NR 11 //NOVEMBER ISSUE 2013
TYPO SERIAL CUT KAREL MARTENS MAGNUS RAKENG ALEX TROCHUT
W W W. T Y P O - M AG A Z I N E . C O M //OSLO
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NOVEMBER
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// NOVEMBER ISSUE
DIRECTOR DESIGN
// KAROLINE AASE // KAROLINE AASE
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SERIAL CUT
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KAREL MARTENS
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MAGNUS RAKENG
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ALEX TROCHUT
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SERIAL CUT
IMAGE AND SERIAL TYPE ARE A CUT GREAT COMBINATION
SERIAL CUT
Serial Cut is a Spanish design studio established in Madrid in 1999 by Sergio del Puerto that focuses on art direction for international advertising projects; it makes slick, clean and bold images using real tactile sets or 3D and typography has an important role; and in an updated visión, pop culture, luxury and surrealism are all encompassed.
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The studio works alongside an ever-growing team of professionals who specialize in different areas such as photography, design, motion graphics and 3D design. Depending on the nature of a given project, different contributors are chosen to give each piece a new dimension. Their main clients include worldwide ad agencies and big and small companies from the entertainment, arts and culture industries. Inspiration comes from current and past decades, but it is always reviewed and renewed, and today it has a contemporary look. Serial Cut has a genuine stamp, embracing pop culture, luxury and surrealism at the same time. A fantastic alchemy of elements that cleverly bring tridimensional representation into an unmistakable graphic and iconic style.” Alex Trochut Serial Cut is also represented worldwide in USA, China, UK, SPain, France, Netherlands and Italy. The studio just launched with Index Book their book “ExtraBold.”, that compiles all their works through 320 pages with extra content via Augmented Reality.
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SERIAL CUT
SerialCutisaSpanishdesign studioestablishedinMa dridin1999bySergiodel Puertothatfocusesonar tdirectionforinternation aladvertisingprojectsit makesslickcleanand boldImagesusingrealtac tilesetsor3Dandtypogra phyhasanimportantrole andinanupdatedvisiónpop
http://www.grafill.no/nyhet/serial-cut-kommer-til-visuelt
CLIENTS: ABSOLUT, ADOBE, AT&T, BLACKBERRY, BURGER KING, CANAL+, CHANNEL4, COCA-COLA, DIESEL FRAGRANCES, DODGE, FOOT LOCKER, FREIA, GENERAL ELECTRIC, HEINEKEN, HVA DESIGN SCHOOL, L AUDITORI, LEXUS, LG, LLADRÓ, MARIA CANALS, MARTINI, MCDONALDS, MICROSOFT XBOX, MICROSOFT ZUNE, MTV, MUSAC, NICKELODEON, NIKE, PEPE JEANS, POWERADE, PUMA, ROLLING STONE, SONY BRAVIA, SONY PLAYSTATION, THE GUARDIAN, THE NY TIMES MAGAZINE, TOYOTA, TRINA, VISA, VIVENDI, VODAFONE, VOLKSWAGEN, YOURSINGAPORE.
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graphic designer
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KAREL MARTENS
Ka rel MARTENS
KAREL MARTENS
KAREL MARTENS (74) graduated from the Arnhem School of Art in 1961. Since then he has worked as a freelance graphic designer, specialized in typography. Alongside this, he has always made free (non-commissioned) graphic and three-dimensional work. Among his clients have been the publishers Van Loghum Slaterus (Arnhem) in the 1960s, and SUN (Nijmegen) in the years 1975. As well as designing books and other printed items, he has designed stamps and telephone cards. He has also designed signs and typographic fasades for a number of buildings. In 1993 Karel Martens was awarded the H.N. Werkman Prize for the design of the architectural magazine Oase . In 1996 he received the Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for Art; as part of this prize, a monograph on his work was published: Karel Martens: Printed Matter . His work has been nominated several times at the Design Prize Rotterdam. In 1998 at the Leipzig Book Fair, Karel Martens: Printed Matter was awarded the gold medal, as the best-designed book in the whole world. Over the years his books have featured regularly in the annual Best-Designed Dutch Books competition. Karel Martens has taught graphic design since 1977. He started teaching at the Arnhem School of Art, followed by a teaching position at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. From 1997 onward he has been a critic in the graphic design department at Yale University, New Haven, USA. In 1998 he and Wigger Bierma founded the WT.
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In his work, Karel Martens embraces both freedom and order. He finds inspiration in the limitations of the profession and turns obstacles into challenges. OASE, a Dutch architectural journal, is an illustration of how designer can maneuver in the narrow field of graphic design production. OASE balances between book and a magazine and each new issue reinvents its forms to surprise its readers. Karel Martens gave OASE a clear direction and convincingly makes a magazine that is both modest and luxurious, making one believe that a low-budget publication is in fact a precious object to be collected. A grid became a fascinating element for Karel Martens. The most basic element in graphic design is given an active role that reflects the tone of the magazine. Karel is the founder of Werkplaats Typografie in Arnhem. When did you start working on OASE magazine?The first issue that I did was in 1990. Before it was a magazine of a different format, A4 size. Did you suggested a new size? Yes. The magazine has quite a theoretical approach, so used this book format. Before was just loose papers, where students would hand their type-written essays. It looked very nice, I liked it, but it was a bit problematic to continue this way, so I decided to change it. And the change was using a book format rather then using a conventional magazine format? There was a lot of text, and not so many images. It was easier to read in a new format. What is the size of the OASE magazine? It is related to the maximum size of the sheet? Yes, 24×17 cm it is the most economical size for the 50×70cm presses in the Netherlands. It is very economical, however, you cannot bleed on all sides. I have to adjust the design to this as well, so we move all the images up on the sheet. When you started working on OASE did you design a fixed grid for the future issues? For me the grid is an instrument that allows me to work with books. Very often it is a flexible grid so I am not too constrained, I still have to take decisions about placing text and images. Has the grid changed since the first issue? How was the grid evolving as the magazine was growing up? Yes, The 6×2 mm grid changed. When the production of OASE changed, and now we are doing it fully in-house, the grid changed. Now it is made completely on the Macintosh and this offers much more opportunities to play with columns, type and the margins. I spent some time looking at OASE trying to follow the internal structure of the magazine. I had an impression that the grid is changing with every issue, as well as paper and typefaces. But those changes are so subtle that you don’t see them from issue
KAREL MARTENS
to issue, you need to see a series them to compare the first one and the latest one and only then can one see the changes. That’s true. As basic typefaces I am trying to stick with Monotype Grotesque and Janson, but there are exceptions. The grid is also changing when the format is changing [an issue on poetry and architecture has a different size]. The grid, and the division of the grid, depends on the complexity of the issue. The last two issues are bilingual, so I had to adapt the grid to accommodate more text. We are now doing an issue of OASE [issue 49] and we made the Dutch and the English text equal. This requires a change in grid too. Did you add more pages when OASE became bilingual? No, and that was the problem. The editor wanted to have the English translation, and asked me to put it in the back of the magazine. However, for me it was a nice opportunity to combine both languages, but they did not offer me more pages. The type was getting smaller and smaller. So there is twice as much text now, but the same amount of pages? [laughs] ...exactly... It seems that you turn all the technical constrains and limitations to an advantage, and there is no visible aesthetic compromise in OASE, all the issues work well with all these limitations. Limitations are an important thing in design in general because they offer solutions. You seem to almost enjoy those limitations. It’s not that I would ask for them, but I am always trying to find my space when working on a project. There are not so many limitations as in the past, I feel more flexible, and it is easier. OASE is a very low-budget publication, and I know that if I change the paper, I will probable be able to add one more colour on the cover, or if I reduce the size I could add more pages. For me, from the beginning, it was important to realise that it is always the same audience that reads OASE, and they don’t really want to have always the same magazine with just a different cover. It is the same as if I would have invited a guest to my house and prepare a wonderful meal. They enjoy it, but if they come next time, I cannot prepare the same meal again. It is more respectful to the public to always prepare something unique. They look forward for the next issue. How did OASE change when you worked on it with your students? Before it was much more of your individual job, now, the latest issue you designed together with Stuart Bailey and Patrick Coppens. How did it affect the process? There is not much difference. Of course now the work is much more
of a dialogue, Stuart and Patrick have different visions, and this is their contribution to the magazine, but essentially there is not a big change. We are trying to make it a game. We are not doing these kind of commissions for money. As I mentioned it is very low-budget magazine. So my honorarium has to come from a nice result. For me it is important to be involved with architecture, a field that is very close to design, I enjoy reading all the articles. It is a free time job. I let the content decide how the magazine is going to look. You’ve been working on OASE for 8 years. Do you see a direction in which the magazine is going, or is it hard to predict because it is so much driven by its content? I don’t know. I approach it differently every time. You can see it on the OASE logos. There isn’t one. Each issue is treated individually. I am completely free in designing the magazine, it is an issue of trust between the publisher and us. How much are you involved in making the editorial decisions? Not so much, I am not as intellectual as the other people involved in the magazine...but you were very influential for the magazine, you always propose the covers, you suggested the bilingual solutions, you discuss the articles... ... of course, I read all the articles and talk about them, I choose the visuals, but I am not active in deciding about the future of OASE, this is not my worry. When I saw OASE for the first time I thought it looked very Dutch. When I’ve seen later issues this feeling was only reaffirmed. What do you think makes it look and feel so Dutch? That’s funny, I would also like to know... Maybe it is the diversity of forms, this plurality that allows you to decide each time individually... yeah, perhaps... perhaps it is the flexibility of a small country. In big countries I see more constrains than here in the Netherlands. I don’t know. OK, the last thing I’d like to ask, is a thing that all the people that know you want to ask but they don’t dare, and that’s the origin of your famous chinese-indigo blue jacket. Where does it come from? [laughs] That’s not so special... I bought it first 15 years ago, I like it for all the pockets it has, and it is so light. I now buy them in Paris, last time I bought 3 of them...
https://www.typotheque.com/articles/karel_martens_graphic_designer
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MAGNUS RAKENG
Magnus R A K E N G
MAGNUS RAKENG
“THE WORLD NEEDS NEW FONTS ALL THE TIME” , SAYS DESIGNER MAGNUS RAKENG . HE HAS CONTRIBUTED PILOT , ENVY , RADIO AND SUPER DUPER. “IT BEGAN WITH A CHANCE”, SAYS MAGNUS RAKENG , WHEN WE ASK HIM WHY AND HOW HE CREATES FONTS.“TYPOGRAPHY, MOST DESIGNERS. I WANTED TO SEE IF I COULD MANAGE TO CREATE A COMPLETELY SEPARATE FONT SETS, IF I COULD GET THE LETTER FORM TO HANG TOGETHER. WHILE I WAS HALF DONE WITH THE FIRST FONT SET , CAME RICK VALICENTI ( CHIEF OF THE FONT PANEL THIRSTYPE , EDITOR’S NOTE ) TO NORWAY TO GIVE LECTURES . I THEN WORKED TOGETHER WITH HALVOR BODIN IN MEGAFON. WE DEMONSTRATED VALICENTI A PRINT OF THE FOOT. HE LIKED IT AND ENCOURAGED ME TO KEEP WORKING . FOUNTAIN WAS THE PILOT , AND IT WAS COMPLETED IN 1995. I PUT IT TOGETHER WITHOUT REALLY KNOWING ANYTHING TECHNICAL ABOUT IT TO MAKE FONTS.
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TEKST MORTEN HARPER // Printed in visual No.5 1999 // FONT MAKER ON TIME But who is this Magnus Rakeng ? He is employed as a designer at Millimeter Design, and is working on the magazine Mental Health . Rakeng was also developed and profile and templates lørdagasmagasinet in Today’s Market , but works with most forms of this disc cover . Before joining Millimeter , he worked with Megafon and Union Design. He is a graduate of Westerdals and London College of Printing . Although he enjoyed Westerdals , it was not where he taught typography. For a font maker has the Mac more to offer than Times and Helvetica . - I do not feel like a typographer , says Rakeng . - For I have far too little knowledge of typographic rules. Such rules may be important , proper use of quotation marks is such . a rule I do not see any reason to break . But I do what I want with the shape of characters .
- First, I sit and doodle in your notebook . I do not draw all the characters by hand, but all I’m not sure I try out with these sketches. Then I draw characters in Adobe Illustrator. The sketches I scan not enter. I draw all minusklene and verse alone in Illustrator , and then I import them into Fonotographer . Here I connect together the set and customize the letters. - The advantage of Illustrator is that it provides an overview . In Fontographer you only see one character at a time when you draw. But I like drawing tools Fontographer , they are incredibly sensitive . It’s the fat version of SuperDuper Rakeng have drawn from scratch. The residue is modified on the basis of it. There are semi-automatic functions in Fontographer makes it possible to create eg easy and normal versions. Rakeng has created both a sketch and outline version of SuperDuper . HEADLINES Rakeng says that when he creates a new font - You’ll stay on track with the automatic features , but must , the most on impulse : - It is pure fancy , or perhaps even always adjust itself to the characters . To create outline torture - or whatever you call it . When I do design work , was relatively dazzling . I sometimes create new fonts only for the words used . It - The challenge when creating a font set is to not just look may have been the start of some of the font sets, I have at one character , but the font as a whole. seen the opportunities to develop design further after trying Rakeng has not changed its fountain after they are out some letters. The result is four character set in as many released , but intend to continue working with the Pilot . years . After the first - Pilot - followed Envy . - I think it has qualities but also know that there are - I was probably a bit envious of Aldo Novarese Eurostyle elements of it that are not good . font , and Envy is characterized by it. I am very fond of the He does not believe there will be major changes both in Novarese done. He has made thirty or so fonts that are use and development of fonts. Macromedia does not come totally different . Some are terrible , but he has also made with new versions of Fontographer , but there is a new Eurostyle . program , Fontlab , which Rakeng have not yet tried out The third font Radio shows nostalgia collector and collector . He believes designers will have variety , and doubt that Rakeng , but also the ironic distanced . certain fonts will dominate . Changes think he is the great- I did Radio because I wanted to bring up the spirit of est on the internet . old signs . Old Norwegian design interests me , and I’m - Web design does not interest me much , maybe because fascinated by floral paintings . Personally, I believe Radio I feel that the pages do not really exist. It’s a fun process has tendencies as much in the direction of rose paintings as Coca Cola . I am also inspired by what might be called Eastern bloc - design, design made by oppressed communists who are “ high “ on U.S. impulses. It often strange and beautiful results. The new font SuperDuper was completed at the end of October : - I wanted to make a mainstream font that people would to work with Macs, but I do not think the screen should dare to use , but still has personality. Many characters are be the last link . There is no point in being detailed if the Helvetica -like, except I have used it as a starting point. I product to appear in a resolution of 72 dpi . A particular decided just to make a simple and clean font . problem for fonts is that they are at the mercy of what the Rakeng describes all four fonts that “headline fonts“ user has installed. There will probably be changes here (Display type) . which gives the designer greater control . Nevertheless, I - I do not think I’m cut out to make antiqua body . It requires think web design is cumbersome , it is often many chefs more basic knowledge of classical typography. In the headers and major projects do not end up so very much. I can get away with a freer form . Rakeng think the most important thing for a font is that it GOOD TYPOGRAPHY With the proviso that he does not looks good. He put aesthetics ahead of readability. follow very much with , it seems that Rakeng Norwegian - Readability is something you learn over time. In a title , I designers use typography in a good way . think one has to endure something freer form . This does - Sometimes I am impressed . Although I will never be not mean that a font should be minimal readable , as there happy when I’m working on a font . I always find that the has been a tendency in the past three to four years. I think last one I have made is best. So far I have not used my this is completely stupid. I have no ambitions to provoke . own fonts , mostly because I ‘m tired of them when I finally Except Radio is all font sets my very readable fonts. Most finished. Another reason is that I know about the weakimportant to me is that the form works in a whole. nesses I could not bear to change . Rakeng finds inspiration from all kinds of art he comes FROM SKETCH TO WRITTEN In a complete font set it to down , and do not think you need to go that far back in 256 characters . Rakeng says that each letter must be time to get impulses. It was The Face - designer Neville signed separately, although there are some automated Brody as the eighties really made the design and use of features of the program he uses , Fontographer . Letters fonts interesting. with accents and the like can be connected together so - Before Brody was almost just Letraset , so it is clear that that the entire set is updated if one example . Changing he was important - and accomplished . One I even look up a- one. It’s time he forms a fountain, and the new Super to is Barry Deck. I remember when I saw Template Gothic Duper he made a couple of months. for the first time. It was really something new and beautiful.
Among others who make fonts now , I think Suzana Licko ( website: www.emigre.com , editor. ) Is accomplished . She has made many of the fonts that are hip , and she’s doing it yet. Eventually , she also lured into some classic elements . The font Mrs. Eaves builds eg . the Baskervilles . Sarah Eaves , John Baskervilles wife, and when he died she finished printed remaining volumes. - Of the older designers like Aldo Novarese I , and as mentioned very fond of Eurostyle . I do not use it much myself , but it is good because it is simple yet it has the character. If you look closely there are a lot of weird stuff in it. - Although I spend too much Trade Gothic and News Gothic . When I make CD case with a lot of fine print , it is best to use clean, simple fonts. - I have problems to use special fonts. They are so personal to the person who made them , it ‘s not like me. If I need an unusual font for an assignment , I make either the letters I need myself. There is no point in buying a grunge font when you can make your own for ten minutes. DISTRIBUTION Rakeng selling fonts through Chicago -based Thirstype , which is related to the design Thirst . Fountain - available for both Mac and PC - now sold directly through the Internet, from the side www.thirstype.com . Thirstype also license the FontShop , so that the fonts are sold through their catalogs. Sales through FontShop however modest , and Rakeng think each font becomes more visible with a smaller distributor Thirstype . Moreover Thirstype ia the known fontmakeren Barry Deck the stable and professional recognition draw interested users to the firm. Rakeng fonts cost $ 150 for a full set and $ 39 per weight. Rakeng believe that at least the major agencies buy license if they use a font . It is the first font Pilot who has sold best. He is no fixed fee to create a font, but 40 percent of the sales price of royalty. He is pleased with Thirstype . - I stand almost free when I make a new font , but have a dialogue with Thirstype during work. When I made SuperDup er , they had just commenting on a few characters. But if they do not like the font draft , I find something else. I do not want to finish something that is not being sold. The spread of the fountain has given Rakeng an extensive network of contacts. - I get weekly emails from people I ‘ve never met. It is both from people who say they have seen a font I created and thought it was fine , and others that I might start exchanging ideas and fonts . FOOD SWEAT Pilot has been used extensively in the advertising context , both in Norway and abroad. Among the products Pilot has fronted the American Barbie , chocolates Soho and Peanutcrisp (albeit in a slightly modified version ) , Tine school milk and Prior chicken. Rakeng says he is not concerned about how his fonts used by others. - If someone makes a bad design with my fonts, it does not mean anything to me. However, I am pleased if someone has done something cool with one of them. I’m used to using fonts in all respects myself, so I have no such respect. Perhaps the style Pilot is up becoming more mainstream, while it was experimental when it launched in 1995. In any case, it is the last year that advertising agencies have discovered the font. - It is strange to see that something I did four years ago is still alive in the sense that the fonts used in the work that I have no control . Thus becomes a font never quite finished.
http://www.harper.as/artikler/rakeng.htm
“THE wolrd needs new fonts all the time”
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ALEX TROCHUT
ALEX TROCHUT ALEX TROCHUT WAS BORN IN 1981 IN BARCELONA, STUDIED GRAPHIC DESIGN AT ELISAVA, AND STARTED WORKING AS FREELANCE DESIGNER AND ILLUSTRATOR IN 2007. HE IS BASED IN BARCELONA. ALEX’S ILLUSTRATIONS, DESIGNS AND TYPOGRAPHY take the modern notion of minimalism and flip it on its side. His work, based on a philosophy of “More is more,” is rich with elegant, brilliantly detailed executions that simultaneously convey indulgence and careful, restrained control. Renowned for his technically exquisite type creations and designs, Trochut attributes his special connection with typography to his grandfather Joan Trochut – a typographer and the creator of a modular typographic and ornament system built in the 40s. His clients include Nike, The Rolling Stones, Nixon, British Airways,Coca-Cola, The Guardian, Non Format, Wieden + Kennedy, Saatchi and Saatchi, BBH, Fallon, and Beuatiful Decay.As a chronic internet prowler for all things graphic design, I invariably end in designers’,
illustrators’, and type designers’ portfolios on a daily basis. I poke around briefly; see two, three or five projects, get the gist and, usually in less than 90 seconds, move on. Recently, on the blog of the German design magazine, Page, where I rely on the pretty pictures because I don’t really understand much, I landed on the web site of Alex Trochut. It was only after 900 seconds had passed that I realized I was still on the same web site, in part because I was mesmerized by the work and, in turn, I was engaged, surprised and sustained by its variety and intensity. Alex Trochut is an independent designer and illustrator, although, don’t ask him to choose one over the other in Barcelona, Spain who unknowingly had design in his genes. The grandson of, Joan Trochut, a printer/typographer, whose legacy is
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the development of a typographic system in 1942 called Super-Veloz, Alex is a graduate of Barcelona’s ELISAVA Escola Superior de Disseny, and his education is enriched by an Erasmus in Berlin, where he also did internships, yes, plural, with Moniteurs and Xplicit. His first job after school was back at Barcelona with Toormix, a design firm established in 2000, and after two years there he moved to Vasava, another young design firm, formed in 1997.
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ALEX TROCHUT
www.grafill.no
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TYPO FARGER PA P I R T Y P E DESIGN MAIL WEB UTGITT
NOVEMBER ISSUE PA N T O N E 3 9 6 5 C - PA N T O N E B L A C K C HVIT 200gr KAROLINE AASE karolineaase29@gmail.com w w w. b e h a n c e . n e t / k a r o l i n e a a s e 2013