Zetafonts goes to Offf Festival 2023

Posted by Debora Manetti in News, Trend Reports, Trip on Mar/2023

The next stage of the Zetafonts Type-Tour takes us to OFFF Barcelona 2023, the largest showcase of contemporary visual creativity and design. With 3 full days of talks from 64 international speakers, interactive activities and more, this festival represents for us not only a fantastic opportunity for networking and good time together, but also punctuates the presentation of the new issue of our annual Type Trends publication. The 2023 issue, The Counter Spaces – Typography in the Age of Black Swans, explores the counter-trends currently emerging in the world of design and typography, that have arisen…read more

A walk in deep dreams: designing type with artificial intelligence.

Posted by Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini in Case studies, News on Nov/2022

In early summer 2022, two image generation softwares based on neural networks were released in open beta to the public: Dall-E by OpenAI and Midjourney AI. We had been interested in artificial intelligence and creativity assisted by neural networks since long time, and had been already admirers of their “unreasonable effectiveness“. But these new models not only far outperformed the older ones, but even our best expectations on the quality of imagery and design generated by neural networks. While everybody was hooked on the capacity of these models to produce beautiful sci-fi concept art or realistic photographic imagery from…read more

Let's change the world, one artwork a time!

Can typography generate a kinder world?

Posted by Debora Manetti in Uncategorized on Nov/2022

With more than 90 design schools over the world, TypeCampus is a program to talk about visual and typography culture. It is born to inspire young and affirmed designers, visual educators, and type lovers. Being in touch with so many people has proved to be the perfect opportunity to enhance typography in all its potential: to convey messages of positivity and change. In an increasingly self-oriented society, good practices of kindness have collapsed, risking becoming a legacy of times gone by. That’s why Fight for Kindness is born: as a unique opportunity to bring…read more

A beautiful mistake

Posted by Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini in Editorial, Trip on Sep/2022

Cover image ©OFFF TLV 2022 In May 2022 we were contacted by Nitsan Rozenberg and Liri Argov, co-directors of OFFF TLV, the Tel Aviv branch of the worldwide famous OFFF Festival. They asked us to design the catalog for the forthcoming edition, and as soon as they mentioned the proposed theme “OFFF*UCK, celebrating mistakes“, we were immediately hooked. The idea behind the festival theme, created by Awesome studio and described in their “OFFF*UCK manifesto”, is that mistakes are an essential part of the creative process, and that we should embrace them…read more

The Zetafonts TypeTour 2022 continues

Posted by Debora Manetti in News, Trip on Aug/2022

After the stages of TypeCon21, Typographic Festival 2022 (New York), Milano Graphic Festival and Offf Barcelona 22, our TypeTour continues towards truly intense autumn. Here are the next design events in which we are proudly involved: TIPOTECA ITALIANA · Sept 16-17 We will start in Italy, and we will be hosted in a wonderful temple of typography near Treviso: Tipoteca Italiana. There will be a 6 hrs workshop to learn how to do a font in a day (type design basics), and a lecture about our challenge to rediscover the forgotten masterpieces of…read more

Interview with Julia Kahl

Posted by Isabella Ahmadzadeh in Trend Reports on May/2022

Julia Kahl (born 1983) studied Communication Design at the University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt before moving to Karlsruhe in 2007, where she now lives and works. Together with Lars Harmsen, she runs the independent publishing and media house Slanted Publishers, which was founded in 2014 and has received international recognition for its activities such as Slanted magazine, the Slanted blog and various publications in the field of typography and design. As a designer, editor and publisher, she has a great passion for typography, editorial design and all things print and…read more

Interview with Francesco Franchi

Posted by Isabella Ahmadzadeh in Trend Reports on Mar/2022

Francesco Franchi is a journalist and deputy creative director of La Repubblica. He graduated from the Politecnico in Milan with a thesis on graphic journalism for newspapers, an academic project that over the years he has transformed into a real profession. He took his first steps at Leftloft in the years when the infographics were starting to spread in Italy as well. In 2008 he joined Il Sole 24 Ore as Creative Director of IL. Intelligent Lifestyle, a magazine that has won many international awards for its innovative design. Since 2016…read more

Interview with Dr. Nadine Chahine

Posted by Isabella Ahmadzadeh in Trend Reports on Mar/2022

Dr. Nadine Chahine is an award-winning Lebanese type designer. She is the CEO at I Love Typography Ltd and the principal at ArabicType Ltd. She has an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, UK, a PhD from Leiden University, The Netherlands, and a Master of Studies in International Relations from Cambridge University. Nadine’s work has been featured in the 5th edition of Megg’s History of Graphic Design and in 2012 she was selected by Fast Company for its 100 Most Creative People in Business. In 2017, Nadine…read more

Interview with Bill Gardner

Posted by Isabella Ahmadzadeh in Trend Reports on Mar/2022

As the owner and president of Gardner Design, Bill and his team have produced effective and award winning results for such industry leaders as Cessna, Spirit AeroSystems, Bombardier/Learjet, Thermos, NFL, Facebook, Google, Pizza Hut, Coleman Outdoor, Kroger, Hallmark, Cargill Corporation, SeaWorld, and others. He understands the nuances of brand practicalities better than anyone in the business and leads his team to always first consider the business that the design is supporting. As the founder of LogoLounge.com – the international, searchable compendium of logos – Bill authored the affiliated bestselling LogoLounge…read more

Interview with Valentina Casali

Posted by Isabella Ahmadzadeh in Trend Reports on Mar/2022

Valentina Casali is a multidisciplinary designer. She deals with lettering, type design, stone carving and sign painting. Valentina has been working in the field of visual communication since 2010, and since 2013 as a freelancer. She has received awards from design publications such as Communication Arts, SPD and AIAP. She teaches lettering and type design at IED in Turin, at the NID in Perugia and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Macerata. She is also editor of the project Lettering da Jesi and in her spare time she embroiders…read more