The Circular Magazine : The Typographic Circle

The latest issue of Circular, the magazine of the Typographic Circle, is out now. The ninth consecutive issue designed by Domenic Lippa and his team, it is the first to dispense completely with editorial typography.

Lippa has had a long standing relationship with the Typographic Circle, serving on the committee for many years and also as its chair. Unlike some other organisations, the Typographic Circle prides itself on providing a platform for a number of voices rather than promoting a single view. This means that the task of designing a magazine for all these disparate voices can prove hard. For this reason, Lippa has always wanted to create an issue containing no typography, allowing the work to speak for itself.

However this decision presents unique problems in how to convey information. The solution was to include all the necessary printed information on a slipcase, leaving the rest of the magazine type free. The magazine cover, printed in luminous magenta, contains nothing but a silver circle without even the issue number or logo, and the back section contains thumbnails of all of the spreads to ease navigation. Contributors sent in work which was edited by Lippa, Val Kildea and Louise Sloper with the support of Chairperson, John Bateson.

Thanks to the generous support of GF Smith a limited edition of seven additional colourways has been printed on a number of different paper stocks.

Issue 16 of Circular, the magazine of the Typographic Circle, designed by Domenic Lippa is out now.

This issue features articles on Spin, Bibliothèque, Fernando Gutiérrez, the late Ken Dickinson, Design Project and a piece by Jeremy Leslie charting the development of editorial design from The New Yorker of 1925 through Nova to Re- and Carl*s Cars. Also featured are Pentagram’s own Harry Pearce and Domenic Lippa.

Lippa has designed the last nine issues of Circular and delights in creating each from scratch. In this issue the close up of the title on the cover through the contents pages and dividers indicates a desire to focus on the detail of the work. The use of Courier as the default font set without justification is designed to act in contrast to the typographic perfection of the featured work.