Berger & Föhr’s 2020 communications collateral was letterpress printed on a combination of 350 GSM and 135 GSM Colorplan papers in 10 distinct colors by the team at Genghis Kern. The system includes business cards, letterhead, bookmarks, note cards in vertical and horizontal orientations, and both No. 10 and A2-sized envelopes. The intent is to yield monochrome collateral packages and dynamic color arrays for everyday communications and more infrequent, unique sorts of correspondence. All type is set in the studio’s default face, Neue Haas Grotesk 55 Roman.

The B2 Center for Media, Art & Performance embraces convivial and interdisciplinary experimentation that co-mingles art, technology, media, science, performance, radical creativity, and [insert your practice here]. In the Black Box Experimental Studio and four studio labs on the B2 level of the Roser ATLAS building, the B2 community researches and practices intellectual/creative risk-taking, form-bending, art-making, community building, and social engagement. B2 encourages collaborations, methodologies, and productions that traverse borders and disciplines and build/unbuild the unimagined/re-imagined.

The B2 identity system builds on our previously designed ATLAS identity system, employing Neue Haas Grotesk 95 Black and 55 Roman. The system’s rectangular, container-based organization takes conceptual advantage of B2’s subterranean (2nd-floor basement) home.

Pollen is a voter education and engagement platform driven by voter values rather than existing political affiliation. I was launched by Miguel Cabrera and Audrea Soong. The Pollen experience aims to ensure that voters are informed and understand how the issues they care about translate into candidate selection and ballot measures.

The Pollen identity system, mobile app, supporting collateral, and social communication system capture the current zeitgeist. The opportunity was to create a voter education brand experience that would resonate with voters of all ages while specifically targetting younger, less-informed voters attempting to navigate today’s dynamic political climate.

Pollen’s typographic narrative is empowered by Druk Wide an Druk from the Druk Collection by Commercial Type and PolySans from Gradient.

The Pollen identity system was designed in close collaboration with Ryan Carl. The motion work was done by Duncan Brazzil.

Motion by Duncan Brazzil

At Berger & Föhr, we see our work as a critical exploration of identity at the intersection of conceptual and commercial art. Principally informed by our backgrounds in Swiss, modernist graphic design theory, we employ a research-driven methodology steeped in meaning-making, and materiality yielding what we often consider meta-recursive minimalist works. Our practice aims to critique, recontextualize, and subvert the familiar to question its very nature while presenting new, varying perspectives. Work includes paintings, prints, sculptures, brands, visual identity systems, zines, books, environmental graphics, murals, internet experiences, and digital and physical products.

In this manner, ZHĒKLĀ is a meta-recursive commentary on the state of the giclée as both a highly valued contemporary, artistic medium, and what could be considered low-grade, digitally reproduced junk. The work hinges on a dynamic, abstract expressionistic painting atop a store-bought giclée by a well-known, famous artist. The conceptual background painting follows the flow of the artwork printed beneath, but only loosely with hand-set, painted type in Druk Condensed Super declaring the phonetic spelling of this often misunderstood, misconstrued, and mispronounced medium.

From Berger & Föhr:

Andy Millner is an artist who lives and works in St. Louis, Missouri. He creates works inspired by nature and asks questions akin to the following, “What is our role in the natural world? What is our role in our human-made world? How does the world change when more and more continues to get made?” Andy’s process of “dumbing down” the computer to create digital drawings that are then output in different ways, often as photographs printed directly from a digital file or archival inkjet prints, occasionally with paint later applied, is entirely his own.

We collaborated with Andy to create an appropriately minimal distinctive new identity system to further define his studio art practice. Typographically, the system centers around Gerstner-Programm, initially designed by Karl Gerstner in 1964, and recently recreated and digitalized by Forgotten Shapes as Gerstner-Programm FSL. The intent behind the use of Gerstner-Programm is to deliver the sort of refined nuance necessary to support Andy’s creative output while doing so in an ever so subtle way. We created a similarly unique, highly tactile letterpress, print collateral communication system for Andy to correspond.

The focal point of Andy’s new identity system is his website. Andy’s web experience empowers the viewer to experience all of the detail and nuance inherent to his work while simultaneously providing an opportunity for in-depth, philosophical exploration via text, image, and video.

Jamie Kripke is a photographer from Toledo, Ohio. He also exhibits and sells limited edition fine art prints. Designed circa 2005, Jamie’s wordmark takes advantage of lowercase Linotype Bodoni Bold Italic. The dots on the j and i’s are notably absent to create a nuanced and linear, fluid feeling – evocative of Jamie’s presence. When paired with Helvetica in supporting usages, this typographic combination captures a classically-modern and timeless sense of refinement that Jamie exudes and imbues throughout his work.

When asked, “What do you shoot?” which happens rather often, Jamie responds accordingly, “I get this question a lot. And to be honest, I wish I didn’t. It would be so much easier if I could just say ‘people’ or ‘landscapes’ or ‘sports,’ but the fact is, answering that question takes me some time. Because I’ve never wanted to shoot just one thing — much like I’ve never wanted to eat, write, paint, read or think only one thing.” So instead of “what do you shoot?” Jamie wishes people would ask, “why do you shoot?” He’d say, “I shoot because finding beauty in the everyday makes me happy.

From Berger & Föhr:

Stephen Foehr is the author of a series of non-fiction books that use music to explore the culture and history of a place and its people, including seminal works on Jamaica, Cuba, and Nashville. He is also a novelist.

Stealing Fortune’s Brick falls into the latter category. Set in modern-day London and rooted in post-colonial British/Chinese history, Stealing Fortune’s Brick traces a brick of tea worth six million dollars on a journey of identity and personal discovery. It’s a tangled web of deception and betrayal – reward and punishment – love and murder, and ultimately self-realization.

For Stephen’s latest book cover we utilized the GT America family for its unique blend of American Gothic and European Grotesque characteristics. The typography on the cover and spine use GT America Condensed Black, while the back cover copy uses GT America Regular.

ATLAS is an interdisciplinary institute at the University of Colorado for radical creativity and invention. ATLAS inspires research, experimentation, and critical thinking that turns ingenious ideas into reality. The institute’s labs and academic programs encourage out-of-the-box thinking and creative exploration, attracting technology visionaries and virtuosos who reach beyond convention, take risks and innovate.

For the institute, we designed a flexible and dynamic identity and collateral system reflecting the creativity and agility of an organization where interdisciplinary, creative thinking, and doing thrives.

The framework for ATLAS’s identity system is an irregular triangle, from which a family of 36 bespoke A’s arose, and Neue Haas Grotesk Black.

Labs within the Institute are represented by one of the 36 bespoke A’s in either a solid graduated color with supporting lab-related type in Suisse Int’l Mono.

Labs within the Institute are represented by one of the 36 bespoke A’s in either a solid graduated color with supporting lab-related type in Suisse Int’ l Mono.

To make the ~650ish ATLAS wordmarks accessible to students, staff, and faculty across the entire organization, ATLAS PhD student Clement Zheng designed a generator that can create custom and/or random vector wordmarks.

From the back cover text:

This book by Samuel Avital is a caravan of visions, dreams, words, poems, events, reflections, exercises, memories, lamentations, consolations, and observations. It takes us on the artistic and mystical life journey: From here to there, from the binding ego to the true free self, from the infinite to the finite, from inspiration to action – From Ecstasy to Lunch, and back again.

For Samuel’s latest cover we leaned on a combination of the recently released Sometimes Times from BoulevardLAB™ and Neue Haas Grotesk. It’s like pairing Times & Helvetica on crack. Sometimes Times and Neue Haas Grotesk bridge contemporary aesthetics with tireless, timeless form. Perfect for the journey Samuel provides.

Rapha Aspects is a community event that features talks and performances hosted by Rapha Clubhouses around the world. Brought together by the bike, Aspects aims to delve deeper into the culture and local community.

The Boulder Clubhouse is excited to extend an open invitation to the first ever Rapha Aspects – a night of performances and presentations. The bike is what brought us together, but this night aims to transcend cycling as we delve deeper into the culture of our vibrant community.

A literal interpretation of the word ‘Aspect’, the flyer’s backside is the front reversed. The large outlined text is BL Arctic by BoulevardLAB. Event details and speaker information is set Suisse Int’l and Suisse Works from Swiss Typefaces..

55'×7' Flyer with alternate colors inspired by the fluorescent color palette of cyclists.

11'×17' Poster

Ello is The Creators Network, a publishing and collaboration platform connecting and supporting a global community of artists. Founded in 2013 by a collection of artists & designers, Ello re-imagines the future of creative work by providing a contemporary forum and virtual workplace for artists, brands, agencies, publishers, and their fans. From business model to website to apps to print publications and community experiences, Ello empowers and rewards contemporary creators with visibility, influence, and professional opportunity, encouraging a generation of talent via a platform for creative opportunity.

The Ello identity system uses a variety of weights from the Atlas Grotesk collection, designed by Atelier Carvalho Bernau and available from Commercial Type. The wordmark uses a custom Extra Black version of Atlas Grotesk, introduced in 2017. Prior to 2017, Ello employed a rare “symbol-only” approach to visual identity.

Onda Wellness exists to heal people, empower farmers, and support the regeneration of the earth. The team at Onda believes in the power of hemp. They want you to feel good and keep the flow. Their holistic approach to delivering ancient plant medicine helps people achieve a new level of health through whole-plant hemp oils. The Onda brand identity and packaging system embodies the restorative energy of the sun and marries it with the flow-centric vibes of farm-focused, full-spectrum hemp-based medicines.

The Onda wordmark is set in Pangram Pangram’s Woodland Bold. The regular weight of Woodland is used on the packaging with support from Neue Montreal, another Panagram Pangram typeface used for body copy and small text-based details when more readable, less stylized type is required.

From Berger & Föhr:

Response® brings together form, function, and flavor in a great tasting, lightly carbonated energy drink without the lousy aftertaste associated with most drinks in the category. Specially formulated with a proprietary blend of caffeine, B complex vitamins, and Taurine, Response® delivers a concentrated boost of focused energy without giving you the jitters.

The energy drink brand identity and packaging system are centered around the restrained use of Neue Haas Grotesk and a limited color palette to exemplify the brand’s commitment to form and function. With regards to flavor, Response® speaks for itself.

Hampton Architecture views design as the first signal of human intention. From this vantage point, they create passive and active architectural solutions, employing both sustainable materials and construction methods. Hampton provides an integrated approach to architecture, linking the natural ecology of a site and local resources to the final built solution.

The Hampton Architecture brand identity draws inspiration from the systems-based, original thinking of Buckminster Fuller and his Dymaxion platform. Simple geometric symbology and the ultimate sans-serif, Neue Haas Unica, provide the foundation. When combined, these elements communicate Hampton Architecture’s approach and output in a distinct — memorable way.

Crossing Borders is a group exhibition featuring new works by the national roster of artists represented by A R T Squared. This collective body of work aims to serve as a stimulus for original thought and heightened unity during these challenging times.

The Crossing Borders identity utilizes Neue Haas Unica to represent a diverse group of contemporary artists whose works and ideas intersect and overlap, bound by a shared commitment to individual artistic expression. The Toaster Project is an art auction/fundraiser held in tandem with Crossing Borders for the benefit of Boulder nonprofit, There With Care. Ten local, national, and international artists have transformed red toasters into sculptural art objects. All of the donated works will be up for auction the night of the event. 100% of the auction proceeds will support There with Care.

The Toaster Project identity borrows from Crossing Borders in its use of Neue Haas Unica as the two shows share the same gallery. The Identity wanders and differs in its reliance on SangBleu Kingdom to both soften and highlight the underlying theme of the exhibition. Auction paddle numerals are set in Neue Haas Grotesk.

Artists included:
Carole Barnes, Berger & Föhr, Steve Cieslawski, David Ivan Clark, Amy Clay, Pasquale Cuppari, Kelly Degnan, Gail Folwell, Scott Fraser, Gina Freschet, Mieko Hara, Steven Hook, Roland Hower, Susan Knickle, Lisa Kowalski, Marina Nash, Josh Pass, Jim Pittman, Bill Snider, Robert Striffolino, Lori Swartz, Anna Ura, Nancy Utterback, Ann Vandervelde, Jerry Wingren

From Berger & Föhr:

Alleans Renewables is a global leader in the creation of renewable energy. They’re currently originating, developing, and financing, 10 GW of renewable energy infrastructure over the next five years (2020 - 2025) across primary investment-grade energy markets. With a pipeline of 6 GW already secured and over 500 MW under construction at any given time, they’re well on their way.

As Alleans business grew and evolved, they found themselves needing an identity that could communicate and support the scale and diversification within their business, while living up to their standards of brand excellence. With this in mind, we designed Alleans, a new visual identity system, and brand platform. The new work relies on a modern, minimal, and powerful symbol, timeless, contemporary typography, and a refined color palette. Holistically, these assets work to identify the business, communicate its aspirations, and help convey Alleans values across all of their brand touchpoints.

The Alleans wordmark is in Neue Haas Grotesk (NHG) Bold and utilizes the alternate R. Similarly, all of Alleans supporting brand collateral employs NHG, most often in a combination of regular and bold weights. NHG was selected for this project because of its timeless, ever-contemporary nuance, particularly its sturdy, horizontal terminals, stylistic alternates, case sensitive numerals, and extended character set. NHG is a near-perfect typographic embodiment of the Alleans Renewables brand.

The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA) is a catalyst for creative experiences through the exploration of the significant art of our time. Founded in 1972 by a group of local artists, the museum is one of Colorado’s premier venues for the exploration of contemporary art. BMoCA provides enriching experiences for over 114,000 regional, national, and international visitors annually through innovative exhibitions and engaging programs for all audiences.

BMoCA’s brand identity and extensive print collateral and publications system put art and artist first while uniquely identifying the museum and extending its vision to the greater Colorado community. Designed in 2012, The BMoCA wordmark relies on Albert-Jan Pool’s FF DIN Bold as do most headers, subheaders, and a subset of the museum’s interior signage and wayfinding. All supporting typography for both print and web gets set in a combination of Kai Bernau’s Atlas Typewriter Regular and Bold, released by Commercial Type a few months before the BMoCA design.

The balance and inherent contrast between FF DIN and Atlas Typewriter provide BMoCA a forward-looking and feeling typographic platform supporting the sort of introspection, projection, and provocation requisite of a contemporary arts venue.

From Berger & Föhr:

Founded in 2011 by award-winning chef Hosea Rosenberg, Blackbelly is a boutique, farm-to-table catering company. In 2014, they opened a brick and mortar restaurant called Blackbelly Market. In 2016, they added a butcher shop and grew the market next door to the restaurant. Blackbelly is the only whole-animal butcher shop in Boulder, Colorado, and the only licensed company to cure and ferment sausages, salami, and salumi in Boulder County.

We worked in close collaboration with the Blackbelly team to adapt their core tenet, “Exceptional foods must come from exceptional sources.” into an extensible identity system. We helped advance their vision for a catering company, restaurant, butcher, and market that makes food that always starts with seasonal, local, Colorado-grown ingredients, and pasture-raised, sustainable animals into an esteemed Colorado brand. Blackbelly lives its commitment to crafting the highest quality farm-to-table food possible, and its reputation speaks volumes.

The Blackbelly identity system is simple, straightforward, and modern - all at once, much like the thinking behind Blackbelly’s food. The system relies on Paul Renner’s Futura in bold and regular weights atop or beside an abstracted, mono-weight, icon-like illustration of an American Blackbelly sheep.

Tres Birds is a full-service planning, architecture, and general contracting firm based in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 2000, Tres Birds creates dynamic designs for a better world―building sustainable communities while respecting nature, and sparking innovation. The Tres Birds team works across the disciplines of architecture, art, engineering, and science to create transformative projects that get to the core of what matters―beauty, timelessness, and consideration for biodiversity.

Pantone 802 (fluorescent green) and Handel Gothic; a typeface rich in historical typographic significance and personal significance to Tres Birds form the foundation of the office’s brand identity and collateral system. A focus on simplicity and a nod to natural systems communicate the firm’s values while empowering their work and ideas to stand on their own. GT America Mono works across all collateral in support of the Tres Birds wordmark. On the web, supporting typography switches over to Cousine.

Work begets work. Or, so it goes for artists Joseph Shaeffer and Berger & Föhr. Having shared studio space in the past and collaborated on projects for nearly two decades, WORK WORK at Boulder, Colorado’s Dairy Arts Center, marks the first dual survey of work by Shaeffer and Berger & Föhr. For the show, Shaeffer, a physics lab technician, and Berger & Föhr, graphic designers presented both new and old works explicitly informed by their tradecraft.

The concept behind the typographic identity system is rooted in a shared character, or o emphasizing the extent to which the artists more traditional work or trade informs their more non-traditional “work,” or art.

The identity system utilizes the Monument Extended Family by Pangram Pangram Foundry. Titles are set in Monument Extended Bold and captions in Ultralight. The bespoke wordmark is an outlined and customized version of Monument Extended Bold, featuring mitered corners on the W and K glyphs.