Plain Text is a printed publication for exploratory type design, edited and designed by Lucas Descroix and Benjamin Dumond, and published by type foundry Plain Form.

From fiction to theory, from mystical analyses to visual works, Plain Text aims at exploring typographic imaginaries, moving beyond a strictly historical and technical framework, with a taste for the unknown and the dormant potential of writing.

The third issue launched in March 2026 and includes contributions by Alex Balgiu, Eugénie Bidaut, Mathis Borel, Gabriele Čepulytė, Lucas Descroix, Johanna Drucker, Benjamin Dumond, Mankun Guo, Hélène Marian, Luther R Marsh, Ariel Martín Pérez, Laurent Mbaah, and Mălin Neamțu.

The texts of this black-and-white, bilingual publication are all set in the unreleased duo Basically Serif for the English and Basically Sans for the French. Additional information is set in Baskemo, also Serif and Sans, an automatically monospaced-and-skelefont’ed companion to Basically.

A number of display typefaces designed by Lucas Descroix and/or Benjamin Dumond are used throughout, for the title of each contribution as well as various emphasis moments. These include: Michaux, Nostra, Paraiso Sans, Jester (in several styles), Ready Active, and an early version of the upcoming Ferro. Some unreleased display typefaces, either old or future, are also used but not shown here in the pictures.

Several typefaces are also showcased as part of contributions by their respective designers (shown here are Bye Bye Binary’s BBB ReadMe and Mălin Neamțu’s Segmentor).

• English and French
• 80 pages, 210×297mm
• offset print on Munken Print White
• 750 copies, March 2026
• ISBN 978-2-9597254-3-2

This third issue of Plain Text was kindly supported by Abyme, Blaze Type, Dinamo, DJR, Klim Type Foundry, Rosetta, The Designers Foundry, and XYZ Type.

Each issue starts with a few spreads showing a condensed, somewhat chaotic trip through the whole content of the publication (each contribution is represented by its title and an image, in order of appearance). It’s like wetting your neck before diving.

The title set in squeezed Michaux Bold.

The left page shows BBB ReadMe (Eugénie Bidaut, Ludi Loiseau & Clara Sambot) with its inclusive ligatures. The right page shows Eugénie Bidaut working on preparatory drawings.

This spread showcases the typeface Segmentor (Mălin Neamțu), together with hand-drawn sketches by the designer.

The title set in Paraiso Sans and Michaux Regular. Illustration by Anne Zeum.

The title set in heavily squeezed Ferro Mono. The image is taken from Émile Javal’s research.

Both titles are set in Jester, stretched and blurred on the left page, squeezed and outlined on the right page.

The title set in Ferro Mono Black, with additional ‘organic’ letters based on Michaux.

The title on the right page is set both in Paraiso Sans (black) and Ready Active (white).

The left page shows the work of Mankun Guo. The title on the right page is set in Nostra Stream (with a bunch of blur and grain effects), with a little Grandmaster cameo for “and”. Subheads use Michaux Light.

The title set in various versions of Ferro Mono. The book cover is the one for Missing sign, another printed publication from Plain Form.

Sphères is a quarterly magazine featuring long-form stories and photography. Each 144-page issue is dedicated to a small community. After featuring climbers, boxers, and bikers, the 15th issue digs into the world of trains: travelers, railway workers, commuters, mechanics, enthusiasts…

While Production Type's Minotaur and Minotaur Sans are constants used on body text, captions, and subtitles, each issue features a different selection of display typefaces used on titles, emphases, and drop caps — here both Paraiso and Paraiso Sans (Plain Form), as well as Jean-Baptiste Morizot’s Bluu.

The art direction is by Élyse Delahaie, with a cover picture by Boby and a nameplate design by Océane Juvin.

Good Tape is a new magazine, printed on broadsheet newsprint, with original writing, art, and even some word games about the podcasting industry. Co-Founder and Creative Director Sami Wittwer designed the first issue finding a visual foundation in the alternative press of the 1970s whose formal constraints provided a structure for a variety of bold editorial art and illustrated features.

Our type selection for this project was made with the intent of nodding to the aesthetic of the editorial references – 70s alt press and design – without erring into nostalgia. We selected faces from a variety of foundries, all sharing sort of handworked interpretation of faces native to newsprint and alternative media.

Prominently featured in the logo and article headlines, the display face Paraiso Heavy is an anchor for the visual language of the paper. Paraiso Sans, also by Lucas Descroix of Plain Form, is used throughout for accent and embellishment. Harking back to the bold display faces of 1970s alternative press and the Victorian wood typefaces that inspired them, Paraiso’s solid yet playful look had an appealing nod back to work that was inspirational to us as well.

Tobias Rechsteiner hard-working GT Zirkon for for Grilli Type was selected for a variety of uses throughout the issue. Working with newsprint comes with an inherent risk of bleed, so the exaggerated ink traps not only provided a stylistic benefit, but allowed for legibility at the smaller scales we were looking for.

For our body copy, we wanted a face that prioritized legibility and clarity. In Commercial Type’s Publico Text, we found a family of fonts with its origins in newspaper design.

Good Tape also uses custom lettering from One Day Vacation throughout, including a stylized drop cap at the beginning of each feature and a heading for “The Art Of…,” a series of functional how-to’s. Senior Designer and artist Sean Suchara provided the art for our illustrated centerfold, where avatars of each interview subject find themselves together in a liminal, video game-inspired space discussing their thoughts on what makes good tape.

From Éditions 303 (translated):

In 2022, the Theatre of Saint-Nazaire celebrates its 30th anniversary as a "national stage". For this occasion, the association Le Théâtre, the management and the team of the national stage wished to realize an ambitious editorial project on the history of this theater in the city.
Le Théâtre, récits de la scène nationale de Saint-Nazaire highlights not only the history of this place, but also its team, its project and all the public action of the national stage with the populations. More broadly, it focuses on the fundamental issues facing the world of culture and live performance today.
This book is intended for those who are passionate about culture, architecture or history, but also for the simple spectator that we are, the heritage lover, the concerned citizen. Everyone will find what they are looking for.

Designed by French graphic design duo La Société, this book combines bright colours and a good amount of beautiful archive photos with a playful yet very clean typographic approach. A singularity in the type choices is that it uses two French-made slab/sans duets, namely Tarnac (Marc Rouault / Sharp Type) for text and Paraiso (Lucas Descroix / Plain Form) for titles, both giving out a strong constructed feel. Note that the book features intermediate weights of Paraiso, unreleased at the time of publication.