In 2022, studio deValence started a new collaboration with Reporters sans frontières (Reporters Without Borders) for the art direction and design of their Album collection. The first edition of this new collaboration celebrates Patrick Chauvel’s work as a war photographer.

Thirty years ago, Reporters Without Borders published the first issue of its “100 Pictures for Press Freedom” series. The cover featured a young war photographer who had been seriously wounded in Cambodia while reporting on a story. The man with the brown curls in that iconic image was Patrick Chauvel. Thirty years later, RSF has chosen to pay tribute to this legend of the profession.

The typefaces used by deValence are Mercury (by Hoefler & Co.), Almeria, Smithee Extra Condensed (both by Apex Type Foundry), and Dada Grotesk (by Optimo). 144 p., 210×280 mm.

Each issue of Sphères magazine explores a community of enthusiasts to tell its great stories. After pipe smokers, re-enactors, dancers or horsemen, the last issue focused on the climbing community.

In autumn 2022, Sphères published the first issue of a new quarterly series on French regions: Sphères Régions, with “les Basques” as a theme.

Art direction by Mathias Benguigui and Théo Miller, who worked with Smithee Extra Condensed (Apex Type Foundry) and Minotaur Sans and Minotaur (both from Production Type) throughout the magazine.

Smithee and Acumin are the main typefaces in the visual identity of Dodge – “a new all natural, non-carbonated functional beverage you drink after drinking to dodge rough mornings”. The brand was launched by Alec Balcombe and Braeden Leahy, who hired Megan Elizabeth Perkins for their visual identity. The Brand Identity cites Perkins about her typeface selection:

I’ve customised Smithee significantly to achieve the consistent slant and back slant angles,” [...] “This type treatment is supported with a complimentary, more legible condensed font in Acumin,” Perkins notes, with further supporting typography coming in the form of Use & Modify’s serif Redaction for the identity’s body copy.

Freedom of movement is the central idea that informs the brand, visualised through a dynamic, slanted typographic system that dodges, and changes direction across the range. The bold, playful solution is designed to appeal to young go-hards and young parents alike. Its eye-catching typographic presence on the shelf is paired with a quenching, optimistic palette and a photographic style that feels like a bright new day.

Photography by Jesse Hunniford

Queer Voices – Poetry, Prose, and Pride was edited by Andrea Jenkins, John Medeiros & Lisa Marie Brimmer and published in spring 2019 by Minnesota Historical Society Press.

The book cover was designed by Alexander Hage, pairing Smithee Extra Condensed by Alex Chavot with Neue Haas Grotesk.