Kasper Florio—Atypical Visual Analysis

051- /36 /37 Prix Meret Oppenheim 2017 Thickest Waters Bundesamt für Kultur BAK Elyn-Wassily Catalogue Songbook /36 /37

-052 /38 KALEIDOSCOPE, Issue 36/SS20 KALEIDOSCOPE Art direction and design

053- /38 Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

-054 Marginal area: - Head, tail, fore edge and back edge information - Chapter/Section number - Marginal notes - Folio/Page number Left/right/centered Hang on the first/last line placement of the head/ of the back edge/fore tail of the page, which is edge of the page, which is a common placement of to create a more playful page number composition, extending the first/last line of type area beyond the margin Caption treatment: /39 - Small type size and usually right below /40 the image with little space gap (gutter) in between. /41 - Caption area and image /42 area are separately divided and are linked by assigned numerical figures /43 - Unusual alignment location in relation to /44 the position of the image Cover treatment: The use of blank white space cover is applied almost throughout their work I/ In-Depth Personal 03/ Texts/Paragraphs/ Visual Analysis Body Texts/

055- /39 /40 Werkschau Thurgau 16 Kulturstiftung des Kantons Thurgau Poster /39

-056 /41 /42 Jiří Makovec – From… To… Jiří Makovec, Jungle Books Artist’s book /40 /41 /42

057- The image caption is shown into what seems to be an index linked to the page number where the respective images are situating.

-058 /43 /44 Architektur Forum Ostschweiz Edition 2018 Architektur Forum Ostschweiz Book /43

059- Reading flow: ↓ → /44 -Kasper -Florio-

04 -060 Grid/General Layout/ When talking about Swiss Graphic, the grid system has /47 been and always will be the innermost core founda- tion for this particular design movement, a legacy Asymmetrical: bequeathed to not just designers in Switzerland but also around the globe. Kasper Florio is also among the This practice is used present-day designer generation continuing to preserve less often than the other this tradition of Swiss heritage and applying it into their one, but still marks its workflow. The 80s Grid aesthetics is still presented in outstanding appearance. every of their projects not just publication, as their pow- erful and principal instrument to solve visual problems in a time-saving and logical fashion. There are several noticeable common guidelines in the way the Grid is practiced across Kasper Florio's work: /45 - The studio always makes excellent use of the 2/3 column-grid system. - Besides 2 and 3, multiples of 2 or 3 (4,6,8,9,12,...) is also used as the column number for their grid system. - The orientation of left page type area in relation to right page: /46 Symmetrical: With a wide back margin and a narrow fore edge, this practice is observed being used for a book design with voluminous content, which prevents difficulties while reading created by the convexity when the book opens . - The use of white space is widely and pro- foundly taken advantage to enhance the composition. /48 - Some pages in a consistent /49 grid system in a single publica- tion will break the grid to avoid monotonous repetition and create a more interesting and playful publication I/ In-Depth Personal 04/ Grid/General Visual Analysis Layout/

061- /45 Nachtschicht 12 Kunstverein St.Gallen Flyer /45

062- /46 The good life Iñaki Ábalos, Park Books Architecture book /46 /Symmetrical

063- /47 Labics – Structures Labics, Park Books Monograph /47 /Asymmetrical

064- /48 /49 Saiten Ostschweizer Kulturmagazin, Redesign Saiten Verlag Magazine /48

065- /49 Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

05-066 Images/Pictorial/Illustrated Elements/ When working with art practitioners from various fields, especially in photography, images or pictorial elements are also considered as equally impactful as typographi- cal elements, which require meticulous attention to detail. The arrangement of pictures have to be optimized and balanced with the text in order to provide the best experi- ence to the readers. I categorize some perceptible image treatments by Kasper Florio into 2 categories: Internal & External. Internal treatment (treatments that alter the Half-tone structure of an image): effect - Computationally-generated texture Chromatic applied on image: texture /50 /51 /52 /53 Image /54 color inversion /55 Plastic Wrap /56 BnW dot shading - Color scheme: usually grayscale color. I/ In-Depth Personal 05/ Images/Pictorial/ Visual Analysis Illustrated Elements/

067- /50 /51 PRCueblsuleibcaa6rtc8iohnproject /50 /51 Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

-068 Issue 36/SS20, Mowalola /52 design /K5KAA2ArLtLEdEIiIrDDeOcOtSSioCCnOOaPPnEEd, I/ In-Depth Personal 05/ Images/Pictorial/ Visual Analysis Illustrated Elements/

069- /N5Ka3ucnhsttsvecrheicinhSt t1.G2allen /W5KP4euorlstkutserscrthifatuunTghduersgaKuan16tons Thurgau Flyer /54 /53 Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

-070 /55 CSSoaavitieetrennVOersltasgchweizer Kulturmagazin, Nr. 273 /55 I/ In-Depth Personal 05/ Images/Pictorial/ Visual Analysis Illustrated Elements/

071- /56 Saiten Ostschweizer Kulturmagazin, Redesign Saiten Verlag Magazine /56 Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

-072 External treatment (treatments that deal with the Suggesting supergraphics placement of an image within an overall layout): Single image for a whole blank page/ /57 - Image overflowing to the other page spread, which creates a visual /58 - Collage-like arrangement concentration on the image itself /59 - Scaled to a full page/spread The image under acts as a supplementary /60 - Use the image as a texture/pattern graphic element (usually for background or book cover) Multiple images (with the same size /61 - Small marginal images occupying the equal amount of space), /62 - Surrounded by full bank white space which create consistency and visual harmony /63 - Gradually decreasing images’ size, which create a progressive rhythm /64 - Set as a background for text (usually titles/headings) /65 - Images overlapped onto each other /66 - Type area is put on the left page and /67 images are for the right page /68 - Images bound and wrap text box/type area /69 - Systematic arrangement with grid aesthetics I/ In-Depth Personal 05/ Images/Pictorial/ Visual Analysis Illustrated Elements/

AKKr/At5AdL7LiEr E/eII5DcD8tOiOo SnSCCaOnO/Pd6PE3Ed e, sIsigsnue /64 /68 073- 36/SS20 PFCu/u5bhnla9dicl a/caz6htiiu2oennraN–aiKrsa,lMk yinriaTmranGsaflolor,mCahtriiosntof Rösch /57 /59 /58 Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

-074 /L6LaM1abobiniccossg,–rPaSaptrhrkuBctouorkess /S6SaM0aiaitteegnnazOVinesertlsacghweizer Kulturmagazin /61 /60 /63 /62 05/ Images/Pictorial/ I/ In-Depth Personal Illustrated Elements/ Visual Analysis

/M6WMA5icarichtriharsiateo’eslrlBbDBoorodoadkegenonmnmaannnn,–JRunegseleaBrcohokfsor Peace Love 075- /64 /65 -Kasper Reading flow: ↓ → -Florio-

-076 AARr/rc6achhu6itim te/ec6kZt7tuuerrietFbKoouroultkmurOstschweiz /66 /67 /68 I/ In-Depth Personal 05/ Images/Pictorial/ Visual Analysis Illustrated Elements/

077- /69 Katalin Deér – Verde Katalin Deér, Jungle Books Artist book /69 Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

06 -078 Graphic Elements Other than typographical and pictorial elements, graphic elements are an inevitable factor in the way it helps enhance the visual identity of the publication as well as to aid the functionality of practical reading. The usage of graphic elements within the working discipline of Kasper Florio can be broken down as follows. Computational graphic elements (like vector) usually have some attributes (and/or): - Grayscale/Monochrome color scheme /70 - Simplified visual expression /71 - Abstract shapes including both geometric /72 and organic ones The shape is clearly shown to be created in a way that simulates mathematical and scientific methods. /73 - Various treatments, foremost examples include repetition, rhythm or overlapping Notice how the background is filled with the pattern of letterform shape and triangle shapes Analogue graphic elements (Scanned Texture/ All of this is to create a stimulating Pattern) usually have some attributes (and/or): synthetic look to compensate for the /74 - Abstract horizontal lines are overlapped tiresome content which is full of tiny words. onto one another like those of a faulty digital screen, tv or computer /75 - Ink Stain I/ In-Depth Personal 06/ Graphic Elements Visual Analysis

079- /70 !Mediengruppe Bitnik / Christian Waldvogel Helmhaus Zürich Exhibition identity /70

080- /72 /71 Molecules Tribute to Phife Dawg Gamut Kollektiv Brick Magazine Album artwork Editorial contribution /71 /72

081- /73 Fredrik Værslev – Tan Lines Kunst Halle St.Gallen, Bonner Kunstverein, Fondazione Giuliani Rome Artist’s book /73

082- /74 Nachtschicht 19 Kunstverein St.Gallen Invitation card /74

083- /75 Nachtschicht 18, Good Life Books Kunstverein St.Gallen Invitation card /75 Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

07 -084 Printing & Finishing Apart from screen-based work, to deliver the finished Silver, black and white on Acrystal cast, foil product to the clients, Kasper Florio also has to take into consideration the physical qualities since what matters cardboard embossing the most about publication at first sight is the feeling of holding and touching the book by bare hand. In this case, the studio has explored and experimented on a variety of technical approaches as shown below: Offset and silkscreen on Brochure with clear film film jacket Offset, digital print, Silver and black on adhesive tape Chromolux Softcover with dust jacket ... I/ In-Depth Personal 07/ Printing & Finishing Visual Analysis

085- Inside-out hardcover Hardbound Offset, blind embossing Hardcover, wire-stitched Paperback with flaps Offset, UV varnish Flexbook Offset, blind embossing Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

-086 II/Interview For this part, I will try to include some with secondary-data-analysis-method research Kasper from some interviews of the studio done Florio by various international art-intensive magazines like Designboom, AIGA Eye on Design, etc II/ Interview with Kasper Florio

087- Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

Kasper-Florio01 -088 Designboom Kasper Florio Interview. Design Boom Speaker: Please could you tell us briefly about the evolution of your studio? We met about twelve years ago while we were doing apprenticeships, rosario as a typographer and larissa as a graphic designer. Then we both started studying graphic design in different places and during that time we started collaborating on projects which helped us develop our working process. Is kasper-florio just the two of you? Yes, currently it’s the two of us working at our studio but we share a big office space with a couple of friends and fellow designers. How would you describe your work to someone who hasn’t seen it before? Simplicity is an important approach of our work. The abstraction and simplicity of elements, forms and language evoke different associations for every viewer, which we find particularly interesting. We like this very direct yet open way of communication. We put a lot of dedication and diligence in the execution of the typographical layout, which for us should reflect in the quality of a work. II/ Interview with 01/ Designboom Kasper Kasper Florio Florio Interview

089- Design Boom :Speaker Kasper-Florio Is there a particular project you’ve worked on that you enjoyed more than others? Most of all the redesign and art direction of the monthly published cultural magazine ‘saiten’, in collaboration with our studio mate samuel bänziger (bänziger hug). What would be your ideal client or project be? We like to push our boundaries and develop ourselves and our skills. To do commissioned work with these goals you need an open-minded client with the same ideas and ambitions. Any client with those attributes could be the ideal one. How do you think the popularity of online design resources has influenced design being produced today? It has a big influence on contemporary design and its exchange. Both in a good and bad way. For young studios like us, located in a really small city, it can provide a good opportunity to reach a lot of people worldwide and in the best way being seen by potential clients. One of our biggest commissions happened through the publication of our work in an online journal. It can encourage you and make you aware of the wide and versatile development of design history, but it can also narrow your search for new and original solutions. Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

-090 Speaker: Kasper-Florio Design Boom How did you end up working on the type of projects you work on now? Being firmly anchored in the cultural activities in and around st. Gallen brought us into contact with interesting people and projects over the past years. As our portfolio and exposure has grown new opportunities have followed such as commis- sions in austria, germany, italy, england and france. How do you share your workload between each other? We usually work together right from the beginning of a new project. The starting ritual is set by a big discussion about the problem we have to solve, which hopefully results in finding the right questions and the right solution. It’s always a back and forth between thoughts that join together and lead us to a result. What is the attraction of designing identities for you? Building systems that need to to work across a variety of applications. A system with a simple but clever set of elements and that can produce interesting compositions. Like karl gerstner said: ‘the highest amount of constants with the greatest possible variability.’ What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given? You should do it in black and white. What is the worst piece of advice you have ever been given? Did you try it in that friendly tone of pink yet? II/ Interview with 01/ Designboom Kasper Kasper Florio Florio Interview

091- AIGA :Speaker Design Boom Do you prefer print to screen-based work? It’s always a question of finding the right way and medium to communicate what you need. We’re very intrigued by the physical quali- ties of the printed matter but at the same time we don’t want to miss the knowledge and possibilities of the digital world and its new ways of commu- nication. Screen-based work is part of almost all our projects but mostly as an addition to the printed communication. Do you think it’s important for a graphic designer to be able to draw? Definitely. While drawing you learn to look really carefully at the things surrounding you and all their details. Whether it’s the strange shape of your teach- ers eyebrows, the coloured pattern of your cat’s fur or the number of petals on a flower. This kind of intense and frequent observation is very important in our work and it increases our curiosi- ty. It may be more about the practice than how good or talented you actually are at drawing. Our work is strongly typographic but the ability to draw something to explain yourself is very needful in our collaboration, even if our drawing skills are not amazing. Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

02 -092 AIGA Eye on Design Kasper Florio Interview. Even the most cursory glance through Kasper-Florio’s mainly monochrome portfolio would indicate that this is graphic design of a particular heritage. The crisp letter- Kasper-Florio Speaker: AIGA forms and pared-back approach to layout scream “Swiss” before you even learn where they’re based (St. Galen) or their recent How would you describe your style? appearances (Swiss Style Our work is often described as “Swiss,” Now, at the The Cooper “monochrome,” and Union in New York). But as “abstract.” Reduction and with their peers in the exhi- abstraction are clearly bition, the infuriatingly tal- among our main interests ented and attractive duo’s while searching for visual work doesn’t merely ped- expression. In all our dle the traditions of yore, projects typography comes but moves them into a dis- in right at the beginning and tinctly contemporary field. language itself can already be seen as an abstraction of images. The use of a reduced color palette and the highest possible contrast with black and white are for us another form of abstraction and a method of filtering and concentrating information Kasper-Florio was founded by Larissa Kasper and Rosario Florio in 2013, and its main work comes from clients in the fields of culture, art, fash- ion, and music. The duo has so far been featured in weighty graphics tomes in- cluding Unit Editions’ Type Only and Type Plus, Los Logos 6, and This Is Paper. II/ Interview with 02/ AIGA Eye on Design Kasper Florio Kasper Florio Interview

093-AIGA Kasper-Florio :Speaker Do you see your work as typically Swiss? We’re surely influenced by our daily environ- ment, the Swiss culture in general and its heritage and tradition in graphic design. Many of the timeless and functional solutions of the pioneers of the International Style are still to be experienced every day—like when you run to the station to catch a train and Josef Müller-Brockmann’s SBB departure panel is clattering wildly switching the times to tell that you missed it. What other designers and studios do you admire? There are many designers and studios we appreciate a lot. Most of them not only because of their work, but also because of their attitude, their consistent quality, their courage, and their original methodology. Not only the great masters like Armin Hofmann or Wolfgang Weingart, we also love to observe that every year young students come out with powerful, unexpected work. Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

Kasper-Florio-094 AIGA Speaker: What was it like being featured in the Swiss Style Now show? We feel honored to be part of such a carefully conceived exhi- bition, and to see our work right next to the work of people we look up to—our teachers and friends. It was very special. Friends sent us pictures from the opening, but also people we never met before. Having our work presented to such a big audience felt very flattering. To actually walk through the hall during a trip in NYC was curious after having seen everything virtually. But this is what we find particularly striking about the exhibition—that you can put your hands on all the works, flick through the publications, feel their weight, paper, and printing. II/ Interview with 02/ AIGA Eye on Design Kasper Florio Kasper Florio Interview

095-AIGA Kasper-Florio :Speaker What are you working on at the moment? Our biggest ongoing project is our publishing house, Jungle Books, which we founded together with studio Bänziger Hug one year ago. We all became interested in the direct discourse with art- ists and the origination of ideas emerging from joint conversa- tions and observations. Over time we started to approach artists whose work we found fascinating and exciting, to find a possible translation into the medium of the book. To create a material space for a personal and almost intimate fascination was our motiva- tion to become publishers. Currently we are planning the launch of two new publica- tions with Swiss artists Jiajia Zhang and Valentina Stieger. Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

Kasper-Florio03 -096 Ligature Kasper Florio Interview. Ligature Speaker: Hello Larissa and Rosario, how are you? Hi. We feel good today. Thanks. Can you introduce yourselves? We are Larissa Kasper and Rosari Florio from St.Gallen, Switzerland. Together we form the studio Kasper-Florio, working in the fields of graphic design, typography and art direction. How do you work together? We usually work together right from the beginning of a new project. The start is set by a big discussion about the problem we have to solve, which hopefully results in finding the right questions and the right solution. It’s always a back and forth between thoughts, ideas and aesthetics that join together and lead us to a result. Where does your interest in graphic design come from? We both liked drawing and writing when we were kids and knew very early that we want to have a profession which was challenging in a creative and artistic way. II/ Interview with 03/ Ligature Kasper Kasper Florio Florio Interview

097- Aaßb©cĐ∂ÆeFff:Speaker Typography is a core tool of your work. Are you thinking of creating your own typeface? Ligature Definitely. It is both interesting and challeng- ing to create a typeface while Kasper-Florio having an imagination of how you could use it in your own design. At the same time we imagine it very nice seeing your own typeface used in a surprising way by some col- leagues. We did our first steps in type design while working on a lettering for an identity. As the process got more and more evolving we completed the main character set result- ing in a simple display cut. At the same time we did some experiments with tweaking (or mutilating) existing typefac- es, like a variation of Futura, which has been used for WAX magazine. We were eager to explore this field more and started drawing from scratch. Our first typeface “Monu- ment Grotesk” is based on a little research on old English grotesques with a high vertical contrast. During the last year we’ve regularly worked on the main characters but there is still a long route to go. The aim is to finally expand it to a little family with an italic and bold cut at a later stage. Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

-098 Kasper-Florio Ligature Speaker: Helmut Schmid said that \"typography is black and white since black and white represents truth\". Is your philosophy of aesthetic the same? During the working process we’re usually first focused on content and composition. Every color transmits certain emotions, which in turn have an effect on the message. To us sim- plicity and abstraction help transmitting this message in a very direct yet open way, while color is something very subjective. Everyone has different associations seeing for example a green square. One is reminded of the coat of his grandma, the other of the peas he was forced to eat as a kid. It can be easy or very hard to work with colors. We’re more interest- ed in observing and finding out how the different content can be stripped down to its most important information through a specific com- position of letters, forms, shapes and contrasts. How far can we go in abstrac- tion? Using black and white or a greyscale can help you making very precise decisions in those contrasts. II/ Interview with 03/ Ligature Kasper Kasper Florio Florio Interview

099- Ligature :Speaker Kasper-Florio A-Typical Plan, the book you designed with Samuel Bänziger was selected as one of The Most Beautiful Swiss Books of the year 2013. Can you tell us more about the project? About one and a half years ago Bänziger Hug got commissioned with this project and asked us to col- laborate. The result is a 202 pages softcover book in the size of 190x285mm. It shows projects and essays on the architecture of open-plan of- fices, edited by Jeannette Kuo and her studio at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). The title im- age of the publication is a pho- tography of the Gallery of Pal- aeontology and Comparative Anatomy in the Natural History Museum in Paris. It represents the reference of Jeannette Kuo’s studies to precise the structures of the internal. This exposure of the structures was also the basis of our editorial concept. The clear structure in four parts becomes already visible on the jacket by the table of contents on the back cover. We reinforce these contextual structures visually using the atypical font size ra- tios for the individual types of text such as the introduction, project descriptions, essays and the colophon. The chapter pages and tables of content on the inside reference the back cover regarding position and form. The design grid on Reading flow: ↓ → -Kasper -Florio-

Kasper-Florio-100 Ligature Speaker: which the entire book is based, offers a lot of lee- way for structuring these different types of text. Is there any designer you appreciate a lot? There are many we appreciate. Most of them ot only because of their work, but also because of their attitude, their consist- ent quality, their courage, their personal aesthetic and their original methodology. Which books are on your bedside tables? – “Jenseits der Schön- heit” by Georg Simmel. – “Matisse begegnet Berg- son” by Lorenz Dittmann. – “Die Kunst des Bücher- liebens” by Umberto Eco. II/ Interview with 03/ Ligature Kasper Kasper Florio Florio Interview