school classes visiting Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Each booklet in the Oppdag Nidarosdomen (“Discover the Nidaros Cathedral”) series has ten tasks with things to discover, and each booklet has a specific theme.

The title font is Ode by Supertype. Satyr by Monokrom Skriftforlag is used for body text, and Hoefler & Co.’s Verlag Compressed for the numbers.

“Mundo Chachapoyas” is the brand representing the Utcubamba Valley Tourist Corridor, encompassing the captivating regions of Chachapoyas, Luya, and Bongará in Amazonas, Peru. Through extensive research into the social, cultural, commercial, and natural environments, we aimed to understand and highlight the uniqueness of this tourist destination.

We developed a brand strategy to capitalize on the inherent value of the region, positioning it competitively both nationally and internationally. Our strategic approach helped articulate the destination's strengths, promoting its unique identity and appeal to tourists worldwide, as well as local visitors and the resident communities.

Inspired by the natural and cultural surroundings of the Utcubamba Valley, where once thrived the Chachapoya culture (also known as the ‘people of the clouds’ due to the dense Andean mist) we designed a graphic system based on textures of clouds, forests, earth, and water. This revealed hidden faces and infused the brand with mysticism, using a vibrant and dynamic color palette.

We created Chachanika, a typeface that captures the essence of the Chachapoyas, giving a voice to the region, artisans, communities, and entrepreneurs. It expresses the uniqueness of this area by blending its ancestral heritage with natural wonders from a contemporary and conscious perspective, allowing us to convey the region's cultural richness in every communication element. It is paired with Geologica by Monokrom.

Northing Space is a multifunctional cultural space in downtown Bergen, Norway. The exhibition series Why I Stay showcased the work of four artists with East Asian ethnic backgrounds. The poster series was designed by Yilei Wang, using abstract illustrations to form a backdrop for Monokrom’s Vinter typeface, supported by two yet unidentified typefaces.

Nils Uddenberg’s biography of the anthropologist Gustaf Retzius dives into his controversial racial science, while also highlighting his progressive sides. The cover is designed by Rasmus Pettersson and typeset in Sindre Bremnes’ cousin typefaces Faunus and Satyr.

To Burn, Forest, Fire is an artwork by Katie Paterson that uses scent to explore the first-ever forest on Earth, and the last forest in the age of the climate crisis. The artwork employs the senses to cultivate an intimate, intuitive experience that aims to transport participants through time as a reminder of the increasing levels of extinction caused by humanity.

Design by Fraser Muggeridge (Luke Charsley and Marjo Malin), using Satyr as the main typeface for information; the monospaced sans serif and the typeface used for Chinese characters are yet to be identified.

ACT! Studio is a small architecture studio in Oslo. Their website is designed by Marie Payan and built in-house by Rikke Winther. The typography pairs Fabric Sans with a muted palette and a series of playful symbols that serve double duty as illustrations.

Hordaland Kunstsenter is a resource centre for contemporary art in the context of the Vestland region in Norway. Their website is designed by Bergen-based Studio Boi, and typeset in Fabric Sans and Serif.

SÒLAS is a Scottish luxury sleepwear brand founded by Ruth Mitchell and Ciorstaidh Monk. Their visual identity uses Frode Helland’s Vinter as the main typeface, including the wordmark where the O is swapped for the lining numeral zero.

The whole visual profile for Nordre Jønnes Gård is basically just one typeface, always in black and always typeset at the same size. In addition, there’s often a little extra ‘something’ written out by hand.

That’s how design studio Handverk describes the minimal identity they designed for Nordre Jønnes Gård, a small farm just north of Oslo alongside lake Randsfjorden. The single typeface is Sindre Bremnes’ sculpted roman, Satyr.

The Serbian writer and critic Isidora Sekulić – “the first woman academic in the history of Serbia” – published the travelogue Pisma iz Norveške in 1914, having spent a year in Norway. Tatjana Petzer’s translation, Briefe aus Norwegen (“Letters from Norway”, Friedenauer Presse, 2019), bears the same title in German, but includes additional texts spanning from 1913 through 1951.

Briefe aus Norwegen is designed by Pauline Altmann employing Sindre Bremnes’ seminal sibling romans, Satyr (body text) and Faunus (headlines).

Perhaps the most important reference for Bremnes’ type family is Nordisk Antikva, a German-Swedish collaboration between the type designer Friedrich Bauer and the printer Waldemar Zachrisson from 1906. Outside Sweden, this typeface was available as Genzsch-Antiqua. This typographic choice anchors the book visually in a time and a location that matches the subject matter.

The illustration (by Christian Thanhäuser) merges a portrait of Sekulić in green with a mountainous Nordic landscape in black.

Protection Rituals is a collection of drawings and ekphrastic poems by Wade Tullier (Detroit, Michigan) and Rita Mookerjee (Ames, Iowa).

From Drum Machine Editions:

Tullier’s spare, archetypal assemblages are in constant motion, casting long shadows over Mookerjee’s defiant narrator. Velvet couches, salt lines, late-70s Bowie, and egg-topped ramen provide an indulgent backdrop for the twelve examinations of adolescence, ennui, and loneliness contained in this genre-bending collection.

Cover design, layout, printing, and binding by Erik Pedersen at Drum Machine Editions. Cover and title page set in Sofia Soft by Olivier Gourvat (Mostardesign, 2014). Interiors set in Satyr by Sindre Bremnes (Monokrom, 2012).

First printing 22 May 2020. Limited edition of 100. Riso-printed in black on FPC Lemon Drop (65#C) and Sweet Tooth (70#T). Saddle-stitch binding with hand-marbled endpapers.

The Norwegian electronica duo Sgrow consist of partners Vilde Nupen and Kristoffer Lislegaard. The cover for their 2015 LP Terrors and Ecstasies and the subsequent remix EP is designed by Erlend Rullestad at Mustasj, with artwork by Ari Pelkonen. The text is typeset in Sindre Bremnes’ sculpted venetian Satyr.

Monasterio de Santa Catalina de Siena is a 400 year old convent located in La Laguna on the island of Tenerife that has been transformed into an exhibition space. The monastery is managed by TEA (Tenerife Espacio de las Artes), showing religious art alongside contemporary artists.

The Mudéjar-style visual identity is design by Lars Petter Amundsen, Carla Garrido Puerta and Diego Rodriguez Fuentes and makes use of Sindre Bremnes’ Telefon typeface.

Piero Milano Gioielli is synonymous with excellence and prestige, creating the most original lines of jewelry. To do this, they, in fact, select the very finest materials, such as gold, diamonds, precious and semi-precious stones.

In this project we want to tell a promise and a story made between two people and a symbol that represents this promise. A jewel. For the fonts we looked for Vinter to convey the refinement while Moderat represents the hard work of the Italian craftsman.

For the 2018 Poetry Festival of Larvik, Norway, Fredrik Høyer collaborated with programmer Daniel Mahal to produce a part human, part computer-generated, poem that restructures the Norwegian language into borderline coherent sentences. Snippets from the 8 minute spoken piece Men vi er et slags sammen? (the English translation, “But we are a sort of together?”, is equally jumbled) were typeset in Monokrom Skriftforlag’s Riks stencil typeface, cut out of large sheets of plexiglass and spray painted onto the pavement outside the local cultural center Bølgen with a special nanotechnology coating that repels water molecules. The result is an art piece that only reveals itself to Larvik’s citizens on rainy days. The project was facilitated by Kulturbyrået Mesén.

HIMKOK contacted Studio Tinta to create an overall concept with the snake in focus. With a re-design of the bottles, it was possible to challenge the market with a simple yet a conceptual idea & strong visuall appearance. By placing the snake inside the bottle gives the consumer a clear sense of what HIMKOK is about. — Tinta Studio

The visual identity of Oslo-based speakeasy-cum-micro-distillery Himkok heavily features Monokrom Skriftforlag’s Telefon. Sindre Bremnes’ geometric sans serif is employed on a multitude of surfaces – from hand-painted wall lettering (executed by sign painter Richard Chlaszczak) to gin labels and signage. The Himkok emblema is molded around the capital H from Satyr – another typeface design by Sindre Bremnes.

From Familiar:

Kunsthall Stavanger is a non-collecting art institution based in Stavanger, Norway. Founded in 2012, the Kunsthall occupies a beautiful 90 year old building space formerly occupied by a local art society. Prior to the renovation of the exhibition space, founder and chief curator Hanne Mugaas approached Familiar to create a website and visual identity that could grow with the evolving institution.

All treat. No cheat. Clio Snacks make chocolate-wrapped Greek yogurt bars. The packaging uses Satyr from Monokrom Skriftforlag, paired with caps from Hoefler & Co.’s Ideal Sans. The Clio script logo is probably custom lettering.