Foootnotes issue D front cover

Footnotes is a type design periodical published biennially by La Police. The fourth issue opens with an article on Telefont and the last Dutch telephone book along with all the methodology behind it by Martin Majoor. Sourced from the author’s archive (edition February 1996), an original sample was inserted manually by the editor into each copy.

The second essay dives into Ikarus, a digital tool that describes letterforms, studied in-depth at the University of Reading and beyond by Ferdinand P. Ulrich.

Then, from the One-off series – contextual type projects from graphic designers – Joost Grootens tells us about the genesis of the myriad of symbols that makes Ceremony, one book design at a time.

In the fourth and last text, Pierre-Pané Farré explores the material qualities of 19th century stereotyped poster type.

To conclude, the usual last page entitled "Proofs" showcases in-progress typefaces from the contributors: Film, Exécutif Moderne, HB Items, Waggis, and BALI.

As with every issue, each article is typeset with the related typeface(s), some in-progress and unreleased, including Reform-Grotesk FSL, Breite fette Information, LL Unica77, Demos Next, and LP Jung. The rich iconography also tries to pleasantly surprise the reader with unpublished material.

Worth noting, this issue marks the beginning of articles from out-of-print issues being published online under "Stories" on La Police.

Footnotes issue D: article 15

Footnotes issue D: article 15. Sourced from Martin Majoor’s archive, an original sample was inserted manually by the editor into each copy.

Footnotes issue D: article 16

Footnotes issue D: article 17

Footnotes issue D: article 18

Footnotes issue D: Proofs. On the left a real offset printing testing space to the authors and previously unseen designs to the readers. On the right, the index to navigate the dense content.

Studio Joost Grootens, the Dutch studio specialized in book design, worked on the new Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces, written by Dominic Bradbury and published by Phaidon in October 2024. They used Octave, the latest sans serif designed by Josh Finklea and distributed by Sharp Type, on the cover and the texts inside. The icons used underneath each entry (name of the building, architect and location) come from Studio Joost Grootens’s own Ceremony, available from Optimo.

Here is the description of the book content:

Featuring 450 of the very best works of Mid-Century Modern architecture from every continent, the Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces showcases how the architects of the time harnessed the post-war boom and increasing globalization to create forward-thinking designs on a grander scale.

From embassies and office blocks to entertainments spaces and transport hubs, glamorous designs by such icons as Arne Jacobsen, Mies, Le Corbusier, Eero Saarinen, Alvar Aalto, Marcel Breuer, Frank Lloyd-Wright, and Oscar Niemeyer are each illustrated with stunning photography.

This stylish hardcover book showcases buildings from every continent, from classic North American skyscrapers and European masterpieces to modest churches in Africa, and iconic swimming pools in Australia and is a must-have for all design and architecture aficionados.

In late 2018, Other Office (Simon Sweeney and Shauna Buckley) designed the identity and website for Girl Outdoor Magazine:

Empowering women adventurers – Girl Outdoor Magazine is a collective of Irish wanderers, photographers, videographers and writers with one thing in common, a love of the great outdoors. We are adventurers, sharing our knowledge and passion with those who love an active-lifestyle.

The main typeface of the website is Founders Grotesk (Klim Type Foundry, 2010), combined with copy in Spectral, designed by Production Type and released the year before by Google. Both play a modest role, leaving it to the travel photos and a color palette in five variations to grab the visitor's attention.

The logo is an unexpected but all the more celebratory application of Ceremony – a comprehensive typeface family for cartography and information design. Studio Joost Grootens developed, refined and expanded – and most importantly applied – their typeface collection in designs for books, maps and atlases for a long period before it was released as a retail typeface via Optimo in 2015.

The link of both Ceremony and Girl Outdoor with maps is obvious. But while SJG’s information design strictly links different frames and colors to specific meanings and functions, Other Office simply looked for a cheerful combination of frames from its extensive toolbox (77 styles!): the logo ended up using eleven different styles, for eleven letters.