Solomiya magazine, Nº 2
Soлomiya magazine was founded in April 2022 by the two photographers Vsevolod Kazarin (Kyiv) and Sebastian Wells (Berlin), as a response to Russia’s war against Ukraine – соломія (solomiya) is Ukrainian for “peace”. Artists from both cities work together on the magazine, all driven by a desire to show the world what there is to defend in Ukraine. Developed in Kyiv and designed in Berlin, the magazine is a testimony to resistance through art.
The second edition of Soлomiya has recently been published and the art direction was once again led by the Berlin-based Kollektiv Scrollan. It was published by SHIFT BOOKS and is distributed by Readellion. After creating its own voice with the first edition of Soлomiya, in the second issue, the editorial team presents deeper insights into the everyday life of people in the war zone. The latest publication includes:
— Artworks created in Kherson during the Russian occupation
— Stories of Ukrainians who have had to flee the war twice – in 2014 and 2022
— The realities that Russia has been trying to silence for many years, and much more.
The distinctive logo and editorial texts have been set in Jan Fromm’s Nice Poster and Nice Text. As art director Anne-Lene Proff, part of the Scrollan collective, explains:
We chose Nice when there was no design and we had a blank page as the content was still being decided upon when we worked on the first issue. So we needed a typeface that was very flexible: with many weights, matching different headline fonts and something that left an impression. The serifs of Nice, especially in the bold weights, convinced us.
After the first edition – in the meantime, at the ADC Germany 2023 competition, awarded Gold for best magazine –, the design trio from Kollektiv Scrollan were so “thrilled with the smooth appearance of the typeface” that many Nice weights will be used again in the second edition: Nice Text Regular serves as a running script, Italic for awards, a photo series about the roofs of family homes works well with Nice Headline Light and Nice Text Black Italic plays a leading role in the names in the Polaroid section.
For display purposes, the über-flexible Theodor by Philipp Neumeyer is being used. It works great in the entire magazine and surprises in headlines, subheadings, as an initial, and even as an illustrative element.
A yet unidentified sans serif (seventh image) is used for small subheads.
