Limited Slanted Notebook BK LVRS

Posted on by Julia Kahl

Slanted loves books—and Slanted loves this beautiful Slanted Limited Notebook BK LVRS! Inspired by our latest Slanted Magazine #42—Books, this high-quality notebook was designed by us with plenty of space for your notes, sketches or daydreams …

Make your loved one a special Valentine’s gift—exclusively and only available in very limited quantities in our shop!

By the way: Goes great with our Limited Special Edition Books: Magazine + BK LVRS Pencils!

Format: 14.8 × 21 cm
Volume: 256 pages
Design: Slanted Publishers
Workmanship: Softcover, offset-printing with sport-colors, color-cut with typography
Paper: Inapa Deutschland
Printer: Stober Medien
Produced by brandbook
Price: €26.–

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Typotalk with Lars Harmsen

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

In the context of the exhibition Dagmar Buhr: Lui at Neues Museum in Nürnberg, bayern design presents a Typotalk with Lars Harmsen, Creative Director at Melville Brand Design and Co-founder of Slanted Publishers. In Prof. Lars Harmsen’s Typotalk, the focus is on typography in space, from “A” like Art and Anarchy, “C” like Corporate, “P” like Public, and “Z” like Zoo.

Like few other design elements, typography reflects the diversity and heterogeneity of a city. Typography produces new urban spaces and interacts with the places and people of a city. Typography can represent the identities of a city, its people, companies, brands, and organizations, thus creating social to commercial spaces. Typography can make cultural patterns of action visible, reinterpret them, and question them. Typography can convey information and guide people through the city. Typography in urban space is the work of designers, engineers, amateurs, and children.

Immediately before the Typotalk, there will be a Typowalk with type designer Mona Franz and government building officer Rebecca Pröbster through Nuremberg. Fonts in the city will be presented and analyzed for their design during this event. Separate registration is required for this event. Combo tickets are available.

About Prof. Lars Harmsen

Prof. Lars Harmsen is a professor for design and typography at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Dortmund, Creative Director and partner at Melville Brand Design in Munich. Additionally, he is the founder of Slanted Publishers. The main focus of his work includes typography, corporate and editorial design, as well as brands in space. He is the founder of the font label Volcano-Type, editor and Creative Director at Slanted Blog and Magazine, and the author and designer of numerous books on design, typography, and photography. Harmsen is the curator of the artist book series 100for10 and a co-founder of Poster Rex, a screen printing poster project. He has received over 100 national and international awards for his work.

Typotalk with Lars Harmsen

When?
Thursday, February 8th, 5 p.m.

Where?
Neues Museum in Nürnberg
Luitpoldstraße 5
90402 Nürnberg

Tickets for the Typotalk are now available here.
Find more information here.

Forward Festival 2024

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

The renowned creative conference Forward Festival is growing and expanding to four European cities for its 2024 season.

Celebrating its debut in Amsterdam as well as its comeback in Hamburg, while also returning to Berlin and Vienna, the established annual hub of the creative industry across all disciplines is set to captivate audiences with an impressive total lineup of more than 125 speakers from creative fields like AI, digital art, graphic design, typography, photography and much more.

After having remarkable success in the last years, Forward is ready to elevate to new heights in 2024, promising a season of unleashed creativity and inspiration. To date, Forward has realised 27 Festivals in three countries, inspiring over 40.000 visitors from 70 nations, while gaining extra momentum with last year’s Berlin edition at the prestigious Haus der Kulturen der Welt. For the upcoming edition there are some major announcements: Firstly, Forward is expanding its horizons to the Netherlands and takes place in Amsterdam for the first time. Renowned for its flourishing creative scene, the city stands as a key player in the global creative industry. Forward Festival will take place at the prestigious Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, a venue meticulously designed to foster both inspiration and expression, setting the stage for an unforgettable experience.

Secondly, Forward is also making its big comeback to Hamburg after a break that began with the covid disruptions in 2020. The big return was obviously just a matter of time, since Forward is aligning seamlessly with the city’s diverse and vibrant creative culture.

Unlike most other conferences, Forward’s curation blends creative minds from all directions of the scene to a unique mix with a lot of personal insights and a vibe that is unmatched. Spiked with specials like art performances, expo areas, side-events and after parties, the main core of the festival—the talks—focus on what’s really important for creative people: finding inspiration, maintaining focus on creative work, and fostering collaboration to share creativity without boundaries.

The Forward Festival for creativity, design, and communication is a renowned conference for the local and international creative industries, established in 2015. The festival’s self-declared mission is to serve as a platform for creative people and to promote inspiration and exchange. Protagonists from all disciplines of creativity are brought together in a program combining forums, workshops, exhibitions, talks and side-events. Topics range from (graphic) design, typography, marketing and branding to VR/AR, artificial intelligence and architecture to photography, film and TV.

SPEAKER: ERIK KESSELS | ANNA KULASCHEK | JEAN-REMY VON MATT | SNASK | ANNA | GINSBURG | GAVIN STRANGE | LOULOU JOAO | DEUTSCHE & JAPANER | BAUGASM | KELLY | ANNA | VIKTOR HAMMARBERG | CHARLOTTE ROHDE | KELLY ANNA | VINCENT SCHWENK | MR. BINGO | STUDIO FEIXEN | DADA PROJECTS | STUDIO SANDER PLUG | SOFIA CRESPO | EVA CREMERS | LOOPING LOVERS | LUIS PEREZ

Forward Festival 2024

Hamburg: April 25th to 26th
Amsterdam: May 23th to 24th
Berlin: August 29th to 30th
Vienna: October 3rd to 4th

Find Forward Festival on Instagram. 

Formale Grotesque

Posted on by binnenland

With the development of Formale Grotesque, Binnenland pursued a strategy that is more variable for a more differentiated use of a type family. Structured in L, N, B (Light, Normal, Bold), and each with 4 different weights (1–4), the Formale Grotesque offers a simple orientation. The font weight and their combinations can thus be adapted in a nuanced way to the design requirements and typographic use and refer to possible combinations. The weight mix, the gradations of the font weights, can follow the numerical sequence but are just as well harmonised in units of 2 or 3.

With several OpenType features and alternative style sets, ligatures, and small caps, the typeface has finesse and characterful typographically appropriate additions.

The Formale Grotesque fits into the typographic tradition of sans serif typefaces dating back to the late 19th century. With its low stroke weight contrast, it pursues a new approach by mixing geometrically constructed and dynamic forms, resulting in a design that is not a response to an existing grotesque or neo-grotesque typeface, but the interpretation of an attitude.

Design by Michael Mischler and Nik Thoenen, 2019
Current Version 2.021 Jan 2024

Formale Grotesque

Foundry: Binnenland
Designer: Michael Mischler, Nik Thoenen
Update Release: January 2024
File Formats: OTF, TTF (variable)
Style: Grotesk
Weights: Thin to Black with Italics
Price: per style: € 70.–; Full family + variable: € 693.–

Take a look at Formale Grotesque here. 

Werkschau HS Bielefeld 2024

Posted on by werkschau_hsbi_24

The Department of Design at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and Arts invites you to the Werkschau!

It opens its doors for the 2023/24 winter semester exhibition in February. This year’s graduates proudly present their Bachelor’s and Master’s theses from the fields of Digital Media and Experiment, Photography and Visual Media, Communication Design, and Fashion.

The design concept for the exhibition is based on the powerful symbolism of the eyes, which stand for a rich landscape of creative brilliance that embodies the visual and what can be perceived primarily with the eyes. Furthermore, the consistent integration of the eye motif creates a continuous narrative and emphasizes the goal of making the graduates visible and honoring their creative achievements.

The use of greatly reduced design elements is intended to draw the viewer’s attention to what is essential for the exhibition, while the highly concise appearance of the exhibition is intended to ensure that the visual message of the exhibition does not get lost in today’s sensory overload.

The HS Bielefeld and the graduates are looking forward to an event of contemplation and amazement and the visit of many spectators!

Werkschau HS Bielefeld 2024

When?
Vernissage:
Friday, February 2nd, 6 p.m.

Exhibition:
Saturday, February 3rd, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday, February 4th, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Where?
Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences
Faculty of Design and Art
Lampingstraße 3
33615 Bielefeld

Find more information here. 

European Design Awards 2024

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

The prestigious European Design Awards (ED-Awards), an annual event that has been at the forefront of recognizing outstanding design achievements since its inception in 2007, is set to launch its 2024 edition.

Marking nearly two decades of inspiring creativity and design innovation, the European Design Awards continue to be a hallmark celebration within the design community. With a commitment to showcasing excellence in various communication design disciplines, the awards honor the visionaries and trendsetters who push the boundaries of creativity.

A distinguishing feature that sets the European Design Awards apart in the industry is its distinctive jury composition. Unlike traditional design competitions, the ED-Awards boasts a panel comprising not design professionals but eminent design critics. Consisting of editors, academics, and publishers—essentially, content creators who significantly influence and shape the discourse within the communication design industry—the jury brings a unique perspective to the evaluation process. This approach ensures a nuanced and comprehensive assessment of entries, emphasising not only aesthetic appeal but also the intellectual and communicative prowess of the submitted designs. The ED-Awards’ commitment to having content creators at the helm of its jury reflects a visionary understanding of the evolving landscape of design and reinforces its dedication to recognizing excellence in both form and substance.

The 2024 edition of the European Design Awards promises to be a spectacular showcase of groundbreaking designs, cutting-edge concepts, and the visionary talents that shape the design landscape. Designers, agencies, and creative minds from across Europe and beyond are invited to participate in this prestigious event that recognizes and celebrates the finest achievements in graphic design, branding, digital media, packaging, typography, and more.

Key Information for Participants:

  • Submission Period: The call for entries for the European Design Awards 2024 officially opens on Friday, December 15th.
  • Submission Deadline: Entrants are encouraged to submit their work by February 16th, 2024, to ensure inclusion in this year’s esteemed competition.
  • Results Announcement: The much-anticipated results of the European Design Awards 2024 will be unveiled on June 1st, 2024, during the annual ED-Festival, taking place in Naples, Italy.

“The European Design Awards stand as a testament to the brilliance and ingenuity within the design community. As we embark on the 2024 edition, we eagerly anticipate witnessing the remarkable work that will shape the future of design. It’s a celebration of creativity, originality, and the pursuit of design excellence,” said Demetrios Fakinos, Director of the European Design Festival.

Join us in celebrating the power of design to inspire, captivate, and transform the world!

European Design Awards 2024

Established in 2007, the European Design Awards celebrate exceptional achievements in graphic design, branding, and communication. The annual event recognizes the outstanding work of designers and creative agencies across Europe, providing a platform for showcasing innovation, talent, and design mastery.

For submission guidelines, categories, and additional details, please visit www.europeandesign.org

Winterwerkschau

Posted on by [email protected]

From February 2nd to 4th, 2024, the student-organized Winterwerkschau will take place for the seventh time at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Students will present around 70 projects and study results, mainly from the Faculty of Art and Design, at more than 20 locations. For prospective students, portfolio consultations are offered in the artistic degree programms, which can be attended without prior registration.

Initiated and organized by the students of the Faculty of Art and Design, the Winterwerkschau offers the opportunity to explore the results of the winter semester, exchange ideas and round off the semester alongside the summaery—the large annual exhibition in summer.

The project study in Weimar leaves plenty of room for experimentation and opens up a variety of ways to realize ideas and new concepts. The students would like to give all interested parties, whether high school graduates, trainees, career changers, or flaneurs, the opportunity to get to know the life and studies of artists and designers in Weimar first-hand. The students therefore open up their workspaces and studios and show their work in an uncomplicated way: Insights into processes and interim statuses as well as already completed works from the current semester are presented to the public and offer a practical insight into studying at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

Winterwerkschau 2024

Exhibition duration:
Friday, February 2nd, 2024 to Sunday, February 4th, 2024

Opening:
Friday, February 2nd, 5 p.m.

Location:
M18, Café S140
Marienstrasse 18
99423 Weimar

Opening hours of the studios:
Friday, 6–8 p.m.
Saturday, 12–8 p.m.
Sunday, 12–4 p.m.

An overview of all projects, the associated events, and information on portfolio consultations can be found here. 
Winterwerkschau on Instagram.
Graphics by Amelie Knoblich.

Script – Über das Wesen der Schrift

Posted on by Juliane Lipp

Do the existing writing systems suffice for future communication, even with machines? Script – Über das Wesen der Schrift is a fundamental reflection on the current state of our writing and the developments it will undergo in the future.

Our existing writing systems are among the most significant socio-cultural achievements–writing has profoundly influenced both our thinking and actions, and no technological progress would have been possible without it. However, the ongoing technological changes–the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, AI—require a structural shift that will impact how we think, communicate, and produce.

With this position paper, the author Christian Stindl initiates a long-overdue discourse on the prevailing practices in the field of font design. He criticizes the evident disparity between the steadily increasing number of formal reinterpretations of characters on one hand, and the lack of structural reflection on the Latin character system on the other.

With his book Script – Über das Wesen der Schrift, Christian Stindl embarks on a quest to explore the essence of the writing of the future. He questions its current relevance and simultaneously predicts the downfall of the Latin character system. In his view, a fundamental rethinking by font designers and a necessary realignment of this discipline are imperative.

Script – Über das Wesen der Schrift

Publisher: Triest
Design: Christian Stindl, Brühl
Format: 14.8 × 21 cm
Volume: 129 pages
Language: German
ISBN: 978-3-03863-079-1
Price: € 29.– (DE)

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These URLs Will Save the IRL

Posted on by wishious

You open it, squint, think for a bit, scroll up, scroll down, search for half a minute for a language change. After the third go-through-the-menubar, acceptance comes and cmd+f is used. Then you finally find the right section and it leads to a pdf with no ability to copy the text. You guessed it — if you ever tried to apply to a German art university, this was the interaction most of the time. These sites were made to surprise the viewer, and so far, they are successful. The creators use different methods to keep a user engaged, not to just utilitaristically find the information on an invisible canvas, but to go through the full-experience, feel the web in which this content is weaved.

Finding useful info on most German art schools’ websites is an interesting experience since they are not constructed according to the usual web selling patterns. What is even more interesting, although renovated German websites do not follow “selling” UX trends, they look and perform decently.

While collecting and organising a database of university websites, Nilya Musaeva began to notice specific patterns. She tried to combine and classify them within the concept of German UX design. In her research, just like in the statement of the United States Secretary of Defense, there are known unknowns and there are unknown unknowns. This means that even after the long process of developing this project, a huge mysterious field of knowledge will remain untapped.

The elaboration and classification led Musaeva into the mystical entangled net of German websites. The more she delved into this study, the more confusing her narrative became. The initially harmonious classification began to be saturated with speculations, philosophical thoughts, and the Sisyphean stone-like burden of responsibility that I could barely withstand. At some point, it became clear that this project has no beginning or end, and in this book, I would only be able to slightly lift the veil of secrecy.

As a result, this book will guide you through Germany, not using Autobahns and Schlössers but links and browser windows

These URLs will save the IRL is a result of a two-year-long speculation on the topic of German art schools’ websites  by Nilya Musaeva. The project started a hypothesis that German art schools sometimes deliberately create opaque interaction patterns to create an obstacle for potential applicants. During the research, Musaeva conducted UX tests, accessed archived versions of the websites, made design/UX analysis, comparison tables, manuscript writing, and travelling on the spot undercover to compare the website and real-life accessibility. This turned into the publication, written by Musaeva and collaboratively designed by 25 students of University of Arts Bremen and Klasse Digitale Grafik Hamburg.

These URLs Will Save the IRL

Language: English
Released in 2023
Self-published, 100 Copies
All the further info on the website.

Werkschau Design & Architecture 23/24

Posted on by eric_fritsch

At the end of the winter term 23/24, the graduates of the Design and Architecture departments of the Peter Behrens School of Arts at the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf will present their projects during the Werkschau Design & Architecture 23/24.

Around 250 young designers and architects specializing in Architecture, Interior Design, and Civic Design as well as Communication Design, Exhibition Design, New Craft Object Design, and Retail Design are looking forward to your visit.

You can take a look at the graduation projects here.

Werkschau Design & Architecture 23/24

When?

January 26th, 12 p.m. – 8 p.m.

January 27th, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Where?
Hochschule Düsseldorf
Peter Behrens School of Arts

Building 6

Münsterstraße 156

40476 Düsseldorf

More information here.
Instagram

Design: Michelle Duong, Eileen Gräfenstein, Florian Littke / Code: Stefan Völker / Supervision: Prof. Holger Jacobs / Public Relations: Eric Fritsch, Stephanie Muscat-Bruhn

Flint*ype

Posted on by Juliane Lipp

flint*ype is a tool, an archive, and a curated showcase, that aims to make typefaces from FLINTA* (F=female, L=lesbians, I=inter-, N=non-binary, T=trans, A=agender) designers from all over the world more easily accessible. The initiators of the project Lilot Kammermeier, Sophia Krayc, Coco Lobinger and Hannah Witte believe that through the use of FLINTA* typefaces, marginalised designers in graphic design will be supported, made visible, and re-inscribed into history.

Selecting a typeface involves considering numerous factors, and when incorporating a typeface into graphic design, its creation context should be purposefully taken into account. Commonly referred to as “neutral” typefaces, European classics such as Helvetica, Universe, or Times can perpetuate the Eurocentric and male-dominated norms of Western graphic design when employed in comprehensive design solutions. This, in turn, reinforces patriarchal structures within graphic design, hindering the progression of artistic discourse. The pursuit of FLINTA* type design requires dedication, acknowledging that it may not always be a straightforward endeavor. In this challenging endeavor,  flint*ype aims to empower the graphic design community to scrutinize established structures and strive for liberation from them, aiming to streamline and diversify individual type research.

Regularly bringing in special curators with their vibrant featured type collections will assist in moving away from a binary and Eurocentric approach to type design. This initiative aims to shift and redirect viewpoints.

Blackletter—Rotunda

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

After the debut of the Calligraphy Manuals collection with the book Blackletter – Fraktur, the Portuguese publishing house 0. itemzero has released a new volume: Blackletter—Rotunda.

Popular in the Middle Ages in Italy, southern France, and the Iberian Peninsula, Rotunda is a rounder, warmer flavor of blackletter styles, celebrated in mediaeval academic circles for its ease of reading.

Akin to the Fraktur release, this book repeats the collaboration with Hugo “Xesta” Moura, the Portuguese graphic artists and calligrapher, extending the historical material to add a contemporary interpretation to the hand.

The book features over 750 real-scale examples of letter variations, ligatures and exercises, making extensive use of notes and building up complexity as it progresses. As worthy extras, the release also features a large set of digital, ready-to-print practice sheets, as well as two screenprint posters designed by Xesta.

Blackletter—Rotunda 

Publisher: 0. itemzero
Authors: Hugo “Xesta” Moura, Fábio Duarte Martins, Ruben Dias, Ricardo Philippe Dantas
Price: € 14.90
Find out more here. 

Typeface of the Month: Perec Scripte

Posted on by Juliane Lipp

With a serene air and a hint of nostalgia, our new Typeface of the Month Perec Scripte is a vertical script font with a delicate persuasive tone.

It comes in two styles: unlinked (1) and linked (2), both declined in six full weights including numerous contextual sorts, ligatures, alternates, swashes, and more. Although it was conceived as a display font, it can also be used in text pieces that are not too long, especially the Light, Regular and Medium weights. The third style of the family is Perec Scripte Deco, meant for greater graphic impact, ideal for special titles, signs and logos. Perec Scripte Deco has three carefully hand-drawn stripes that flow throughout the alphabet giving a subtle sense of volume and creating a unique word appeal. Equipped with the same Latin extended set, it also includes ligatures, swashes, two sets of numerals and other type goodies.

Like the Perec and Perec Ludique series, the Perec Scripte series is part of the Perec superfamily, made as a tribute to the genius of Georges Perec, a singular writer of the 20th century. All Perec styles can be used together, judiciously, to achieve editorial pages rich in expression.

Typeface of the Month: Perec Scripte

Foundry: Pampa Type
Designer: Alejandro Lo Celso
Release: December 2023
File Formats: OTF, TTF, WOFF, WOFF2
Styles & Weights: Perec Scripte 1 with Thin, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, and Black / Perec Scripte 2 with Thin, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, and Black / Perec Scripte Deco Regular
Price: per style € 48 / per family € 308

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Slanted Winter Break 2023 / 2024

Posted on by Julia Kahl

From December 22nd we will be taking our annual winter break to recharge our batteries and tackle many new projects in the new year full of energy! From January 4th, 2024, we will be back in person for you. Please note that from now until January 4th, 2023, there will be no support from the Slanted Shop (subscriptions included) and shipping will take a little longer than usual. In the meantime, we will be happy to take your orders—and this is especially worthwhile, because we need more space in our warehouse and offer selected magazines and special editions starting at €5.– until 01/03/2024 (online only, as long as stock lasts). First come, first served 😉

This year was not easy for us, like many other publishers, we had to face some obstacles and challenges, but we are very proud to have overcome them successfully. We are deeply saddened that some beloved print magazines, such as form, étapes, etc., could not overcome these hurdles and had to cease their production—R.I.P.

At the same time, we are incredibly grateful for the support we have received from our community. Everyone can contribute to ensuring that independent publishing and the production of unique print products continue to thrive: buy from local retailers, shop in our online store, and keep in mind that you are supporting an entire industry with your choices. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our readers, media partners, supporters, cooperation partners, friends, editorial staff, and all contributors who make Slanted in all its facets possible.

A big thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

We are very grateful for all the wonderful book and magazine releases, many of which have already won awards, and some have been reprinted or are currently out of stock. We have once again attended many book fairs and design conferences and look forward to engaging in personal conversations with our readers. As we scroll through our social media channels, it makes us very happy to see how you, our readers and community, celebrate our work and become a part of it yourselves. That’s why we’ve collected some impressions of the past year here—these make us always smile!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Your Slanted Team

Photos: © Instagram + © Slanted Publishers

Makers Bible Crafting Cuisine

Posted on by Melville Brand Design

Makers Bible Crafting Cuisine is for those who love to spend time in the kitchen, cook with hand and heart, try new things and celebrate a consciously prepared meal in good company. This time it is for those who passionately cook and appreciate using the best handmade tools and ingredients. This book shows on 352 pages over 130 makers and crafters.

Five chapters guide the reader from the field and garden to the kitchen, where things get cut and heated; the pantry is opened on all things storable. Stock up the bar cabinet and finally serve and celebrate food consciously prepared, whether it’ll be simply toasted sandwiches or a five-course dinner.

Foodies, connaisseurs, and gourmands—admittingly this book is not for beginners. It is rather a book for hobby chefs and hosts who like to get to the next level. And to the source: All relevant makers and crafters are accompanied by QR codes that lead the reader directly to the source, the makers’ online presence.

Curated, designed and published by Melville Brand Design.

Makers Bible Crafting Cuisine

Design and Publishing: Melville Brand Design
Format: 16 × 24 cm
Volume: 352 pages
Language: English
Paper: IGEPA Salzer Touch
ISBN: 978-3-948440-67-1
Price: € 42.– (DE)

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FURE

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

Endless amounts of text surround us and are omnipresent. The FURE 5 conference takes place on March 8th, 2024, and poses the question: Is the ability to read really in danger, or is the warning of a decline in this competence merely a lament by cultural pessimists? The conference will focus not only on the amount we read, but also on the way we read, especially in the digital age.

Discussions will address various topics, including the new roles that print media can take on in times of digitalization, the ideas and possibilities of digital reading and the mutual influences of print and digital media. The conference will also look at changing reading behavior and the challenges reading faces in competition with other technologies such as gaming, listening, and watching.

Renowned speakers will share their points of view, including Karin Schmidt-Friderichs from Verlag Hermann Schmidt, Mike John Otto from Artificial Rome, Jutta Echterhoff and Annette Coumont from books4future, Prof Dr Angelika Nollert from Neue Pinakothek, Amatik Designagentur, Jakob Runge from Typemates and Olaf Wittrock from wortwert.

The FURE conference offers space for groundbreaking statements, visions and positions, an a unique opportunity to discuss current developments in the field of reading. Early bird tickets are available now: 42 euros for students and 109 euros for professionals. The FURE is organised by Prof. Rüdiger Quass von Deyen & Patrick Marc Sommer.

FURE

When?
March 8th, 2024

Where?
Münster School of Design
FH Münster
Leonardo-Campus 6, 48149 Münster

Click here for further information on the conference and ticket booking.

Jan Middendorp (1956–2023)

Posted on by Julia Kahl
We are very saddened to hear that Jan Middendorp, graphic designer and writer, recently passed away. He fought against his illness for a long time and did not let it defeat him.
 
In his book Dutch Type, he writes in the preface: “This book was born out of curiosity. Letterforms have fascinated me since childhood, but I did not get involved with them professionally until the late 80s, when I began working as a self-taught graphic designer. I gradually realized that I had a natural preference for text faces by Dutch designers (…) Having worked as a performing arts critic in a previous life, I turned back to writing and started interviewing the people whose typefaces I was so intrigued by.”
 
And so, we also conducted an interview with Jan for Slanted Magazine #6—Signs, Symbols, Ornaments in 2008, which became so interesting and comprehensive that we extended it to the next magazine, Slanted #7—Geometrics.Porn. (Thanks to HD Schellnack). Jan’s work and his thoughts on it were of great interest to us and our readers.
 
We haven’t seen each other often in recent years, but we fondly remember many beautiful moments at Typo Berlin or other events related to his passion for typography. Rest in peace, Jan!
Portrait: © Jean-Luc Lemaitre

100 Beste Plakate 23

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

The 100 Beste Plakate e.V. annually organizes the competition 100 beste Plakate Deutschland Österreich Schweiz. The aim is to showcase outstanding achievements in poster design from the three countries through a yearbook and multiple exhibitions. Posters of all genres and printing techniques, created, printed, and published between January 1st and December 31st, 2023, are eligible for submission.

On December 15th, 2023, the competition will kick off. The deadline for online registration and the upload of designs is January 20th, 2024.

The deadline is followed by an online pre-selection, and by the end of February, the international jury will choose the 100 best posters. The confirmed jury members are: Sandra Doeller (Frankfurt am Main) Isabelle Mauchle (Luzern), Flávia Nalon (Sao Paulo/Hamburg), Tobias Schererbauer (Wien), Toan Vu-Huu (Paris).

The procedure follows that of previous years: eligible for submission are designers, clients, and printing companies from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with posters designed and printed in 2023, covering all themes, formats, and printing techniques. Participation incurs a fee (starting at €50, staggered based on the number of posters). Students and members of 100 Beste Plakate e.V. receive a 50% discount.

The visual identity for the new competition, including the yearbook (to be released in June 2024 by Slanted Publishers, Karlsruhe), will be designed by Studio Es, Wien. Starting in Berlin, the 100 Beste Plakate 23 will be on an exhibition tour in the three countries, Korea, and other locations from the middle of next year.

100 beste Plakate 23

Find all information here. Updates are available on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Aesthetics Imperfections

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

Creativity and innovation are no longer exclusively the province of humans, but the result of collaboration, a game of interpretation in the dialog between humans and machines. This is the world in which we live today, where artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving and new scenarios are opened.

AI technology is transforming the realms of art, design, communication, and marketing. However, when it comes to typography, in this age of co-creation, it has not yet taken center stage in this evolutionary process, but it is ripe for experimentation.

Gianpaolo Tucci’s research led him to recognize aesthetic imperfections as a source of uniqueness in each individual representation. The world is entering a new era of typographical artifacts, where typography moves beyond the strict confines of function to embrace new values of expression.

This is not a book on typography, but the expression of a point of view, a practical guide, and an investigation on how the integration and ethical use of artificial intelligence will play a fundamental role in modeling this future. This book witnesses the birth of a co-creation era, urging a rethinking to craft a more human-centric future where AI magnifies human creativity, rather than replacing it. Take a breath, and as if we were unaware laboratory animals, Tucci invites to jump into this journey made of confused, blurred, anatomical, radical, colorful, and sometimes overturned visions.

AI and typography—a dialogue between humans & nature!

Author: Gianpaolo Tucci
Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Release: December 2023
Creative Direction: Lars Harmsen, Gianpaolo Tucci
Art Direction: Juliane Nöst
Design: Gianpaolo Tucci, Juliane Nöst, Lars Harmsen
Publishing Direction: Lars Harmsen, Julia Kahl
Production Management: Julia Kahl
Proofreading: Katherine Margaret Flach
Printing: Offset, Stober Medien
Paper: ina®star 2s, 300 g/sm (Cover), Gardapat Kiara, 100 g/sm, Condat Perigord, 135 g/sm (Inside)
Workmanship: Softcover with foil-lamination, thread stitching, full-color
ISBN: 978-3-948440-54-1
Price: € 45.–

BUY

DYAD

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

DYAD is a collaboration between the poet Richard Berengarten and the graphic artist Will Hill. It includes 32 image-poems on 80 pages—each is both a poem and a work of visual art, and that way more than a text or script. Linear reading expands into spatial exploration. Other than a mere series or set of segments of alphabetic writing, each image-poem turns, rather, into a complex artefact. This creates an image-field, among whose patterns meanings and forms interact—and play.

DYAD

Publisher: Knives Forks and Spoons Press
Volume: 80 pages with 32 images
Workmanship: Softcover
Price: £ 12.–

Find out more here.

item Magazin #5

Posted on by item Magazin

item Magazin #5, an independent platform for the transfer of educational impulses, is the student magazine of the Department of Design and Culture at HTW Berlin.

In this fifth edition, the students look at topics like identity, origin, relationship, self-discovery, subculture and change—change being treated as a fluid process. All under the theme of kursiv. “Kursiv” (italic) comes from Latin and means something like flowing, always continuing, but also hurrying. Isn’t that a pretty apt representation of our times? Technological development is advancing faster than ever before. But does that necessarily mean that analog handicraft is dying out? Isn’t it also possible for digital and analog to merge?

They were also concerned with the fact that our lives are often characterized by the unpredictable. When does everything ever go straight? In the end identity is just as fluid as time, or isn’t it …?

Questions like these were tackled in this issue and exciting people, such as Andrej Dúbravský, Angst Yok, Hannah Müller-Hillebrand, Berfin Karakurt, Hala Al Shihabi, P.Vanillaboy, Hubert Jocham, Lucia Lucia, Lisa Ertel + Jannis Zell, Westhafen, and Nikolas Iturralde, shared their thoughts. The students focused on young creatives, offering them a platform to showcase their work and share their perspectives in the form of articles.

In addition, 23 projects by students from the Department of Design and Culture are featured in this years issue and provide an interesting insight into the recent semesters at university.

Thanks to the screen-printed covers and a program especially written for our purposes by the Heenemann printing company, which enabled us to change the paper in each individual magazine, each item #5 is unique.

The magazine was founded by Sally Paschmann. This year it was produced under the direction of Aletta Wetterstrand in collaboration with 12 female students. It is intended to provide insights into the debates, thoughts, impulses and projects that arise during the course of studies. It offers a platform for students to present themselves and their projects and to view their work in a socially relevant context.

item Magazin #5

Publisher: HTW Berlin, Department of Design and Culture
Founding: Sally Paschmann
Supervision: Aletta Wetterstrand
Editing: Emely Tenchio, Leonie Rolser, Malin Hiegle, Malena Tafel, Talile Bekele, Amina Zerourou
Design: Lea Pagels, Imari Moxter, Paula Schneider, Selma Harms, Tereza Menclová, Laura Wolf
Release: October 2023
Format: 21 × 27.5 cm
Volume: 176 pages
Edition: 350 copies
Print Shop: H. Heenemann
Language: German / English
ISSN: 2629-6691
Price: €14.–

BUY: Motto Books, Walther König, Bücherbogen, pro qm, and Rosa Wolf (Berlin) or online via their website

Slanted Summer School Vol. 1—Energy

Posted on by Julia Kahl

Energy is everywhere, acting as the magical spark that powers our world. From the food we eat that fuels our bodies to the cars we drive, it’s all about energy. This same spark lights up our homes and even powers our brightest ideas. When we’re deep in thought or bursting with excitement, it’s energy working its magic inside us. This might be why we often chat about our feelings and emotions, showing how deeply energy touches our lives.

In August 2023, Karlsruhe hosted the inaugural Slanted Summer School, welcoming 12 participants from 9 countries. Guided by Julia Kahl, co-founder of Slanted Publishers, the program aimed to cultivate skills and foster collaboration in editorial design.

The highlight was the creation of an 80-page publication on the theme Energy. Crafted with precision and passion, it serves as proof of newfound skills and a tangible memento of the four-day journey. In just four days, a diverse group of participants from around the globe came together to produce a dynamic and visually striking publication that captures the essence of “Energy” in every page.

“Everyone has a unique understanding of energy shaped by their backgrounds. In the end, energy is the spirit that drives us, making every day an adventure.”—Pauline Seidlich

Summer School Participants: Alexandra Folie, Cinta Janssen, Daniil Vladimirov, Denny Kobiger, Gianluca Chiavassa, Hanna Murajda, Pauline Seidlich, Sarah Tan, Sebastian Hemetsberger, Sofia Rojas Alejandre, Sonja Zimmerli, Tristan Ernst

Schriftenkartei

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

By a stroke of luck, an extraordinary object came into the hands of Michael Wörgötter, Professor of Typography in Augsburg – the Schriftenkartei. It included not just any, but the typefaces of all existing type foundries in West Germany at that time—Bauersche Gießerei, H. Berthold AG, Genzsch & Heyse, Ludwig & Mayer, D. Stempel AG, Johannes Wagner GmbH, and C. E. Weber—a treasure chest of more than 600 specimen cards. It was created between 1958 and 1970, in the very last phase of lead typesetting. A box with A5-sized cards, 638 fonts, set and printed in a largely uniform design.

For Wörgötter it was clear that something like this was worth preserving. In fact, only four copies of the card index can be found in German archives and museums, making it a small treasure. He scanned all the cards at 1200 dpi and produced a publication to go with them. Two volumes, almost 1400 pages, with an explanatory supplement—3.3 kg of type history! The bilingual supplement describes the background and development of the card index and contains extensive indexes. The books are produced in a small edition, waiting to find interested colleagues who would like to work with them.

The Letterform Archive in San Francisco, in particular Stephen Coles, took up Wörgötter’s cause. The physical card index is now housed there and the high-resolution scans are hosted by the archive, making them available for free use. Take a look at the scans here.

Schriftenkartei
By Michael Wörgötter

Schriftenkartei – Typeface Index
Two Volumes plus a supplementary guide
German and English
Volume: Around 1.400 pages
Price: € 170,–

The books are available for purchase directly from Michael Wörgötter.
Read more about it here. 

 

Who’s Afraid Of Stardust?

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

The Kunsthaus and Kunsthalle Nürnberg present the international group exhibition titled “Who’s Afraid of Stardust? Positions of Contemporary Queer Art.” Featuring the works of 30 artists, the exhibition delves into various aspects of queer life, making significant contributions to the ongoing discourse on diversity. The exhibition is offering unique perspectives on societal power structures.

While the primary focus of this comprehensive magazine is on the participating artists, it also serves as a valuable resource for readers exploring the realm of queerness for the first time. Beyond profiles of the artists, the magazine includes a glossary with key terms, interviews with scholars specializing in gender and queer studies, discussions on queer pop and film history, ballroom culture, queer fashion, the history of Prides in Germany, and the evolution of §175. The magazine also includes literary and socio-political contributions from figures such as Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, Daniel Schreiber, and Benno Gammerl. All in all, “Who’s Afraid Of Stardust?” offers a multi-perspective view of queer culture.

Who’s Afraid Of Stardust?

More information on the magazine here.

Where?
KunstKulturQuartier Nürnberg
When?
October 21st, 2023 – February 11th, 2024
More information here. 

Images © VfmK Verlag für moderne Kunst GmbH