“I was wondering if I could possibly borrow a cup of Johnnie Walker Black Label.”

Elizabeth Friedlander’s Elizabeth (1937) in use for a 1979 ad for Scotch whiskey. The line at the bottom is in all-caps Trade Gothic.

Centre de les Arts Lliures is a cultural space where the word travels, the space can be read, and the action is always present. Signage is necessary to guide the visitor, but also to provide a sense of change and renewal of the environment. The place has a sober spirit, where the essence prevails over ostentation. Therefore, we believe that the strong point of this signage should be how and where we place the typography. We’ve played with unexpected perspectives to turn the same space into a poetic story. Create a clear but groundbreaking visitor-space relationship.

The typeface we used for this project is Brossa, a grotesk font inspired on Helvetica forms designed by Typerepublic.

To the rhythm of the Super Tipo Veloz modular typeface, a summery customized version of the typeface – inspired by towels and parasols – presents the first edition of the Istiu festival. Istiu is a colloquial dialectal variant of estiu, the Catalan word for “summer”.

The illustrations and typography are based on the typographic system created by Joan Trochut Blanchard in 1942, a pioneer and benchmark in Spanish graphic design. It was digitalized and revived by Andreu Balius and Alex Trochut in 2004.

The stripes and colour combinations – which will change for each edition of the festival – seek to transmit the freshness of the summer breeze while at the same time set the tempo and visual rhythm of the artists’ names.

SPAIN arts & culture was created with the desire to become an umbrella brand for all Spanish culture abroad, an internationally recognizable brand. Able to integrate the past history but also the most novel projects. Spain as a cluster of living cultures. Through the metaphor of the carved stone, of the gem, we explained how a rough element is transformed into a precious stone. A brand with the aim of transmitting the cultural variety of the country that helps to spread the cultural and artistic programs of Spain abroad.

Commissioned by the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C., Toormix developed the brand strategy and worked on digital experience, identity & communication as well as environmental design. During the process, we decided to create our own typeface that would align with the shapes of the logo. In 2015, it was released for general licensing, including Poligonal Sans (in 3 weights) and Poligonal Slab (in 2 weights). Poligonal is paired with Pradell by Andreu Balius. See more in the case study on the Toormix website.

The area between Paseo del Prado and Retiro Park in Madrid has a big density of cultural heritage: monuments and museums like Prado Museum, Reina Sofia Museum, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Cibeles, the Apollo and Neptune fountains or the Royal Botanical Garden – among many others. This sparked an aspiration for the area to be declared as a UNESCO World heritage site.

With the aim to identify and draw attention to this candidature it was necessary a visual identity and a campaign that connects with the citizenship and emphasizes the huge historic and cultural value of this area.

Pradell, used for the logo, makes reference to the Spanish typography history. It was designed by Andreu Balius inspired from punches cut by catalan punchcutter Eudald Pradell who was hired by Charles III of Spain (a king well-known for the improvements he made in Madrid) to work at the Royal Press in 1765. The functional side is achieved with Fugue, chosen as the font for the campaign motto: “Lo que es nuestro, queremos que sea del mundo” (“What is ours we want it to be of the world”).

The so-called four elements — earth, wind, water and fire — and the fifth substance (aether) name the main rooms of this healthy accommodation in the historical centre of Pals.

With a simple modification, the initial A, taken from Carmen is converted into a sign which represents a tree log and its branches. “Arkhé” or “ἀρχή” is a concept that stems from Greek philosophers, searching for the first principle, the source, the beginning of the universe, with nature as a source of inspiration.

Carmen is also used as a typeface for the accommodation brochures, paired with Vibration Gothic, a reinterpretation of American Type Founders’ Railroad Gothic by Font Bureau. It is also used in a stencil version for signs outside the building.

Edicions del Periscopi is an independent publishing house based in Barcelona since 2012. Its original inspiration is to choose and edit for the Catalan reader those contemporary works that stand out due to their literary value, and also to become the link between important narrative voices and those readers who look for a reference point that assures them of a full and pleasant reading experience in the Catalan language.

See more images on Tono Cristòfol’s website.

Signage project for OneOcean Port Vell at Port Vell's luxury yacht marina (designed by Scob architects) in the heart of Barcelona's old harbour.

Designers Mariona Garcia and David Martín have worked on both outdoor and indoor environment design in order to make the space more pleasant for visitors by bringing order and coherence but, at the same time, by blurring the boundary between the city and its old harbour.

Usage of line coding has been used to locate places. Materials with high resistance to salinity conditions have been used along the outdoor area, while letters cut from wood and acryl have been used for the indoor services building. Signs are integrated in the space without forgetting its functionality. The in- and outdoors typography was connected by choosing Barna and Barna Stencil with its high legibility and its strong personality in the stenciled styles.

Garcia and Martin were assisted by Mireia Carbonell and Judith Rovira. This project has been awarded with the A+Architizer Award (Public Choice) in 2016, FX International Design Awards in 2015 and has been selected for the XIII Spanish Biennal of Architecture and Urban Planning 2016.

Arte.tv has used Barna family from Typerepublic for the TV channel website. Barna Stencil is mainly used for display purposes and headlines while Barna is used for text matters.

Canongate:

In his ambitious and fiercely inventive new novel, John Wray takes us from turn-of-the-century Viennese salons buzzing with rumours about Einstein's radical new theory to the death camps of the Second World War, from the golden age of post-war pulp science fiction to a startling discovery in a modern-day Manhattan apartment packed to the ceiling with artefacts of contemporary life.

The main typeface is the marvelous Taüll by Andreu Balius (Typerepublic, 2007), “a southern flavoured typeface […] inspired from old black lettering devices” — and bearing some resemblance to Louis Oppenheim’s Fanfare (1927) —, designed with the goal “to link the medieval world with our brand new digital metropolis.” The slightly angular script used for the article is Laura Worthington’s Voltage (thanks to Oli for the ID!).

Via the highly recommended “Notable Book Covers of 2016”, compiled by Dan Wagstaff for his blog The Casual Optimist.

UnderConsideration translated the design of the original hardcover edition of Lucha Loco down to a smaller paperback format. The typography is changed from the previous edition, using the exhuberant Carmen Fiesta typeface from Typerepublic.

Legend has it that The Beast struck fear into local farmers. A menacing gaze of vibrant garnet burning through a deep darkness. Its powerful body, as strong as oak, partially obscured by multiple layers of shadow, texture and nuance. Complex, broody, seductive … this, they say, was La Bestia.

Two menacing eyes are watching you hidden in the furry letters of La Bestia.

The word fil means “thread” in Catalan. The thickness of Carmen’s serifs has been chosen to draw the thread.

A fine line separates the worlds of wine and beer. Fil is a seam stitched between these two worlds. A sparkling wine made with a type of yeast typically used for brewing beer. The natural formation of bubbles produced by bottle fermentation manifests itself in a multitude of threads of tiny bubbles that give their name to vi d’agulla, literally “needle wine” — subtle and persistent on the tongue and the palate.

Venus Extended

This portfolio from Bauer Alphabets Inc. (the U.S. arm of Bauersche Gießerei) contains about 30 sheets showing examples of Bauer types in use. The publish date is unknown, but the style of the design, the imagery, and the release dates of the typefaces shown indicate mid 1950s.

Horizon (Imprimatur in Germany)

Bauer Topic (Steile Futura in Germany)

Bernhard Cursive (Bernhard Schönschrift in Germany) and Bauer Bodoni

Elizabeth and Weiss (Weiß-Antiqua in Germany)

Hellenic Wide and Venus Extended. The Leica M-3 was introduced in 1954, and these ads appeared as early as 1955, indicating that this specimen must have come sometime after.

Cartoon (Fresko in Germany) and Futura

Corvinus and Stradivarius (Symphonie in Germany)

Trafton Script (Quick in Germany) and Weiß

As stated in Astrid Stavro’s website: 

The catalogue for an exhibition based on the translation of Rodoreda’s The Time of Doves into different languages has been designed in a format that conjures up the well-travelled nature of Rodoreda’s words. Eschewing the stay-at-home traditional book format, the catalogue is designed as a packet of eleven postcards, each featuring a different language translation of the opening paragraph of The Time of Doves. Each card is colour-coded to differentiate the languages and relate to a chart breaking down the distribution of translations of Rodoreda’s work around the world. Each postcard is set in a font that reflects a country’s language, for example Didot for France and Baskerville for the UK. There is also an A2 fold-out poster featuring covers of forty-eight editions of Rodoreda novels in different languages form the 1960s until now.

I find interesting this idea of finding a typeface that represents a language of a country. There are still some typefaces left to identify in the non-latin scripts. So if you know them, please give me a hand.

For the branding of the AGI Open Conference in Barcelona back in 2011, Astrid Stavro used SuperVeloz and Helvetica. Playing with the initials of the participants, she used the modular type system as the main character of the identity.

Several versions of the posters emphasized the different speakers. Each name tag had different modular combinations representing the initials of each person. Even the organization badges had different modular combinations for the initial ‘O’.

It is rare to find Superveloz out there; so it is a real treat to see it used so well.