Альфа Центавра. Документальная поэма о космонавтах, которые не были в космосе (“Alpha Centauri: A Documentary Poem about Cosmonauts Who Never Went to Space”) is
a collection of real stories of Soviet cosmonauts, men and women, who for various reasons – dramatic or even tragic – never made it to space. From these, the author, Alexander Plotnikov, builds a saga of failure, defeat, and missed success. He talks about history written by the victors, weaving in 20th-century philosophy, the context of war, and the personal reflections of an émigré. The image of flight through emptiness emerges as a metaphor for human life and humanity itself.

The text is based on a monodrama, which the author (a theater director and playwright) performs in bookstores, bars, and small theatres while in exile during the war.

The typography on the book’s cover is executed through Roslindale Text by David Jonathan Ross, while additional typography (page numbers, chapter titles) is set in Elma Trio by Philipp Neumeyer. On Instagram, the book’s designer, Maxim Balabin, writes:

I thought that the cover needs to be about something that didn’t happen, and it shouldn’t use Soviet heroic space-conquest symbolism, because the book is about the opposite.

Between Too Late & Too Early is an exhibition catalogue for artist Andrea Chung’s acclaimed mid-career survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. Through her work, Andrea examines the legacies of slavery and colonialism in the Caribbean via explorations and reworking of archival material. Although the themes she deals with are difficult, her work is exceptionally beautiful, and I wanted typography of her catalogue to mimic this beauty.

Roslindale – “a balancing act of style, service, and sentiment” – was selected as the title and heading typeface because, in it, I found lovely alignment with Andrea’s work, given that its designer also reworked archival material (1890s De Vinne and its successors) to present something that addresses the past, while feeling very contemporary. The cutout image treatment of Roslindale on the cover of the book is also a nod to Andrea’s work with collages. While Roslindale was doing the most on essay openers, pull quotes, and such, balance was created through the clean functionality of Aeonik to help clearly convey the concepts in the essay texts, and for its readability at small sizes for the captions.

For the Saints, Sinners, Lovers & Fools exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Caserne studio designed a striking visual campaign that celebrates the great Flemish masters such as Hans Memling, Rubens, van Dyck, Jordaens, and Michaelina Wautier. The graphic design blends classical art with contemporary elements, using the Sigurd typeface by Blaze Type. This typographic choice adds a modern contrast to the baroque artworks on display, reinforcing the idea of a dialogue between art history and current design. The campaign was widely deployed, featuring posters, billboards, and a strong digital presence, especially on social media.

To ensure inclusivity and attract new audiences, Caserne collaborated with Scorpion Dagger to create four video capsules for social media. These humorous and engaging videos provide a fresh, offbeat take on Flemish art, making the works more accessible and appealing to a broader audience. By combining Scorpion Dagger’s creativity with Caserne’s clean graphic approach, the campaign highlights the continued relevance of Flemish masterpieces in contemporary society while democratizing access to art.

The project included services ranging from advertising campaigns to exhibition design. Inside the exhibition, headlines in Sigurd are paired with Roslindale. The sans serif is the Museum’s brand typeface, Habitus MBAM.

Title page

Suntup Editions is publishing a new printing of The Amityville Horror, a book by Jay Anson about the alleged paranormal experiences of a family that moved into a house where a mass murder had taken place. It is the basis of the film series of the same name.

This publication comes in three editions: the artist edition (750 copies), the numbered edition (350 copies), and the lettered edition (26 copies). Each contains illustrations by Brad Gray, an introduction by Laura DiDio (the first local reporter to cover the story), and afterword by Eric Walter (director of a documentary on the subject).

Book designer Michael Russem uses various weights of Roslindale and Roslindale Text to great effect throughout the book, harnessing its spindly lighter weights to imbue the text with a subtle creepiness. This is the first time I can remember seeing a prominent use of Roslindale’s high-waisted M, which is based on a similar alternate in Roslindale’s jumping off point, De Vinne.

One of the illustrations in the book consists of a floor plan, with caprions set in some form of Clarendon.

Numbered edition exterior

Chapter head

A map of the haunted house

Text with illustration

Lettered edition exterior

Album cover

Outer Limit Lotus is a Norwegian band made up of Henrik Øiestad Myrvold, Vebjørn Guttormsgaard Møllberg, and Øystein Wyller Odden. Their latest album, Dazzling Darkness, was released May 2023 on Sheep Chase Records.

The album artwork, designed by band member member Henrik Myrvold, prominently features Roslindale, used in all of its moody glory as it glows against the foggy, shadowy imagery behind it. The dreamlike imagery and deep red/black color palette reflect the pensive, hypnotic style of the album’s music.

This style extends to the covers for a handful of singles (where blue is introduced) as well as the music video for “Let the Night Ride you Home”.

Roslindale Text is used to set the liner notes on the album insert, and Clavichord makes an appearance on the sleeve on some of the related apparel.

Red transparent vinyl

Black vinyl

Insert with the band logo using Walthari caps set on a circle

Album back cover

Single cover

Single cover

Music video still

Single cover

Single cover

Single cover

Sweatshirt

Show poster (with Eurostile Bold Extended). The logos of the supporting bands are based on American Scribe (Krissy Mary) and Steffmann’s Schwabacher (Draümar). The Sheep Chase Records logo appears to be based on (one of the many interpretations of) Papirtis Shalom.

Prosa Pequeña is a book published by Milserifas and designed by Tipastype (including Sandra García and Dafne Martínez), who worked with Milserifas editor Fredy Ordóñez and the illustrator Angélica Duque to bring this beautiful book to fruition.

The book features 69 prosas written by Amilcar Bettega and translated by Angela Cuartas. According to the publisher, each prosa is a statement of wonder that depicts “those trivial moments of which life is made, those daily scenes that we see or that we represent every day and that end up being transparent thanks to the generous magnifying lens of poetry with which the author captures them.” (translation).

Roslindale and Roslindale Text are used throughout the book, which Tipastype chose in order to “give a lot of character” to the titles and “unique flavor and warmth” to the body text. On the the cover, they used the super-chunky Display Condensed Ultra alongside Gotham Condensed Bold for supporting text.

The book is available directly from the publisher, and will be on sale at the next book fair in Bogota, Colombia.

Front and back cover

Chapter head

Index

Interior

Interior

Colophon

De Primera is the debut solo album by pop artist Marina Sena. As the title predicted, the album from the young Brazilian singer was well-received by public and critics. Creative direction by Marcelo Jarosz, photography by Fernando Tomaz, and design by Giovanna Cianelli.

The main typefaces in use are Druk Wide and Neue Haas Grotesk, paired with bits of ITC Machine and lettering.

Milanese-born restaurateur Edoardo Mantelli’s latest project was driven by his infatuation with the Viennese-style cafes of fin-de-siècle Milan, where heated exchanges about the origins of the Negroni were cooled by a refreshing Spritz (Campari, per favore, not Aperol). Our branding for Saraghina Caffè is a loving tribute to the grace and grandeur of these institutions, with their rich heritage and passionate hand-gesture conversations.

Within the art nouveau landscape, we looked to early 1900s illustrators like Alphonse Mucha and Secessionist artists such as Koloman Moser. The creative process was loose and adaptive. Furniture, stained glass, and sculpture inspired the border treatments, and more graphic historical posters from some of the greats of their time (Leopoldo Metlicovitz, Adolfo Hohenstein and Giovanni Maria Matalon) informed the spirit of the custom, single-weight display typeface.

Website detail featuring Jacopo Mediaeval NF for text, with Plaak 3 Pradel and Sweet Gothic for headings and navigation

Type specimen for the custom Saraghina

Menu featuring Polliwog for headings and Roslindale Text for text.

Shop sign in the Saraghina typeface, with Sweet Gothic for the address

Design for a series of events commemorating the life of poet and Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott (1930–2017), including writing workshops and an exhibition showing his paintings, presented by Ti-Jean Productions Limited & The Derek Walcott Festival at Medulla Art Gallery in Port-Of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

The typography of the exhibition graphics, the catalog and other collateral pairs the two optical sizes of David Jonathan Ross’s take on the De Vinne genre, Roslindale (for headlines) and Roslindale Text (for body copy). The mix is rounded off with Akzidenz-Grotesk Extended on the invitation graphics.

Activism poster telling about the current political situation of Catalonia. Fighting for our rights with some poster art. The text is taken from “Violència”, a song by Orxata Sound Sistema.

Maize is a quarterly magazine published by H-FARM that “explores the complexities of innovation and the shifting dichotomy between technology and evolution through the lens of philosophy, arts, and humanities.” The Summer 2019 issue, headlined “Anthropocene, now what?” focuses on different ways that humans and our technology are addressing global issues such as climate change and the possibility of the end of the world.

Art director Davide Mottes says that the design team searched for two type families to represented the two cornerstones of the issue: one more “humanistic” and the other more “technological.” After trying various combinations, they found Roslindale and Styrene to be the perfect match. They also introduced the super-condensed Coign, which is used to great effect (often very large) in striking headlines and memorable spreads throughout the issue.

I think I am most impressed by the sheer variety that the team of designers achieved with this relatively concise type palette. Each of the three typefaces takes a turn as a headline face, and the vastly different sizes and treatments makes every article feel distinct and fresh. At the same time, the typefaces form part of the glue that holds all of these varied designs together.