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.

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Taking inspiration from typeface applications in conceptual art catalogs from the ’60s and ’70s, ROM’s proportions are wide and generous in caps, and narrow and elegant in lowercase.

ROM contains six subfamilies, seven weights, italics, and also comes as a variable font file.

I. Dig a hole in your garden & drop your thoughts inside. Let(’s) go.

origins

In true Dinamo style, Seb is a graphic designer first who makes fonts second. In search of a mature typeface in the spirit of Franklin Gothic, Bell Gothic, or Akzidenz-Grotesk for his own publishing projects — one with a complete weight range that he could use sparingly — Seb took to a blank page and started constructing ROM.

Below is inspiration from our joint archive.

II. Scroll for two epochs. Repeat. Do it again.

6 Widths

ROM features six subfamilies that flow gracefully from Compressed to Extended. Notice what happens to the O’s counter as it grows — shifting from diamond to rectangle to circle. It’s in these details that you can see ROM’s various influences and how they’ve been brought together under one variable roof.

7 Weights

Believe me, we tested nine weights plus but ultimately settled on the best of seven. What’s possible (more) isn’t always what’s best. 😤

III. Cut up this newsletter and let it get lost in the wind.

Vibe

ROM is ideal for amplifying messages in a powerful way. I think it works for a range of expressive applications too, especially in its extreme widths and weights. My tip would be to combine several widths of ROM in one, to create vibrant, rhythmic lettering!

IV. Reply to this message with seeds of any kind. Take note of what returns.

Alternates

ROM contains a thoughtful number of alternates, including a single story a, a schoolbook-style G, and a hook-nosed 1. Rounded punctuation departs from the source material for a friendlier feel.

Compact setting

A compact setting option as well as small caps allow for a variety of layouts. They’ll help you fit lots of information into condensed areas, or achieve extra visual punch if needed. It’s a nod to that era of designer who wanted their letters to be tight not touching.

MY LIFE IN CAPS LOCK!!!

Numbers

ROM’s character set contains a wide range of numerals, like superiors, inferiors, tabular numbers, and fractions.

V. Listen to the sound of your inbox emptying.

Early Use

ROM has already travelled some stretches, appearing on the many pages of OK-RM and James Taylor-Foster’s collaborative softspot project. The book contains a patchwork of prose, verse, and visual work that oscillate between the subjective and the objective; I enjoy how ROM’s voice helps shape the publication’s soft yet strong character. Published by InOtherWords.

ROM also caught the eye of Dan Solbach when he designed the catalog for Norwegian artist Ida Ekblad, titled Melted Snow and published by Kunsthalle Zürich.

I also like ROM Condensed and Narrow in this beautiful publication produced in close collaboration with conceptual artist Susan Morris and designed by Christopher Lawson. Made to accompany Morris’ six piece Jacquard tapestry installed in The Library and Study Centre at St John’s College, University of Oxford.

IV. Download the typeface. Use it where you can see the sky.

Campaign

Seb, generous as ever, gave our co-founder Johannes a first edition of Sol Lewitt’s Squares with Sides and Corners Torn Off for his [REDACTED] birthday, a full-circle-kinda-event that gave us the inspiration for the launch campaign of ROM.

We can’t wait to see what you do with it.

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.

THIS MONTH’S Contest

ROUND 4 Finalists

🏆🏆🏆

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

Studio Updates

PS

AAVVGG is a beautiful design store in Toronto, and its people reached out to us a while back for a bespoke Monument Grotesque. You can now buy AAVVGG Monument Grotesque through its webstore; I like how the team see our fonts as beautiful objects in their own right, something to sit next to chairs and coffee tables. Last Friday, creative director Chris Hanz interviewed Johannes over SMS. You can read the whole thing here.

• Has “world” replaced “moodboard” as branding’s buzzword? The New York Times thinks so.
• Set against a backdrop of contemporary geopolitics, new book La Maison du Délice is a romp through an art world filled with glamor and skulduggery. Design by Sam de Groot.
• Here’s why Twitter and TikTok won’t be replaced so easily, according to NPR.
• Check out this collection of calling cards of prominent artists and musicians in the late 20th century. Guess what typeface Oskar Schlemmer used for his 🤭
• Does tech criticism matter? Why the best tech writing should anticipate societal changes brought on by new technologies, make them legible to tech outsiders, and provide context for co-transformation.
• And what’s a Creative Director even for? SSENSE explores the CD in a landscape where two forces coexist. The first to constantly reinvent a brand. The second to make money.

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