The Edit: five new projects including Ners by Mek

Each and every day, we're lucky to discover dozens of interesting and inspiring projects from around the world. From global identities and campaigns to side projects and independently published books, The Edit is home to five of them; every two weeks.

Ners (Armenian for ‘inside’) is a sustainability-driven interior design firm with a portfolio inspired by the urban environment of Yerevan, Armenia. Tasked with designing their visual identity, Melbourne-based design studio Mek (formerly Vertigo) developed a palette of colours, shapes and patterns from references including the pomegranate (one of Armenia’s national symbols), the dusky pink volcanic stone used to build many of Yerevan’s buildings and the geometry of the city’s street tiles. The typographic choices employed by the studio feel considered and fittingly elegant for Ners’ line of work; particularly the selection of Collletttivo’s Coconat for the wordmark. “We chose Coconat because it’s a beautiful evocation of ancient Armenian calligraphy and serifs,” explains Mek’s Creative Director Mirella Arapian; while the supporting choice of Love Letters’ Cotham Sans represents “the progressive nature of Yerevan as the world’s oldest modern city.” The typography, colours and patterns are complemented by the geometric motif of two semi-circles, which Arapian explains were “inspired by various Soviet-era brutalist and modernist architecture around Yerevan,” as well as the way Ners bring the exterior of the city of the inside of the home.

Published four times per year, DOMa is an architecture publication exploring the creative process behind architectural practice; utilising up to 24 pages at a time to show the details and extent of a single project. Commissioned to design the first two issues, Athens-based graphic design practice Nowhere Studio decided on an extra-large format in order to seamlessly showcase the contributing architects’ drawings, plans, photographs, prototypes and beyond. Each issue’s cover takes a primarily text free approach, instead depicting the floorplans of the buildings presented within. The blind-embossed DOMa wordmark takes a backseat to the shapes in the top-left corner, elegantly blending into colourful G . F Smith paper stocks that will change with each issue.

Created in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2016 by a group of childhood friends, Dream Mad Kidz is a streetwear brand inspired by hip-hop culture and the concept of making the most of what you have. ‘You are the size of your dreams’ is the brand’s motto, from which they develop all of their ideas for garments. Taking on the task of the brand’s visual identity, Brazillian designer Felipe Souza developed a concept around the scattered, disconnected nature of dreams. As a result, typography sporadically yet systematically interacts in a multitude of energetic layouts.

Disruptive Type is a virtual exhibition space created by Copenhagen-based designer Jonas Baun Andersen to showcase a variety of genre-bending type designs from emerging designers. Aiming to create a new community amongst type designers, the platform is an open platform for creation and collaboration; pushing the boundaries of what’s considered to be normal typography. “What is the purpose of a typeface that’s illegible?” Andersen asks from the perspective of type design’s ‘older generation,’ before concluding that when legibility is removed from the equation, “Expression!” becomes its purpose.

Disruptive Type is a virtual exhibition space and therefore accessible with a few clicks to anyone with a computer from anywhere in the world. For the first showcase, various letters have been extruded into virtually-enormous 3D sculptures. It’s designed as a ‘First Person Shooter’ game where the user can control and navigate with solely with a keyboard and mouse, resulting in an experience reminiscent of a playground.

Located on the outskirts of Melbourne, Mayfield is a clothing store offering a contemporary, curated and community-driven selection of Australian designer labels. Ashley Simonetto’s minimalist identity for the store lets its collection of clothing to speak for itself; with soft colours reflective of the nearby coastal surroundings combining with elegant sans serif typography, delicate print finishes and G . F Smith Colorplan papers. The typeface is Jonny Pinhorn’s Karla, which Simonetto explains “was chosen as it is a natural progression from the previous typeface used and encompasses the simplicity of the brand” due to its “rounded edges and contrasting weights.”