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.

The new branding for Museum H’ART (formerly the Hermitage Amsterdam), designed by Studio Berry Slok, features Good Sans by Good Type Foundry and Self Modern by Bretagne. The identity draws around a blurred circle used as a symbol, for animation transitions, backgrounds, etc.

Created to promote the Rives paper range by B&F Papers, Touchy Feely is a printed publication designed to be touched, pulled apart, kept and returned to.

The project was developed to highlight Rives Laid, the newest stock in the Rives collection, while also presenting the wider range as a premium choice for luxury print work. Rather than creating a conventional paper promotion, Touchy Feely turns the paper itself into the subject. Across 20 original artworks, the stock specifications become the content, allowing each page to demonstrate the material’s texture, tactility and print performance.

The publication’s soft-glued spine allows the pages to be removed and enjoyed as individual artworks, or kept together as a complete set. This simple production detail gives the piece a life beyond a standard sample book, positioning it as both a visual object and a practical reference for printers, designers and creative studios.

Throughout the book, the Rives range is explored through a combination of paper textures and innovative print techniques, showing how the stock can shift between subtle, intricate and expressive applications. By inviting the viewer to touch, feel, read and keep the publication, Touchy Feely creates an emotional and sensory connection to the material.

More than a promotional piece, the project acts as a lasting resource. It demonstrates the versatility of the Rives range while giving B&F Papers a printed object with longevity, one that continues to be used, shared and referenced long after its first encounter.

For a deeper dive go to It’s Nice That and Studio Fuman.

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.

Ceelike is an oral care brand that develops safe and effective products for young consumers while promoting a modern, health-conscious lifestyle. The brand uses Good Sans to establish a clean, confident, and approachable visual personality.

Branding design by Reuring for AMA, an architectural firm based in Netherlands using Tomato Grotesk for titles and headlines with support from Ekstra.

From their portfolio website (translated):

AMA boast years of experience in realizing a broad spectrum of architectural tasks. From design to construction supervision, from interior to utility construction, from repurpose to urban planning. From the first sketch to the key on the door.

The existing wellness brand Laboratorium Dobrego Nastroju felt the need to reposition itself in a more premium direction. The system had to be flexible so it could easily adapt to a growing product selection in this truly handcrafted kingdom. We introduced a typographic branding solution with a subtle brand mark and focused on packaging details that reflect the brand’s natural ideals: from paper labels to paper packaging with special letterpress effects. Smell it and feel it – your mood will light up instantly.

The catalog documents the exhibition Humanity is…, which took place in May 2024 at VerpackereiGö and featured works by Julian Rosefeldt, Cyrill Lachauer, Herbert Nauderer, Sameh Al Tawil, Haroon Mirza, and Helga Dóróthea Fannon. At its core was the open question: What is humanity?

Designed by Anna Wank, the catalog is printed in black and white with mirrored typography on transparent paper, emphasizing the mood and themes of the video and sound installations. The design employs two typefaces – Neue Haas Grotesk by Christian Schwartz and Figue by Good Type Foundry – to reinforce the project's conceptual and visual tone.

Motherlode offers a range of instant lattes designed to provide a balanced energy boost while calming your nervous system. Packaged in convenient single-serve sachets, it helps you enjoy the right amount of caffeine, without the negative side effects of overconsumption.

The Australian based brand is using Nikolas Type’s Solare in a variable font setting of 600 on the weight axis, mixed with the Intense axis of around 350, making the typographic appearance more unique. It is paired with Kris Sowersby’s Pitch and what appears to be Good Sans by Kenneth Knutsen.

Identity for the second volume of the Purewal Cup football tournament. This is a neighbourhood event where a team of young people organise a two-day party every year. The “Mondiale del Kebab” comprises a 5vs5 football tournament, a beach volleyball tournament, and many other small activities. The intent is to keep the neighbourhood residents united and proud, all against racism.

Omar Mobarek designed a vibrant visual identity for fitness influencer Malak El Ayouty’s latest training programme, Fit Like Malak. Malak develops a suitable training course for every body type she works with. To capture this aspect, the Cairo-based graphic designer approached the project by drawing a variety of figurines with a broad range of bodies in motion. The main figurine, which functions as the icon of Fit Like Malak, is shown in the fitness influencer’s favourite stance of the squat, shaping the first letter of her name (M).

The visual identity uses Omar’s illustrations in vibrant colours combined with the typefaces Farmacia and Kiosk by Nguyen Gobber, which are playfully mixed and even stretched or condensed to match the identity’s concept. Adieu by Good Type Foundry is used for further text.

Span and the Emmy Award-winning performance collective Manual Cinema co-created a short film and original theatrical work entitled Countdown that combines handmade shadow puppetry, live actors, music performance, and Span’s digital animation.

Countdown follows an unnamed protagonist as she attempts to escape from numbers that frantically shift around her. Beginning with the handmade sets and projected cinematic techniques by Manual Cinema, the piece visually evolves into a 3D digital world created and animated by Span.

Countdown was conceived by partner John Pobojewski who led the art direction, design, and animation for Span’s digital landscapes together with Zach Minnich and Valeria Bernal. Manual Cinema’s Sarah Fornace, Drew Dir, and Julia Miller led the story development and puppetry performance. Music and sound was composed by Ben Kauffman and Kyle Vegter.

The numerals set throughout the piece include custom typography drawn by Valeria Bernal and Nick Adam, as well as the most amount of typefaces we’ve ever used, including: Adieu, HWT Aetna, Bodoni, Camera, Central Avenue, Dirk, Eklips, Empire Fold, Geometric, Gravity, Hoefler Text, Inline, HWT Konop, Megavolt, Sharp Grotesk, Trois Mille, United Sans and WTF Empire.

Manual Cinema use “vintage overhead projectors, multiple screens, puppets, actors, live feed cameras, multi-channel sound design, and a live music ensemble to transform the experience of attending the cinema and imbue it with liveness, ingenuity, and theatricality.” They have received national recognition by the New York Times and were featured in the 2021 film remake of Candyman directed by Nia DaCosta and produced by Jordan Peele.

One way / 9th Avenue, set in Central Avenue

Custom drawn numerals 4 and 3

Weather forecast, featuring HWT Konop, ABC Gravity and Sharp Grotesk

Running past the number 8, set in United Sans

From left to right: Dirk (4); Bodoni (23) and a yet unidentified typeface used for the number 24

Door number set in HWT Aetna

Tumbling numbers 9. Visible here are Adieu, United Sans and Hoefler Text

Trois Mille in use for the number 60, the ultracondensed numbers 40 on the right use ABC Gravity

Access is a new yoga and movement studio bringing a fresh perspective to New York City’s wellness space. Design studio Mammmal described their work as follows:

The brand symbol, which behaves as a submark, conveys the notion of personal growth within the context of this “third space.” Meanwhile, the logotype’s friendly letterforms convey the studio’s inherently approachable attitude, with an unexpected ligature between the “e” and “s” nodding to intuitive movement and flow state. [...]

We aimed to introduce an entirely new and distinctive flavor into the mix: a brand that is contemporary but unpretentious, easygoing but mature. The type system helps us to strike this balance, with headlines set in the elegant and expressive Self Modern (Bretagne Type Foundry) and body copy set in the clean and friendly Riposte (Good Type Foundry). Amber serves as a highly ownable primary brand color that is at once energetic and deeply soothing. Whereas competitors aim to convey prestige by leveraging the social capital of celebrity influencers, Access’s communications strategy builds rapport through direct but down-to-Earth phrasing that busy New Yorkers can digest at a glance.

Mammmal used Pangram Pangram's PP Acma for the logo.

Mr. Papa, a fast food restaurant located in Lima, Peru, is the place where you find the perfect balance between delicious potatoes and culinary innovation. With a typically Peruvian flavor, Mr. Papa stands out for its sustainable approach, offering maximum flavor with minimal environmental impact.

To reflect this joyful and sustainable essence, we created a fun and vibrant visual identity, using colorful illustrations and a careful combination of typefaces that bring rhythm and dynamism to the compositions. For the logo, we chose the Okkult typeface family from Good Type Foundry. Despite its roots in the seventies with influences from horror films, it has monumental characteristics that bring expressiveness and a bold touch to the brand, creating a striking contrast with the playful illustrations.

For titles and headlines, we opted for ABC Marfa Mono Black from Dinamo. This monospaced font creates interesting text blocks in larger sizes, adding a vernacular air that perfectly combines with the other graphic elements. Marfa Black Mono enriches the visual identity with modernity and originality.

Generaciones is the most consolidated Young Contemporary Art Prize of Spain. Organized by Fundación Montemadrid and held at La Casa Encendida in Madrid, Generaciones have produced, exhibited and promoted the work of young artists since 2000.

In 2019 a sense of theatrical intent was noticed across the awarded projects, thus the editorial design was conceived as a lighter and playful counterpart of the previous year’s publication .

In the cover a puppet mobile theater is depicted as a child construction game in which each piece creates a dull colour palette. This circus look was combined with an inverted-contrast typeface – Opposit by Good Type Foundry – preserving the dense grid system of the previous publication.

Naturezas is a company that has been producing vegan foods for more than two decades. Our studio had the opportunity to carry out this project in an ideal context. It began with creative exploration and diagnosis of the brand, which allowed us to carry out a deeper analysis. We worked closely with the client to understand the real needs of the brand. The data obtained showed the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of the brand. An obvious weakness was the obsolescence of its brand, which did not reflect the quality of its products. This led to a redesign of both the brand and the packaging of the products, which were already present on the market. The challenge was to ensure that, despite the new image, certain references were maintained so that the public could identify with the product with which they were already familiar. However, we conceived this redesign with the intention that the entire line would stand out from the competition, both due to its new image, color palette, as well as the size and shape of the new containers.

Anthony Leonardi III is a LA based director and artist. His portfolio website was designed by Studio OBV using Solina Medium and Solina Extended Bold.

Movie poster by Annika Orrock

From design studio And/Or Co.:

Glücksbohne – German for “lucky bean” is a coffee shop and roastery in Bremen, Germany. For the logo, visual design and packaging, I used Opposit, paired with Inknut Antiqua.

For the 11th edition of Bien Urbain in Besançon, France, the association Juste ici called on us to carry out the communication of the festival. We have produced a series of posters and media that question public displays and their place in the urban landscape. These invitations to appropriate the public space multiplied in the city during the festival. We have also designed a program plan that allows you to see the past and ongoing works present in the city. But also to learn more about the artists and see the many events.