Creative Direction

Brand identity

I started from one font—Garamond—and built an entire brand world around it: a pocket A5 magazine, a wearable brand book, and a community that treats posters like a playground for typography (with the lowercase “g” as my obsession).

I started from one font—Garamond—and built an entire brand world around it: a pocket A5 magazine, a wearable brand book, and a community that treats posters like a playground for typography (with the lowercase “g” as my obsession).

I started from one font—Garamond—and built an entire brand world around it: a pocket A5 magazine, a wearable brand book, and a community that treats posters like a playground for typography (with the lowercase “g” as my obsession).

Jan 2023

IT

The Best Typo Mag branding

View the full project on Behance

During my second year of university, in the course Visual Design Methodology 2, I developed a brand concept starting solely from a typeface: Garamond. I want to thank Claudia Neri, who introduced me to typography in a way that genuinely changed my perspective.
I was fascinated by Garamond’s soft, classic, refined forms—so this project became a tribute to classical typography and to what happens when a single typographic idea “explodes” into a full system. The letter that completely captured me was the lowercase g.

During my second year of university, in the course Visual Design Methodology 2, I developed a brand concept starting solely from a typeface: Garamond. I want to thank Claudia Neri, who introduced me to typography in a way that genuinely changed my perspective.
I was fascinated by Garamond’s soft, classic, refined forms—so this project became a tribute to classical typography and to what happens when a single typographic idea “explodes” into a full system. The letter that completely captured me was the lowercase g.

The concept: a magazine that knows exactly what it’s doing

The starting point was simple: create a tribute to typography through a magazine that celebrates each character’s shape, scale, positive/negative space, and personality.
I imagined a “self-aware” magazine—confident, a bit vain (in the best way), and not afraid to stretch letters or place opposite styles next to each other.

The payoff as a statement (and a small provocation)

Even the payoff becomes part of the concept: it uses a variable font approach, starting from what I call a “very boring” Impact font—turning something ordinary into a deliberate typographic character.

Format choices: pocket-sized, wearable, process-first

I designed it as an unusual A5 pocket-sized magazine, because the object itself should feel intentional and portable.
The brand book is “wearable” on purpose—built with construction hooks, ropes, post-its, and pen-made adjustments—because typography is everywhere, and the designer mindset is always active.

The name: schwa + asterisk

The schwa in məg* is there because I like the idea that design can live in everything around us—if you look closely.
The asterisk is part of the identity: it stands for annotations and notes, like a digital translation of post-its—those “small” tools behind almost every real project.

Content system: a community-driven magazine brick

The magazine is designed as a dense object: 100 pages containing 80 posters, 10 articles, 5 paper experiences, and 5 bullet pages.
The posters are imagined as community-managed content: a space where typographic trends are tested without fear, built by “typo friends” who push the discipline forward.

Stationery and digital touchpoints

The stationery “explodes” the identity into physical products: business cards for different team roles, an envelope with a stamped detail reading “an email from the best typo mag”, and a letterhead with fold marks to make the three-fold effortless.
It also includes a dotted notebook and a pencil collaboration concept with Blackwing, extending the idea of typography as daily practice.
Digitally, the website is designed as an extension of the brand world: it hosts the brand book and the poster exploration, plus social and email signature applications.

This project is my personal proof that typography is not a “detail layer”—it can be the origin of an entire brand. Starting from Garamond, I built a system that celebrates type as culture, as community, and as process: confident visuals, portable formats, and always room for notes, corrections, and obsession-level attention.


Thanks to: Claudia Neri; Riccardo Cavallo; Riccardo Agostinelli; Nicolò Botticini; Elena Giugno

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