SEVEN VOICES OF PANGEA

Pangea is special in (at least) two ways. Firstly, its designer, Christoph Koeberlin, donates a quarter of his earnings to projects dedicated to the conservation and large-scale reforestation of the rainforest. Secondly, he is continually expanding the typeface family to include additional scripts. The key to both initiatives is the involvement of the local population and expert designers with language-specific backgrounds.

As a result, thousands of trees have been planted and saved, and at the same time, with the help of Azza Alameddine (Arabic), Yanek Iontef and Daniel Grumer (both Hebrew), Boom Promphan Suksumek (Thai), and in a consulting capacity, Ilya Ruderman (Cyrillic), Irene Vlachou (Greek), Donny Truong (Vietnamese), Paul Hanslow (African Latin), and Amir Mahdi Moslehi (Farsi), six alphabets have been created. With the addition of Georgian by Akaki Razmadze, the number has now increased to seven. So, Pangea now sings in seven distinct yet harmonious voices.

For the Georgian variant, Akaki Razmadze drew inspiration from the well-known consistency in compactness and closeness with which Pangea successfully bridges the gap between narrow grotesque and geometric typefaces. Consequently, geometric forms, a clean design, letters with barely open forms, and diagonal terminals are also found in this new variant. In doing so, Akaki Razmadze succeeded in preserving the natural proportions and the myriad of subtle details characteristic of the Georgian script, while simultaneously creating a harmonious unity with the other alphabets.

A special feature is ‘Mtavruli’ (Georgian uppercase letters for all-caps setting), which were added to the Unicode standard a few years ago. Thanks to the case feature, these letters are readily available in almost every app.

Improved readability can also be achieved with this language extension using Pangea Text. With longer ascenders and descenders, more open forms, and a more generous spacing, this variant is recommended for longer texts, applications at small font sizes, and on screens.

As always, all registered users can download the newly expanded fonts free of charge via their Fontwerk account. For new customers, the price remains unchanged, with one important exception: thanks to our regional pricing, customers based in Georgia can purchase Pangea at a 58% discount. This approach aims to better reflect the realities of life in different regions (read more here). But that’s not all… additional Pangea languages, ​​serving hundreds of millions of people, will follow soon.

Our latest use case for McQueen really tops the charts for Cabaret Artist, Singer and TV Presenter, Ina Müller. The typeface takes center stage on the artwork for her latest album bringing clarity and confidence, so to us it’s no wonder that this album went straight to number one. ;)

Over the past two decades Ina Müller has become one defining personalities of German entertainment culture and is best known for her ARD late night show ‘Inas Nacht’. Last November, she released her most successful album to date, 6.0, which reached the top of the German charts.

McQueen combines contradictory principles: a strong contrast with ink-trap-like cuts and geometric architecture meaning that it is exceptionally legible, even in small print. For 6.0, McQueen proved to be the ideal choice. It stands out powerfully against the reduced, visual power of the imagery and works well both in the title sentence and in the paragraph text. Together, photography and text give the album artwork a timeless presence.

As the art director Sven Grot from the B—99 Agency says, ‘It was important to me to find a font that had something special and harmonized well with photography. When we realized during the process that we wanted to work exclusively with photos and text, an expressive font became more and more important.’

The final decision for the font landed on McQueen in Regular and Bold – not least because Ina Müller immediately fell in love with the design. ‘As always, she was right,’ said Grot. So, it’s no surprise that McQueen now also features on Ina’s website.

In our latest use case for Nikolai, the typeface travels to the Bay Area to support a burgeoning community for entrepreneurs. Based in the Bay Area, the Chingonas Collective supports Latina Entrepreneurs to grow, shine and connect. What began as a local initiative in Oakland has evolved into a transregional community that provides a platform for Latinas in one of the world’s most dynamic economic regions.

The Chingonas’ visual identity revolves around their collective strength and was designed by Sofia Llaguno, a Mexican Designer based in California. As the brand typeface, Llaguno chose Nikolai Condensed, a display typeface whose angular, striking forms embody exactly what the collective radiates: strength, aspiration and vitality.

Designed by Franziska Weitgruber, Nikolai is a modern serif with distinctive architecture and maximum typographic impact. It is the perfect fit for the Chingonas’, encapsulating the power, presence and energy of its members whilst still being warm and open. Nikolai is used throughout the identity, in the logo, across printed materials and merchandise and across their social media.

As Llaguno notes, ‘Through its clean, striking forms, Nikolai infuses Chingonas Collective’s visual communication with a sense of determination and ambition.’

Since 1946, the Type Directors Club has recognized outstanding achievements in type design worldwide. Their TDC Awards are among the most prestigious and coveted honors in our industry and many consider them to be the ultimate accolade.

Representing the best of the best, TDC Awards are presented those who clearly stand out from the crowd. Up until now, it was simply a matter of being crowned a winner of an award. But this year, for the first time ever, there is a gold, silver, and bronze award in each category.

What can we say? The Tausend Collection has won one of the first new TDC Type-High Awards in bronze, this is hot on the heels of the Hiiibrand Awards, the international ADC Awards, and the German ADC Awards. In the ‘Text + Display Typefaces’ category, Tausend was also named Judges’ Choice, which is the personal favorite entry for each competition judge. These tend to be some of the most exemplary works, but do not require unanimous approval.

Even though the ‘Audience Award’ remains the most important one for us, receiving recognition from the highest authority naturally feels incredibly good.

Once again, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to the two designers, Christoph Koeberlin and Gabriel Richter, for this thoroughly deserved recognition!