Welcome to the latest issue of our newsletter, where I’ll continue to share the latest ongoings at the studio. Take a look at our our archive.

Was this forwarded to you? Sign up now! (*◠‿◠)

As a future-facing institution that stands for newness and difference, Maxi’s playful forms feel like a great partner for the ICA.

Chris asked us to tone down four key characters for his design: M, N, S, and g. This keeps the vibe of Maxi alive but lets other branding elements — like logo and photography — take centre stage.

The Customization

Maxi is a warm type system of spaghetti movements and angular strokes. Its underlying skeleton references mid-century and post modern Swiss design.

For ICA Maxi, we streamlined a couple of especially loud moments in the typeface, so that it could work in the broad range of contexts needed for the art and culture institution. We smoothed the bottom angles on the uppercase S and firmed up the corners of the uppercase M and N. Overall, the flavor of the font family is retained. But everything feels a little bit simpler.

We also created a single-story g to replace our standard binocular version. We think it lends the typeface a cleaner, more direct feel.

Weights

The ICA uses ICA Maxi in three weights: Light, Normal, and Bold. So we added three weights to our custom characters, pumping up the rounded corners and thinning them out to complete both sides of the spectrum.

Bespoke Name

To help the ICA’s in-house designers keep track of their font files, we gave the new typeface a bespoke name: ICA Maxi. With the prefix “ICA” added to the font, it’s easy for everyone to find the correct files.

Font Pairing

We recommended our Diatype typeface as a solid pair for Maxi. The text friendly grotesque is warm and sharp, ideal for reading on screen. And we think its honest, raw shapes match nicely with similarly honest Maxi. The ICA uses Diatype across its identity for body copy.

A Note from the AD

Thank you Chris! And to designer Beatriz Cóias and creatives Rebecca Lewis and David Kolbusz. We feel truly blessed to see Maxi become the face of this world-renowned culture centre.

Walter Caption Contest

In each issue of The Dinamo Update, we provide a new Walter cartoon in need of a caption. You, the reader, can submit your caption by responding to this email or by commenting on our caption contest IG post. The best three responses win the complete Walter Alte.

Scroll on for the last round’s winners — as well as the new contest.

Walter Caption Contest

Round 5 Finalists

🏆🏆🏆

Congratulations to our winners. Your files of Alte Walter are on their way!

Studio Updates

PS

Dearest Seb talked type design and education with Fontstand. Specifically his interest in an “alternative pathway that is not necessarily deeply rooted in academic history and builds out of personal interest + curiosity.” We’re proud to have him in our orbit ♡

• I’ve been enjoying the new Type Media graduation mini-site. Very happy that graduate Boom, Promphan Suksumek will be designing our Diatype Thai next.
• How well do you know your Gregg-isms? This way for the ultimate Succession quiz.
• Why so many bathrooms on Selling Sunset? Curbed has an idea.
• If you’re in New York, don’t miss Signals: How Video Transformed the World at MoMA. Uses Oracle on the walls.
• Common Imprint just opened in Berlin, a reading room initiated by my good friends at The Book Society in Seoul. Features over 300 publications from all across Asia.
• Anyone else noticed people using the finger claw method for general phone browsing?
• “A performance artist’s take on a writer”: Caroline Calloway is back.

Thank you for checking in with the latest issue of The Dinamo Update. You can read all of the back issues in our archive.

Love,
Dinamo