This is my most current website for my design alias, Stxrling.Stxdio. As a digital designer with a strong background in web design, I knew that I wanted to use a strong, abstract display typeface to tie my name to throughout the portfolio site on Readymag. I was looking through Readymag’s different font offerings, and immediately came across Birra Saison. What I like most about this typeface is its ability to shapeshift right before your eyes. At first glance, I see a collection of varying strokes with little to no connections, but a longer glance invites the viewer to see the shape as a whole and make connections without them actually being there. This sentiment ties nicely into my alias, as I strive to connect with people through my art long before they have a conversation with me.

Birra Saison is one of the typefaces featured in issue no. 60 of BELLA triste, a magazine for young literature published in Hildesheim, Germany.

Saison was designed by Viktoriya Grabowska as the third installment of Darden Studio’s Birra flight. It was brought into action for the headings to some of the included stories: for Berfin Orman’s “Hanans Geschichte”, the fluffy cursive is set tightly spaced, making it look almost like a connected script. It’s contrasted with the massive Kiosk by Nguyen Gobber. And for Jona Spreter’s short story “Stau”, designers Elfi Handina Murandu and Vivien Sorrentino cleverly staged Saison in overlapping caps – the German title translates to “traffic jam”. Each time, they added a contour to Saison’s airy strokes, giving the words a tad more presence on the page. Or, in the words of Viktoriya Grabowska: “Turns out an outline font can still be outlined!”

BELLA triste’s text typeface is ABC Monument Grotesk (Dinamo). Other display typefaces enlisted for the anniversary issue are Hofmann (Nguyen Gobber) and Tiny (Velvetyne).

Birra Saison is used for the identity of wPunkt, a café in Września, Poland.

With chunky cursive letterforms which are merely hinted at through quickly written outlines, Saison defies classification. It takes up more space than an Extra Black and at the same time has strokes as light as a Hairline. This oscillating nature made it the perfect fit for wPunkt. Designer Jakub Izydorczak realized that Saison’s thin monolinear strokes are ideal for making a neon sign. At the same time, it offered the right amount of oomph. The identity is consequently built around the illuminated sign that bathes the banks of Lake Wrzesińskie in blue light.

Birra Saison was designed by Viktoriya Grabowska and won her a TDC award. In May 2020, it was released as the third member (Thin Italic) of the Birra flight by Darden Studio. Like all Birra fonts, it’s available free of charge.

The wPunkt sign at night.

Work in progress. The sign doesn’t use actual neon tubes, but an LED technique.

Birra Saison is also employed for rubber stamps, to be used on loyalty cards and beyond.

The kitchen and bar are housed in a container, with seating areas in front and on top of it.

Fresh waffles with strawberries and figs, and the wPunkt logo in Saison on a deck chair.

The local youth feasting on wPunkt’s ice cream.

The logo can also be seen painted on the side of the container. Smacznego!