This unique book by Benjamin Rubloff features a stunning body of paintings, each inspired by fragmentary photographs of graffiti, with each piece named after the location where the photo was taken. A short text by the artist accompanies each painting, providing insight into his personal thoughts and experiences. The book concludes with a series of photographs, each labeled with GPS coordinates, marking the location of the original graffiti. A beautiful essay by Duncan Ballantyne-Way provides further context and reflection. Published by Verlag Kettler.

The communication of the 2023 edition of the Mart Stam Preis, designed by Vreni Knödler, uses a mix of Self Modern and TWK Lausanne for the texts and headlines

Since 1997, the Mart Stam Society has awarded prizes annually for the best final projects at the Weißensee Academy of Art and Design in Berlin. Students from all disciplines can apply for the Mart Stam Prize, and the selection is made by a jury composed of external experts and members of the Mart Stam Society. The prize consists of a joint exhibition and the publication of a bilingual catalog.

The 2023 selection included Sara Hassoune, Birgit Kunz, Jung A. Lee, Marie Lempelius, Nicolas Papayannis, Belen Resnikowski, and Johannes Schmidtner. The catalog was published in June 2024 by Verlag Kettler.

With the “Hagen Impulse,” patron Karl Ernst Osthaus initiated groundbreaking contributions to the reform movements of the early 20th century. The manifold activities, especially the experiments and models of socially effective architecture also influenced the young Walter Gropius, who had a close friendship with Osthaus. Not all aspects of the impulse were continued in the later Bauhaus.

Before the Bauhaus: Osthaus deals with the cultural implementation of modern architecture by Karl Ernst Osthaus, especially his programmatic use of photographs. Osthaus used them to make his projects internationally known and at the same time aimed at a new perception of architecture.

The design quotes in format, layout and material various publications from the time of Karl Ernst Osthaus. It combines features from the first catalogues of the Folkwang Collection and the monograph by architect Henry van de Velde. The result is a contemporary design with clear historical references.

The typefaces used are as much a historical quotation as they are a contemporary interpretation. Behrens-Antiqua is a design by Peter Behrens, published in 1907 by the Gebrüder Klingspor type foundry, which was already used in the publications of Karl Ernst Osthaus. It is used in Dan X. Solo’s digital version, alongside FF Bau by Christian Schwartz, whose design follows a grotesk by Schelter & Giesecke, which was used significantly in the visual communication of the Bauhaus in the 1920s. Ludovic Balland’s Stanley is used for running text.

Roumald is a display face designed by Erkin Karamemet in the tradition of types from the early and late nineteenth century by the likes of Scotch and its relative Century Expanded, originally designed by Linn Boyd Benton and continued by his son Morris Fuller Benton around 1900. Roumald is a contemporary interpretation of these Angloamerican neo-classic gestures.

In addition to their designs, the Bentons are known for their contributions to mechanical manufacturing of type. Among their inventions are matrix engraving and punch cutting machines, but more importantly the Benton Pantograph, a device that could not only scale any design in size, but produce condensed, extended and slanted styles of that design. With this in mind, a CNC router equipped with a round drill bit served as a virtual drawing tool during the design of Roumald. Tension of form and counter form is the result of different radii. Another characteristic of Roumald, the rounded emphasis in counter shapes is derived from ink slurs, a habit of small type sizes in printing.

The mechanical reference lends Roumald a slightly technical look. With the awareness of the original tools, Roumald frees itself from the expression of its ancestors.

Heiner Meyer’s book Ultra Glossy is designed by Nathow & Geppert (Johannes Nathow & Florian Geppert). On nearly 400 pages, this comprehensive publication offers a detailed insight into Heiner Meyer’s œuvre, presenting not only paintings but also numerous sculptural works.

Harald Deilmann (1920–2008) is one of the most important architects of post-war modernism in Germany. With his buildings, he shaped the development of architecture in the Federal Republic of Germany in almost all architectural genres.

This publication presents the most important buildings and projects of his formative years from 1955 to the beginning of the 1980s. With its constructed letterforms, Brix Sans by HvD Fonts embodies the architect’s thinking. It appears orderly and reduced, yet thoughtful and individual. The structure of the book is recognizable from the bleed, wonderfully highlighted by Pantone’s fluorescent orange.

The catalog was published by Verlag Kettler, accompanying the exhibition at Baukunstarchiv NRW.

Accompanying the exhibition Zero, Pop and Minimal – The 1960s and 1970s at the Von der Heydt Museum, we were allowed to design the catalog. This features a clear and minimalist aesthetic that gives the artworks appropriate space and attention. Sul Mono by R-Typography with its simple and legible form fits ideally and unobtrusively into the theme around zero, pop and minimal.

There is a focus on the exhibition's room shots, which gives the reader a good idea of how the artworks are presented. These are introduced to the respective sub-themes by floor plans of the entire exhibition. The reduced work details are set in the design grid in the room photographs.

Overall, the 280-page OTA-bound catalog is a compact and highly informative work, printed on Condat matte Périgord to best reproduce the colors and textures of the artworks. We designed a second cover variant for the publisher’s edition by Verlag Kettler.

For most people cultural buildings quite simply form an integral part of a city. Since the 19th century museums, theatres, and opera houses have been prominent and prestigious construction projects for urban architecture. Internationally highly-rated cultural buildings such as the Musiktheater im Revier (district music theater) in Gelsenkirchen, the Folkwang Museum or the Aalto Theatre in Essen, the Quadrat Museum in Bottrop are witnesses of the rebirth of the cities and at the same time have written their history.

The publication tells of a Ruhr District that is re-inventing itself constantly, far from its industrial past. A district of ideas, discussions and decisions that still continue to have an effect on architecture and urban debvelopment today. With the help of plans, models, photographs, correspondence, printed material and other documents, the biographies of some of these buildings are being retraced.

The book alternately introduces individual buildings, interspersed with general scientific specifications. It invites the reader to turn the pages both forward and back. To a walk through the city. Each topic is introduced by a picture section inviting the observer to use his head and discover its content. The large type size allows the shape of the letters of Konsole to stand out clearly. This robust, linear typeface family comes in varying widths, making up the individual chapters.

In June 1905 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and his fellow students Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel and Karl Schmitt-Rottluff founded the artist group Die Brücke (The Bridge). In the following years Kirchner advanced to one of the most important representatives of expressionism and he is regarded as a pioneer of Classical Modernism.

His work as an architect, on the other hand, is hardly known. Kirchner studied architecture for four years. Die Brücke was founded shortly after he graduated as an architect in July 1905. 95 original architectural drawings by Kirchner have survived until today. They bear witness to the various movements of the time and illustrate architecture in the way Kirchner understood it to be, namely a total work of art – completely in the spirit of contemporary architecture at the beginning of the 20th century.

On large fold-out pages the observer can lose themselves in the fine details of the drawings. The @typeentity:46199@ typeface of the title used is inspired by Art Nouveau posters common in Kirchner's era. With the wonderful OpenType features it brings liveliness and colour to the pages of the scientific texts, which are set in low-key Metric.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Vor der Kunst die Architektur is the catalog to the exhibition of the same title, shown at Baukunstarchiv NRW. The book is available from Verlag Kettler.

Josef Paul Kleihues has been one of the most important and most prominent architects in Germany since the 1970s. He saw himself not only as a designer and theorist but also just as much as a teacher and an intermediary. Based on his teaching and theorising the publication provides a comprehensive overview of Kleihus’ projects in North Rhine-Westphalia.

What is unusual is the mix of two geometric typefaces. Both unmistakeably originate from the pen of the TypeType Foundry. TT Rounds Neue creates a strong connection with the template lettering used by Kleihues. This lettering, which he always uses in red, provided an impulse to form the main body of the text in colour. TT Commons is added as a body text font. The low-contrast stroke weight, the lack of decorative details and its straightforwardness reflect the architect’s working method. And yet this publication focuses on the unconventional in his concepts. This is supported not only by the mixing of colours, but also by the handling of pictures, which very slightly protrude over the pattern. The type area, on the other hand, remains classical.

The catalog acompanies the exhibition at Baukunstarchiv NRW and was published by Verlag Kettler.

This two-volume publication is the first monograph on the work of artist Denise Winter and consists of a comprehensive portfolio and an artist’s book, in which she refers to existing works, quotes from them and gives them a new interpretation. Here she focuses in a particular way on the medium of the book and its stitched binding. This applies especially to a brochure with a free spine. Time and again the seam and the thread determine rhythm and dynamics and pick up the artist's working method. Folding, cutting, copying and overlaying, as well as linear reading or the objectuality of the book are among its themes. This is complemented by manual processing with an original screenprint and press cut.

In composition the theme of stitched binding is taken up optically. The soft and smooth Cira Sans looks confusing at second glance. It has the effect of surprise with its hard edges and the roundness which is suddenly interrupted: a parallel to the works of Denise Winter.

In November 2018 the Baukunstarchiv NRW (Architecture Archives of North Rhine-Westphalia) opens its doors, thus making the collection of significant architecture of the post-war years accessible to the public. The opening will be accompanied by a first exhibition showcasing 80 works.

The catalogue designed for the exhibition Eins Zwei Drei Kunstarchiv (“One Two Three Architecture Archives”) tells the story of the long history of the building that reflects the architecture of the post-war years. Not only that, but also the founders’ visions of the future and their desires for the future of the building. The slants of the floor plan did not only provide the creative direction for the logo. The dynamic line is also picked up in the catalogue using italic headings and lines, as well as a slanting cover flap. A book for browsing, skim-reading, and wandering off.

Mathieu Asselin’s meticulous investigation into the long history of the global biotechnology corporation Monsanto brings together hundreds of documents and photographs depicting the devastating human, ecological and economical impact of the company’s long and reckless story of growth, and their cynical efforts to change their negative public image.
Over five years Asselin conducted extensive research and travelled through Vietnam and the United States of America to find the people and places dramatically affected by Monsanto's past and current practices. His determined approach resulted in an overwhelming depiction that also aims to portray what Monanto's near future might look like. — Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation

Ricardo Báez presents Asselin's research – spanning from text and photographs to a collection of Monsanto advertisements – in a book that counts 156 pages, measures 27×30×2 cm and weighs 1.2 kilograms. Published by Verlag Kettler (English) and Actes Sud (French). This publication won the first prize at the Dummy Award Kassel 2016 and a Honorary Appreciation at Best Book Design from all over the World 2018, and was followed up by an (updated) newsprint edition in 2018.