Cellophane magazine, issue 02 “In Tension”

Cellophane is a new independent magazine designed by master students at Designskolen Kolding. The magazine transmits a critical voice and experimental approach of the students, creating an alternative to publications produced by the institution. Seeing from its name, Cellophane represents the values of transparency and diversity in the thoughts and content, created entirely by students of different study lines and cultures.

The second issue of Cellophane was released in June 2019 entitled “In Tension”. The title refers to the state of being stretched and the feeling of mental and emotional strain.
Tension is also the feeling of knowing that something life-changing is about to happen, without knowing what and when. Having these ideas in mind, writers, illustrators and designers work together to tailor the contents of Cellophane.

The theme of tension is pervasive in the articles but it is interpreted in many different ways according to the sensibility of each contributor. From the tensions that are deep-rooted in ‘dark play’ to the problems related to climate change and the impact that it will have on our lives. The tension between the digital and the real, the immaterial and the material, the future and the present are all collected inside the latest issue of Cellophane.

In every issue the aim is to find fonts that represent the “zeitgeist” and the chosen topic, for this reason we focus on freshly released fonts or hidden gems we consider valuable to share with our readers. Along with the two font that are always present in Cellophane (Aktiv Grotesk and Space Mono), this time we decided to use multiple fonts to show the diversity of the design team that worked on the layout. The chosen fonts are very different: we used Pilowlava, a new font from Velvetyne, that gives a fresh touch to the mag with its crazy shapes. We also used an experimental (and not yet completed) font such as 1,617 by Leonardo Tavares alongside some of the beautiful fonts designed by the Italian group Collletttivo: Messapia and Ortica. The challenge in combining a big variety of fonts is to maintain consistency, for this reason we mostly focused on black and white in order to give a strong identity to the whole magazine.