Hello and congratulations on making it to Friday! Your reward: this week’s Design Diary, our collection of the five design projects and news that caught our eye this week.
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Nan Na Hvass and Sofie Hannibal of Copenhagen studio Hvass&Hannibal got in touch this week about some sweet new identity work for UK-based fashion designer Mira Mikati. The new identity features a simple striped M as a logo, with a palette of bright primary colors that match the designer’s striking, color-blocked clothing. The stripes play out across all collateral, including neck labels, hang tags, stationery, packaging, and—a personal fave—an exceptionally pretty roll of tape.
Why yes, we do have an expertly-curated Eye on Design guide to illustrated sweatshirts, thank you for asking. You’ll find all the best picks for cozy-yet-stylish pullovers created by illustrators and designers, including one by Kaye Blegvad available from UK shop Good Day Club. They’ve just let us know about their new releases, which include some super nice stuff from the likes of Liam Cobb, Anna Haifisch, and David Shrigley. There’s nothing quite like supporting your favorite creatives and getting something warm and fuzzy in return. And, if you’re in much of the Northern Hemisphere at least, here’s the brutal truth: February is not yet spring. There’s still months to come before you can pack up your sweatshirts just yet.
The art, science, technology, and music festival Sonic Acts—going strong since 1994—has readied its lineup for 2019, and with it, released a brilliant new website designed by The Rodina. The theme this year is Hereafter, exploring what happens after the “genesis of our current crisis,” and touching on topics like inequality, immigration, climate change, employment, and global capitalism. The impressive programming stretches across four days from February 21-24, but even if you can’t make it to Amsterdam this year, the website is worth a click. We also appreciate the custom typeface designed by Mateo Broillet.
Lately we’ve been eyeing Shoplifters 8: New Type Design, a compendium of contemporary type design out from Actual Source. The biannual publication by the Utah-based publisher and shop is always a standout, and this issue looks particularly worthy of attention. The issue includes 100 typefaces by over 60 designers, an essay by Our Polite Society, an interview with Berton Hasebe, a written contribution by Dinamo, and an intro written by Kris Sowersby. A beautifully designed type reference book indeed.
The always intriguing art anthology series Mould Map is here with its seventh installment, themed “Earth Pantropy.” This issue follows the theme “Terraformers,” which manifested in an exhibition showing 76 practitioners whose work involves world-making. “Taking the opposite approach this time, Pantropy ‘is a hypothetical process … in which rather than terraforming other planets or building space habitats suitable for human habitation, humans are modified (for example via genetic engineering) to be able to thrive in the existing environment’,” explains the website, drawing its definition from Wikipedia. Mould Map has commissioned 30 new digital works from the likes of Jeffrey Alan Scudder, Antoine Cosse, and Viktor Hachmang, giving them each £420 to do whatever work they’re interested in along the lines of the theme. The results are well worth checking out.
