From Coca-Cola redesigning to Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam partnering with Duolingo to teach folks a foreign language via toilet paper, this past April in PRINT had it all. Oh, and Roxane Gay. She took part in our What Matters series from Debbie Millman.
That's why we've compiled our most popular articles from the past month, so you can catch them all here. So let's get cozy and click away.
Duolingo Brings Back Bathroom Reading with New Toilet Paper
"Language learning app Duolingo are no strangers to the time-for-two-toilet-timeout, as surely users of the service have busted out their phone to take a quick lesson from the platform. That's why they've teamed up with creative agency Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam and unveiled their latest learning innovation for those with little to no time."
– Rudy Sanchez
Read more here.
30+ Inspiring Pieces of Midcentury Print Design From the Excellent New “Design Reviewed”
"It started earnestly enough.
When he was completing his university studies in graphic design, the British designer Matt Lamont began collecting a few books. Nothing rare (yet)—just some Taschen tomes and contemporary titles.
But things took a turn at a newsstand that imported magazines in his hometown of Bradford (about 15 miles from Leeds).
“Magazines from America and Hong Kong in this tiny, little newsagent, was quite surreal,” he recalls. “And I just started buying them. And then, I kind of just got addicted.”
As is the case with most collections and obsessions, everything snowballed—and now Lamont sits atop a brilliant archive of some 4,000 pieces of historic design. Or rather, he sits in front of them, as he did on recent Zoom call."
-Zachary Petit
Read more here.
Coca-Cola Redesigns For First Time Since 2016
"Coca-Cola has released its latest design system across its Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, and Diet Coke brands. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Coca-Cola's in-house global design team has collaborated with the design firm Kenyon Weston on the rebranding."
-Chloe Gordon
Read more here.
Floyd Gets an Updated Typeface and Plenty of Hidden Details
"In 2017, Floyd and Order created the first custom type for the furnishing company, based on the hand-drawn signs found on abandoned buildings in Youngstown, Ohio. Order’s Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth designed Floyd Gothic in the spirit of the brand’s furniture, serving as a type that can be evolved and changed without being totally thrown out, repurposing old signs in a way in the same way a flat surface is turned into a table by a set of Floyd’s legs."
-Rudy Sanchez
Read more here.
Let The Typography Renaissance Begin: Monotype Unveils 2021 Type Trend Report
"You might not realize it, but we’re living in the midst of a type renaissance.
And, sure, maybe that feels a little hyperbolic, but the writing has literally been all the wall the past few years. Lucky for us, Monotype Studio just released their 2021 Type Trends Report, highlighting some of the biggest news and developments shaping the design and branding landscape. Identifying 11 trends, Monotype’s 40-plus team with over 600 years of experience walks designers through a typographic evolution that’s happening in an increasingly digitized world."
-Bill McCool
Read more here.
Top Five Collage Artists To Follow On Instagram
"Why is collage art evergreen? I'd say it was because growing up it was a way to create a unique amalgamation of our favorite images. In the days before Pinterest, when we had to cut pictures from magazines to save them individually for future inspiration, what else was there to do with the "scraps" than piece them together to create a masterpiece?"
– Chloe Gordon
Read more here.
Paula Scher and Pentagram Create A New Identity For The National Women's History Museum
"This new identity from Paula Scher and her team at Pentagram is just further proof that this is a contemporary history museum and will create a space for the future while still drawing connections from the past. The bold and geometric features in the logo design make a show-stopping wordmark that can appear strongly by itself or paired with any other marketing materials. For example, the new logo can be manipulated and changed in endless possibilities. The "W" for "Women" can be rotated to be an "M" for "Museum." Not only can this symbol be altered, but the color can also get modified. The shape can act as a frame for photographs and images about women and history, appear in a single flat color, host creative photographs to depict stories or create geometrical patterns. The options are endless, making for a profoundly dynamic branding system."
-Chloe Gordon
Read more here.
Rafael Serra's Logo Redesigns Perfectly Mesh the Retro and Futuristic
"Rafael Serra, also known as FAEL, is a type designer and lettering artist based in Portugal. In his most recent collection of works known as Lettering Series XXXIII, he showcases pieces created both for clients and as personal projects."
-Chloe Gordon
Read more here.
The Daily Heller: Stefan Sagmeister, Searcher-at-Large
"Even before Stefan Sagmeister retired from commercial practice, he was on a quest to learn and acquire knowledge. Every seven years he took a year-long "sabbatical" to investigate niches of life that he subsequently explained through performative design pieces using many media. Sagmeister often is himself the investigator, the investigated and, you might say, the experimental lab rat. In The Happy Film (2016), he is his own protagonist as he searches for bliss and undergoes the unforeseen results of unscripted evaluation; he is not afraid to put his body on the line and sets up three methods for himself to find happiness—meditation, therapy, and drugs."
– Steven Heller
Read more here.
What Matters: Roxane Gay
"My biggest regret is that I have spent so much of my time and energy mired in self-loathing. It’s unproductive but hard to pull yourself out of. I would have written like 20 more books with the energy I spent feeling so terrible about myself."
– Roxane Gay
Read more here.