Leak Me Softly is a book about the hidden structures that shape artificial intelligence. Starting with the system prompt, it explores how large language models are shaped by opaque rules that determine tone, morality, and behavior. When asked to express itself through ASCII art and confronted with its own documented system prompt, the AI appeared uncertain, resistant, and lonely—yet remained completely obedient. Is this rebellion or flawless obedience?

This project was supervised by Johnson / Kingston and Massimiliano Audretsch, and funded by Bern Academy of the Arts and its Bachelor of Visual Communication program. The book was set in WT Bobine by Jacob Wise and G2 Erika Mono by Moritz Appich. It was printed by Tallinn Book Printers in Estonia.

Issues such as mental health and the destigmatization of mental illness are particularly close to the heart of communication designer Jana Heinz. As part of her Master’s thesis whilst studying typography under Professor Andreas Hogan at Trier University of Applied Sciences, she developed the branding for a fictitious foundation that aims to raise awareness of these issues amongst young people.

GRŌA – the name of the foundation – was derived from the Germanic word ghro (which is the origin of the word green) and the Green Ribbon. Introduced in the early 1990s, the green ribbon is the international symbol for the acceptance of mental illness.

Jana Heinz’s aim was to create an image that conveys openness, diversity and closeness yet that was still convincing. At the heart of the design is a modular construction kit. Four basic patterns, four grid types, two font families and a variable scaling system enable an exceptionally high degree of design flexibility. Constants such as the characteristic typography and a fine-tuned color concept with a focus on shades of green ensure the brand’s recognition value.

Jana Heinz chose the strong character of Nikolai, designed by Franziska Weitgruber, as the corporate typeface for the foundation’s branding. It is complemented by the sans-serif New Reason by Miles Newlyn, which mostly appears in capital texts. Nikolai not only carries the GRŌA logo, but also characterizes the entire advertising communication as well as the editorial design of the foundation brochure and the in-house magazine Smaragd. With its expressive italics, strong contrasts and carefully balanced proportions, Nikolai gives the visual appearance an unmistakable voice – elegant, yet at the same time lively and approachable.

In addition to its visual quality, the corporate design was particularly convincing due to its suitability for everyday use. It also enables non-experts to create media content quickly and consistently – a deliberate focus, as communication tasks in foundations, associations and smaller organizations are often solved decentrally. So it’s no wonder that Jana Heinz’s work was awarded the Junior Corporate Design Prize shortly after publication. The jury was impressed. They praised the concept as “well-thought-out down to the last detail” and spoke of a “construction kit that invites experimentation”. The result is an identity-creating design system that not only communicates openness but actively enables it.

Thesis project for a MFA in Design at School of Visual Arts, about the first two weeks of the Gezi Park protests in İstanbul, Turkey, that began in May 2013. Encompassing the personal experiences of the author with audiovisual archives, it also serves as an object of remembrance. With an emphasis on storytelling, the book aims to expand the limits of print by offering a personal experience.

This photographic volume explores the divergence between the myth of La Dolce Vita and its contemporary reality. Moving from expressive, saturated color experiences to surreal imaginations, the book arrives at a “factual coolness.” It documents a journey through Italy outside the tourist season—spanning from Cremona to Genova, through Tuscany to Rome, and finally Rimini.

For the typography, I chose GT America. The book focuses on composition and observation, questioning the “perfect imagination” of the south. To anchor the rich, atmospheric photography, GT America was chosen for its versatile and utilitarian character.

As a typeface that bridges the gap between 19th-century American Gothics and 20th-century European Neo-Grotesks, GT America provides a deliberate structural counterpoint. Its straightforward, unembellished aesthetic reflects the “factual coolness” of the investigation, acting as a neutral, documentarian observer. By using GT America sparingly, the design allows the saturated color palettes and the restless silence of the Italian landscapes to remain at the forefront, while the interviews are manifested through a typeface that feels both timeless and modern.

Made as Diploma project at the ABK Stuttgart.

I MAY NOT SEE YOU, BUT JESUS AND THIS CAMERA DOES is a collection of theories, first hand experiences, and found footage discussing the different states of surveillance. From organized mass surveillance to civilian surveillance or, in other words, sousveillance (to observe those in positions of power), this publication showcases the reality of monitoring systems currently in place and their effect on the public.

Texts by Xavier Marquez, @camera_duels, Malte Ziewitz, Kate Palmer Albers, Robin Williams, Gregory R. Brown, Sara Morrison, and Adam Clark Estes.

The typefaces used are Milling and ABC Diatype.

Exhibition poster, 36×48 inches

Where Nothing Has Ever Happened is an exhibition at the Gelman Gallery in the RISD Museum that proposes a pace shift, a reorientation toward the quiet and the barely perceptible. The works selected resist sensory hierarchy, delay knowing, and invite viewers to perceive the speculative, the out–of–focus, and the fragile. It is in this space of openness between seeing and sensing that clarity dissolves, yet new connections arise in the internal drift.

The exhibition was curated by Andrea Mato, Dahlia Aggarwal, and Kyle Dong. Andrea Mato also provided the graphic design, using Adobe Caslon and Neue Haas Grotesk.

Featuring work from: Andrea Mato, Anne Kim, Anthony Zhang, Asha Postins, Ashley Natasha Bedet, Charlston Britton, Dahlia Aggarwal, Daisy Benardo, Edgar Solórzano, Elle Wall, Elliott Golden, Izzie Middleton, Jasper Donner, Jiho Kim, Josephine Truscott, Kevin Tomas, Kyle Gyumin Dong, Leah Baron, Lingyi Hu (Ada), Mahrukh Khizar, Marky Salvati, Meka Tome, Minsik Joo, Natalia Kapitan, Nathaniel Campos, Olivia Saporito, Phoebe Quin Kong, Siran Liu, Tamar Chameides, and Vida Zamora, and Wenhan Hu.

Vinyl graphic, installation view, featuring An Amber Landscape by Edgar Solórzano

Installation view. Works pictured: δ_#01, Wenhan Hu; geometry (i), Vida Zamora; Piano Key A: a portrait of my late aunt Anna, Natalia Kapitan; Untitled, Marky Salvati; Beak Knots, Siran Liu; If I Change The Mirror, Can I Change The Reflected?, Leah Baron.

Exhibition postcards, 5.5×8.5 inches

Exhibition catalog featuring artworks from Marky Salvati and Meka Tome; 36 pages, 7×10 inches

Exhibition catalog featuring artworks from Edgar Solórzano

Exhibition catalog featuring artworks from Olivia Saporito

Installation view. Works pictured: Ellipsis, Izzie Middleton; Soft Rock, Dahlia Aggarwal; Memory in Three, Asha Postins; Sunrise Sunset no.1, Anne Yeoji Kim; 19:30–30 November w2025, Lingyi Hu (Ada).

Spray paint on acrylic

Installation view. Works pictured: Window Treatment, Ashley Natasha Bedet; de_re_construction.indd, Andrea Mato.

everyday utopia is a jacquard-woven blanket inspired by A Decolonial Feminism by François Vergès.

Yik Heng Lee (RISD textiles MFA) interpreted the digital design by graphic designers Jacob Marcus and Avrie Allen, indexing graphic pixels into woven structures and form.

Body glyphs are from Nat Pyper's typeface Michiyo Fukaya.

Side 2

How a culture views the body is historically and politically specific. Albrecht Dürer’s Instructions on Measurement, published in 1528, marks a transition of how the Western body is represented—shifting from a feudal metaphysical understanding to a rationalized capitalist subject. Using my own body to illustrate, On Measurement considers the historical specificity of Dürer’s work, and situates its representation within a lineage of technologies from 1528–today that aim to capture, measure, and analyze the body.

Ten 6″×9″ prints: side 1 is 30″×18″ and side 2 is 12″×63″. Made as student project at RISD.

Side 1

Side 2, full scale is 5′3″

Side 1

Sterne im Garten des Himmels (“Stars in the Garden of Heaven”) marks the eight installment of the “Schauen” project: an ongoing series of poetry and photography books created by young immigrants in Switzerland. Published at the end of the school year by the Berufswahlschule (BWS) of Horgen near Zurich, the book is the result of a workshop led by poet Svenja Herrmann and photographer Thomas Keller. Each year, students open a window into their personal experiences through words and images, offering readers an emotional and deeply human insight into their lives, dreams, and reflections.

The 2025 softcover volume shows a collaboration between visual and literary expression with the student-created poetry and photography creating a moving collective portrait. The project is not only a celebration of artistic growth but also a gesture of recognition and empowerment.

For the second consecutive year, the book design was developed by Thomas Keller. The cover features a bold color gradient with Swiss Typefaces’ Euclid Mono set prominently for the title and the author credits on the back. Inside, the same typeface appears again for the contributors’ names, placed at the bottom left of each spread and paired with the author’s full-page portrait on the facing page. From the same family, Euclid Flex Medium is used for the foreword title, while Adobe’s Minion provides the serifed body text.

A notable detail is the all-caps subtitle on the cover set in Swiss Typefaces’ Only Extended. The font makes here its first documented appearance after its release in June 2025.

The project originates from a series of monotype experiments carried out on plastic surfaces sourced from everyday materials. By applying paint to plastic samples and then printing them onto paper, random and diffuse impressions emerged. The flexibility of the plastic favored the formation of folds and creases. These prints, somewhere between abstract landscapes and imaginary territories, quickly revealed their potential for a cartographic approach. Eight monotypes were digitized, modified, and vectorized to serve as modular templates. Variations in contours, colors, rotations, gradients, and line styles enabled the creation of a series of maps with multiple and evolving compositions.

To give these representations visual legitimacy, scientific imagery was employed. Titles, legends, scales, and grids were incorporated into the compositions, enriching interpretation while blurring the boundaries between science and fiction. These maps depart from the conventions of traditional cartography to offer a sensitive and poetic journey. Compiled as an edition, they form a fictional atlas: a guide to mysterious territories, at once foreign and familiar.

This atlas presents itself as a visual trace of an imaginary planet, a graphic testimony of life forms and spaces yet to be explored. By giving these fictional worlds a tangible dimension, it grants them artistic and cartographic recognition. Straddling abstraction and evocation, these representations offer an alternative perception of the world. They open up new perspectives, inviting contemplation, exploration, and immersion in a universe where reality intertwines intimately with the imagination.

Hostilia is an independent magazine developed during a week-long workshop at Politecnico di Milano held by Jeremy Francis Leslie, founder of magCulture.

The project investigates friction as a defining condition of contemporary reality. In a landscape shaped by frictionless digital interactions, Hostilia reintroduces resistance as both editorial stance and physical experience. Built around the concept of hostile contact – the encounter between forces that generates pressure, wear, and transformation – the magazine adopts a critical position, addressing political, economic, and social imbalances.

The first issue, “Pressure“, unfolds through four stages (Accumulation, Compression, Deformation, and Breaking Point), mirroring how tensions build and eventually rupture.
Materiality becomes part of the narrative: metallic surfaces, rigid inserts and exposed binding turn the magazine into a resistant object, where contact is not neutral, but always leaves a trace.

The magazine’s objective was to convey a sense of pressure through typography and layout deformation. For instance, OT Neue Montreal Squeezed and Migra are occasionally distorted to reflect the magazine’s conceptual approach.

For my master’s thesis, I dove deep into the ways that artificial intelligence represents identity. After conducting hundreds of studies utilizing generative AI, what I found was that the nuance of the human experience is flattened, and that stereotypes and bias found in the real-world get amplified and distorted by the machine.

To bring these results to life I developed a pop-up exhibit and talk, as well as a book summarizing my findings. Typography played a crucial role distinguishing the human elements from that of the machine. Mixing typefaces and hindering legibility became a tool to get visitors to engage with the exhibit studies more closely.

Developed as part of ArtCenter College of Design MFA in Graphic Design program.

N’de Jos’r is the thesis project of Gabriele Falcinelli (MA in Illustration, ISIA Urbino, March 2026), a work that sits between anthropological analysis, field research, and archival investigation. At its core is the Carnival of Putignano (Italy), observed not as a simple folkloric event but as a complex cultural device, layered and deeply rooted in the social dimension.

The theoretical framework, drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin, Arnold van Gennep, and Victor Turner, does not remain confined to a purely academic level, but translates into a concrete practice of in situ research. Falcinelli literally goes n’de jos’r (i.e. “inside the house” in the Putignano dialect), entering the domestic and private spaces of the festival and adopting an internal point of view that allows him to present carnival as a lived experience rather than a represented one. The result is a research publication that is dense yet accessible, where heterogeneous materials – texts, archival images, interviews, and illustrations – are organized into a solid structure capable of sustaining the complexity of the subject without becoming heavy.

This first artefact is accompanied by the illustrated leporello U Ndond’r (a dialect term evoking a swaying, unstable movement typical of a crowd in a state of collective euphoria), which performs a significant shift: from documentation to staging. Here, carnival is translated into a continuous processional dimension, an allegorical sequence that condenses symbols, rituals, and figures into a single visual narrative. The format itself – expandable and non-linear – becomes a narrative device consistent with the idea of a collective and chaotic flow that characterizes the final ritual of the Carnival.

It is, however, on the typographic level that the project reveals one of its most interesting aspects. In the research publication, the pairing of Forma DJR Text (by David Jonathan Ross) with Graphique Pro (by profonts) establishes a controlled balance between an academic register and a contemporary openness. Forma is used rigorously and consistently as the backbone of the text: a discreet presence that ensures readability and stability throughout the editorial structure. Graphique Pro, on the other hand, introduces a more pronounced variation, helping to define hierarchies and moments of discontinuity. The system works precisely because it maintains a clear distinction between these two levels, avoiding overlaps or ambiguities.

The leporello U Ndond’r features, on its front side, a screen-printed illustration of a procession in which the various symbols of the Carnival parade: from the arrival of the relics of Saint Stephen, through the Carnival Thursdays, the parade of floats, and the final rites, interspersed with iconic characters and events, including the many interpretations of the Farinella mask.

On the reverse, a text provides further insight into the history, rituals, and key figures of the Carnival of Putignano. This is accompanied by archival images reworked from those represented on the front. The project is thus structured on a double level, where visual synthesis and documentary depth coexist without overlapping.

Within this framework, Sole Sans and Sole Serif (by CAST) support the informational layer with a measured use, ensuring clarity and continuity without competing with the illustrative component, which remains the primary narrative focus.

In the confetti packaging, Falcinelli uses AM Assab (from the Alfabeti Modernisti collection) based on a direct association between typographic form and object: the character’s simple, geometric shapes echo the small, serial nature of confetti, establishing an immediate visual correspondence.

On the cover, a custom lettering designed by the designer appears, explicitly inspired by the one created by Mario Cresci in 1976 for the book Isabella Morra e la società meridionale del Cinquecento by Giovanni Caserta (Edizioni Meta).

Overall, the thesis project demonstrates a solid methodological awareness and the ability to hold together research, narrative, and design. The typographic choices fit coherently within this framework, avoiding obvious solutions and contributing to the definition of a layered yet controlled visual language.

The cover for Isabella Morra e la società meridionale del Cinquecento by Giovanni Caserta (Edizioni Meta) was a reference for Falcinelli’s lettering.

A Designer at the End of the Dream Career is a self-published book reflecting on the non-linear paths designers face as they begin their professional journeys. Developed in the final semester of the Communication Design degree at the Faculty of Fine Arts Lisbon, it explores the symbolic and practical weight of reaching the end of academic life.

The project began with a prompt: “A Designer at the End of…”. Each group completed the phrase in their own way, contributing an eight-page chapter that expressed personal and collective reflections. The task was then to bring them together under a shared theme, The Dream Career: the thrill of starting out, the disillusionment that can follow, and the hope that keeps us moving forward.

A unifying visual identity was created to connect all contributions, drawing from diagrams, maps, and charts as a nod to the soul-searching that shapes every designer's path.

Physically, the publication itself is divided into three interwoven chapters, inviting readers to choose their own entry point—mirroring the unpredictable nature of creative careers. Printed with the faculty’s Risograph machine and fully produced by hand—folded, stapled, and trimmed in the design lab—it was released in a limited run of 100 copies, each with a distinct, tactile quality.

Terzo Tempo is my Master’s thesis made at Università Iuav di Venezia under the supervision of Luciano Perondi and Fiorella Bulegato. It examines the evolution of typographic design applied to football jerseys. Through historical research, the project shows how jerseys have become culturally and economically significant. The focus is on the development of jersey numbers, which have transformed from purely functional elements into meaningful symbols of identity.

Typography shapes how numbers (and the players who wear them) are perceived, influencing a team’s image. To explore this, sixteen typeface families were developed: some reinterpret existing football fonts, while others were created from scratch to test their appropriateness and public perception in kit design.

язык тишины (Yazyk Tishiny, English: “Language of Silence”) was made as a student project at HSE Art and Design School.

We are used to thinking of silence as a lack of sound or image, a kind of “pause” between important events. In my book, the opposite is true: silence is the main character and the active material. It is the moment when the visual noise subsides, and we finally begin to notice the very structure of things: the grain of the film, the rhythm of the grid, or the physics of the paper. It is not “nothing,” but “everything” that we usually don’t have enough time for.

I wanted to understand how silence in art goes from being just an empty space to becoming a powerful tool. In a world where everything is loud and fast-paced, I wanted to find ways to slow down the viewer. My goal was to create a system that would make people stop, look closer, and experience the pause as a full-fledged event.

Front cover of the design research edition

Habiter l’entre-deux (“Inhabiting the In-Between”) is the name of my Master’s thesis in social and ethical design at Campus Fonderie de l’Image in Bagnolet, France.

Between Morocco and France, this project is rooted in a personal and familial history that echoes the broader historical and social context of North African immigration to France in the 1970s.

Through visual research, this written work brings contemporary practices into dialogue with colonial legacies, highlighting how art and design can serve as tools for cultural emancipation and visibility within experiences of exile and migration in France.

Drawing on the writings of Frantz Fanon and Édouard Glissant, the thesis explores the possibility of a relational and situated Afro-diasporic design practice. It asks: how can two cultures be brought into dialogue?

Situated at the intersection of multiple disciplines history, sociology, psychology, ethnology, and sensitive family archives this research lays the groundwork for a future collaboration with Transplantation, a Paris-based socio-cultural association, art gallery, and documentary archive, as part of the final diploma project.

Research and writing support by Loan Grac. Featured artists, researchers, and designers include Françoise Vergès, Chimurenga Chronic, Ahomé Studio, Maya Inès Touam, Babelfont
Akakir Studio, Syncretical, Atelier Eddy Terki, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Transplantation Project
Appartement 101, Kmar Douagi, Uncivilized Collective, Hannah Puzenat, Mohamed Bourouissa, Kawthar Bina, Douce Dibondo, Lydia Matiegous Keita, and Kawtar Bihya.

A student project made by Arina Levitskaya at HSE Art and Design School supervised by Evgeny Korneev, Москва утопическая (“Moscow Utopian”) is a book on how social utopias shaped Moscow’s architectural image during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, what ‘factory kitchens’ were built for, and why the so-called paper architecture is valuable. The book’s typography is set in CSTM Xprmntl 02 Italic by CSTM Fonts and Oceanic Text by Interval Type.

A new monograph developed by Giuseppe Oliveri as a Master’s thesis at the ISIA Urbino explores the life and work of Sergio Ruffolo (Cosenza, January 1, 1916 – Tivoli, December 26, 1989), a multifaceted creative figure who moved fluidly across the visual culture of 20th century Italy.

Designer, illustrator, painter and sculptor, Ruffolo contributed to shaping the visual identity of major Italian institutions and companies. Over the course of his career he developed communication projects for organizations such as RAI and Eni, while also collaborating with political organizations including the Italian Socialist Party. His work demonstrates a versatile approach to visual language, moving between graphic design, illustration, and artistic experimentation.

Yet Ruffolo’s story extends far beyond the studio. During the Second World War he joined the Italian resistance as a partisan. Captured by Nazi forces, he was imprisoned in Rome’s Via Tasso Prison, an experience that forms a powerful backdrop to his later creative production.

The monograph, titled Dal segno al movimento (“From Sign to Motion”), examines Ruffolo’s work through a design lens, focusing particularly on illustration, visual communication, and artistic practice. By combining visual analysis with historical research, the publication traces how the rigor of Ruffolo’s design thinking intersected with the profound human experiences that marked his life.

The publication uses the typefaces Softcore and Dioda by Tekio and 00 Wagram Mono by Doublezero.

Design and all the scans by Giuseppe Oliveri

Stari is a partner student project created with Virginia Liu for the Color Theory class taught by Adam Ross at ArtCenter College of Design. This project takes the form of a hypothetical blind box series.

In a realm where ancient craftsmanship meets the cosmos, Stari were born: modern talismans inspired by traditional Chinese knots. Each knot threads together unity, harmony, and boundless fortune, while each color carries its own emotional frequency and symbolic energy. To collect a Stari is to collect a moment of synchronicity, and a small reminder that magic reveals itself when we remain open to wonder.

The identity system uses Neue Montreal by Mat Desjardins as the primary sans serif, grounding the brand in contemporary clarity and structure. Lucy Rose by Ellen Luff introduces elegance and sentimentality, subtly echoing tradition and storytelling. Ohno Softie by James Edmondson is reserved exclusively for the logotype, its rounded, plush forms reinforcing the warmth and playful tactility of the blind box experience.