This Week From the Desk
It’s certainly been a week. This is the first This Week From the Desk post that coincides with the new email dispatch published at the same time. For this week, and all the weeks in September, we'll be publishing full edition TWFTD posts here on the Blog in concurrence with the inbox dispatch. However, once October hits, the blog edition of TWFTD will become the abridged version! We would love for you to sign up now to get our beloved weekly review in your inbox every Friday to make sure you get ALL the news and stay connected to the latest in the world of typography.
Louise Fili announced her latest type release at the beginning of this week: Marseille. Louise Fili's lauded studio has been able to bring true international design style to her work, and lately to type design. Fresh off the heels of the Italian delicacy Montecatini, Marseille takes us to France with its traditionally French Art-Deco character and alternates that practically put the croissants and chocolates in front of you. You can buy Marseille on MyFonts.
Since releasing the “Untitleds”, Klim Type Foundry has been on a tear of making type real for so many. This week we saw this taken to the extreme in a stroke of brilliance for a gallery show of the types and related works at Object Space in New Zealand. It’s hard to argue that the most enticing parts of the exhibition are the sculptural periods, or full stops, from Untitled Sans and Untitled Serif. Original, and beautiful. If you find yourself on that side of the globe, stop and see the show soon; it runs until September 17th.
Pelago. It’s Crystal Clear.
The Adobe Originals Team has released their latest lab creation—Pelago—to Typekit. Adobe describes the new family as this: “Pelago is a semi-formal sans-serif type family by Adobe Principal Designer Robert Slimbach. The family has a crisp contemporary appearance and an understated elegance.” No kidding. We’d like to translate this into easier language... It’s clear as hell. Pelago is absolutely at the top of the digital readability game, and I hope to see this design become well used and well loved out over the coming decades. See for yourself at the full Typekit specimen page.
The work of Studio Panorama blitzed across the desk this week in a streak inspirational flash, fresh with posters and experimental graphic design to keep the conversation going for a while. The work is a glimpse of the future, while bringing a note or two in from the past, culminating in a statement of where the studio thinks the world of graphic design is headed. We're inclined to start listening. Read more about their studio feature on It's Nice That.
Landa is the latest release from prolific type foundry Sudtipos billed as “A rendez-vous between Nicolas Jenson, Oldrich Menhart, and nature itself”. Although the foundry is usually known for well crafted and inventive script fonts, you would be foolish to forget their ability to create a text face that will knock your socks off. Landa is filled with quirks, breaks, angles, and corners. The italic looks like still photos of someone with a snake in their suit. But terrible similes aside, Landa is a masterfully fun text family from a master of type design. Landa is available now at MyFonts.
Norwegian graphic designer Johanne Lian Olsen’s Due Display type popped up this week as the latest addition to the tall sans for editorial trend, and it's worth a deeper look. Olsen injects subtle quirks into this design to break out of what most of the tall sans projects inevitably end up being. The real spark in this typeface comes out in the specimen she designed to promote Due. See the full specimen Johanne Lian Olsen’s website.
It was announced this week that global type company Monotype’s recent type project ‘72’ for SAP was awarded a Red Dot Award. After looking up what a Red Dot Award is, and reading up on the design process for this custom type family, it’s safe to say that this award is well deserved. The evidence is in the details of this design. Sometimes corporate level font projects can be rushed or turn out to more thumbs down than up, but designer Terrance Weinzierl designed a sturdy product for SAP here. Congrats on your Red Dot, Monotype. Read about the entire 72 Project here.
The instagram account @thecheesefanman (Anthony Millard) flew by the desk this week with some colorful and cheerful vintage type eye candy. Vintage Cheese Labels. Enjoy.