Experimental type used for train and bus seats
GHOST_TYPO
GHOST_TYPO is an experimental 3D font that was created in Blender.
Decostetica Display
Decostetica display is the summary of a deconstructivist approach to typography and graphic layout. The font is made up of elements that break, or rather, deconstruct another font, in this case the linear “helvetica” par excellence. Studying the deconstructivist movement, non-forms and its experimental approach, the idea was to restore the same attitude on paper: illegible, non-linear, a means for non-writing. This is “decostetica”.
Your data is their profit.
Data is the currency of the future – is it worth it?
Taxgorkhan Performance Poster – Misfornøyelsesbar, Oslo Dec. 2017
Taxgorkhan is a project that aims to manifest a highly personal dreamworld into a tangible presence. It spans music, performance and graphic arts. Like dreams, the form of expression contains hints of meaning absorbed in real life, and incorporates a very wide spectrum of influences. A family of typefaces were developed following this principle and are used extensively in a variety of ways, like in this poster for a performance in Oslo in 2017.
Serex / Serif Escalation
I wondered what would happen to the appearence of the font, when the serifs would stretch longer and longer. I had to try it out. The outcome is Serex.
I expanded it to a variable font, so everybody can stretch the serifs to ones taste.
Also it is possible to adjust the contrast for higher esthetic.
TOOTH
TOOTH
[novella]
Tooth was written in 2020. The main character is named Vova, and in this story, he’s a scoundrel. He has a wisdom toothache, which becomes the beginning of something that can’t be removed with Novocain on the dentist’s chair.
TOOTH depicts a metaphor for deviant behavior inherent in all of us — mortal humans. A spiral is braces, an accordion is a jaw.
Call for Submissions: Slanted Magazine Experimental Type 3.0
After the success of the first two editions, Experimental Type is now set to become a series of publications. Working in collaboration with students from FH Dortmund under the direction of Professor Lars Harmsen, the team is currently preparing the third edition. This call for entries aims to provide an opportunity for all interested parties to participate in this upcoming issue.
Experimental Type explores experimental design strategies within typography and graphic design. The publication features projects that integrate accidents into the design process, works that embrace mistakes and imprecision, and fonts that originate from a specific concept or system—ultimately showcasing designs that experiment or take unconventional paths. It presents cutting-edge approaches and new experimental techniques, ranging from processing to AI-generated typefaces and variable fonts.
Graphic designers, illustrators, journalists, authors, and artists are encouraged to submit their artwork along with a statement or quote explaining their work. Essays or articles are also very welcome, please submit your idea via email! Submissions are open until July 31st, 2024.
Thank you for your submissions. We will contact you if your work is selected for inclusion. The magazine is scheduled for publication in February 2025.
Being
Being is an exploration of the physical textures and material in the digital world. To create the type, extroo gathered all their black clothing and arranged it on the floor to form the desired letters. This clothing served as the source material, photographed and then manipulated digitally. This was an exercise to push the boundaries of the digital medium by incorporating the physical world.
Folkwang Rundgang from 18th to 21st July
From July 18th to 21st, the Folkwang University of the Arts will hold its Rundgang—the annual exhibition of photography and design. Visitors can anticipate a large-scale exhibition with a diverse supporting program. With over 300 participating students, the Folkwang Rundgang offers a comprehensive look into the disciplines of photography, industrial design, and communication design. Numerous collaborative projects with students from Folkwang’s music, dance, and drama disciplines will also be on display. Alongside the exhibition, there will be a varied support program including brunch, workshops, performances, and guided tours. Admission is free.
The program will be available shortly on the website and on Instagram.
Folkwang Rundgang 2024
When?
Thursday, July 18th until Sunday, July 21st, 2024
Opening hours:
Thursday, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Friday, noon to 10 p.m.
Saturday, noon to 8 p.m.
Sunday, noon to 7 p.m.
Where?
Folkwang University of the Arts
Zollverein World Heritage Site Campus
Martin-Kremmer-Straße 21
45327 Essen
Germany
Photo: Hanna Andal
Poster design: Kim Süß
Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design: Rundgang
From 19th to 21st July 2024, the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design (ABK Stuttgart) invites you to its annual “Rundgang” at the Weißenhof Campus. For a long weekend, the approximately 900 ABK students will open their studios and classrooms to present their current works and the latest projects in the fields of Architecture, Design, Art/Art Education and Art-History-Conservation. Award ceremonies, guided tours and other exciting activities are part of the program.
The “Rundgang” officially opens on Friday, July 19th, at 6 p.m. with a greeting by Prof. Dr. Prof. h.c. mult. Eva-Maria Seng, the new Rector of ABK. State Secretary Arne Braun from the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts will give the welcoming address, which will be followed by the award ceremony, where a number of prizes, including the Academy Prize, the DAAD Prize and the Performance Art Prize, will be presented.
The exhibition is open from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and from noon to 8 p.m on Saturday and Sunday. Themed tours through the faculties will be offered on Saturday and Sunday, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., beginning every full hour.
Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design: Rundgang 2024
When?
Friday, July 19th until Sunday, July 21st 2024
Opening: Friday, July 19th 2024 at 6 p.m.
Opening hours: Friday, 6 p.m until 11 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, noon until 8 p.m.
Where?
Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design: Campus Weißenhof
Am Weißenhof 1
70191 Stuttgart
Germany
For further information here.
13th GRANSHAN Type Design Competition
The winners of the 13th GRANSHAN Type Design Competition have been announced.
Every two years, the competition recognizes exceptional typefaces from scripts beyond Latin. The awards ceremony, titled Common Characters: GRANSHAN Talks & Ceremony, took place on June 17th in Reading, where the GRANSHAN Foundation unveiled the winners. A panel of over 60 judges evaluated submissions across ten script categories through a rigorous three-stage process.
Ana Sanikidze, who completed her Masters in Typeface Design at the University of Reading three years ago, returned to receive the Grand Prize of 3,000 Euros for her typeface Adapter Georgian. She also received a second prize for Nocturno Georgian. Reflecting on her achievement, Ana expressed her delight: “It feels amazing, I’m still flabbergasted. I like the fact that I got the award in Reading, a place that still feels a bit like home to me.”
In addition to the grand prize, there were 9 first-place, 16 second-place, and 9 third-place winners, along with 24 Special Mentions.
Veronika Burian, chair of GRANSHAN, noted, “The competition’s standards have always been exceptionally high; only truly outstanding typeface developments receive awards.” This year, Toshi Omagari, serving as co-chair alongside Burian, highlighted Ana Sanikidze’s success: “The jury was impressed by how well Ana Sanikidze has translated the concept of a sans serif into a text font. Her typeface Adapter Georgian is modern, very legible, and adheres to the principles of Georgian proportions.”
The GRANSHAN Type Design Competition stands as the premier professional competition dedicated exclusively to non-Latin typefaces, including categories for non-Latin/Latin combinations and multiscript designs. New additions this year included a Georgian script group and an expanded Southeast Asian script group covering Burmese, Lao, Khmer, and Thai.
Special recognition was given to the Armenian Script Group, which received the 13th Edik Ghabuzyan Lifetime Achievement Award for Armenian Type Design. The competition facilitated free submissions for type designers, with entry fees sponsored by GRANSHAN.
At the conclusion of the Common Characters: GRANSHAN Talks & Ceremony, GRANSHAN President Boris Kochan announced plans to present the Lifetime Honor Medal to Edik Ghabuzyan at the Mesrop Mashtoz Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Armenia on September 7th. Additionally, a study trip to Armenia is scheduled from September 5th to 13th, organized by the GRANSHAN Foundation e.V. in collaboration with other institutions such as the Typographische Gesellschaft München (tgm).
Further details here.
Typeface of the Month: Cera Mono
Welcome Cera Mono, our new Typeface of the Month!
Cera Mono brings a human voice to code-inspired aesthetics. With a technical texture, controlled dissonance and inharmoniously balanced shapes, Cera Mono pairs the “undesigned” qualities of typewriter fonts with geometric focus. In artistic and cultural contexts, the resulting bureaucratic and slightly glitchy texture gives its light weights expressive power while for those that generate value from code and data, its utilitarian design and carefully-selected spectrum of six weights can refine the noisiest data into information.
With a fixed-width defined by an almost-perfectly round lowercase “o,” Cera Mono brings Cera’s circular emphasis to a utilitarian uni-width typeface. The results give a new tone of voice to Cera’s elementary shapes. True to Cera Pro’s approachable attitude, narrow letters such as a “l” and “i” are not mechanically stretched to become monospaced but use the momentum of their outstokes to adapt to their new spacing.
Suggesting raw data and industrial qualities, Cera Mono is well-suited to no-nonsense typography: equipment manuals for hovercraft, captions in industrial material exhibitions, visualizing the data from volcanoes, and technical documentation for deep-sea farming.
Cera Mono is a fixed-width typeface, but it’s not fixated. For a less raw typographic texture and more balanced whitespace, activate Stylistic Set 15. Narrow characters like l and i now sit on half the space of their companions: maintaining a monospace flavour and providing a better reading experience.
Available in six weights, with useful arrows and an extensive range of geometric symbols, the pan-European Cera Mono supports around 270 languages in the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts. With 1,270 glyphs per style, it cares about localized letterforms and is approved by native consultants.
Typeface of the Month: Cera Mono
Foundry: TypeMates
Designer: Antonia Cornelius, Jakob Runge
Release: June 2024
File Formats: Variable: TTF & WOFF2 | Static: OTF, TTF, WOFF & WOFF2
Styles & Weights: Thin, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, Black, Variable
Price per style: € 50 / Full font family: € 260
Berlin Letters 2024
Berlin Letters 2024 is set to be the premier festival for lettering, type design, calligraphy, and sign painting. Over the course of three vibrant days, this event will bring together international experts, passionate enthusiasts, and creative professionals.
Berlin Letters promises a variety of engaging activities designed to spark creativity and foster connections among attendees. Highlights of the festival programme include live sign-painting demonstrations by renowned sign painters, exhibitions and installations showcasing works from acclaimed artists and designers, and panel discussions on industry trends, challenges, and innovations with leading experts. Additionally, there will be ample networking events providing opportunities to connect with fellow attendees, share ideas, and collaborate on creative projects.
Attendees can look forward to a rich lineup of international lectures, where leading figures in the world of type and design will share their insights, trends, techniques, and the stories behind some of the most iconic works. These lectures are designed to inspire and inform, offering a unique glimpse into the minds of top designers. Speakers include Claire Coullon, Chris Campe, Doro Ottermann, Luc(as) de Groot, Gianpaolo Tucci, and Beatriz Lozano, and many more.
The festival will also feature a series of professional workshops. Participants will have the opportunity to learn new techniques, experiment with different styles, and broaden their creative horizons. Workshops include Type Knitting by Rüdiger Schlömer, Introduction to Type Design with Glyphs by Sol Matas, and Fileteado Porteño—Traditional Letters from Argentina by Gustavo Ferrari, among many others.
Berlin Letters 2024
When?
July, 5th to July, 7th, 2024
Where?
silent green Kulturquartier
Gerichtstr. 35, 13347 Berlin
More Information here.
gggrafik design—slay allegories
Le Signe National Center for Graphic Design in Chaumont announced an upcoming exhibition featuring the eclectic and impactful works of renowned graphic designer Götz Gramlich. slay allegories promises to provide an in-depth look into the creative world of a designer who has significantly influenced the field of graphic design through his innovative and socially engaged work.
Götz Gramlich, born in 1974 in Heidelberg, earned his diploma in Communication Design from the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. His career began with a pivotal role as an assistant to the legendary Niklaus Troxler at Studio Troxler in Willisau, Switzerland. In 2005, Gramlich established his own studio, gggrafik, in Heidelberg, setting the stage for a prolific career that spans nearly two decades.
Beyond his professional achievements, Gramlich is deeply committed to using graphic design as a tool for social and political commentary. He is a co-founder of the political poster festival Mut zur Wut (engl.: courage to be angry), an annual competition that highlights posters with critical, social, and political messages. During the festival, selected posters are displayed in public spaces, transforming these areas into platforms for visual protest. This initiative underscores Gramlich’s belief in the power of posters to effect change and his dedication to political and social causes.
The upcoming exhibition at Le Signe in 2024 offers a unique opportunity to explore the diverse work of Götz Gramlich. Visitors will experience the breadth of his designs, characterized by eclectic styles and a deep exploration of techniques and imagery. This exhibition not only celebrates his artistic achievements but also his ongoing commitment to cultural and social issues through graphic design.
gggrafik design—slay allegories
When?
From 26th of June, 2024 to 5th of January, 2025
Where?
Le Signe—National Center for Graphic Design
Centre National du Graphisme
1 Place Émile Goguenheim
52000 Chaumont
France
More about gggrafik design—slay allegories here.
Forward Festival Hamburg 2024
What do Mieke Haase and Jean-Remy von Matt have in common? After two days at Forward Festival, we know: Their enthusiasm for Pippi Longstocking.
Von Matt quotes her as saying: “I’ve never done that before—I’m sure I can do it.” AI-artist Mieke Haase based her avatar on her with red hair and freckles and advises all creative people to use their talents courageously.
Jo Marie Farwick von Überground also talks about having the courage to do chice (reference to the german word for “shit”). With a lot of humor, she talks about the sometimes not so easy situations in everyday creative life and about a lot of teamwork: “I’m only as good as the people behind me and around me—no one is a genius on his own.”
Many more speakers talked about collaboration and working together as a team. For example, Deutsche & Japaner, a creative studio based in Munich and Berlin, who presented their current project for Reebok and others under their claim “Teamwork is Dreamwork.” This interdisciplinary collaborative team showed what the future of graphic design work could look like.
But also big names like Jung von Matt with more classic set-ups showed how they go forward: Max Lederer, Chief Innovation Officer, questioned the authenticity of all images opening his presentation on working with artificial intelligence with the question if there is any real image. In addition to his call for a debate on the natural impacts of generative AI, he predicted a change in the relationship between customer and brand. His vision for the future is the democratisation of brands.
The illustrative world of Cachetejack, Nuria Bellver and Raquel Fanjul is the result of living democracy with a good dose of humor and irony. Their tips for overcoming blockages, with practical examples of application that got a lot of laughs, and their work examples immersed us in the positive diversity and different perspectives of our world.
With more than 30 speakers on two stages, design workshops, and talks on the topics of graphics, brand, illustration, typography, AI, UX/UI, video, these two days of Forward Festival gave us a lot of inspiration and motivation to make a difference as creatives, also with regard to this year’s motto: Don’t move right—move forward.
All of these impressive speakers have shown that the creatives are going to shape the future world, even more so with UX/UI an AI. Just like Pippi Longstocking said: “I make the world as I like.”
Text and images by Theresa Birnkammer, PACOON.
UN/SEEN Women
Women lack visibility. This has also been the case in the history of graphic design—until today.
UN/SEEN is an initiative focused on highlighting the often-overlooked contributions of women in graphic design from 1865 to 1919, a period preceding the Bauhaus movement. Recognizing that the achievements of male designers are well-documented, whereas information on their female counterparts is scarce and requires intensive research, UN/SEEN aims to close this gap in the German-speaking world.
The project involves thorough archival research, creating and updating Wikipedia articles, and organizing a symposium in April 2025 featuring contemporary female typographers. This symposium will foster discussions on achieving greater equality for the new generation of female designers. Additionally, the UN/SEEN website functions as a platform for documenting the projects progress, facilitating networking, and serving as an online archive, which is currently under construction.
The UN/SEEN research project, funded by the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) under the Innovative Women in Focus (IFIF) initiative, aims to highlight the contributions of women in graphic design from 1865 to 1919. Spearheaded by Designlab Gutenberg at the Mainz University of Applied Sciences, in collaboration with Bureau N and Magma Design Studio, the project seeks to address the historical visibility gap of female designers. Through extensive archival research, the creation and enhancement of Wikipedia articles, and a symposium scheduled for April 2025 featuring contemporary female typographers, UN/SEEN endeavors to foster discussions on gender equality in design. The project’s website will serve as a documentation platform, networking hub, and online archive, which is currently under construction.
Learn more:
unseen-women.design
@unseen.women.design
PAGE magazine
PAGE magazine is thrilled to unveil its extensive redesign, reflecting a complete overhaul of its format, paper choices, and content structure. The new design aims to enhance reader engagement with a contemporary aesthetic and enriched features. This transformation includes a broader range of topics, in-depth articles, and innovative visuals.
PAGE magazine has undergone a significant make-over, embracing a more digital-centric approach while continuing its deep-rooted love for print. Now published quarterly, each issue features over 150 pages filled with rich content and innovative design. The relaunch introduces four new sections—Signale, Erkunden, Gestalten, and Zusammen (Signals, Explore, Design, and Together)—that provide diverse and in-depth coverage of the design industry.
Signale serves as an inspirational entry point with a curated selection of projects in branding, imagery, and web design. Erkunden explores emerging trends and ideas within the design community collaboratively with readers. Gestalten highlights case studies and craftsmanship across various media, providing a comprehensive look at design developments. Finally, Zusammen focuses on industry themes, fostering conversations among designers, clients, and the wider audience to emphasize the importance of dialogue within the creative community.
The design overhaul, led by Art Directors Christine Krawinkel and Julia Kleinwächter, features a new layout that offers more flexibility and space for visual storytelling. Typography plays a crucial role in the redesign, with attention to vertical elements inspired by the inverted PAGE logo on the cover. This vertical motif appears throughout the magazine, in section openers, headlines, and quotes, adding movement and interactivity to the layout. The magazine’s new layout features a footer using Allrounder Mono, a typeface also employed in the spacious captions. This font, part of the Allrounder family, is paired with Edie&Eddy to form PAGE’s new house style. The combination of these fonts creates a cohesive and stylish look throughout the magazine, enhancing both readability and aesthetic appeal.
The relaunch cover features two young designers, whose portrait symbolizes the next generation of creatives. This choice reflects PAGE magazine’s commitment to supporting and showcasing emerging talent, while also serving as a visual representation of the magazine’s generational shift.
With this comprehensive redesign, PAGE reaffirms its dedication to providing insightful, relevant, and aesthetically pleasing content for the design community, effectively bridging the gap between traditional print and contemporary digital media. The relaunch sets the stage for continued innovation and engagement in the years to come and PAGE Magazin keeps on to be a leading source of inspiration and information for the creative industry.
We are very pleased to have PAGE as a comprehensive network in the design cosmos and congratulate on the successful redesign. Furthermore, we are pleased with and thankful for every feature of our publications in the magazine. Spot us in the newest issue of PAGE Magazin!
100 Beste Plakate 23
The motto of this year’s 100 Beste Plakate is enticing and delivers on its promise: Every year, the association 100 Beste Plakate e. V. honors the most outstanding and creative poster designs from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The accompanying yearbook has long established itself as the standard reference for creators in the graphic and design scene and is now being published for the first time by Slanted Publishers.
The 2023 yearbook presents all 100 winning posters from the 100 Beste Plakate 23 competition in large-format images, along with information on their content aspects and the context in which they were created. It discusses current poster design and highlights trends. The jury’s introduction by Toan Vu-Huu, alongside a foreword by Fons Hickmann, an essay by Helene Roolf, presentation of the jury, and a contact register with credits of all designers, clients, and printers, completes the publication.
The book’s theme, “X out of 100 / Expect Nothing—Appreciate Everything,” ensures equal presentation of all 100 works, avoiding any impression of ranking. Each poster / series is treated equally, marked as one of the 100 nominated by the jury.
X/100 — Expect Nothing — Appreciate Everything
Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Editor: 100 Beste Plakate e. V.
Design, Concept: Studio Es
Publishing Direction: Lars Harmsen, Julia Kahl
Release: June 2024
Format: 16.5 × 24 cm
Volume: 256 pages
Images: 300
Language: English, German
Printer: NINO Druck, Germany
Workmanship: Softcover, matt foil lamination, otabind thread-stitching, full-color, changing papers, wide embroidered bookmark, sticker
ISBN: 978-3-948440-73-2
Price: € 35.– (DE)
Save the Date: Slanted Summer Party
Join us for a summer fest celebrating 10 years of Slanted Publishers and 20 years of Slanted as a blog! 🌞
📅 Date: July 12th, 2024
🕒 Time: 15:00–21:00
📍 Where: Nördliche Uferstraße 4-6, 76189 Karlsruhe
Come and see where the magic happens! 🌟 It’s your chance to meet the team in person and explore our workspace.
Looking for deals? We’ve got you covered! 🛍️ Browse through our current collection, special editions, and rare issues at unbeatable prices. Plus, get a sneak peek at our latest releases and upcoming projects! 📚
Enjoy some chill tunes and refreshing drinks as we spend a few hours filled with inspiration and engaging conversations. 🎶
See you there!
Greta, Julia, Julia, Juliane & Lars
SKOUD Cosmetics
“BEAUTY IS EVERYTHING THAT IS TREATED WITH LOVE”
Christian Morgenstern
The visual identity of SKOUD Cosmetics reflects innovation and elegance. As the first luxury skincare brand created by cosmetic scientists in Germany, it combines beauty with scientific expertise. SKOUD Cosmetics visual identity is carefully crafted to showcase the balance between nature and science. Every detail, from colors to typography, is chosen to represent the brand’s high-quality yet approachable image. By blending modern design with organic elements, the brand emphasizes its commitment to effective, natural skincare.
Visual Identity, Product Design, Web Design: Studio Last
Brand Building: Nicole Zepter & Matthias Last
Campaign Photography: Nadia Del Do
Product + Textureshootings
Photographer: Stephan Abry
Setdesign: Kirsten Schmidt
Photographer: Qurilin Siegbert
AD & Set: Bianka Hartkopf
Fonts: Favorit by ABC Dinamo, Lydian by American Type Founders
komma Magazine 28 — Leitern
komma is a platform showcasing projects from students of the design faculty at the University of Applied Sciences, Mannheim. The magazine is entirely student-run, with the editorial team handling every task. The team composition changes regularly, giving each edition its unique theme and identity. komma serves as a showcase for bachelor, master, semester, and independent projects. Each issue is distributed to prominent figures in the design industry.
The current issue is all about Ladders. The magazine explores the various meanings of ladders, and shows different perspectives on the topic are spread across 176 pages, offering fascinating insights into the world of this household and garden tool, as well as everything else that can be understood by the term. Often, it refers to more than just a frame with rungs: approximately 3,860 words in the German language contain the word “Leiter” (engl. Ladder).
komma 28 elved into these concepts and connected them with social themes from various aspects of live.
More about komma 28 here.
CXI Conference 2024
Around 1,400 design, marketing, and communication experts gathered at the CXI conference in Bielefeld on May 17th, 2024. This year, notable participants included the global leader Zeiss, and pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. Europe’s largest brand identity conference was once again organized in cooperation with Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences (HSBI).
Since its inception in 2009, CXI conference has played a crucial role in establishing Bielefeld as a hub for corporate and brand identity. This is reflected in its continuous growth: while nearly a thousand attendees were welcomed in 2023, this year saw almost 1,400 participants. Due to logistical reasons, the conference was held for the first time in the Rudolf Oetker Hall instead of Lokschuppen, adding an elegant new dimension to the event.
The CXI stands out for its unique presentation format, where agencies and their clients jointly present communication solutions. These presentations provide deep insights into the conceptual and practical aspects of brand design development.
This year, London-based studio Koto and streaming service Deezer showcased their brand system centered around the “Beating Heart logo”. Düsseldorf’s G31 demonstrated how early involvement of graphic design firms can sustainably transform the perception of historic sites, using their collaboration with Bilker Bunker as a case study. Arndt Benedikt and OMR discussed the significant challenge of elevating an established brand through rebranding, while ZEISS and the KMS TEAM provided insights into digital brand management at ZEISS. The agency Interbrand from Cologne, alongside Boehringer Ingelheim, concluded the traditional dual presentations with a showcase of their corporate brand implementation.
A new addition this year was the Focustalk format, where 20-minute, concise presentations offered a refreshing change. Rotterdam-based Studio Dumbar, a leading agency for motion branding in Europe, shared their expertise. Highly acclaimed agency for audio branding and motion design Why Do Birds discussed the newly developed unique acoustic brand identity for Berlin’s public transport system BVG, and Hamburg located design agency Mutabor explored the application of artificial intelligence in branding.
The event concluded with a pleasant gathering in the adjacent Bürgerpark, providing the perfect setting to round off a successful day of inspiration and exchange.
Thanks to the CXI team and especially Robert Paulmann for making this possible. We’re excited for many more years of CXI.
Photos: CXI/René Weinitschke
FiftyFifty
A newly launched traveling lettering exhibition called FiftyFifty collects and showcases 150 artworks by college students from dozens of countries. Premiered in Brisbane, Australia, from April 16th to 20th, 2024, the event is expected to make rounds across the world.
Dubbed FiftyFifty, the exhibition featured 50 × 50 cm black and white script posters designed in 20 different languages. The students, coming from 34 different universities and spreading over 32 countries, presented typographic artworks comprising solely one word in a language script of their own. There were both manual and digital calligraphy, typography, and lettering designs. The exhibition, supported by the University of Sharjah and endorsed by the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI), was held under the theme of Positive Synonyms.
Founded in 1957, ATypI is a worldwide organization dedicated to type and typography design. Its annual conference has been a recurrent event since its founding. FiftyFifty was part of ATypl’s 2024 annual gathering in Brisbane, Australia. The travelling exhibition was the brainchild of Nada Abdallah, Assistant Professor at the University of Sharjah’s College of Fine Arts and Design. The whole idea, she said, was using typography and calligraphy to bring different cultures and languages together as a sign coexistence.
University of Sharjah’s College of Fine Arts and Design plans to host the next round of the exhibition, according to Professor Nadia Mehdi Alhasani, the college dean. “Our college’s support for the FiftyFifty initiative, while promoting internationalization, simultaneously advocates for connectivity through diversity of cultures. This unique traveling exhibit seeks to spread positivity and reverence for uniqueness of cultural identities.”
The Interest in the exhibition was high, said Nada Abdallah, who initially had received 1.500 submissions for possible participation, of which a panel of nine judges from diverse background and countries only chose 150. Prof. Evripides Zantides, Dean of Fine and Applied Arts at Cyprus University of Technology, was one of the judges. He said: “Through careful selection and treatment of the typography, the meanings of many positive synonyms were visualized and expressed in creative and expressive ways. The result has proven the influence Typography has in visualizing and empowering the linguistic message in ways that emotions are evoked, encouraging and inspiring people to work towards a better world.”
The judges’ option for the best typographic display in the exhibition fell on an animation collaboratively composed in coordination with animator Mahmoud Kanso, a creative art director at nybl, an information technology and services provider. In it, 150 typographic synonyms and lettering designs of 116 participating students were integrated into one single masterpiece displayed at ATypI Brisbane in April 2024 in Australia.