Jeff Klak is an independent magazine published annually in France since 2014. Each issue is dedicated to a different topic, which follows the verses of the popular French nursery rhyme “Trois Petits Chats”. Each verse of the song is interpreted in a manner that is both free and not entirely illogical.
For its ninth issue, the chosen theme was “Lait de Vache” (cow milk). The articles in the magazine were thus dedicated to the notions of ingestion, digestion, assimilation (of food or knowledge), excretion, and related topics. Some articles talked more directly about cows, milk or lactation.
For this issue of the magazine, two custom typefaces were designed by Ariel Martín Pérez, of which the prototypes can be seen on the cover and on the inside pages: Azabache and Tanklager (by now published by Tunera Type Foundry as open-source fonts). As the typefaces were designed at the same time as the layout, the effects on the page of any change could be seen quite easily.
The Tanklager typeface was modified with a Python filter called Microbe (published by NaN) and a rounding filter in Glyphs. This allowed the designers to select a range of increasingly degraded versions of Tanklager from InDesign’s font menu, that represent the letters being digested and disaggregated into particles, and which allowed to create gradients on the page without overlaying any pattern on the typeface.
Several modified versions of the letter H in “LAIT DE VACHE” were also created so the title printed on the upper corner of the magazine would create a flipbook animation effect (the bar of the letter H extends and coils like an intestine).
Other typefaces used on this issue are Archivo Narrow by Omnibus-Type and Miller Text, a clean, readable typeface by Matthew Carter which is perfect for setting long texts). Sligoil Micro (also designed by Ariel Martín Pérez and published by Velvetyne Type Foundry) was used for some key information.
1 Comment on “Jeff Klak magazine nº9, “Lait de Vache””
Funny, that’s exactly what I’m reading right now !