Le fiabe sono vere… Storia popolare italiana / Fairy Tales are true... Italian Folk History reimagines the Museo delle Civiltà’s folk art collection, making it more physically, intellectually, and culturally accessible.

The exhibition transforms the showcase from a protective device into an open, flexible archive. Objects are presented not as autonomous artworks but as carriers of collective memory. Drawers, sliding surfaces, and layered narratives invite direct engagement and multiple readings.

The printed catalogue, designed by Omnigroup and edited by publisher Treccani Arte, translates the exhibition’s structure into twelve standalone chapters, encouraging a non-linear reading within a unified narrative. Each booklet offers an in-depth analysis of the topics presented in the corresponding section of the exhibition, exploring Italy’s ethnographic heritage through cultural spaces such as the forest, the sea, the countryside and the village. Colour serves as a means of identification within the catalogue, echoing the thematic sequence used in the exhibition to guide the visitor’s experience avoiding hierarchical order.

In response to the metaphor used in the title, the fairy-tale narrative unfolds through a stream of object portraits, identified from among the more than 500 items on display, and weaves through the arc of Italian history in the 19th and 20st centuries under the lens of millennial traditions that can serve as a potential archaeology of the present.

The typographic identity of the catalogue is tuned around the unreleased serif typeface OT Kairo, used in a single weight and in a few text settings, in order to provide solid yet discreet support for the content, already populated by countless individual stories with the aim of providing a stable backdrop against which to articulate plurality.

There are two language editions, Italian and English, the latter of which is shown here.

Go Computer Now! How Sphere Corporation Invented the Modern Microcomputer—Then Disappeared is a reported nonfiction book about one of the first manufacturers of integrated desktop personal computers. Sphere operated outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, from 1975 to 1977.

The book was written by Ben Zotto (me) and published in 2026. The design (interior and cover) is by Sophie Wietlisbach, who brings a refinement and clarity to Sphere’s rough-around-the-edges technology and marketing.

Wietlisbach uses Optimo’s Media77 (the digital revival of Media) for the text, an effective nod to the mid-late-1970s era covered by the narrative. Captions are set in Media77 Condensed (as are the notes and index of the book, for higher information density).

My own Signetics CRT is deployed for the page numbers and dust jacket cover. This font was created for the book by starting with the bitmap letterforms produced by the Signetics 2513 character generator chip, then extruding the horizontal “pixels” to reflect the way that cathode ray tube video output appears on the screen of Sphere computers.

The cover text and the foil stamp on front board use a variable version of the Signetics font that subtly “jitters” the horizontal strips in the same way an imperfectly calibrated video circuit did in the 1970s, giving that text a less “perfect” and slightly more organic feel.

More information about the book can be found on gocomputernow.com. For more information about Sphere computers, see sphere.computer. The typography of Sphere’s corporate branding is covered in a previous post on Fonts In Use.

Basel-based designer Enea Bortone created a series of posters for Neubad Luzern between 2018 and 2023, a cultural venue housed in a former indoor swimming pool in Lucerne. Among them, Neubad über Wasser halten (2021) uses Grenat for its headline, produced as part of a membership campaign to support the association during the Covid lockdown, and sold as part of a limited poster series via Support Your Local Artist.

The type is set in alternating directions to form a dense, uniform block of text, an approach that likely echoes the raw brutalist concrete of the building itself. The small line at the bottom appears to use LL Brown.

Penguin’s first paperback edition of Ulysses, published as Modern Classics 3000.

Mike Dempsey comments:

Penguin’s master typographer Hans Schmoller (1916–1985) designed this elegant cover in 1969 [1968]. Selecting the perfect typeface Spectrum, modifying the capital letters and arranging it perfectly on the blackest of backgrounds, making the result timeless and beautiful.

The interior – starting with a short bio of Joyce – is set in Plantin.

The open caps on the title page aren’t from Jan van Krimpen’s Open Kapitalen as one might expect. Instead, they are from Max Caflisch’s similar Columna, here used with an alternate Y.

The back cover has a drawing of James Joyce by Augustus John.

Maxime Lancien, gallerist and publisher, runs Din Heol Books. Following the release of the second issue of Les Bonnes Choses in September 2025, he published Naïa in October 2025, a bilingual French–Breton publication designed with Studio Boulon.

Positioned between memory and creation, Naïa explores a dialogue between language and contemporary art, drawing on the collections of Breton museums and the notion of the Matter of Brittany. Folklore emerges as a key source of inspiration. This first issue features, among others, filmmaker Emmanuel Piton and writer Maaï Youssef, gathered around the theme of death.

The layout combines GT Alpina (Reto Moser, Grilli Type) and Gallmau (Malou Verlomme, Skritur).

A striking typographic cover design for Beyond the Crisis in Art, featuring the overweight Gill Kayo in a single size. The book by British art critic Peter Fuller (1947–1990) was first published by Writers and Readers in 1981.

From the back cover:

Bergen Internasjonale Teater, or BIT for short, co-produces and presents Norwegian and international performing arts, and places particular emphasis on projects that stimulate international collaboration and work across artistic genres. BIT takes responsibility for highlighting the latest in dance, theatre and performance, including the facilitation of a relevant discourse program.

In 2025, Norwegian studio PART was commissioned to create the new identity, coinciding with the move to a permanent home at Sentralbadet after 14 years of nomadic operation. As stated on their website, they drew “inspiration from the energy and cohesion surrounding modern dance and theater. From the potential for friction and the fluidity of dance. From the unpredictability and suspense that come from not knowing exactly what will happen.”

This inspiration is clearly reflected in the use of the typeface Bertin, designed by Roman Seban and distributed by 205TF. Acording to PART, Bertin “piques curiosity and brings the unknown to the fore through expressive filtering.” As secondary typeface, for certain practical details, they used Neue Haas Grotesk (Christian Schwartz, Commercial Type).

Mousse is a magazine dedicated to contemporary culture, created in Milan in 2006. For issue 94 (Winter 2026), the designers picked Costumes, the future release by Omnigroup on Formagari, to function as guest typeface alongside François Rappo’s JJannon (Optimo).

Ma’Erra Production supports performance companies and artists in the structuring and management of their projects. “Building together” is at the heart of their approach: street performance is a collective work, shaped both on stage and behind the scenes. The visual identity highlights this creative process by exploring the construction of forms and deconstructing the elements of the set; stilts, costume patterns, scaffolding or music box mechanisms to reveal what is being played in the background.

The typography featuring Round Ultra supports this intention: its rounded and structured shapes evoke a construction in balance between organic and technical. The a and the o, very circular, echo the rhythms of street art, its apparatus, its percussions and scenic elements; the condensed aspect, stretched vertically, reminiscent of stilts, thus creating a direct link between typographic forms and the elements of the show.

FAT International returned to endurance racing in 2024, revived by Ferdi Porsche celebrating the 30th anniversary of its 1994 Le Mans victory. In partnership with Proton Competition, the team campaigned the Porsche 963 in an all-white livery with neon green accents referencing 962 prototypes and FATurbo Express liveries.

For the 2025 season, the FAT International identity was updated with a redesigned logo featuring FAT Camera–a modified version of ABC Camera Plain–alongside a custom bitmap version of FAT Gravity Express used for the FATurbo Express wordmark. NM Beyond appeared across livery details and the team's capsule collection, with custom numerals for the car’s race number 99.

Images taken across the FIA World Endurance Championship 2025 in Imola, Le Mans, and at Fuji Speedway, photographed by Lukas Gansterer.

Showcase is the graduate platform and end-of-year exhibition for the students of the University of the West of England (Bristol) in the College of Arts, Technology and Environment (CATE). The platform and its identity was created in 2020 and refreshed in 2023 by Rhombus under creative direction of James Ratcliffe. Originally launched as a digital showcase during the COVID-19 pandemic, the platform was expanded as part of a broader rebrand accompanying the return of the physical end-of-year show. The website continues to serve as a portfolio space for graduates to present their work and connect with potential employers and collaborators.

The identity takes cues from the “white cube” gallery model. A restrained monochrome palette and generous white space position the students’ work as the central visual element across the website and printed materials. Typography is set in Swiss Typefaces’ Suisse Works and Suisse Int’l. From the article “Showcasing creativity” by The Brand Identity:

The typographic direction maintains the professional look of the brand, thanks to Rhombus’ decision to use the elegant, modern and cutting-edge Suisse font family which, Ratcliffe explains, “felt right for an identity that needed to bridge art and education.” Suisse Works is used for the wordmark for its classical flair and ability to “stand alone as a logo without fancy customisation.” The supporting typeface, Suisse Int’l, was chosen for its versatility and legibility, ensuring a clear hierarchy, and its utilitarian ability to maintain accessibility across the extensive website.

The artwork on the poster to the right uses Velvetyne’s Pilowlava.

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.

Art Handling in Oblivion assembles five art collections that have been stolen during key historical events, either by regimes or organised individuals. Seizure of art is one of most hidden and underestimated objectives of war. Behind conquering campaigns lurk hidden stories of deprived cultural heritage and devastation of the enemy's cultural identity. Some of the discussed collections have been found and restituted, others are still in hostile possession or missing.

The book is published as Volume 1 (#501) of the paperback series fink twice by edition fink, originally presented by Rob van Leijsen as his Master thesis for the Spaces & Communication course at HEAD – Genève in 2012.

Art Handling in Oblivion was awarded as one of the Most Beautiful Swiss Books of the year 2014 and received a honorary appreciation at the Best Book Design from all over the World competition in Leipzig in February 2015.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art, in collaboration with design studio Gretel, rebuilt its identity with the goal of putting the institution in direct conversation with the city that surrounds it. Typography is the primary device for achieving this. The type palette mainly works on two levels: outside-and-inside, or community-and-institution.

Inspired by Philadelphia’s rich visual texture of storefronts, street vendors, and murals, the vernacular type palette brings the voice of Philly into the museum and injects the identity system with contrast and spontaneity. The current library is curated (exemplified by the likes of Shatter, Cooper Black, and Balloon), but it is designed to continue growing over time. Each of these display typefaces can be used on various seasonal activations, or specifically assigned to exhibitions or departmental roles. ITC Pioneer was used for the recent exhibition The Time is Always Now, a survey of contemporary Black and African diasporic figurative art. Purple Haze is the designated typeface for PMA Members, and Megazoid is used for PMA Kids.

On the other hand, the institutional typographic voice serves an evergreen role: echoing the museum’s classical character while embodying Philadelphia’s industrial sensibility. The core typeface, Fairmount Serif—named for the Fairmount neighborhood—was custom-drawn by Ryan Bugden after a study of Philadelphia’s typographic history. Searching for a balance between the industrial structure of 1930s American sans-serifs and a classical features brought Hess Neobold forward as a key reference. Its designer Sol Hess attended PMSIA—the precursor to the museum—and later succeeded Frederic Goudy as Philadelphia-based Lanston Monotype’s type director. Fairmount Serif evolves the Hess Neobold model while incorporating more contemporaneous industrial cues. It remains relatively neutral alongside the museum’s broad palette of display faces while providing a distinct, authoritative voice of its own. Fairmount Serif was also used as a starting point in rendering the various institutional logos.

For the more workhorse level, Klarheit Grotesk serves as the museum’s body text typeface. It is set at small sizes across branding, materials, signage, and exhibition text.

See more images in Gretel’s case study.

Mockups of exhibition catalogs

Banners.

Seasonal program.

The Cultural Information Center (Kulturno informativni centar, KIC) in Zagreb is celebrating its 60th anniversary – six decades of creativity, encounters, and visionary programs – with a major celebratory exhibition and the launch of a new digital archive.

The centerpiece of the program is a vibrant exhibition at the Gallery Forum that traces the Center’s first two decades and its specific role in the local context during the era of socialist modernism, a time marked by intense social development and the unique political context of Yugoslavia. The installation—which includes multimedia content and, in its form, suggests the mosaic-like structure of an online archive—was designed by designer Petra Milički and architect Iva Maria Jurić, with the concept by Jelena Pašić. The dynamically presented archival material reveals the key concepts, practices, and individuals who shaped the institution’s early development, providing insight into the cultural pace and intellectual atmosphere of Zagreb during that period.

Milički used Install Semibold throughout all the exhibition materials, from poster to signage and digital formats.

Promotional brochure for a show at KOP, an exhibition space at Project(OR) in Rotterdam, run by and for artists and designers. The exhibition featured works by Willum Geerts and David Herbert.

KOP – short for Kunstenaars Ontmoetingsplaats (“artists’ meeting space” in Dutch) – was dedicated to displaying the diversity of modern art and design by means of various exhibitions, projects and publications based on contemporary concepts. KOP also organized lectures, forums and (club) events that lessen the distinction between art and low-culture.

Designer Rob van Hoesel used a prototype version of what later became Botter, together with LL Typ1451.

August issue 02, “New York”, was designed by Brendan McAuliffe and Douglas Riccardi of Memo NY using Conductor by Frere-Jones Type, alongside Klim’s Domaine Text and Sweet Sans by MVB Fonts.

A travel magazine, each issue focuses on a singular location, immersing the reader in its art, architecture, and design scene, and sharing encounters with locals, their habits, and their unique culture.

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.

Inferno is the fifth studio album by the Scottish electronic duo Boards of Canada, released on May 29, 2026, via Warp Records.

The band name and album title are set in all-caps using the Blippo typeface. All other information features ITC Avant Garde Gothic. This same typeface pairing was also utilized throughout the promotional campaign for the album.

[More info on Discogs]

From Daniel Frumhoff: