Front cover of the “Big Box” CD release for the Mac

A fediverse post showing the CD cover for The Incredible Machine 3 prompted me to write this up. The Incredible Machine, often abbreviated TIM, was a 1990s series of puzzle-solving computer games where players create a Rube Goldberg device. In fact, it seems to be responsible for creating the Rube Goldberg genre. The original TIM was published in 1993, and went on to spawn quite a few sequels, spin-offs, ports, and imitators.

TIM 3 is essentially a port of the DOS game TIM 2 to the GUI operating systems, principally Windows and Mac. The box art for TIM 3 uses Lithos and Modula Sans for the title, and Modular Sans for much of the secondary text. Two very iconic 1990s designs by two very iconic 1990s designers: Carol Twombly and Zuzana Licko respectively.

Artwork for the earlier versions relies on the obvious LTypi: ITC Machine. And since this is clearly a 1990s post, I had to show the interior of the manual for TIM 2 which features another landmark of the 1990s: Remedy.

Splashscreen for the original DOS version. Note the wordmark that’s based on modified ITC Machine.

The splashscreen for The Incredible Machine 2 is a much more straightforward LTypI.

Front cover of the manual for The Incredible Machine 2, using ITC Machine.

A right-hand page from the interior of the manual for The Incredible Machine 2, showing typical typography. Remedy is used throughout the manual for titles and subtitles.

A mini book by designed by Julie Bassinot, introduced as follow:

A book no taller than an ear of wheat.
6 × 4 cm, 244 pages, bound with linen thread.

Text by Élise Demeulenaere and Christophe Bonneuil: ‘Sharing Seeds: The social and identity-building of a “peasant” collective centred on alternative seed-saving practices.’

Designed by Studio Diyen, Masonolay i Cepo’ is the latest album by the Taiwanese band Outlet Drift. In this work, the band members take the exploration of their own culture as a starting point. By sampling tribal music and heritage, and drawing from their experiences of wandering across different lands, they have gradually woven their faith, culture, and life journeys into the soul of this album.

The visual expression is rooted in the band’s core philosophy: “Sky, Earth, and Sea.” Drawing inspiration from the maritime culture and spiritual beliefs of the Amis people in Taitung, we ensured that the wardrobe, photography, and packaging all expanded upon this central theme.

The album packaging utilizes a three-layer structure to mirror the band’s worldview. The lyric book is secured by hand using hemp rope and traditional hip-bells, while carefully selected fabrics are used to evoke the fluid movement of seawater. By employing a diverse range of materials and a near-handcrafted approach, the packaging reflects both Outlet Drift’s eclectic musical style and the cultural preservation of their tribe.

For the album and track titles, we used a mix of Gothix (by DM Studio) and Super Sabretooth (by Set Sail Studios). These two powerful, wild, hand-drawn typefaces capture the band’s passionate and psychedelic musical style. In contrast, the Chinese titles feature Loksin (justfont) to convey their deep connection to nature and faith, while revealing a more introspective side of their character.

To maintain readability across three languages—Chinese, English, and Amis—the lyric book features a thoughtful combination of Wotfard (Atipo), Utopia (Adobe), GenRyu Mincho, and GenSeki Gothic (ButTaiwan). This typographic blend was chosen to present a sense of warmth and humanistic emotion.

The folded accordion-style lyrics booklet mimics the rhythmic rise and fall of ocean waves.

Cooking Memes, published by Krisis Publishing, is a book that treats food memes as historical documents of the present. Curated by Alessandro Mininno, it brings Marc Bloch’s 1935 insight about the “jam problem” into the digital age. In a world where pizza, carbonara, matcha, and vegan sushi circulate as images, slogans, and remixes, culinary memes become lenses into sociopolitical friction, identity, and power. This open archive collects fragments without deference, suggesting that even the most ramshackle food meme can function as a historical document of our time.

The book was designed by Francesco D’Abbraccio who picked Minion for body text and Ramboia for everything else.

Verzauberte Vorbestimmung by Jonas Lüscher is a German novel published by Carl Hanser Verlag in Munich. The cover design has been created by Barbara Thoben of the Cologne-based studio Lübbeke Naumann Thoben. The novel was nominated for the German Book Prize 2025, and won the 2025 Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize.

Translated from the book summary on the publisher’s website:

An Algerian soldier is caught in the first German poison gas attack, decides that someone has to stop it, gets up and leaves. In the Cairo of the future, a stand-up comedian observes an android laughing at her jokes. A Bohemian weaver is replaced by an automated loom, steals a hammer and attacks the machine. What do we, the people of capitalism, dream of, and what do our machines, which are increasingly rising up against us, dream of? In the unique mirror space of this novel, no conflict is over and every story is still possible. Clever and mad, funny and sharp, Jonas Lüscher's story is at the height of his art.

The hardcover book comes with a jacket that pairs Swiss Typefaces’ TheW Clan GZA on the front with Adobe’s Arno for the back cover blurb and testimonials. The pairing reflects the book’s thematic tension between history and dystopian future. TheW Clan GZA, an anti-dogmatic serif hybrid, frames the front illustration: the protagonist of the historical engraving The Leader of the Luddites (1812). The typeface’s unconventional forms introduce a futuristic, slightly destabilizing note, contrasting with the engraving and Arno’s classical serif grounding on the back.

With the jacket removed, the hardcover uses TheW Clan GZA on the spine for the author, title, and publisher name, while the front cover takes a minimalist approach: the jacket illustration disappeared leaving behind only its shadow, extended to cover the page.

Sebastian Vigueras. License: All Rights Reserved.

La Típica en la Vasconcelos, 5 October 2025

During 2025, the Orquesta Típica de la Ciudad de México (OTCM) offered a series of free concerts throughout the capital, for which these promotional poster was created.

The layout of the elements follows a vertical or radial hierarchy where photographs of musicians or instruments—such as the salterio or the marimba—act as indices of Mexico City’s sonic tradition. The use of illustrations or flat color shapes aims to modernize the Orchestra’s image, moving it away from a static perception and bringing it closer to a dynamic urban audience. Furthermore, the color palette likely aligns with the institutional identity of the Secretariat of Culture, applied with high contrasts to ensure legibility in public spaces. A system of visual weights was established where the OTCM name stands out above the time and location details, allowing for quick scanning. The typographic selection likely includes a seriffed, calligraphic typeface—Adobe Aldine—for headlines to evoke the history and elegance of an orchestra with over 140 years of heritage, complemented by sans-serif typefaces—Roboto and Cabin—for technical data to ensure clear readability at various distances. Finally, the management of leading and tracking is optimized to avoid dense typographic blocks, maintaining an “air” that allows the design to breathe.

Sebastian Vigueras. License: All Rights Reserved.

Ninfas y Nereidas, 12 October 2025

The poster for the Ninfas y Nereidas concert represents a transition towards a more layered and atmospheric visual language. The background is a rich, impressionistic tapestry of warm-toned flowers that anchors the composition, reflecting the floral tradition of the San Francisco Tlaltenco area.

The typographic system introduces Gabriola, whose fluid, stylistic alternates and elongated swashes mirror the “aquatic” and mythological theme of the Nereids. This expressive display face is used for the concert title, creating a sharp contrast with the structured, institutional presence of Adobe Aldine at the top. For the more complex information—such as the extensive repertoire list and venue details—Roboto and Cabin are again used to maintain high legibility against the textured background. The layout balances a large, centered photograph of the full orchestra with a clear, white footer for institutional logos, ensuring that the decorative elements do not compromise the informational clarity.

Sebastian Vigueras. License: All Rights Reserved.

Ritmos de Otoño, 19 October 2025

The poster for the Ritmos de Otoño (“Autumn Rhythms”) concert features a frame-within-a-frame composition that emphasizes the relationship between the venue and the season. The top of the layout is dominated by a lush, colorful floral arrangement that creates an organic border, contrasting with the bright blue sky.

The typographic hierarchy is centered and highly structured. The concert title is set in Adobe Aldine’s Display size, utilizing its graceful, flaring terminals to reflect the organic nature of the floral motifs. It is used for the “Orquesta Típica” name at the top, providing a stable, classical anchor for the design. A distinctive detail is the venue address, which is set in an arch following the architectural curve of the museum’s orange facade, effectively integrating the text with the photographic image of the building’s entrance.

Sebastian Vigueras. License: All Rights Reserved.

La muerte se quiere llevar a la Típica, 9 November 2025

This poster for the Día de Muertos special concert, titled La muerte se quiere llevar a la Típica, showcases a sophisticated integration of typography and architectural photography. The composition uses a diagonal perspective provided by the museum’s historic stone columns, creating a sense of depth that guides the eye toward the papel picado and the dark interior where the concert title is placed.

The typographic system relies on a high-contrast hierarchy to manage a large amount of information. The main header and the concert title are once more set in Adobe Aldine Display, whose classical serif structure is paired with a hand-drawn illustration of a skeleton, evoking the iconic style of José Guadalupe Posada. This choice reinforces the cultural heritage of the celebration. To balance the ornate title, venue details and technical data are organized using Roboto and Cabin, utilizing different weights and sizes to maintain clarity. A notable design choice is the placement of the location details on the stone pillar, treating the text as a physical part of the architecture. The color palette is somber yet accented by the vibrant colors of the traditional papel picado, ensuring the poster captures the festive yet solemn spirit of the season.

Labels for Behind This Wall’s newly launched CBD-infused botanical honey syrups.

We developed the brand identity for TARB, a new hair care brand. Guided by the philosophy of “True And Raw Beauty,” this project explored how to translate nature’s pure, primal beauty into a refined and deliberate language.

With both the Korean and Japanese markets in mind, we sought an aesthetic closer to attitude than visual excess. The direction began with the texture of Eastern minimalism and the quiet discipline of Zen.

We stripped away unnecessary ornamentation and built the packaging with restrained colors and generous negative space. The logo, too, takes its cues from natural forms rather than artificial expression.

To ensure beauty in its raw state is conveyed without exaggeration, we carried the brand’s core values consistently across its visual language and overall spatial experience.

The logo is custom drawn. Nordvest is the brand’s primary typeface, used for headings. On the packaging designs, it’s paired with Arno Italic. The website additionally uses ABC Diatype (English), Sandoll GothicNeo (Korean), and PingFang (Japanese).

The posters were screen-printed at the university studio.

Enpen Teien Shokukaku (縁辺庭苑小区画; “A small plot in a peripheral garden”) was a performance by the student group Tosok from Tama Art University in Hachioji, Tokyo. The event took place at SCHOOL in Mitaka, Tokyo. I designed the poster and flyer for the performance, featuring a layout that mixes an extensive variety of fonts.

For the large Japanese title on the poster, the fonts Iwata Fuku Marugo, Iwata Mincho, Wapuro Mincho, and Gothic MB101 are layered together. The small English title uses Tsukurimashou.

In the smaller text sections, I paired Japanese and English fonts as follows: Chu Gothic BBB with Lo-Res, Tsukushi A MaruGothic with VAG Rounded, and Tsukushi A Old Mincho with Garamond Premier.

The layout for the inside of the flyer repeats the same information while varying the typography. In addition to the poster’s fonts, I incorporated pairs such as DNP Shuei ShogoMincho with Didot, HanaKocho with Garamond Premier, and Midashi Go MB31 with Univers Next.

The flyers are offset printed and have a half-fold format.

Doorkijkvers (“see-through verse”) is a self-initiated participatory poetry project by designer Laura Broux created for Poëzieweek 2026. The project was developed and realized in collaboration with Creatief Schrijven vzw and printer Zwartopwit.

The project takes the form of an A6 card with a circular cut-out that functions as a lens. By framing a small detail in their surroundings, participants are invited to slow down, observe differently and write a short poem inspired by what they see.

Responding to the Poëzieweek 2026 theme ‘Metamorphosis’, printed on the front of the card, the intervention explores how a simple shift in perspective can transform everyday scenes into language. Distributed across Flanders (Belgium) and activated in schools, libraries and literary spaces, #doorkijkvers connects visual perception, writing and public space.

Thousands of people, including numerous schools and language institutes, took part in the project, contributing to a wide and diverse engagement with poetry across Flanders.

Mediapart is a French investigative online newspaper known for exposing numerous political and economic scandals. Its financing model is unique: funded exclusively through subscriptions, Mediapart reports independently without advertising influence.

During the redesign of its website and mobile app by cmjnrvb studio, the visual identity was harmonized across editorial content, the user interface, and the subscriber area (the Mediapart Club). A central challenge was differentiating these spaces while maintaining a coherent overall system.

Pensum Pro was adopted for editorial content, supporting long-form reading with balanced proportions and excellent legibility. Pensum Display provides contrast and presence for special headlines. For the Mediapart Club and interface elements such as author names, dates, and metadata, Atlas Grotesk establishes a clear typographic hierarchy that distinguishes subscriber content from editorial material.

Historically, Mediapart’s typographic wordmark was set in the seriffed Trajan. The redesign shifted to the sans-serif forms of Trajan Sans to improve readability while preserving the essence of the original design.

The redesign also included a refined logotype, a systematic color palette, and a consistent illustration style. These elements were compiled into a comprehensive graphic charter ensuring clarity, consistency, and flexibility across digital and print platforms.

To accompany the creation of the Établissement public national du Mont-Saint-Michel, Graphéine designed a visual identity intended to give a clear and lasting form to a previously fragmented governance. The challenge was to move beyond the saturated “postcard” imagery of the Mont while preserving immediate legibility for a site welcoming over 2.5 million visitors each year. Rather than adding another figurative symbol, the project is built around a typographic logotype conceived as an image in itself, where the name becomes the place. This choice places typography at the very heart of the identity, not as a simple graphic layer but as a true narrative foundation.

Within this framework, Blaze Type was commissioned to develop an original typeface based on the drawing of the logotype. Its references draw on the medieval scripts found at the Mont – Carolingian and Gothic – reinterpreted through a resolutely contemporary language. The verticality of the letters echoes the upward thrust of the abbey, while certain forms subtly recall ancient manuscripts without ever slipping into decorative quotation. Blaze Type’s work thus seeks a balance between historical heritage and modern efficiency, resulting in a typeface that is expressive, readable, and capable of structuring the entire identity.

Beyond its design, this typeface plays a central role throughout the visual system. Deployed in several weights and conceived to stretch vertically, it extends into use what makes the logotype distinctive: a form of writing designed to rise, to converse with the architecture, and to open the gaze toward the landscape of the bay. Typography thus becomes far more than a functional tool: it sets the tone, establishes a restrained elegance, and connects the heritage of Mont-Saint-Michel with a contemporary graphic vision. A collaboration that aptly illustrates the strategic role a foundry like Blaze Type can play today in shaping public identities.

The typeface’s scope with five weights and three widths, or heights

Glyph set with stylistic alternates

Poesia no Centro is a poetry festival promoted by Megafauna, a bookstore in São Paulo, Brazil. The visual identity and scenography allude to the city’s signage and urban cacophony, anchored in the use of the Plaak typeface by the type foundry 205TF, also present in the bookstore’s visual identity.

The graphic design consists of a simple structure of boxes and vertical bars with moving typography superimposed on the work of guest photographer Mauro Restiffe. In the scenography, the lines become industrial shelving structures, the boxes become animated LED signs and the photographs become large-format posters.

The program booklet uses FF More and Acumin for text.

French edition of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Nachtstücke (1816/1817; English: Night Pieces), translated by Philippe Forget and beautifully illustrated by Tristan Bonnemain. The book design uses Rector for titles and Adobe Garamond for the running text. From the website of the publisher, Les éditions du Typhon:

To plunge into this illustrated book is to follow the devil who, in the evening, amuses himself by frightening the bourgeois; to grow fond of a young man petrified by his childhood terrors; to haunt the corridors of a castle with a tormented woman; to be seized by the visions of a sinister house; or to be drawn, like that sailor, into the depths of the earth. To immerse oneself in Hoffmann is to enter the night, lulled by images that are as humorous as they are terrifying, brought to life by the drawings of Tristan Bonnemain.

Power Type’s Artific and OffBit are the fonts used in the identity of Pixio, makers of gaming monitors and related gear.

From the company’s About page:

Pixio started in Los Angeles in 2016 with a clear mission: to break the cycle of copy-paste tech. Everything looked the same. Felt the same. Safe. Soulless. So we rewrote the code.

We built a brand around personalization, expression, and performance. Minimal design with maximum impact. Power that shows up in silence. And style that doesn’t just follow trends—it outlasts them.

Today, we’re a proudly independent, global team crafting future-classic gear for a generation that builds their world pixel by pixel.

The logo is based on Myriad Bold Italic, with a custom P.

Have you ever opened a book and felt a whole household breathe?

At Plantain, we transform lived histories into beautiful, bespoke books. With the Ferreira family volume, a chorus of voices, memories, and carefully kept artefacts finally found a home between covers.

When we started this project, we were invited to step into a living museum: rigorously researched family histories, earlier interviews, photographs softened by time, vinyl records, Granny’s garlic pork recipe, and artwork by masters such as Louison and Hinkson. Our brief was simple but exacting: make it coherent, honest, and beautiful – a book future generations would actually want to hold.

Over months, we conducted interviews, shaped a narrative, and curated more than 65,000 words and 437 images into a 356-page volume.

The design draws on the geometry of Portuguese azulejos, reimagined as grids and rhythmic layouts, with layered blue accents inspired by the Caribbean Sea. Warm creams and soft greys temper the palette, while a restrained typographic system lets the family’s voices sit easily beside photographs and ephemera.

Regions covered: Portugal, Trinidad, the United States.

Burghi is used in Adobe InDesign 2026 to illustrate the Flex Layout feature. The calendar numerals are from CoFo Kabeltouw. Adobe Clean is the typeface used for the interface typography.

Fish Butchery. Mastering The Catch, Cut And Craft is a book by Josh Niland. It was designed by Daniel New. Titles are set in Kobe from VJ-Type. The body text is in Robert Slimbach’s Minion.

Fish Butchery won the 2024 ABDA award for Best Designed Cookbook. From Niland’s website:

James Beard award-winning author and culinary game-changer Josh Niland returns with the ultimate guide to the art of Fish Butchery, with expert techniques and groundbreaking recipes that are an urgent call for action on culinary sustainability.

Josh’s multi award-winning debut The Whole Fish Cookbook created a new blueprint for fish cookery, while its bestselling sequel Take One Fish unpacked 15 different species to reveal their true gastronomic potential. In this latest book, Josh continues to open our eyes to the potential of fish in the kitchen.

Presented in three stunning sections―Catch, Cut and Craft―it’s both a challenge to the food industry to do things differently and a dazzling manual to the eye-popping potential in each and every fish.

Founded in 1988, The Onion remains one of the most recognizable satirical news outlets in the world. Its visual design cleverly mirrors that of a traditional newspaper—anchored by its choice of type—giving it a real sense of newsy legitimacy.

Headlines are set in Rocky Compressed, designed by Matthew Carter and available from Carter & Cone. Carter’s long association with newspaper typography makes this choice especially fitting, giving the digital publication a confident, print-like presence.

Tablet Gothic Condensed and Semi-Condensed, designed by José Scaglione and Veronika Burian, foundry partners at TypeTogether, appear in subheads and smaller section titles. This crisp, space-saving sans serif family acts as a good visual foil for the two serif families.

Body copy uses Utopia, designed by Robert Slimbach for Adobe and their Adobe Originals program, providing a balanced, readable serif ideal for long-form journalism—real or imagined.

The logo is based on Eagle, David Berlow’s interpretation and expansion of ATF’s Eagle Bold, with modifications.

In a time when real news can feel stranger than satire, The Onion’s typographic choices reinforce its role as both parody and institution.

Various pages viewed through a narrower viewport demonstrates that the typography holds up even on smaller devices.

Im Herzen der Katze by Jina Khayyer is a German literary fiction novel published by Suhrkamp Verlag (Berlin). The cover design and illustration were created by Barbara Thoben of the Cologne-based studio Lübbeke Naumann Thoben, while the book’s typesetting was handled by Satz-Offizin Hümmer in Waldbüttelbrunn. The audiobook, published by Der Audio Verlag, is also available on CD, read by Pegah Ferydoni. The novel was nominated for the German Book Prize 2025.

Translated from the book summary on the publisher’s website:

Im Herzen der Katze is a family and love story that questions notions of nationality and belonging, of womanhood and freedom. With poetic intensity, Jina Khayyer tells of courage, solidarity, and responsibility, and of the lingering echoes of a homeland that cannot be shaken off.

The hardcover book comes with a jacket that pairs Swiss Typefaces's TheW Clan RZA on the front with Adobe's Minion on the back. RZA’s condensed, angular forms give the title a bold, contemporary edge, while Minion’s classical serif provide balance and a refined, timeless feel to the overall design.