Typolyrics: The Sound of Fonts

Graphic designers love music. This is attested not least by the tremendous enthusiasm that readers of the typography magazine Slanted bring to its "Typo Lyrics" column, in which designers interpret music in entirely new ways with the help of fonts. For this publication of the same name, celebrated graphic designers like Fons Hickmann as well as talented young designers from all over the world have taken song lyrics and used them as the inspiration for innovative font designs. The result is a collection of fascinating visuals – "typographic images" that present contemporary fonts a little bit differently. The extraordinary interplay of type design and music brings the fonts to life and practically sets them dancing. In contrast to classical pattern books and font fans, this volume provides a special, more emotional experience of typography and illustrates the great expressive potential of typefaces. On analogy with the traditional classification of fonts, the book is organized into eleven chapters, each of which treats a particular font family and song lyrics from a particular musical style.

The magazine Slanted, which is published and designed by MAGMA Brand Design in Karlsruhe, combines a focus on typography with other creative disciplines such as design, illustration, and photography. It has already been honored in numerous ways – most recently with the red dot award communication design and recognition from the TDC, the ADC, ADC of Europe, and the European Design Awards. In 2009, it also received the Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany) silver award. In addition to the magazine, which is published four times a year, the blog www.slanted.de offers up-to-date news and information on typographic subjects.