Fragile Self by Fragile Self artwork
From London-based design studio Barnbrook:
Studio members Jonathan Barnbrook and Anıl Aykan formed the band Fragile Self releasing their debut self-titled album in 2019 on vinyl, CD, and a 500-page book. One of the project’s main focus is to explore the almost mystical relationship between music and graphics. The CD version of the album has a unique package which features 3 postcards, a booklet of original photography and a unique package which folds out to be a poster or stands up on its own. A uniquely creative work.
The duo published their debut project in various forms, each with a custom design and cover, made to fit the format. The album was released through a record company created for this release: “The Deperson Society”. In all formats, the artwork combines custom portraits of Jonathan and Anil, imaginatively combined with found photographs and reproductions of twentieth-century artworks, printed in dim yet atmospheric shades of gray.
All typography uses a custom digitization of Florida named Fragile as the main typeface in all case, as the only typeface in some cases. The use of Florida (designed by Hans Möhring in ca. 1931) seems to be a reference to the movies of Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman, a “hallmark for the existential/philosophical relationship drama”, who used Florida for the opening titles of his movie Persona (1966).
See also a post from 2017 about the artwork preceding the album release.
Designer Anıl Aykan is one of the speakers about Alphabet Revolution, Typographic Revolution: The Process of Designing a Typeface for a Specific Language at Typographics 2021. Fonts In Use is proud to be a media partner of the conference. See more work by speakers of the 2021 edition.
