Slanted magazine is considered one of the leading publications in the field of typography and graphic design and a benchmark for typographic innovation. Since its inception in 2005, it has made a name for itself by presenting avant-garde projects and in-depth essays. Inclusion in this renowned magazine is a sign of outstanding creativity and innovation. Contributions from the Communication Design course at Hof University of Applied Sciences are regularly featured with experimental projects, most recently in the special issue Experimental Type, which focuses on new and unconventional approaches in the field of typography.
The works from communication design are created in the field of tension between new digital technologies, new forms of production and graphic design.
Slanted Magazine Experimental Type 3 2025
The current issue features an experimental project by Prof. Michael Zöllner. This issue, developed in collaboration with students at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, explores innovative approaches in typography and graphic design. It invites you to cross boundaries and adopt new perspectives.
Unicode Spaces
When we look at a text and squint our eyes, we see random structures in the white space between the letters and words. Controlling and shaping this phenomenon was the aim of Michael Zöllner’s Unicode Spaces experiment, which was published in Experimental Type 3.
There are invisible characters in the UTF-8 Unicode character encoding standard: Hair Space (u 200a), Thin Space (u 2009), Punctuation Space (u 2008) and many more. In this experiment, the width of each invisible character in Javascript / CSS was measured to dynamically manipulate the kerning of individual characters in web pages. By analyzing the brightness of individual pixels of an image and inserting them at the corresponding lines and characters, image patterns are created in the text through white space and compression.
These experiments are mostly extracts from Prof. Michael Zöllner’s regular research work. Emerging technologies regularly create new possibilities in design. One of the aims of these experiments is to tap into these at an early stage, develop interactive tools and integrate them directly into teaching.
To Instagram…
To the website of Prof. Zöllner…
Slanted Fashion Type 2024
At the end of last year, a project by student Jelena Schüller was published in this issue. The issue explores the intersection of typography and fashion and presents works that break conventional design boundaries.
Fast Fashion Facts
Jelena Schüller developed a series of spatial information carriers in the seminar “Data Storytelling in Space” with Prof. Michael Zöllner. Information and facts about fast fashion are recorded, ironically, on a very common fast fashion item: the T-shirt.
A laser cutter is used to burn letters and shapes into the fabric, encouraging people to reflect on their consumption habits and highlighting the importance of sustainability. The process was developed in an experiment in the KD Makerspace to design surfaces using DIY methods.
To the project…
To Instagram…
Slanted Magazine #40 – Experimental Type / 2 (2022 / 2023)
In this publication all students of the seminar Interaction Design I / Digital Prototyping with Prof. Michael Zöllner were represented.
Typographic Cyborgs
The topics of 3D scanning, 3D printing and 3D modeling are taught in a playful way in this seminar in the Communication Design course. The students first design remixes of their bodies and letters (cyborgs) and themselves in a letter architecture. They then create a 3D scan of themselves in the sketched pose. Using the 3D software Blender, they combine their 3D likeness with typographic elements. For example, they replace body parts with parts of letters, extend the body with elements or vice versa. The result is a head as an i-dot, wings made of two large Bs or students rocking in an oversized Q.
The 3D models are then materialized again on 3D printers and photographed for documentation in the portfolio.
To Instagram…
Unknown Letters
The iconic cover by Peter Saville for the album “Unknown Pleasures” by the band Joy Division is a source of endless inspiration for remixes. Unknown Letters takes the stacked plot graph of a pulsar’s radio waves from the original and creates a line-based typography for pen plotters. Written in Processing’s p5js, the web-based tool translates type into horizontal Bezier curves. A series of sliders allows for a variety of variations in font size, line height, depth, blur and noise. The curves are then transferred to paper and wall by a pen plotter and a graffiti robot.
Communication design in Münchberg: a center for creative experimentation
The Communication Design course at Hof University of Applied Sciences in Münchberg places great emphasis on the combination of creative coding and graphic design. Students are encouraged to pursue innovative approaches and realize experimental projects that challenge traditional design concepts. The repeated recognition by Slanted magazine underlines the quality and relevance of the education in Münchberg.
