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

BK LVRS

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

We had so much fun yesterday in the print shop at Stober Medien! In cooperation with Slanted and Inapa, they invited to a fun and sociable evening with many conversations, books, wine and pizza—freshly baked and so tasty! 🍕Not to forget to mention that the chef entertained us with Italian songs while baking the pizzas.

Inapa presented their new paper fan for publishing and gave personal advice at their stand. Everyone was invited to take a look at the large selection of different papers and get information and personal advice. During a short presentation by Julia Kahl, everyone could listen to the special nature of Slanted’s magazines and publications and the process behind the latest magazine Slanted Magazine #42-Books.

As a present, guests could take away a nicely designed notebook produced by brandbook. 📚

ABC Connect Unites Fonts with Furniture

Posted on by Dinamo

The German type foundry Dinamo and design studio BNAG have connected (🤭🙄) to create a digital dot font and accompanying set of metal brackets, which let users create lettershapes with screws.

Let’s explain: The ABC C-o-n-n-e-c-t-o-r-s are easy-to-use brackets that help DIY builders join bits of wood together for quick, spontaneous furniture making. Inside their dot matrix grids, builders can arrange screws into letter shapes or other patterns. Unlike traditional furniture, which conceals nails, screws, and other binding techniques, these connectors celebrate—rather than disguise—how an object is constructed.

ABC C-o-n-n-e-c-t is Dinamo’s dot font inspired by the metal brackets’ own grid system, available in five screw head styles. It contains monospaced and proportional styles, all with corresponding Italics, making it (probably) the world’s first Italic dot font.

Alongside the font and metal bracket system, Dinamo has also released a zine and web tool. The publication contains instructions for possible furniture designs made using the grid of the font, as well as “blueprints” for creating letterforms with screws. At www.connect.parts, visitors can upload images of their C-o-n-n-e-c-t-o-r creations with the click of a button.

Slanted Open House—Recap

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

We are more than thrilled about our first Open House last Thursday—it was a wonderful evening with great guests, conversations, drinks, books, and laughs!

We are very happy that so many of our readers and friends came to our office in Karlsruhe—even from Czech Republic. It was a pleasure to meet everyone in person, to get to know some of our readers, and to exchange thoughts on books. Over a drink or two, we had inspiring conversations with everyone who came. At our book flea market everyone could browse through many of our books and get their hands on some of the last copies.

Thank you to everyone who showed up and also to all our readers and supporters in general! ❤️

This may have been the first, but certainly not the last Slanted Open House—see you (again) next time!

Dynamic Font Day 2023—Recap

Posted on by Juliane Lipp

After a “creative break” the Dynamic Font Day is back, once again organized by the Typografische Gesellschaft München in the rooms of the Munich School of Design & Fashion in the very city center of Munich. The Dynamic Font Day 2023 was curated by Tim Ahrens, Antje Dohmann, and Oliver Linke. 

After a warm welcome, Phillip Koller from Berlin kicked things off with his presentation on Parametic type. In contrast to variable fonts, parametric or procedural type is not trimmed by a minimum or maximal values, which can lead to interesting effects by overdriving values. Bugs, glitches, and surprises are welcome and sometimes inspire further development.

The next lecture by Kimya Gandhi was about Devanāgarī type. The title Pushing boundaries of Devanāgarī type design already says a lot about the very exciting topic of the lecture. She spoke about how the development of the centuries-old Devanāgarī fonts was hampered by the printing press. The letterforms’ rich history and vibrance that one sees in hand lettering was not able to be translated into digital fonts–until recently. She says that OpenType, Unicode standardization, and the widespread use of the internet in India have opened up new possibilities for the existence of fonts and there is no better time to create new designs than now. 

After a short break, Dutch designers Akiem Helmling and Bas Jacobs from design studio Underware spoke about their concept “Look backward, write forward” that encourages reflection on the past as a source of inspiration and insight for the future. While this approach can be applied to various aspects of life, including personal growth, decision-making, and creative endeavors, it becomes especially fascinating within writing. 

Sabina Sieghart spoke about Design matters: The use of digital media by an easy-to-read audience in her lecture. Thereby the importance of design was set into the context of people with low reading ability due to intellectual disabilities.  She researches with the target group to develop tools to simplify text in digital media.

After a very tasty lunch break, Vincent Wagner gave an overview of his understanding of 3D type, showed design and application examples, and presented accessible ways of experimenting with typography in digital space.

In her talk Reimagining Reality, Tina Touli spoke about her analog experiments, exploring the ordinary from extraordinary angles, reimagining the world that we live in, with her collection of interesting utensils from which she creates exciting campaigns.  

After a short coffee break, the day continued with the presentation Creating accessible typography through visual prosody by Ann Bessemans from Belgium. She and her team from READSEARCH developed a system to visualize the basic emotions still allowing for changes in speech prosody. 

The last lecture Procedural Typography by Daniel Wenzel  was about exploring the influence and transformative power of technology in design, highlighting the synergy between tools, generative design, automation, and AI.

After all the exciting presentations, the day ended with a nice get-together and lively discussions.

Thank you very much for having us, it was a blast!

Images: © Michael Bundscherer

Beyond Tellerrand Berlin—Recap

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

beyond tellerrand is an affordable, single-track event that brings together creativity and technology. Held in Düsseldorf, Berlin, and Munich, each gathering attracts over 500 attendees, fostering a well-known, welcoming atmosphere. The expression “beyond tellerrand” is a mix of the English word “beyond” and the German phrase “Über den Tellerrand schauen,” which means “Think outside the box.”

As usual, the speakers gave very inspiring talks on a diverse range of topics at this year’s event in Berlin. Emily Anhalt, Co-Founder and Chief Clinical Officer of Coa, talked about “The 7 Traits of an Emotionally Fit Leader”, Josh Brewer, founder, investor, advisor, and occasional startup therapist, inspired the audience with the topic “No One Else Can Walk Your Path.” Rob Draper, a renowned British Artist and Desinger, Tammy Everts, Chief Experience Officer at Speed Curve, Charlie Gerard, frontend developer, creative technologist, and book author, presented their stories and talked about pursuing dreams, the psychology of web performance, and exploring alternative, more creative interactions in JavaScript.

The list of motivating and inspiring speakers, the heart of this event, doesn’t end here: Robert Hranitzky, Niels Kiené, Guillaume Kurkdjian, Piccia Neri, Joel Gethin Lewis, Yasaman Sheri, and Shirley Wu were also part of beyond tellerrand in Berlin this year.

As promised, the community spirit and family atmosphere at beyond tellerrand really was special and created an intense and memorable experience for everyone who was part of it. We’re excited for beyond tellerrand 2024 and the new lineup! beyond tellerrand Düsseldorf will take place in Capitol Theater from May 13th to 14 and beyond tellerrand Berlin from November 7th to 8th at Festsaal Kreuzberg.

More info about beyond tellerrand 2024 here.

Every Vote Counts

Posted on by Slanted editors

To mark the 34th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the BERLINER ZEITUNG is launching a campaign to draw attention to its Open Source platform, which anyone interested can use to submit texts. Berlin-based designer Raban Ruddigkeit has created the motifs for the campaign with the help of artificial intelligence. They show some of the peaceful revolutionaries of the last century with shocked facial features: Mahatma Gandhi, Václav Havel, Bärbel Bohley, Martin Luther King, Jitzchak Rabin and Lech Wałęsa.

The campaign kicked off with the cover of the weekend edition of the BERLINER ZEITUNG from November 4th and 5th, 2023, followed by three other front pages in the magazine. Page 3 informed readers about the content of the campaign and the function of OPEN SOURCE. “What has become of the spirit of the peaceful revolution that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, which carried the protests and changes in Eastern Europe before that? How would civil rights and peace activists who were committed to non-violence, debate and dialogue look at today?”

Give Me All Your Money and I’ll Make Some Origami

Posted on by marcelbackscheider

The study of graphic design is currently moving in an area of tension: on the one hand, critically thinking individuals are to be formed there, who on the other hand are to quickly gain a foothold in a market that demands less criticism from them, but affirmation instead. Can these two aspects of training and education be harmonized? Is a freer kind of education possible at design universities that deals differently with the boundaries of individual disciplines and regularities in curricula?

This reader is a utopian representation of a graphic design study whose contents and structures are more oriented towards Origami instead of Money. “Give me all your money and I’ll make some origami”—this line from the song Pedestrian at best by Courtney Barnett forms the title of this work. It opens up a field of tension in which artists and designers move in capitalist economic systems and gives expression to the ambiguous relationship of art and creative workers to (earning) money through various readings. Through ideas of reform pedagogy and a focus on works of art and design history, this reader provides visual and theoretical approaches to formulate a counter-proposal.

The book is divided into four chapters. It starts with an introduction providing historical background, followed by three chapters that explore a poetic, a communal, and a philosophical approach to graphic design.

The book’s format is not rectangular but intentionally distorted. The idea behind this is that, when opened, the book resembles an icon commonly used to symbolize “reading” or “learning”—an open book.

Give me all your money and I’ll make some origami

The reader was created as part of Marcel Backscheider’s master’s thesis in Communication Design at Hochschule Mainz. His work mainly focuses on typography, editorial design, visual concepts, and printed matter.
Further information here.

Some Magazine #17—Look

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

For over one hundred years, we humans of the post-postmodern times have turned ourselves into outstanding visual athletes. We made visuality our superpower. Now we are about to change the rules of the game right in the middle of it. Will all this result in some new weird kind of blindness?

With contributions by Blatant Space, Catelijne van Middelkoop, David Horvitz, Eleonora Marton, Melody “LeMoon” Bossan and Rob Lowe.

This issue of Some Magazine is dedicated to the skill, the craft and the pure joy of looking!

Since 2010, changing editorial teams of young design students research, write, and layout the bi-annual Some Magazine. It is a part of the experimental design course of Prof. Sven Völker at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

Some Magazine #17—Look

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Editors: University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Prof. Sven Völker
Editor in chief & design: Prof. Sven Völker
Publishing Direction: Lars Harmsen, Julia Kahl
Release: November 2023
Format: 17 × 24 cm
Volume: 80 pages
Language: English
Printer: Stober Medien, Germany
Paper: lona®offset 110 g/sm and 250 g/sm, distributed by Inapa
Workmanship: saddle-stitched softcover with hot foil embossing
ISBN: 978-3-948440-67-1
Price: € 12.– (DE)

BUY

Tÿpo St. Gallen—Recap

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

The three-day typography symposium Tÿpo St. Gallen 2023 took place for the 7th time at GBS St. Gallen, focusing on the conference theme What nobody talks about. From November 10th to 12th, 2023, distinguished speakers gave an insight into their day-to-day work and talked about everything we don’t usually talk about. In lectures, we learned about fails and fuck-ups, criticism and shitstorms, doubts, money, and also got the chance to get creative in workshops. 

The Tÿpo St. Gallen program this year offered a diverse lineup with around 20 expert speakers from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, and Korea. With their moderation, Anne Treichel and Clemens Schedler guided us through the conference. Friday kicked off with engaging presentations from the graphic design duo Balmer Hählen from Lausanne, who gave insights into their high-quality produced print products, and Alexandre Dimos, publisher of Editions B42, from France. Ulrike Rausch then shared her insights into the technical reproduction of handwriting in her presentation. This was followed by four very inspiring short lectures by Christine Rudi, Sabrina Öttl, Data-Orbit, and Madeleine Stahel, Maike Hamacher from Büro 146. Finally, the two communication designers Matthias Frey and Tim Siegert from the German agency Q gave an honest insight into the lows of their agency history: devastating feedback and alleged plagiarism—things that agencies don’t like to talk about. The first day ended with the Typobiography book launch and Jost Hochuli’s 90th birthday party.

Saturday opened with Ladina Ingold and Katharina Scheller diving into the field of sustainable design and the influence designers can have on sustainable print production through their decision-making and well-considered choice of materials. Following this insightful session, Tÿpo attendees had the chance to choose from 13 diverse workshops presented through elevator pitches. Covering topics as wide ranging as clay modeling, poster and type design, short coaching, typeknitting … a good opportunity to exchange ideas and get creative with the other participants.

In the afternoon, Jianping He gave insights into his work as a designer and showed, how his Chinese background and culture influence him. This lecture was followed by Korean design journalist Kay Jun and graphic designer and artist Guido de Boer from the Netherlands. Sarah Owens, professor at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, gave an expert look into her research on everyday design, a presentation that was engaging without any visual slides. Lilia Glanzmann, co-director of the Zeughaus Teufen, also impressed with her lecture program. The grand finale was a captivating presentation by Liza Enebeis, partner and creative director at Studio Dumbar/DEPT, who presented a collection of captivating motion design projects from the internationally recognized agency.

On Sunday, the finissage of the most beautiful books from Switzerland, Germany, and Austria concluded the event at the Hauspost library.

Thank you for having us—we had a highly inspiring time at Tÿpo St. Gallen and are already looking forward to the next round in 2025.

Mid-Century Type

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

Mid-Century Type offers a captivating visual exploration into how, during the middle decades of the previous century, typographers emerged as independent and influential contributors to a rapidly evolving technological landscape of communication. In the aftermath of the Second World War, designers gained recognition for their pivotal role in rebuilding economies, infrastructure, and public morale. Despite this acknowledgment, typography remained a largely unacknowledged profession. This perception underwent a profound transformation between 1945 and 1965, a period marked by extraordinary creativity. Eventually, the cultural significance of a typographer’s work could be equated with that of an artist, poet, author, or film director.

Mid-Century Type chronicles the rapid ascent of typographers in the early post-war decades. Each chapter focuses on a specific design activity where typography played a crucial role, ranging from type design and corporate identity to advertising, film, and television. David Jury’s narrative provides fresh insights into the groundbreaking work of various European and American typographers, complemented by over 500 illustrations.

This book gives its readers the perfect overview over the typographic movement during the middle decades of the last century and presents a wide range of innovative work by European and American typographers. A must-read for everyone who is interested in the history of typography!

Mid-Century Type

Publisher: Merrell Publishers
Volume: 240 pages with 500 illustrations
Workmanship: Hardcover
Format: 27.8 × 20.4 cm
Volume: 240 pages
ISBN: 978-1-8589-4707-5

Find out more here.

High Noon #72 Special with Ruben Pater

Posted on by Julia Kahl

High Noon #72 Special with Ruben Pater will take place on November 23rd, 2023, at the Faculty of Design in Darmstadt. At 7 p.m. you are invited to meet up in the auditorium!

Ruben Pater (1977, NL) works between journalism and graphic design. Under the name of Untold Stories he creates visual narratives that support solidarity, justice, and equality. He is a designer at a moment in time, when more design is about the last thing the world needs. In search for ethical alternatives he designs, writes, and teaches (currently at Elisava in Barcelona). ‘The Politics of Design’ (2016) is his first book about cultural bias in graphic design. His second book ‘Caps Lock’ (2021) looks at the role of graphic design in capitalism.
 High Noon are lunchtime & special evening talks since 2008 at the Faculty of Design at Hochschule Darmstadt.

@high_noon_fbg

Internship at Slanted Publishers—apply now!

Posted on by Julia Kahl

Du liebst Typografie und Editorial Design und möchtest in einem internationalen Verlag arbeiten? Dann bist du bei uns genau richtig! Wir vergeben ein 6-monatiges Praktikum im Bereich Redaktion/Grafik ab Ende Februar 2024 und suchen eine(n) engagierte(n) Studierende(n), der/die Lust hat zu erfahren, wie wir arbeiten und für 6 Monate Teil des Slanted-Teams wird.

Wir bieten:

  • Redaktionelle und grafische Mitarbeit am Slanted Magazin, insbesondere Ausgabe #44—Fashion
  • Redaktionelle Mitarbeit am Slanted Blog und den Social Media Channels
  • Einblicke in unsere Verlagstätigkeit (Konzeption, Redaktion, Organisation, Vertrieb, PR etc.)
  • Grafische Mitarbeit an unseren Publikationen
  • Studiofotografie, Bildbearbeitung
  • Verantwortungsvolle, selbstständige Arbeit und unter Anleitung
  • Mögliche Teilnahme an Designkonferenzen im Rahmen unserer Medienpartnerschaften

Das sollte der/die BewerberIn mitbringen:

  • Abgeschlossenes Grundstudium im Bereich Grafikdesign (o. Ä.)
  • Sichere Anwendungskenntnisse in InDesign und Photoshop
  • Großes Interesse an neuen Strömungen in den Bereichen Typografie, Type Design, Design und Kultur
  • Redaktionelles Interesse
  • Selbstständigkeit, Weitblick, Flexibilität, Kreativität und Ideenreichtum
  • Sehr gute Deutsch- und Englischkenntnisse
  • Organisationstalent und Kommunikationsstärke
  • Gewissenhaftes und genaues Arbeiten
  • Das Praktikum erfolgt im Rahmen eines studienbegleitenden Pflichtpraktikums

Das Praktikum bei Slanted Publishers findet vom 26.02.–31.08.2024 in Karlsruhe statt und wird vergütet. Bewerber*innen sollten erklären, warum sie ihr Praktikum bei uns machen möchten. Bitte richtet Eure vollständige Bewerbung als aussagefähiges PDF-Portfolio (Anschreiben, Lebenslauf, Arbeitsproben) ab sofort bis spätestens 03.12.2023 an Julia Kahl, [email protected]. Die Bewerbungsgespräche finden nach Sichtung aller Bewerbungen statt.

Wir freuen uns sehr auf Eure Bewerbung!

Die Schönsten Deutschen Bücher 2023

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

Once again, Die Schönsten Deutschen Bücher 2023 (The Best German Book Design 2023) were creatively captured in a catalog and introduced to the public for the first time at the award ceremony by Stiftung Buchkunst. The team from PARAT.cc in Munich was responsible for the concept of the new publication this time.

Each year, the competition for the The Best German Book Design 2023 brings together the most talented designers and the most refined production ideas. This year’s catalog aims to take a step back and be quite simple in the process. Simple and practical—much like a phone book, when it still had significance. All information about an award-winning work is presented together, with each book receiving as much space as possible, being shown from several angles. A thumb index provides an overview and optimal usability.

The catalog also poses the following question: How do we standardize beauty? Quite provocatively on the cover; gold stamped on pink. And then somewhat challenging on the inside with maximum simplicity: printed on grayish work paper, set in an oversized, plain Arial font, along with very straightforward scans and a pragmatic index.

The catalog is a great source of inspiration and a must-have for all book lovers out there! It invites everyone to browse and discover this year’s most beautiful German books!

Die Schönsten Deutschen Bücher 2023

Concept and Design: PARAT.cc, München
Scans: Duarte Pinto / PARAT.cc
Editorial Team: Carolin Blöink, Natalia Klaus, Franziska Herbert, Franziska Holly Geiß / Stiftung Buchkunst, Frankfurt am Main
Texts Jury Statements: Elmar Lixenfeld, Text Gestaltung Publikation, Frankfurt am Main
Translation: Iain Reynolds, Translation & Copy Editing, Lancaster
Fonts: Arial (Monotype)
Printing / Binding / Lithography: DZA Druckerei zu Altenburg
Paper: Holmen TRND 2.0, 80 g/m², supplied by IGEPA group:
Cover: Cryluxe gazelle rosa, by peyer graphic
ISBN: 978-3-9822108-2-7
Price: € 20.–

Find more information here.

Lametta 2023

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

For twelve years now, every second weekend of Advent, you can buy handmade one-of-a-kind items in the areas of fashion, jewelry, design, art, photography, and much more at Lametta—a Christmas market in Karlsruhe. Surrounded by artistic acts, live performances, small concerts, a diverse culinary offering, children’s activities, and many surprises, over 70 exhibitors from all over Germany will showcase art and design. They mostly present their products themselves, and these products are anything but industrially manufactured, boring mass-produced goods.

The first Lametta took place in the smaller adjacent Fleischmarkthalle in 2010 and had already moved to the Tollhaus after two years. This shows how well the concept is received. By now, it’s no longer a secret that you can find the most alternative, creative, and unique Christmas gifts at Lametta.

It’s definitely worth a visit!

Lametta 2023

Where?
Tollhaus Karlsruhe

When?
December 8th, 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.
December 9th, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Admission: €5.– (valid for both days), free for children under 16

Latent Figures

Posted on by Nina Vollmer

Three years after Shape Grammars (2020), Jannis Maroscheck returns with an updated look on machine-generated graphics and the core motif of mass produced ideas: Latent Figures. Looking for forms of expression hidden between ancient runes and y2k logos, medieval monograms and clip art illustrations, hieroglyphs and stock icons, Maroscheck developed AI-based systems to merge the shared visual vocabulary designed by humans across eras, continents, and cultures. The underlying process simulates human inspiration, but it is an analytical, objective process. The systems consider form as pure form. They draw no reference to real-world things. In doing so, they have a stubborn intensity to them, that seems less like human creativity and more like a strange, unstoppable force of nature.

The resulting catalog is a dive into the inner workings of an AI that has seen nothing but graphic shapes and symbols. With this sort-of-dictionary, Maroscheck creates a visual language that blends pragmatic graphic design aesthetics with elusive imagery. A collection of shapes that often approximate something we know or can understand, but their meaning doesn’t quite want to resolve, they revolve around themselves, somewhere between meaning and nonsense. Offering a space to project ones own imagination and come across new ideas. 

“When I think about it, something like a graphic form, black and white, defined only by its outline, feels quite limited in what it can express, what it can communicate. Then I look at it, like a blob of ink, continuously reshaping itself, in flux, automatic, and open in all directions.” — Jannis Maroscheck

Latent Figures

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Author & Design: Jannis Maroscheck
Publishing Direction: Lars Harmsen, Julia Kahl
Release: November 2023
Format: 21 × 26.5 cm
Volume: 224 pages
Language: English
Printer: Stober Medien, Germany
Workmanship: Softcover with flaps, thread-stitching, offset printing with silver spot color
ISBN: 978-3-948440-66-4
Price: € 34.–

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