März (2021–)

“Bombs in yellow jackets” – that’s how German newspaper DIE ZEIT described the books by März in 1972. In 1969, the then newly founded publishing house with its signal-yellow volumes instantly became the epitome of left-wing politics, avant-garde literature, and pop culture: März Verlag came to stand for “Pop, Porn, Politics”. The März publishing house was the journalistic bogey of the bourgeoisie during the old Federal Republic. In 2021, it was revived by Barbara Kalender and Richard Stoiber.

The old books used Berthold’s Block typeface with a compact umlaut Ä in the all-caps logo. In 2021, the new publisher Richard Stoiber approached astype fonts with the question of whether it would be possible to adapt the Wood Heinz font to replace Berthold Block. Since the re-founding, an adapted version of Wood Heinz from astype fonts has been used – the custom MaerzType. Reprints of backlist titles retain the yellow dust jackets with the old MÄRZ logo. However, titles and subtitles are set in the new MaerzType. The new editions are colorful and varied, and almost always use MaerzType. So do the preview brochures and other promotional material.