The publication New Contemporaries 2026 was conceived as a continuation of the eponymous exhibition at South London Gallery rather than a record of it. Structured as an A–Z, it brings together 26 entries, one from each artist, forming a shared vocabulary of ideas, concerns, and positions emerging from this generation. Part reference book, part collective artwork.

The design follows this A–Z logic throughout. Two typefaces, Artistik and Zénith, were chosen to embody the span typographically: one expressive and unfamiliar, the other stable and readable. The idea of A–Z is also resolved through colour. The book is printed in registration black, using 100% of each C, M, Y and K plate. For New Contemporaries, where colour is usually prominent, this produces a deliberate shift: all colours present, but resolved into black.

The format sits between A5 and A4, giving the publication a familiar scale while allowing it to feel more substantial than a typical zine. Letters replace page numbers, the contents move onto the cover, and the typography carries the structure across the book.

The result is a publication that functions as index, object, and artwork at once, extending the exhibition while standing on its own.

All-caps Flash for the poster signed by D. Wust-Calame, printing: Imprimerie du «Journal de Genève»

Drawing is a common practice in the field of botany to visually describe a plant. Allowing interpretation, even cheating, a drawer dare said, scientific illustration has didactical advantages over photography. From 1960, when Charles Baehni was director of the institution, and during more than 30 years, the Botanical Garden of Geneva in Switzerland employed a dedicated team of women for the task. Their names appear vertically, often along the stem of each illustrated plant: Line Guibentif, Saskia Pernin-Wikström, Suzanne Van Hove, Danielle Wüst-Calame.

Housed by the lake, on the first floor of the historical building called La Console, the “atelier de dessin et décoration” comprised a complementary team dedicated to decoration (advertising or graphic design nowadays).

The series of posters entitled “Tulipes” announces most likely outdoor “exhibitions” of the tulip flower in bold colours with various typefaces leading to a striking effect. Showcased below, these posters symbolise the porosity of practices, the warmth as well as importance of drawing by hand, from that era.

To conclude, when I was conducting my research for proper dates and names, working in this very institution as an in-house typographer, I spotted this remark in one article by Line Guibentif from 1984: “Made with simplicity and economy of means botanical illustration should be as easy to read as clearly typeset text.” (translated from French by the author).

Acknowledgments: Samuel Anderegg, Pierre Boillat, Patrick Bungener, Martin Callmander, Sylvie Dunant, Mona Mahmoudian, Raoul Palese, Nathalie Rasolofo, Rodolphe Spichiger, Gisèle Visinand

Letraset’s Desdemona for a poster signed “SaskiaW”. Note that the 9 is an upside-down 6.

All-lowercase Baskerville Old Face

All-lowercase Monotype Grotesque and Helvetica for a poster signed “Line G.”, printing: Imprimerie du Journal de Genève

Hand-rendered (?) Cooper Black with non-standard forms for U (inspired by ITC Souvenir?) and P. “Rocailles” is shown in an unidentified wide slab serif. Volta fett with a trimmed R leg and unbracketed serifs would come close [see also the comments]. This poster is signed “SaskiaW” and was printed by imprimeries populaires. Smaller text is in Helvetica.

Zipper and Helvetica for a poster signed “SaskiaW”, printing: Imprimerie du «Journal de Genève»

Artistik for a poster signed “D. Wust-Calame”, printing: Imprimerie du Journal de Genève

More Helvetica, including stacked glyphs for the months for a poster signed “D. Calame”, printing: Blanc-Wittwer SA (not part of the Tulipes series, provided here as a bonus for the eyes)

In the 1988 film Big, thirteen-year-old Josh Baskin, played by Tom Hanks, makes a wish in front of a fortune teller machine called Zoltar. Frustrated at his age, he wishes to be “big”. The card dispensed by the machine had a front side with an illustration and hand lettering spelling, “Zoltar Speaks”. On the reverse side is “Your Wish is Granted” in an art-nouveau style. The typeface is Artistik, a late-19th-century design that was revived in the 1970s by Letraset, which is likely how the type was applied for this prop.

Production Designer: Santo Loquasto
Art Directors: Speed Hopkins, Tom Warren

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!

Front. “June Imray / The Torry Quine Again / Written & Performed by June Imray”

A charity shop find that I initially thought was Harquil but turns out to be Artistik. I admit that I was momentarily misled by the fact that the sample for Artistik here on Fonts In Use uses the bell-top A that no one appears to use in practice. For good reason. The asymmetric A with overshoot, as used here on the album cover, is a better match for the rest of the letters.

Artistik was popular in the 1970s, at least judging by the Fonts In Use showings, and was a Letraset favourite. This recording is marked “℗ 1977”, and the copyright on the bottom of the Letragraphica sheet is 1977, so this might be an early use of the Letraset adaptation.

The “Quine” of the title is probably the Scots word meaning, among other things, “girl”.

The bus livery is consistent with Aberdeen Corporation busses in the 1970s, and they presumably ran the route to Torry.

[More info on Discogs]

Various sleeve notes, including “Recorded by ‘PHOEBE’ the REL Mobile Recording Unit at the Aberdeen Arts Centre and REL Studios, Edinburgh. / Engineers: Neil Ross & Roy Ashby”

The roundel/logo is the word REL stylised so that it might appear to be BEL.

Fonts from the Flea Market #1306

Austrian re-release from 1978 of a single by German schlager trio Nilsen Brothers, originally issued in 1963. The uncredited sleeve designer at Ariola Records paired two quite different typefaces: Artistik, a painterly Art Nouveau oddity from 1898, and ITC Bauhaus, Ed Benguiat’s 1970s interpretation of Herbert Bayer’s quest for an Universal Alphabet.

[More info on Discogs]

Artwork for an album of abstract and sometimes Eastern-inspired electronic music by William Hoskins, released on the Spectrum label in 1979. Hoskins was Director of Electronic Music and Composer-in-Residence at Jacksonville University in Florida.

The album title brings together ITC Pioneer (without visible shadow on the front cover) and all-caps Artistik. A revival of the latter was issued by Letraset just in 1978. The artist’s name is in Helvetica, just like the text on the back cover. “Spectrum” uses Optima.

[More info on Discogs]

Source: www.amazon.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.

Poster for The Velvet Vampire, featuring Moon Flair, Toronado Interlock, Franklin Gothic Condensed, Univers, Neue Auora VIII, and News Gothic Condensed.

The Velvet Vampire is a 1971 American vampire film directed by Stephanie Rothman. It was distributed by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, and put on a double bill with Scream of the Demon Lover, a 1970 Spanish-Italian horror film by José Luis Merino and originally called Ivanna. The posters and other promotion for the two films feature strong imagery – and some lesser known typefaces.

The title typeface for The Velvet Vampire is called Moon Flair. This all-caps face with “Shotgun” counters is shown by Lettergraphics in their 1976 catalog (but not yet in the 1969 edition), without designer credits. Digital interpretations include Velvet Teen (Pink Broccoli, 2008) and Velvet Vampire (GautFonts, 2019). Both fonts are based on the material designed for the film, and hence are not faithful to the original beyond the glyphs featured in this use.

“She’s waiting to love you … to death” is set in another anonymous design from the Lettergraphics library – this phototype company was located in Culver City, California, and hence in close proximity to Hollywood. Toronado Interlock was shown already in 1968. There likewise is a digitization by Pink Broccoli, under the name Troubled PB (2019).

Source: www.amazon.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Poster for Scream of the Demon Lover, featuring Burst Caps, Marschall, Neue Aurora IX, and Venus Condensed.

On the poster for Scream of the Demon Lover, the title is set in Burst Caps. Again, this is a phototype design of unclear origin. The bold sans-serif caps with burst pattern in each glyph appear in Lettergraphics’ 1976 catalog. There are digizations by David Rakowski (as Starburst, 1990) and, more complete, by Dan X. Solo as Burst (1999).

“A walking corpse lusts for revenge” probably is in Monmart, which was the name Lettergraphics used for their phototype adaptation of Marschall. Other aliases for this German design from 1905 include Elefante and Domingo.

Shout-out to John Michael Cozzoli for sharing images of the double bill press book on Zombos’ Closet.

Source: www.zomboscloset.com From Zombos’ Closet by John Michael Cozzoli. License: CC BY-NC-ND.

Pages from the press book for The Velvet Vampire and Scream of the Demon Lover. “2 new smash chiller attractions from New World Pictures” is set in all-caps Akzidenz-Grotesk.

Source: www.zomboscloset.com From Zombos’ Closet by John Michael Cozzoli. License: CC BY-NC-ND.

Pages from the press book for The Velvet Vampire and Scream of the Demon Lover, with lobby stills. “Order from National Screen Service” uses Helvetica.

Source: www.zomboscloset.com From Zombos’ Closet by John Michael Cozzoli. License: CC BY-NC-ND.

Pages from the press book with ads for The Velvet Vampire and Scream of the Demon Lover. “Order from National Screen Service” uses Akzidenz-Grotesk Italic.

Source: www.zomboscloset.com From Zombos’ Closet by John Michael Cozzoli. License: CC BY-NC-ND.

Pages from the press book with ads for The Velvet Vampire and Scream of the Demon Lover. The title of the latter is here also set in Artistik. “Double the shock” uses Ad Lib.

Fantasy and science fiction books often represent a refuge for novelty typefaces, both for contempary ones and such of yesteryear. The first edition of this collection of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith is no exception.

The painterly face with pronounced horizontal contrast was issued in 1898 by the Berlin-based Berthold foundry and its subsidiary Bauer & Co in Stuttgart. Initially named Artistic, the spelling was soon changed to Artistik after the 1902 reform. It was probably the fact that Ludwig Petzendorfer included this anonymous design in his Schriftenatlas, Neue Folge (1903–1905) which gave Artistik a second lease on life. Sometime in the 1970s, Letraset rediscovered the Art Nouveau cracker, and issued an adaptation for dry transfer lettering in their Letragraphica range.

Artistik is used for all text on the jacket (even for the ISBN). It also features for the title page as well as for headings and drop caps in the interior. The text typeface is much more sober: It’s Jan Tschichold’s Sabon. A Rendezvous in Averoigne was published by Arkham House, Sauk City, in 1988, with an introduction by Ray Bradbury.

[More info on ISFDB]

The book jacket was designed by Jeffrey K. Potter.

Title page. The title and the names on the typographic frontispiece are set in all caps, which is unbecoming for this typeface, at least with no extra letterspacing.

Contents and introduction.

Chapter title and drop cap in Artistik, with subchapter heading and running title in Sabon caps.

Album cover for avant folk guitarist Mike Cooper’s Trout Steel album, originally released on Dawn Records in 1970 and reissued by Paradise of Bachelors in 2014. Cover credited to Mike Cooper.

Artistik is an Art Nouveau typeface that started out as Artistic, a 1898 metal typeface by Bauer & Co. In the 1970s, it was available as a Letraset face. Fortunately, the digital version seems to offer all the alternates that would be necessary to recreate this cheesy Flemish record cover (“This isn’t the end of the world”) by Paul Severs.

If you dig this style, make sure to check out Chris Vandenbroucke’s huge collection of Belgian vinyl covers.