Brooklyn-based indie rock band They Might Be Giants have released their new album, The World Is to Dig. Alongside the album, the music video to “Get Down” was released.

Creative direction by Paul Sahre. Co-directed and animated by Takumi Segi and Anastasia Kharchenko. Driven by bold color palettes, dynamic typography, and a stream of imaginative, offbeat visuals, the piece captures the band’s signature wit and rhythmic spirit in a visually kinetic experience.

ESIETE crafted Bun Bo Barcelona’s vibrant identity, fusing Vietnamese street energy with Barcelona’s spirit. A custom typeface features noodle-inspired strokes, paired with lively watercolor illustrations in herb greens, chili reds, and citrus yellows. Menus and social media invite diners to cómete Vietnam (“Eat Vietnam”), while their exclusive Lemon-IPA—“Bun Beer”—shines in electric indigo and golden-yellow packaging. Every touchpoint, from typography to labels, balances tradition with playful modernity.

Lunenburg Academy is one of Nova Scotia’s most iconic public buildings, a designated National Historic Site overlooking the harbour. In 2018, the former school began a new chapter, becoming home to the Lunenburg Branch of South Shore Public Libraries.

The challenge was to create a welcoming, contemporary public library within a protected heritage structure, honouring its past while meeting modern accessibility and public-use standards.

Fathom Studio (formerly Form:Media and Ekistics) worked closely with library staff, town officials and contractors to shape the new environment. Interior colours and materials were chosen to complement the Academy’s historic character, while standing up to the demands of a busy public space.

The signage and wayfinding system drew inspiration from late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century academic traditions. Referencing felt banners and pennants associated with school pride, the team created sectional markers – adult, children and youth – to identify the book stacks. Brim Narrow was used prominently across these elements, as well as for room numbers applied as cut vinyl to interior transoms. The accompanying condensed gothic is Knockout No. 27.

Interpretive elements celebrating the career of William J. Roué, designer of Bluenose, Lunenburg’s famous fishing schooner, formed an additional narrative layer within the space.

The project was commissioned by the Town of Lunenburg and realized in 2016–2018. The experiential graphic design and interpretive planning (signage) was in the hands of Fathom Studio, with John deWolf serving as project manager and experiential graphic design lead and Robert Currie doing the research. The architecture and interior design was carried out by Ekistics Planning & Design, featuring Chris Crawford (lead architect), Rebecca MacKenzie (project lead / intern architect), and Julian Boudreau (design). Eye Candy Signs fabricated the signs.

As for our ad campaign we produced a set of some 25 posters, all predominately typographic in nature, all highlighting some aspect of the book. Out of these posters we made larger gallery versions as well as smaller ones for street distribution.

How do you begin to speak to the public about a book dealing with the relationship between religion, science and philosophy?

It’s not an easy task for sure, as the topic is a real minefield, whichever side of the theological fence you happen to stand on.

But despite its inherent difficulty, or perhaps because of it, this was the exact question we were faced with when looking into promoting our latest book called The Gloves Come Off! — the Philosophical Investigations of a Duck.

For those unfamiliar with our oeuvre one thing should be clarified: Mr. Duck is an alter-ego of Christoffer. And in this book he gets to perform an 800-plus page long monologue about topics that have preoccupied his little mind for the past decades.

One way to approach the question would have been to be subtle and unassuming as not to provoke any undue conflict. Our answer? Well no, that sounds boring. We’ll take a distinctly different path!

Thus we chose to go all out with strong typography, witty copywriting, striking photography, and a strict black and white color scheme. Our aim was to make an impression, using a blend of bold graphics and humor. Our goal – to startle people, amuse them, and make them think about the topics presented without providing a definite answer one way or the other.

The fonts chosen for this task were the same ones employed in the book itself (to be featured in an upcoming post). Our picks this time were Knockout by Jonathan Hoefler and Zuzana Licko’s interpretation of Bodoni, Filosofia, and finally Trade Gothic for some of the smaller text.

Our approach was three-pronged – a street campaign consisting of a set of 25 different posters, a social media campaign consisting of cool and at times self-depreciating photography and illustrations, and finally a snail mail campaign for the media with a mix of different things, such as press releases, photos, stickers and an invitation to the publication party.

In our estimation we did well, but as always with matters concerning taste, opinions may vary. Did we pull it off? You decide.

We made three posters in the vein of protest posters. The first is a translation of the opening verse of the Vedanta Sutra, which in transliterated Sanskrit reads as “Athāto brahma jijñāsā”.

The caption on the second poster is lifted from Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.

Finally our third protest poster asks the viewer not, it should be noted, necessarily to buy the book, but to read it.

Then one day the streets of Helsinki were flooded by our posters. Note that the posters themselves were done in black and white, and the red was stamped on, as can be seen by the varying positions of the added information.

As we love snail mail we also sent out invitations on paper. They featured, well, obviously, the invitations, our portraits and presentations, as well as a letter of endorsements.

As for our online campaign, we made a set of cool teasers, two of which we’ll share here. Take notice of the pure joy of the proud parents!

T-shirts as well! After all, we had to have something to wear for the party.

Our campaign was quite successful, as is evident from the photos, and we feel confident to state that few books of philosophy and theology have received as warm of a welcome!

Paperback book cover design for the novel The Most by Jessica Anthony, published by Little, Brown and Company in July 2024.

The cover was designed by Kirin Diemont, Associate Art Director at Hachette Book Group. Cover art is by creative stock agency Arcangel.

I was immediately drawn to this cover by the bold typeface for the title and author. Both are set in Bean, a unique display serif created by Eotype Studio, an independent digital type foundry based in Bandung, Indonesia. The blurb at the bottom right is also set in Bean, who's funky letters come to life in all-caps. The quote is paired with Knockout for the speaker attribution line. The author supporting line at the top also seems to be set in all-caps Knockout, No. 51 Middleweight.

I personally love the red title color that plays off of the woman’s red swimsuit, a key object in the text, according to the synopsis. The woman’s gaze, although we can’t see her face, leads the viewer directly back to the title, and the tension with the edge of the cover, especially the knee, makes it feel like she is about to float away off-frame. Great design, superbly cropped.

KTF Compact is featured on the cover Achille Mbembe's book Brutalizm. Originally published in French as Brutalisme (Éditions de la Découverte, 2020), the Polish edition was issued by Wydawnictwo Karakter, in a translation by Oskar Hedemann.

Brutalizm offers an original diagnosis of contemporary times from an African perspective, combining elements of critical theory, postcolonial thought, and psychoanalysis. The brutalism of the title is a metaphor for our era, in which rapacious capitalism increasingly ruthlessly crushes, splits, and drains both the planet and human bodies.

Joseph-Achille Mbembe is a Cameroonian historian and political theorist. He is well known for his writings on colonialism and its consequences and is a leading figure in new wave French critical theory. Cover designer Przemek Dębowski used URW Franklin Gothic for the author and the publisher, with Knockout for the translator, Oskar Hedemann.

Red Kap is an American retailer specializing in making workwear since their founding in 1923, starting with a trademark red cap. To celebrate their 100 year anniversary, they hired Nashville-based creative agency Table to give them a brand refresh that is far from the usual uniform.

Previous iterations on the brand included a typical selection of “workman” sans serifs — Trade Gothic, then a gaspipe sans, then Knockout and Gotham (Hoefler & Co) in the mid–2010s, then a techy monospace in the early 2020s.

In 2023, Table decided to shed the “thousand-yard stares and guitar riffs” that is de rigueur for products targeted to the trades, and focus on the fun people have at work when they’re doing what they love. Keeping the Knockout used in the Red Kap logo, Table added Obviously (OH no Type Co) into the mix to take over the heavy lifting. The conversation between the two highlights all the bounce and fun Obviously brings to the brand, like a seen-it-all old timer and an enthusiastic apprentice.

The new brand centers around inviting and playful brand photography set with several widths of Obviously, and a background of the eponymous red. To complete the ensemble, Table designed golden callouts that feel almost like patches that might be sewn onto the garments.

Lastly, the identity is anchored with a neutral grotesk for body copy: most of the time Neue Haas Grotesk (Commercial Type), sometimes Neue Haas Unica (Monotype), other times just Helvetica, Arial, Open Sans or Roboto.

Brand strategy, naming, brand messaging, creative direction, art direction, visual identity, logo design by Table, with production by Farmuse.

Principal, Head of Creative and Design: Sean O’Brien
Design director: Ashley Rocha
Senior art director: Shehan Rodrigo, Haley Stone
Graphic designer: Michael Dove
Web design: Elva

For a full list of credits, see the case study on Behance.

Homepage (top)

Homepage (detail)

Homepage (footer)

Peter Buchanan-Smith chose pictures from photographer Todd Hido’s series Homes at Night and Landscapes for these seven volumes of the backlist of works by famed American writer Raymond Carver (1938–1988), published in 2009 by Vintage Books.

The two main typefaces here are Walbaum (author's name, quotes) and Filmotype Jefferson (book title). They are complemented by Knockout for the subtitles (“Stories”, “The Collected Poems”, etc.).

To accompany the release of the series, Vintage published on its blog a short but insightful dialogue between Buchanan-Smith and Hido—it's definitely worth the read.

Packaging designs for the various flavors of Microwave Popcorn by Target’s private label Market Pantry.

The more flashy components of the typographic aspect use Ziggurat and several styles of Knockout, with custom inline and fill effects. Secondary fonts include Univers (including Univers Ultra Condensed 39) and Gotham. The Kettle Corn box additionally features Distillery Script.

The general series design for Market Pantry was refreshed by Pearlfisher in 2016. See also the portfolio websites of designers Brad Norr and Sheerin Vatankhah who worked on related items (but not necessarily the shown popcorn packaging).

Chiasso Letteraria is an annual literature festival held in Chiasso, Switzerland. The seventeenth edition, held in 2023, was themed “L’ultima spenga la luce”, or in English: The last one will turn off the lights”.

From the festival website (auto translated from italian):

Inspired by a Berlin graffiti that accompanied the fall of the wall – “Der Letzte macht das Licht aus” – the title evokes themes of dissidence, conscious opposition to totalitarianism, and nonviolent struggle in defense of the rights of people and the planet.

Sometimes you reach a point where you can no longer transform reality. One must then abandon the old one and create a new one. Dissidence is also the raison d'être of some (great) literature, in contrast to the dominant models. Chiasso Letteraria thus wants to pay tribute to the many authors whose writing and commitment struggle uncompromisingly for a better world and for greater equity and justice. If the dissidence of hearts has begun, it will be the one to save the world.

For the festival’s visual identity, Studio CCRZ chose to work with LL Blankenhorn Formal as the main typeface, supported by Knockout and Sentinel.

From design agency Twist:

Cartel is Kensington Street precinct's newest addition. A modern Mexican cocktail bar and eatery located on the ground floor of the Old Rum Store run by international mixologist Grant Collins and Chef Arnolfo Raimondi.

The brief was to create an identity that brought the intense Mexican flavours to Sydney, whilst retaining an elegant look and feel that fitted with the refined offering of the venue.

We created a modern and elegant identity that pays homage to the intense and diverse cultural and culinary makeup of Mexico. The identity is a fusion of Mexico and Sydney reflected by the use of the serif and sans-serif typefaces accompanied by aztec patterns and an earthy yet intense colour palette.

Alias Harbour is used for logotype, with Harbour and Knockout used throughout.

Can label, packaging and branding for Thin Man Brewery in Buffalo, New York, designed in house by Peter Cahlstadt. Irreverent illustrations and bold colors are supported by and highlight Frankfurter’s easygoing curves. Knockout is used for the logo as well as for additional text on the cans.

The Superfreak packaging adds Frankfurter Highlight to the mix.

The graphics for the Weirdly Wonderful Beer Fest feature Ed Interlock.

Homepage detail with the logo in all-caps Knockout

Logo as used on the shop website, with Frankfurter on a circle

Logo variants using all-lowercase Knockout No. 26 Junior Flyweight with modifications

Scott Boms published a second expanded edition of I Take Full Responsibility, a small book produced and assembled by hand. From his description of the project:

I Take Full Responsibility collects fourteen of the most significant communications from technology company CEOs since November 2022, who, during that time, have reduced their employee bases by huge swathes. Accompanied by a personal introduction, photos, and artwork from more than ten years in tech, it’s intended to be a time capsule circumventing Silicon Valley’s short-term memory and a clear statement of fact that work will not love you back.

Risograph printed in black, bright red, sunflower, and metallic gold inks on 5 different paper stocks, its urgent message arrives enclosed within a redesigned and screen-printed closed-spine format along with laser-cut accessory prints delivered in a personalized Inter-office envelope.

Scott shared also some notes about the typography by email:

I chose Bennet Text 2 as the main typeface used throughout the book for practical reasons, such as its character set, which includes small caps and a solid range of figures. It’s also one I’ve used before with the Riso and has proven to work well with that process. As I started setting the text, I experimented with other options but kept coming back to Bennet because of its solid, authoritative feel and consistently even color. It’s made for editorial uses like this but also works well at larger sizes where its subtle details become more apparent.

Gridlite PE was originally only going to be used for the “Approved” stamp on the pink slip card because it could look authoritative while also solving a practical need when run on the laser cutter. As the design of the cover evolved and I added the original acetate layer in the first edition, it became an obvious choice as it worked really well against the other imagery and helped then connect the various pieces together.

When I was designing the pink slip and Tech CEO Bingo cards, Aglet Mono just felt right. I was going for something that wouldn't feel out of place on a business form but could also hold its own visually and pair well with type used elsewhere in the book.

The monospace form of both Gridlite PE and Aglet just seemed to make sense. I believe an early version of the cover was set in Aglet which led to me to try Gridlite PE, which ultimately stuck in the end.

The book also includes appearances by Knockout, Champion Gothic, Fern Micro, Rhody, and San Francisco. The accompanying prints add to the eclectic mix with Displace Cut and an early use of Regrets.

Cover detail

The title page, set in Bennet Text.

Pink slip and Tech CEO Bingo card, primarily set in Aglet Mono, with die cut in Gridlite, small text in Fern Micro, and heading in Champion Gothic.

Pink slip detail

An interior spread (with the first edition’s staple binding)

Interior excerpts (San Francisco used for the email text)

Interior excerpts (Rhody featured on the first page)

Bonus print, featuring Regrets and Displace Cut

Bonus print, featuring Champion Gothic. (The Risolute Press logo is Banque Gothique.)

Amber Waves Farm co-founders Katie and Amanda contacted us following their ten-year company anniversary, with big plans to expand the business. Our first phase of collaboration focused on establishing the brand strategy, positioning, and overall business architecture with the aim to scale.

To ground the identity, we sought inspiration from legacy general store marquees that employed striking typography in varying weights. The result embodies what happens “between” the Amber Waves, specifically: a rich heritage inspiring a new generation and the passionate embrace of community, local agriculture, nourishment, and joy.

The brand architecture was also designed to support each branch of the company with its own hero colorway.

This breadth is also reflected in the brand typography. Together, four typefaces – three styles from the Knockout series, supported by Hall Of Fun – create hundreds of combinations, ensuring printed collateral, posters, and social posts remain playful, fun, and unique.

Custom illustrations featuring lighthearted line art add charm and nuance to printed collateral, posters, merch, and bags.

Our photography style, shot by Gabriela Herman, beams with natural light and focuses on the land, the food, the people, and the magic experienced at Amber Waves.

Our transparent label design showcases the farm’s heritage logo as a halo above the product name, allowing the ingredients to show through, celebrating the manifestation of the farm’s harvest – ready to enjoy at home!

The logotype is a modified Knockout, with a raised waistline and curved crossbars in the A’s.

Paper! Tiger! (Aurélien Farina) designed the catalogue for the Ultime Combat (“Ultimate Combat“) exhibition at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris in 2021.

The show explored mythology, history and visual representation of various martial arts in Asia from classical arts to pop culture. Over 300 ancient and moderns pieces were featured, from historic figures to fiction heroes.

For the book, design, the designers used their own Wisconsin to set big condensed titles, alongside Hoefler & Co.’s Knockout. Running text was set in Axel Pelletanche-Thévenart's Knif mono (A is for fonts). See more images on their portfolio website.

As a part of the creation of a new publication for the Parc naturel régional des Landes de Gascogne (Pnr), I worked on a graphic rebranding in collaboration with Gabriel Bord (editorial design) and Nono Ampuy (illustration).

We wanted to make the magazine clearer, closer to the inhabitants and the numerous activities of the park, with a specific focus on pedagogy developed with the help of the technical team.

I used three typefaces to represent the different nuances and atmospheres in the publication, as well as to provide some visual contrast.
Mighty Slab (2016) by Ryoichi Tsunekawa of Dharma Type (Japan): for its graphic strength giving the publication a special soul.
Aller (2008) by Marc Weymann of Dalton Maag (UK): for all my current texts.
Knockout (1994-2000) by Jonathan Hoefler of Hoefler & Co. (USA): for titles on pedagogical or technical parts.

See the Behance project page for more images and information.

Green coffee pamphlet front cover

This pamphlet is included in a green coffee retail box. It tells the story of the farmers in Nicaragua who supply the beans and the company Aroma Nica in Canada that imports them. The printing was done by The Newspaper Club on their 45 gsm salmon paper for a beautfiul feel and finish.

The typography features a number of diverse typefaces. The Aroma Nica logo brings together Monarcha Italic and Tenor Sans. Memoriam with swashes is paired with condensed Knockout caps for the title “Coffee with a conscience”. The text is set in upright Monarcha. Elephant and Casey appear in supporting roles for numbers, quotes, etc.

Green coffee pamphlet inside page

Packaging design featuring Baloo, supported by Gotham and Gotham Rounded

Barista is a chain of espresso bars and cafes that operates in the Indian subcontinent. They use Baloo Latin as their primary brand typeface, alongside Knockout for the logo. Baloo is paired with various sans serifs across the identity, from the website to the packaging designs.

On the website, Baloo is paired with Mukta Latin, another typeface by Ek Type.

Cover of a corporate brochure featuring all-caps Baloo and the Barista logo in Knockout

Spread from a corporate brochure with Baloo for headlines and Neris for text

Spread from a corporate brochure

Five Points is a friendly neighbourhood café in Harold’s Cross, overlooking a busy South Dublin junction known locally as the Five Points.

From Conor & David:

Our challenge was to create an instantly memorable brand that would reflect the care and attention brought to food and coffee in Five Points, and which would live naturally online, in print and in application on the physical space. The outcome of our process is a refined palette of elements: limiting colour to blue and white, applied in stripes, illustrations and wall paint, a refined type treatment with a utilitarian application, and decorative elements including dingbat treatments by Max Phillips. We wanted a iconic treatment that could easily adopt found items, including crockery, workwear and uniforms. The ubiquity of blue and white striped apparel allows the team to wear Five Points easily, allowing them to make their own choices, which reflect the informal attitude and outlook.

Relaunch of an American soccer team with big ambitions. A move away from traditional USA team branding to a more European design influence to reflect it's new star co-owner Jamie Vardy.

At the heart of Rochester lies the High Falls waterfall, where the city was built around. This was where we drew our inspiration from for the crest. From here, the power and energy of this iconic landmark flows through everything. Behind the brand lies the stories of perseverance, determination and the true grit that the city, team and owners are all made of, recognised in the club philosophy of ‘Believe Impossible’.

Knockout was used for large headlines and was supported by FK Grotesk.