Type Mafia
Hi! I’m Gerben Dollen, smart capo at @TypeMafia. I really enjoy sharing my on- and offline observations. Every now and then I write my musings on design, typography in particular, and other interesting things I come across.
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Actium Cyrillic: a different approach for strokes below the baseline.
Last year Type Mafia focussed on new territories. We designed Cyrillic alphabets, the script for writing languages such as Russian, Serbian and Bosnian. It looks like с новым годом. If it pairs well with, say, the Latin counterpart, like they could be twins, …
Why simple typographic title sequences work
I never watch science fiction horror, but the opening titles (and theme song) of Stranger Things really sucked me into watching this great series. As today marks the darkest day of the year, the upcoming holiday season makes a perfect timing for an intense ma…
The end of the Amsterdam’s curly letter 😢
I have a rather sad story to tell you this week. Lately I passed café De Doofpot at the Amstelveenseweg and some renovations about to happen immediately caught my attention. I’m not talking about some minor issues like painting frames, but some serious works …
What makes you click?
I had no idea I was standing next to a piece of history when I visited the Buchstabenmuseum in Berlin last summer. AEG’s new logo might be a fine piece of typography, however, I find the oldie a lot more distinctive and personal. What do you think? Shame, no?
Why responsive typography is necessary
Relearned that you can make something look like fluorescent by cleverly choosing the right surrounding colours. Thanks for this reminder, Emil Nolde, your exhibition at the infamous Brücke Museum is awesome. Below a couple of images showing what else I liked …
Type Mafia — Issue #4
Summer is great for leaving the comfort zone and seeing things in the wild. Offline. I love cruising my bike out of town through the country side to the coast and bump into type or else that I otherwise wouldn’t encounter. Next to this, I took the train to Fr…
Issue #3 — Beijing
New week, new city! From Hong Kong we flew to selfie(stick) nation number one and touched down in Beijing. Visually less spectacular but interesting for other reasons. Although it seems they can produce everything, it all looks dated crap. From the subway to …
Issue #2 — Hong Kong
Spent an intense week in Hong Kong, fully packed with offline amusement. The city of blinding lights is an interesting mix of labyrinths connecting sidewalks with boring shopping malls, immense tall wet alleys, some art deco(ish) architecture, urban jungles w…
Issue #1 — Let's go crazy
Okay, let's try something new. An entertaining and short mailing digest about all the beauties (and beasts) that catches my attention on the go. Sounds good? Let me know. I'm as much excited as nervous to see where this is going to. Currently I'm in Hong Kong…