Works That Work magazine and website

Works That Work is an “international magazine for the curious mind, intending to surprise its readers with a rich mix of diverse subjects connected by the theme of unexpected creativity that improved our lives.” It was launched in February 2013 by Peter Biľak, publisher and typeface designer in The Hague, NL. In an article about the project on his company’s website Typotheque, Bilak says “and as strange as it may seem, one of the first things that I started working on was its typeface.” Well, this doesn’t sound surprising at all, at least not if you know Biľak just a little bit. He continues:

It was clear from the start that Works That Work would be an […] ambitious project: not only would it stretch across multiple platforms (online, eBook, PDF and print), but its content would also be available in various configurations. The typeface would be the sole constant characteristic, identifying the magazine regardless of whether a reader purchased a single article online or a complete issue in print. I wanted the typeface to be the voice of WTW — confident enough not to need to show off, with the comfortable, relaxed manner of an engaged storyteller, ready to handle long stories, but also small captions or titles. I named it Lava.

Shortly before the magazine was announced, I approached Susana Carvalho and Kai Bernau and asked them to design it. The design brief I gave them was unusual in that its sole stipulation was Lava; everything else was left up to them. […] After over a year of testing, we now feel confident enough to release Lava publicly as a no-nonsense workhorse typeface that can handle large quantities of text with ease.

Read on in the detailed article about the design of Lava and Works That Work on Typotheque.