Edition Moderne

Founded in 1981, Edition Moderne is the oldest independent comic publisher in the German-speaking world and the only one in German-speaking Switzerland. In 2019, graphic designers Julia Marti and Claudio Barandun took over the baton, and introduced a new visual identity.

The logotype is set in Proto Grotesk. This “beast” (André Mora) by Production Type also serves as one of the two typefaces in the wider identity. It’s used for the website, the biannual previews in newspaper format (photos by Anne Morgenstern), and other materials. There it takes turns with Livory AS. The first serif designed by Aurèle Sack of LL Brown fame, it was released in 2023 with Lineto as LL Ivory.

For the design of Proto Grotesk, Jean-Baptiste Levée found inspiration in faces like Breite halbfette Grotesque. Shown by the Bauer & Co foundry in Germany in 1883, this raw sans has roots in early American Gothics. Sack, in turn, cites “19th century wood type and poster fonts of American origin” as the main influences for Ivory. No wonder the two typefaces go along so well. Both Ivory and Proto Grotesk exhibit a strong contrast and some eccentric details. They’re not stuck in nostalgia, though, and make for a mix that suits the contemporary, funny, and at times cheeky program of Edition Moderne quite well.

As of 2024, the publishing house is managed by Julia Marti and Marie-France Lombardo and maintains its focus on comics, graphic novels, and humor.