Dominik Thieme typographically juxtaposes the past and present in Nouveau Grotesque

German-born and Barcelona-based graphic designer Dominik Thieme is a creative who “works in all fields of visual communication,” he explains.

Among a large breadth of graphically-led projects, Dominik recently created Nouveau Grotesque, a font inspired by “the hand-drawn typefaces from the art nouveau posters of the late 19th century,” as well as the city of Barcelona’s “dialogue between its modernist past and its contemporary present”. As a typeface Nouveau Grotesque replicates the juxtaposition of styles Dominik has identified in Barcelona by combining “the floral forms of the art nouveau typefaces with a modern grotesque twist,” he tells It’s Nice That.

Originally designed as an identity for KUAPO, a culture cafe in Leipzig, Dominik decided to extend the font into a full family. The result is a typeface that is both artistic and useable. “The light contrast of letters and the playful forms such as the questions marks and ampersands, have an origin on calligraphy,” says Dominik. “While Nouveau Grotesque functions well in smaller text sizes, the OpenType features contains case sensitive forms and decorative letters for big sizes”.

Currently featuring four alternate weights the typeface is ideal for a juicy bit of copy or an ornamental title. Dominik is currently working on further development of the typeface which will contain true italics.