As part of the commemoration of the 50 years of the Carnation Revolution, Arquitectas da Liberdade (“Freedom Architects”) has set itself as an in-depth research of the community-driven processes led by women (architects, social workers, community leaders, etc.) to respond to the housing needs post-25th April until today.

In an effort to challenge women’s invisibility in the construction and housing processes that have been put in place after 1974, we invited illustrator Mafalda Salgueiro to visually recreate iconic moments of these processes.

The visual identity plays with the stereotypically gendered colour pink and contrasts it with the colour of the Portuguese revolution: red. Typography played a textual counterpart to the illustrations, with a variable type with expressive bolds over an underlying typography mostly associated with old archives, marking the moments of information and active voice which is present throughout the printed panels.

As its name suggests, Folder Records merges the flair of analog archives with the groove of music in a time of digital manifestation. The visual identity, developed in collaboration with Pira, mirrors that contrast. The colour palette references an “office core” atmosphere with pastel tones and bold RGB accents.

The logo, set in PF Mellon with its playful positioning of the “DE”, was inspired by the tactile motion of flipping through records, while the monospace Director alludes to a bygone era when typewriters clattered away in the background.

Equally important alongside the bold, condensed PF Mellon was the use of publicly accessible digital imagery from libraries, museums, and other archives.

Cover image: Vitória Cribb – BUGs (2023) video still. Courtesy of the artist.

Contemporânea's issue #10 is a 256-pages-long art magazine, centred around the subject of "more-than-human — perspectives on technology and futurity".

With 26 visual and written essays, the use of diverse typographies was essential to create a different feel for each essay, without compromising its overall structure. The two main typefaces — Neue Haas Grotesk and Freight Text — are used to differentiate the two languages (Portuguese and English) and are the backbone which then sustains the use of a multitude of fonts. In addition to those shown and listed here, these include Liquido, Slack, and Messina Sans Mono.

Issue #10 of Contemporânea features works from the artists Alexandre Estrela; Alice dos Reis; Alison Nguyen; AnaMary Bilbao; Andreia Santana; Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme; Cao Fei; Cécile B. Evans; Diogo Evangelista; Gabriel Abrantes; Igor Jesus; Isaac Chong; Isadora Neves Marques; Lou Cantor; Maene Maisha; Miguel Soares; Odete; Pedro Barateiro; Salomé Lamas; Seba Calfuqueo; Trevor Paglen; Vitória Cribb; and Zach Blas.

It also includes texts by Alberta Romano; Alejandra Rosenberg Navarro; Ana Salazar Herrera; Anne Faucheret; Audrius Pocius; Cristina Sanchez-Kozyreva; David Revés; Eduarda Neves; Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro; Isabel Nogueira; João Sousa Cardoso; Luísa Santos; Manuel Bogalheiro; Maria Kruglyak; Marta Espiridião; Paula Ferreira; Rômulo Moraes; Sara Castelo Branco; Sara Magno; Sérgio Fazenda Rodrigues; Sílvia Escórcio; Sofia Nunes; and Tobi Maier.

Fonts in use: Neue Haas Grotesk, Freight Text, CirrusCumulus

Fonts in use: Neue Haas Grotesk, Freight Text, Molle

Fonts in use: Neue Haas Grotesk, Freight Text, GT Planar

Fonts in use: Neue Haas Grotesk, Freight Text, Ballare

Comércio com Memória – Almada 1973–2023 is a book which celebrates Almada’s 50th anniversary as a city through its people and particularly its historic shops, with 50+5 shops photographed by 12 photographers and a roster of written essays. The book’s title is set in Milkman, a sans serif with gothic alternates that refers to the history of the shops portrayed in the book. It is complemented by Beausite Classic, used as the main text typeface.

The tissue paper used as a dust jacket alludes to the papers used to wrap and protect the objects sold in those shops.

The book was designed by Lisa H. Moura (Frau im Mond) and printed by Gráfica Maiadouro on Fedrigoni papers. It includes essays written by Ana Catarino, Agapi Dimitriadou, Álvaro Domingues, Sandra Gonçalves, Olga Mariano, Gabriela Salhe Salazar, Maribel Mendes Sobreira, and João Tempera,. Additionally, it features photographs by Rui Sérgio Afonso, Nuno Andrade, Augusto Brázio, Rodrigo Cabrita, Luísa Ferreira, Céu Guarda, Lara Jacinto, Pedro Letria, Tiago Miranda, Pauliana Valente Pimentel, Enric Vives-Rubio, and Sofia Yala. The text was edited by Agapi Dimitriadou and Gabriela Salhe Salazar, and the photographs by Augusto Brázio and Agapi Dimitriadou.

The website of Portuguese photographer Matilde Viegas plays with the plasticity of photography by emphasizing one of its key elements: the focus.

This interactive and conceptual artifice needed a typographic companion which was both playful and serious, and the “locally sourced” Uivo typeface, designed by Item Zero, is just that.

As advertised, Uivo “is a versatile typeface, ideal for branding, editorial and any project where readability and warmth is needed”, and in this case, it is very efficient in both desktop and mobile devices and shows its personality in all caps, as well as sentence case.

The website was designed by Lisa H. Moura (Frau im Mond) and developed by Luís Ferreira. Words by Gaia Lutz, photo editing by Amara Eno.

From Alien Magazine:

Alien Magazine explores, twists and pushes the boundaries of the understanding of what an alien is. In a series of visual/written essays, interviews or investigative reports, it invites citizens, no matter their shape, size, color, profession, political party, creed, belief, nation, planet to rethink social norms and labels.

The word alien has acquired multiple meanings, from generally describing, in legal terminology, people who are in a place outside of their native nations, synonym to the concepts of foreigner or immigrant, to the sometimes cute, sometimes monstrous creatures portrayed in science fiction.

These contrasts and double meanings are explored with the use of two extremely different typefaces. Avara is a somewhat classic serif with hard edges, representing the rough edges of alienated people which don't seem to fit in; Graphik, a modern classic sans-serif, complements Avara with some softness.

Alexandra Midal’s film Possessed is set in a ghost town in California to explore the chiasm between objects that were perceived as subjects and slaves that were perceived as things during the Golden Rush era in North-America, a notion which would change after the 1851 Universal Exhibition, in London.

The visuals for the opening and ending credits establish a connection between the imagery of spirit photography developed in the 19th century, which would portray ghostly human figures covered with white pieces of cloth and the act of covering objects the same way for protection.

As the term “possessed” eludes, the title appears on a constricted piece of cloth, trying to free itself from it and slowly taking on all the space in the screen, symbolically possessing it.

Film by Alexandra Midal
Editing by Mathias Zieba
Film images by Felipe Ribon
Opening/ending titles by Frau im Mond (Lisa Hartje Moura)
Flute by Tiphaine Boulch

Opening titles:

End titles:

The name and visual identity for the creative studio Frau im Mond took its cues from the 1929 Fritz Lang movie of the same name. The movie's original type was reinterpreted with Camelot’s Rando typeface to give the studio both a classic and modern taste.

Abecedarium is an event organised by Alexandra Midal, which consists of a series of talks – one to each letter of the alphabet – related to a given subject. The "Esperanto" edition took place in Istanbul at Salt Beyoglu, and focused on the power of images and on the possibility of new languages for designers and visual artists to express new visions.

The poster for the event was a “Trajan's column meets John Carpenter’s 1988 movie They Live”. To achieve this, the poster worked with the possibilities of augmented reality to reveal its hidden iconic images and movies, alluding to the power of mind control most images hold. (Instructions: download the Roar AR app on your phone, scan the poster and watch it unfold)

Screenshot from the AR video visible via Roar app

Master Thesis of Spaces & Communication at HEAD-Genève 2016, conveived and designed by Lisa H. Moura and supervised by Alexandra Midal.

“What is it that makes us feel that we belong to a certain place?” This question introduces the analysis of the ways design can influence, create and reinforce feelings of self or collective identity. Droid Serif, being a typeface with a classic feeling, but a bold voice, suits the subject perfectly, as it shows both the 'dreamy' aspect of the moon, as well as its undeniable force in the collective imagination.

Alien Magazine, an initiative led by Lisa H. Moura, just launched their open call for submissions for their first issue, which will explore the theme “Aliens of Extraordinary Ability”.

Their website is designed by young studio Frau im Mond with Mars Extended and crazy CSS effects.