Best Studio worked with Spicers and their Paper School program to create The Toolkit, a comprehensive guide to print production. The guide encompasses paper, specifications, print production, finishing, and material exploration. Created to make paper education more accessible, The Toolkit brings together practical tools, insights, and guidance to help teams build confidence in paper selection, print applications, sustainability considerations, and performance. Alongside the physical guide, Best Studio produced several graphics and animations to extend the project’s reach across digital channels.

Farmacia by Nguyen Gobber was chosen as the main title font for its bold, graphic character, which makes it a natural companion to the illustrations. As Best Studio explains, the typeface has enough personality to hold its own against a vibrant, colourful palette without losing any of the project’s playful energy.

For the more technical, spec-driven copy, the monospaced version of GT Pressura by Grilli Type was used. Its precise, utilitarian quality doesn't pull focus from the main content.

Feature Display Condensed by Commercial Type adds a more editorial tone, as it carries a traditional, textbook-like quality suited to the content-heavy nature of The Toolkit. Best Studio notes that the contrast it creates against the other typefaces was particularly useful in establishing hierarchy and helping the reader navigate the piece more easily.

For body copy throughout, Plus Jakarta Sans by Tokotype was used as a reliable workhorse typeface that pairs naturally with Farmacia.

Renate is a Munich-based bistro specializing in small plates, wine, and drinks. The identity by Herburg Weiland uses Gaya combined with Ready Active.

Obverse of a 1779 $40 note. “Forty Dollars” at the top is in Union Pearl, and “DOLLARS” at the bottom is in English Scriptorial No. 1.

From 1775 to 1779, the Continental Congress issued almost 200 million dollars of Continental currency in order to finance the Revolutionary War. The banknotes were printed by Hall & Sellers in Philadelphia – formerly B. Franklin & D. Hall, the printing business founded by Benjamin Franklin.

The notes were printed using William Caslon’s types, alongside three of the Grover foundry’s typefaces, dating from the turn of the century: Double Pica Union Pearl, Pica Scriptorial, and English Scriptorial No. 1.

The Scriptorials are also referred to as Cursorials. The same three fonts are shown together in a specimen published by Benjamin Franklin Bache, Benjamin Franklin’s grandson.

Obverse of a 1778 $20 note. “Twenty Dollars” is in Union Pearl (except for the D), and the italic text (including “DOLLARS” at the bottom right) is in Pica Scriptorial.

Reverse of a 1775 $5 note. “PHILADELPHIA” is in English Scriptorial No. 1.

Reverse of a 1775 $7 note. “HALL and SELLERS” is in English Scriptorial No. 1.

A specimen of English Scriptorial No. 1, from the 1782 auction catalogue of the John James foundry. John James had bought the Grover foundry in 1758.

A specimen of Pica Scriptorial, from the same source

An advertisement promoting the use of Grover’s Scriptorials for legal documents, published in The Observator, February 11–7 [sic], 1708. The word “Scriptographia” is in Union Pearl, and the majority of the rest of the text is in Pica Scriptorial.

For Toronto Tech Week 2026, Cohere transformed a Toronto event space into a celebration of design and technology, through an event crafted in collaboration with Offhours.

The identity stretches and squishes Cohere’s brand font, a customized version of Lineto’s LL Unica77 (with round dots), and pairs it with Canora by R-Typography. Signage and ephemera at the party also use Mosa by Alexandre Créquer and Megazoid by DJR.

The celebration extends beyond visuals, offering guests exclusive merch from Cohere’s Merch Store (see the previous contribution on Fonts in Use).

Security Guarantees is the title of the Pavilion of Ukraine at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

The Ukrainian Pavilion addresses the unfulfilled security assurances provided to Ukraine under the Budapest Memorandum (1994) in exchange for relinquishing its nuclear arsenal. The project reflects on the fragility of peace and the resilience of the Ukrainian people.

At its centre is Zhanna Kadyrova’s The Origami Deer. Installed in 2019 in Yuvileynyi Park, Pokrovsk, on the site of a dismantled Soviet Su-7 aircraft, the sculpture was realized with executive and technical support from Denys Ruban. Rooted in the tradition of park sculpture, it reinterprets this legacy through a contemporary form.

This exhibition was curated by Ksenia Malykh and Leonid Marushchak, with architecture by Oleksandr Burlaka, and technical direction by Denys Ruban.

The visual identity was designed by Ostap Yashchuk with the typefaces KTF Roman (Kyiv Type Foundry) and Periodica (Mint Type). The website was designed and developed by Dmytro Prutkin and Oleksii Nasirov using Times New Roman.

Pina Ball celebrates the 120th anniversary of the Pinacoteca de São Paulo. Referencing Lenora de Barros’s work Desmáscara (2025), commissioned for the occasion, the visual identity employs mirrored surfaces that position the viewer within the image.

The typographic composition combines Cochin by Georges Peignot (distributed by Linotype) and Pier Sans by Mat Desjardins (distributed by Pangram Pangram). Cochin is used at large scale and embossed across the mirrored surface, while Pier Sans structures the informational content in black. The contrast between the serif and sans serif typefaces establishes hierarchy and brings together historical references and contemporary application.

Eyes extracted from portraits in the Pinacoteca’s collection reinforce the motif of the mask, creating moments in which artwork and visitor appear to return each other’s gaze. The invitation and mask operate as complementary elements, extending the identity across different formats. The charity ball featured performances by Paulinho da Viola and Amaro Freitas.

BST Symbol Regular was used for the logotype of World Affair, an exhibition presented by 피크닉 piknic, a multidisciplinary cultural space in Seoul that combines exhibitions, design, food, retail, and public programming within a carefully curated urban environment.

Dedicated to the work of COMPANY, a Helsinki-based design studio founded in 2000 by Korean-born Aamu Song and Finnish designer Johan Olin, the exhibition traces more than two decades of collaborations with artisans and makers around the world. The exhibition identity was designed by piknic’s creative team. The Korean font is yet unidentified.

The bottom line in this poster uses the brand typeface from Piknic: SangBleu Empire from Swiss Typefaces

In 2000, New Zealand Post issued a series of ten self-adhesive stamps as “a light-hearted tribute to the foods, toys, sports and lifestyles that define New Zealand’s culture and attitude”. A sequel to a related series from 1994, it features another ten characteristics of everyday New Zealand life. From NZ Posts’s website:

It saluted the versatile li-lo, a pair of cosy ug boots, the gastronomic delights of the chocolate fish, the hot dog, the meat pie and the Anzac biscuit; and our summer necessities, the barbecue, the chilly bin, pipis (a seafood delicacy) and the classic Kiwi holiday home, the bach or crib.

The typeface chosen by designer Bob Gagnon is Dom Casual.

The first day of issue postmark features Comic Sans with a perspective effect.

West Bubble Gum’s Blockshadow style in bichromatic use for a matchbook by Holiday Inn, probably from around the mid-1970s: the slogan “Get that holiday feeling” was introduced in late 1974 by J. Walter Thompson.

“Get that” is set in squeezed Romana. “The World’s Innkeeper” uses PLINC’s Standard Intermediate Extended, a slightly narrower version of Akzidenz-Grotesk breit on the matchbook shown above. The ones below use the similar Venus Extended.

This printer’s trade card / business card from the 1870s was printed in three colors on gloss coated stock. It features five different typefaces. The bichromatic caps filled with stars and stripes are from Johnson’s National, designed by Julius Herriet, Sr. and patented 1856.

This is an exceedingly rare card, I only know of one example. Its exact date is unknown. Greenback, the bold upright cursive with split shade, was designed by Herman Ihlenburg in 1870 and patented by MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan a year later, so it can’t be any older than that. In 1879, one Robert Malcolm was publishing The Masonic Newspaper from the mentioned address at No. 49 Cedar Street, New York.

“Steam” is in Antique Extended and “New York” in italic caps from a Modern/Scotch. The grotesque used for “Near William” is unidentified.

For a second example of Civil War-era patriotic type, see the “God and Our Native Land” envelope. It features a typeface that is not exactly the same as the one shown here.

The scores on Emma Crouse’s Scholar’s Certificate, dated January 22, 1885, indicate that she did well in reading, writing, arithmetic, and other subjects.

Emma's teacher, Peter G. Shelley (1862–1938), was only 22 years old when he filled out this certificate. He continued to teach for many years, and the U.S. Census for 1910 and 1920 listed his occupation as teacher.

The title typeface is an ornamented Tuscan carried by various American foundries. The earliest known showing so far is in Boston Type Foundry’s Condensed Specimen Book from 1860, as Two-Line Small Pica Ornamented, No. 2.

Scholars’ Certificate.
It Is Hereby Certified That
Emma Crouse
is a scholar of Richfield, advanced School and has passed an examination in the following branches with the annexed results:

• Composition 99
• Orthography 100
• Reading 99
• Writing 95
• Arithmetic 100
• Geography 100
• Grammar 95
• U S Hist —
• Drawing 95
• Declamation 99
• Logic 96
• Deportment 100
• Attendance 100
• Tardiness 1 time
• Average —

P. G. Shelley, Teacher.
Jan’y 22, 1885. Richfield, Juniata Co., Pennsylvania.
Explanation.--No. 100 signifies very good; 90, good; 80, middling; 70, poor; 60, very poor.
Bellwood Independent Print.
No. ______

During the Civil War there were many many patriotic covers (envelopes) printed, both by the North and the South. This unused one from the “Know Nothing Party” uses a patriotic flag typeface very similar to the one used in the 1870s by Robert Malcolm, as did a number of Northern envelopes. It might be a different size of Johnson’s National – or a close follower – and was printed in two runs. Note how the two colors don’t align perfectly.

National was patented in 1856, and the Know Nothing Party was dissolved in 1860. The envelope thus is probably from the second half of the 1850s.

The NBA Europe Tour was a traveling tour across Manchester, London, Paris, Munich, and Berlin. Rather than creating a single static mark, Ben Loiz Studio built a flexible visual language capable of adapting across movement, crowds, public space, social content, and multiple city environments while still feeling cohesive.

The identity integrated NBA graphics with Hoopbus’ existing visual identity, combining league marks, custom symbols, typography, geometric forms, and bold color into a unified system built for movement and public activation. Across the bus, signage, apparel, backboards, social graphics, and event materials, the system used oversized forms, directional shapes, and high-contrast color relationships to create visibility and energy at city scale while moving through different environments and activations.

Typography played a central role throughout the system. A customized NBA version of Commercial Type’s Action Condensed was used across schedules, dates, URLs, environmental signage, and informational graphics, helping create urgency, clarity, and consistency across the international rollout. Supporting typefaces already associated with the broader Hoopbus identity system – including Industry, Standard CT, Cina GEO, Tuck Shop and Grand Slam – introduced contrast between functional information and more expressive identity moments, allowing each city and activation to maintain its own character while remaining connected to the larger visual language.

An advertising card design shown in the Printers International Specimen Exchange, Vol. XIV, 1893. Printed letterpress with extensive usage of bent brass rules. Though not typical of the genre, it should be considered work in the artistic printing movement category.

“Tipo-Litografiche” is in Bijou (1883), “Milano” and “Telefono N. 143” in caps from Unique Celtic (1889), and the address in Chaucer (1883). The thin typeface chosen for the company name itself is yet unidentified.

Giovanni Ricordi founded his internationally known music publishing company in Milan, Italy, in 1808. He was hired by Teatro alla Scala in 1814, and in 1825 purchased the entire La Scala library. In 1839, he published Verdi's first opera. The company in 1893 was headed by Giovanni's grandson Giulio. Ricordi remains very much in business today.

This composition, to me, could be mistaken for a modern, contemporary design.

Maruxa is a monolinear script much like Veltro (1934), Kaufmann (1936) and Stempel Elan (1936). It was cast by the Spanish foundry of Gans.

By 1958, it was used for a promotional card by Pensão São Jorge, a boarding house on Rua Castilho, 59, in the Portuguese capital:

Lisbon’s very latest. Inn style. Comfortable rooms and suites. Most attentive Restaurant service. Very select, distinguished and cosmopolitan surroundings. First class. Unsurpassed treatment in Boarding Houses.

The geometric sans used for the address and phone number is Grotesca Radio, a follower of Erbar-Grotesk, also by Gans. “Direction” might be in Grotesca mercantil, a version of the design also known as Longina. “English, Spanish and French spoken” is set in caps from an unidentified grotesk. It’s probably one of the numbered “Grotescas” listed in a 1960s specimen by Gans, possibly Número 1362.

Toulouse Olympique Aviation Club was founded on October 4, 1944, through a
merger of Toulouse Olympique XV and the Omnisport Aviation Club Toulousain. Since March 6, 1990, the club from the capital of France’s southern Occitanie region is known under the name Toulouse Olympique Aérospatiale Club (TOAC).

This membership card from 1945/1946, issued to Joseph Goulounes (1924–2001), features the club’s emblem with a winged dragon and a compass rose.

“Membre actif” is set in Elegant-Grotesk licht, an all-caps inline version of Stempel’s Futura follower, Elegant-Grotesk. The specific version likely is Universelles éclairées, a local copy sold by the Dutreix foundry in Limoges.

The plain sans has German roots as well: it’s Simplex, a variant of Berthold-Grotesk with a monocular a, produced by Fonderie Olive in Marseille.

The italic serif used for “Année” is Cheltenham with the alternate swash A, available in France from Fonderie Caslon. The wide grot used for the club’s name is yet unidentified.

Koralle lichtfett (1926), the extrabold inline style of Schelter & Giesecke’s Koralle family, in use for presenting a dozen of “solid compasses for pupils”, probably from around the 1950s. Note the dots in the Ü umlaut that are integrated into the cap height.

Opening credits

From Wikipedia:

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters is an American animated television series developed by Klasky Csupo for Nickelodeon. [...] The show focuses on three young monsters—Oblina, Ickis, and Krumm—who attend a school for monsters under a city dump and learn how to frighten humans. Many of the episodes revolve around their zany hijinks after making it to the surface in order to perform "scares" as class assignments. The series premiered on October 29, 1994, and aired until November 16, 1997.

The titles and credits use Snort, a custom font designed for the show by László Nosek. Snort was also used on merchandise, and was made available to the public in 1999 as part of the Nick-O-Matic Design Factory art software.

Episode title card

End credits

Toys with packaging featuring text in Snort

Back, showing text in Mister Frisky and Uncle Stinky (now known as Professor Minty) as well as Helvetica Condensed

Cover of the book Stage Fright! (Simon & Schuster, 1997), using Snort for the title; other text is in Woody Normal and Avenir Black.

Temporary tattoos included with Stage Fright!, some of which also use Snort.

Dutch sticker from around 1980, advertising “Stabil Oil for active motors”, using Letraset’s adaptation of Dynamo (1930). The letter I was sliced, turning its semi-seriffed top into a dot.

Champ is used in Self-titled’s branding for Hoopla to bring a playful, versatile voice to the family entertainment centers. The typeface is scaled and adapted across the logo, communications, and digital platforms, helping express the brand’s promise of “Entertainment Unlimited” while remaining clear and engaging on mobile devices. Secondary text is in Degular and Degular Mono.