Hasta La Ideas

From inventive experimental sans to angular graphic serifs, Gareth Hague, type designer and co-founder of design studio and type foundry Alias, reveals the font choices du jour…

The July issue of CR is a trends special, where we identify and analyse the latest creative trends in in type, photography, illustration, commercials, music, tech, webdesign, colour and logo design. For more info on subscribing click here for print, or check out CR on the iPad here.

Angular, graphic serifs

Typefaces such as Stanley (Ludovic Balland for Optimo, specimen sheet above, top; see also his typeface for Theatre Basel, above), GT Sectra (Grilli Type Foundry) and Portrait (Commercial Type, for Wallpaper* magazine, below) are functional serif typefaces with a strongly contemporary aesthetic. They have simple triangular or slabby serifs, and an angular and chiselled shape. An overall constructed rather than drawn form, and use of straight lines instead of subtle modulation, gives a strikingly bold, graphic and incised look in text and headline.

Noe (Schick Toikka) is softer and more curvaceous, but its bold triangular serifs, and sharp contrast and modern proportions of large x-height and open counters give it a striking sense of newness. These typefaces have historical reference points, for example Stanley is named after Stanley Morison, designer of Times New Roman. However, these designs haven’t been bogged down in the typographic navel-gazing of attachment to historical references at the expense of contemporary relevance.

Graphic scripts

If you are a wannabe type designer and are wondering what sells, the answer is in one word – scripts. Though defined by penmanship and with forms derived from writing with a pen or brush, there are many new and surprising designs. These mix hard and soft shapes and skills of calligraphy and drawing. This moves them away from the traditional and familiar styles of calligraphic lettering design.

Donki (below), by Gunnar Link is a heavyweight design that mixes brush and sharp-edged forms. Saline (Mika Melvas) is an angular and almost bitmappy connected script, as if low resolution or if its Bézier curves have been retracted. Like Saline, Haltrix (Blackletra, above) is constructed as if from straight lines, clearly drawn on a computer rather than written or painted, but still crafted and beautifully made.

Industrial sans

These are the bold, utility-style typefaces seen in European art books or fashion / art magazines in sparse, bold layouts. This has now achieved a kind of crossover status in the recent and high-profile rebrands of fashion label Acne and paper merchant GF Smith. Programme (Optimo) mixes pared-down, sparsely geometric, angular forms with more functional letter shapes.

There is also a rotated version as an alternative to a standard italic. Typefaces such as Replica (Lineto), Akkurat and Circular by Laurenz Brunner and Aperçu (Colophon Foundry, above) combine references from mid-century modernist typefaces, 19th-century Grotesques, mixed with the modular geometry of the computer. Despite the myriad imitators and wannabes, at its best, most notably in Circular, it is a typestyle that takes these start points, shakes them up and makes something relevant – just different enough, new, and also super useable.

Experimental sans

The so-called experimental-sans typefaces take as starting points geometric sans serif typefaces, usually caps only, and add to or abstract them to make semi-readable into rune-like designs. Seen on tumblr and aggregate-content sites such as ffffound, experimental sans fonts are seen on self-initiated posters for parties, art colleges or art projects, fanzines or art magazines.

Though there are a great many very similar looking, uncrafted and somewhat derided designs, the work of Karl Nawrot & Walter Warton of creative partnership Voidwreck (characters shown in lead image and above), stands out. Their typography is part of a portfolio of intelligent, inventive work including illustration and 3D pieces, all much copied. Also elevating this typographic style is Benoît Bodhuin. He has developed cleverly thought out type families mixing interchangeable styles from wavy to angular, and used them on strikingly individual graphic design projects (promotional poster for Mineral below).

Helvetica alternates

This isn’t new of course, there have been regular attempts to oust Helvetica as the go-to functional sans serif typeface. However, these aren’t me-too designs that look to bandwagon-jump onto the seemingly insatiable appetite of graphic designers for functional sans serif typefaces. They look back to original forms, or look to explore what makes these designs so timeless and usable. The recent release of Neue Haas Grotesk (for Font Bureau by Christian Schwartz) takes the original drawings of the typeface that became Helvetica to make a faithful and expertly crafted version of the original 1957 version.

Hate the fact that Helvetica’s numerals are lower than the cap height? Use NHG. Neutral (Kai Bernau of Carvalho Bernau for Typotheque, for Works that Work magazine shown) is derived from an average of sans serif typefaces, so smoothing out their features to produce a design with ‘an absence of stylistic associations’. The mooted re-release of the oddly so far un-digitised classic Haas Unica will give designers another authentically mid-century option.

Gareth Hague is a type designer and co-founder of design studio and type foundry Alias, alias.dj

What type trends have you been noticing recently? Why and how do you think these trends have emerged? We’d love to hear what you think, so leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Full details of CR’s July trends issue here for print and here for iPad.

To subscribe in print click here, or for iPad visit the app store.

The identity and campaign for this year’s D&AD New Blood scheme was designed by The Office of Craig Oldham. Infographic-themed visuals include a wheel of muses, large-scale flow charts and supersized celebratory banners…

This year is the first that D&AD has grouped its annual Graduate Academy, Student Awards and New Blood Exhibition under one New Blood programme. The identity was applied to newsletters, banner ads and posters as well as the New Blood website, with various flow charts and diagrams explaining what the programme is and why creatives should enter.

The New Blood exhibition at London’s Spitalfields Market last week featured large-scale wall graphics, acrostics and wayfinding and at the New Blood Awards ceremony, categories and awards were introduced with a series of idents featuring theme tunes from popular game shows:

As creative director Craig Oldham explains, the branding was designed to clarify New Blood’s new structure, the introduction of white and black pencils for students, and the opening up of the scheme to recent graduates and under 25s in the industry – as well as explain the various opportunities New Blood offers to young creatives.

“There was a hell of a lot to clarify. It was obvious we needed a really simple and versatile aesthetic, something to facilitate rather than just one lead idea permutated out. Otherwise, it was in danger of communicating everything and nothing at the same time,” he says.

“Once we’d got the main content plotted out, we realised just how massive the whole thing was, which was when we started to get excited about it – I think at the back of our minds we wanted to create the world’s biggest flow-chart. The whole point of a flow diagram is that you can use it to illustrate anything. You can diverge, and branch off. There are no limits to what you can do with it, which is as much of a curse as it is blessing,” he adds.

The campaign also featured some amusing copywriting by co-creative director John Goddard, with irreverent jokes and an informal tone throughout. Oldham says this was key to making the programme feel fun, accessible and engaging.

“We had to reconnect with students, graduates, and young creatives again, as we felt that everything was becoming a bit too slick, corporate and, well, professional,” says Oldham. “In creating a relaxed, honest and empathic tone of voice we wanted to encourage rather than alienate—make it about enjoying the process of having a go, rather than winning being the all or nothing,” he explains.

Visuals use D&AD’s black, white and yellow colour palette, with boxes used to break up information “and leave pretty much no other alternative other than to read what we were saying,” says Oldham. Unusual additions at the New Blood exhibition included the ‘official D&AD New Blood Massive Exhibition Entrance Sign’ and a ‘Wheel of Muses’, with suggestions for creative inspiration such as ‘Phone a friend’ and ‘Just Google it.’

“Before we’d even installed it, passers-by were hurdling barriers and security guards to give it a spin. They broke it before the opening. Twice. Then on the private view, D&AD apparently received interest from a few agencies who wanted to buy it, and it was broken furthermore,” says Oldham.

“At the awards ceremony, we had six or so banners and flags with celebratory words like Whooo! and Yowser! on them…for reasons best known to themselves, people were trying to steal them or offering to buy them,” he adds.

Several students created their own takes on the theme, too, with one designing their own ‘Unofficial non-D&AD New Blood Little Exhition Sign’.

It’s a clever and versatile concept, with an impressive range of executions and a refreshingly light-hearted approach. Despite creating a flow chart-themed identity, however, Oldham isn’t much of a fan of data visualisation, and says the New Blood campaign also aims to poke a little fun at the subject.

“The rise of infographics…is as much to do with PowerPoint presentations, rolling-news and chartered accountancy: that corporate instinct to quantify, deconstruct and ultimately own things. For us, it was fun to subvert that, and put it into a world where it didn’t belong. Many people are obsessed with trying to classify and explain creativity – but you can’t,” he adds.

Fresh Faced + Wild Eyed, the Photographers’ Gallery annual exhibition for recent graduates, has picked work from 22 finalists from an open submissions process for their new exhibition, including contorted nudes, protesters in patterns, and a short film about the memories and daily rituals of a solitary South Londoner called George …

As a platform supporting emerging talent, the show aims to celebrate both the quality and the breadth of graduate practices from photographic and related visual arts courses. Following the exhibition six of the finalists are also offered the opportunity to participate in a year-long mentoring programme.

The finalists for the seventh year of the competition, who have all graduated from a BA or MA in visual arts courses across the UK, with photography and/or digital media as their primary medium, are – James Duncan Clark, Liam Magee, Tanya Clarke, Henna Mattila, Iringó Demeter, Elina Moriya, Philipp Dorl, Katarina Mudronova, Tracey Fahy, Alice Myers, Bruno Freitas de Oliveira, Emily Price, Julio Galeote, Chloe Rosser, Victoria Jenkins, Ian Rudgewick-Brown, Lewis Khan, Marcello Simeone, Geiste Marija Kincinaityte, Nikolas Ventourakis, Lidija Kononenko, and Johanna Ward.

They were judged by a panel of photography experts, including Brett Rogers, director of the Photographers’ Gallery; David Drake, director of Ffotogallery; Sheyi Bankale, editor and founder of Next Level; and visual artist and photographer Sophy Rickett.

Here’s some of our highlights from the show…

Chloe Rosser (lead image)
(BA Photography, Falmouth University)

Rosser’s series Form depicts contorted nude figures, where the familiar shape of the body becomes an almost inhuman sculptural form.

“The work is an unsettling exploration into the human condition,” says Rosser, “demonstrating an alienation from our own bodies.”

chloerosser.co.uk

Philipp Dorl
(MA Fine Art Photography, RCA)

Primarily working in black and white, Dorl’s work investigates surfaces (including that of the photograph) and illusion, with many of his naturalistic and often humorous compositions becoming abstract image that play with the symbolic nature of photography.

philippdorl.de

Ingingo Demeter
(BA Fashion Photography, London College of Fashion)

Demeter’s Violet, Violent series of black and white images depicting two identical twins, explores their delicate, but strong relationship, through various means of bonding and joining the pair together.

“I wish to accentuate a strong sense of togetherness,” says Demeter, “but one which is slightly disturbing and holds mixed feelings within it.”

iringodemeter.com

Emily Price
(BA Fine Art, Nottingham Trent University)

With Saturation, Price has taken images of protestors from the internet and created decorative visual patterns though digital manipulation, layering and collage, in order to question the desensitising nature of mass media, particularly in relation to documenting war, protest and natural disasters.

untitled-ep.co.uk

Joanna Ward
(MA Photographic Studies, University of Westminster)

Photographed in Scotland and England, through all seasons, I Shall Say Goodbye with My Strengthening Love for You, Forever and Ever, explores the possibility of narratives within landscapes. The images – a mix of still life, landscape and vernacular photography – sit alongside a few words, and are presented as a concertina photobook, reflecting the nature of memories to confuse time, as Ward suggests:

“The story unfolds to reflect on love, land, morality and control, in a place where time is not linear and the past, present and future find themselves sharing uncommon ground; the beginning is not the beginning and the end is not the end, and like the filing away of our memories, order is in disarray.”

johannaward.co.uk

Victoria Jenkins
(MA Photography, RCA)

Restaging and applying various diagrams, models and metaphors in her photography, Jenkin’s series As If It Were, explores methods of scientific research and the visual representation of abstract phenomena.

victoria-jenkins.co.uk

Alice Myers
(MA Photography, London College of Communication)

Myers’ Nothing is Impossible Under the Sun, is a book combining drawings, photographs and writing, creating a fragmented narrative around migration, namely the asylum seekers who try to cross the English Channel between France and the UK.

Calais is the main focus of her project, where photography is often used oppress, expose or typecast people as victims or criminals, but after frequent visits to the area, she used the medium, along with other forms of documentation, to produce a complex representation of people considered to be legally invisible.

alicemyers.net

Lewis Khan
(BA Photography, University of the West of England)

Khan’s 11-minute film Georgetown captures the life of a solitary South London resident named George. It was informed by six years of imptomptu meetings in the street where they were neighbours, and documents the daily rituals and memories of his former friends and experiences of institutionalisation.

lewiskhan.co.uk

FreshFaced+WildEyed is at the Photographers’ Gallery in London, until 20 July

www.thephotographersgallery.org.uk

www.ffwe2014.thephotographersgallery.org.uk

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