Helenenviertel Sommerfest poster series
Graphic designer Jan Schaab created a vibrant poster series for the Hamburg community event Helenenviertel Sommerfest, using Carmen is Regular by Céline Hurka and Carmen Dusmet Carrasco as the central voice across three editions.
Playful curves and bold colors define the series, with Carmen is Regular flowing forms capturing the breezy spirit of late summer. From 2022 to 2024, the typeface anchors each layout in vivid color combinations, arranged with a loose, organic rhythm that mirrors the festival’s open, welcoming atmosphere.
Each year introduced a new supporting typeface while keeping Carmen is Regular as the constant:
2022: ITC Bodoni Seventy-Two by Sumner Stone
2023: Aliénor by Anne-Dauphine Borione and Lou Rainaldo
2024: Folio by Konrad F. Bauer and Walter Baum
Through this consistent yet evolving approach, Schaab established a recognizable typographic identity for the festival—radiating lightness, creativity, and warmth year after year.
Céline Hurka developed Carmen is Regular in 2020 in collaboration with her friend and graphic designer Carmen Dusmet Carrasco as a custom font for an initiative at the Royal Academy of Art that supported MFA students to give each other feedback across the departments. The typeface does not follow any systematic approach and was purely drawn from imagination. The two released the typeface a year later via the Solitype fundraiser. The version used in the poster series is said unfinished version. It took another three to four years for Céline to wrap up the project and release it in 2025 as a birthday gift for Carmen in March via her own type foundry. The updated version has 205 ligatures and each customer can request up to five custom ligatures that will be added to the set.
The Helenenviertel Sommerfest in Hamburg-Altona is a free community block party that brings together residents, cultural initiatives, and local venues. It welcomes families, culture enthusiasts, and anyone looking for a lively, creative day.
Activities include a flea market, children’s program, guided tours, live music and dance, exhibitions, film screenings, and a variety of food offerings from street food to waffles and Arabic coffee.
The block party was initiated by the fux cooperative, which transformed a former barracks into a collaborative production space. Today, over 240 people from art, design, culture, education, crafts, and social initiatives work here. The cooperative aims to secure affordable work spaces and support a vibrant local economy.
