German Typography Mag Slanted Focuses On Stencil Type

SLANTED is a German weblog focusing on typography and design. Founded in 2004, it has grown into an important design portal and discussion forum in the German-speaking area. Slanted generates two million clicks per month. Since 2005 the weblog has a paper companion – the typography magazine of the same name is published quarterly and covers besides typography also graphic design, illustration, and photography. With a print run of 10,000 copies, it is available through the Slanted website, Amazon, and in selected stores worldwide. The magazine tackles the material more thoroughly and in greater detail. Texts are printed in the native languages of the authors/designers, which is half German, half English, largely depending on whom is taking part. Sometimes the magazine even runs articles in French, but rarely. Both blog and magazine stimulate and foster debate about the experimental aspects of the topics they cover. It also encourages seeing them in a different light, learning more about them, and reflecting upon them in new ways.

Stencil. Type., the latest edition of Slanted – #9, Winter 2009/10 – centers on stencil type. It looks at stencil fonts and their modern applications in an effort to produce evidence that their peculiar aesthetics are often misjudged. The issue showcases the innovative work of Gavillet & Rust and their Optimo foundry (Geneva), the large format paintings of Christopher Wool (New York), an impressive photographic essay from Afghanistan by François Fleury (Paris), and many more. The sections “Font Labels, Fonts & Families”, “Font Names Illustrated”, and “Typolyrics” introduce contemporary fonts and designers from all over the world, followed by interviews with John Boardley, Kouga Hirano, and Chip Kidd, and an interesting type essay by Hannes von Döhren. Furthermore Slanted Magazine presents numerous stencil designs by professional designers and students alike (Hauser, Schwarz, Mind Design, Ko Sliggers, Autobahn, etc.).

The section divider pages are adorned with Hubert Jocham’s display face NeoParts S9 exclusively created for this issue. Slanted readers can obtain this brand new typeface for free. As was the case with the previous issue #8, the cover is wrapped in a poster – the third one in a series of four. When put in sequence, by the end of the series the posters will create a sentence. The first word was “PORN”, followed by “4″, and “TYPE” is the third part of the puzzle.

Two new sections have been added to the Slanted weblog. Interesting publications that were featured on the blog can be purchased in the Shop. As a result of intensive negotiations with publishing houses Slanted are able to offer the same prices as the Amazon marketplace in Germany. The other new section is the Slanted typography Portfolio. For the single price of €15 (in Germany; €18 for abroad) users can present their favourite typographic projects or new fonts to other designers. The subscription includes a copy a Slanted magazine of one’s choice and allows the user to upload as many projects as he/she likes at any time.

Most of the first five issues of Slanted Magazine – which are unfortunately sold out – have been compiled in Typeviews/Slanted Interviews. Since 2004 Slanted has interviewed over 100 designers from all over the world, and 61 of those interviews have been collected in a 322 page compendium. It features articles in both German and English, and is available as softcover as well as hardback.

Slanted is published by MAGMA Brand Design from Karlsruhe, Germany, who are also responsible for Typodarium, the first typographic tear-off calendar showcasing a new type design for every day.

And for those who are fans of stencil typography, FontShop has compiled a series of FontLists with stencil faces:

• Stencil: Sans Serif
• Stencil: Slab Serif
• Stencil: Serif
• Stencil: Display
• Distressed: Stencil

Tags: Germany, magazine, Slanted, stencil type