Nolan Paparelli's typographic designs balance graphical styles and fluidity

Nolan Paparelli is one of the many ECAL alumni with cause to be marvelled at. Graduating last year, Nolan’s portfolio is an array of visual identities, editorial, type and poster designs often with a focus on typography.

A stand out favourite of ours is Everett Font Family a grotesque font which Nolan describes as being a blend of “symmetrical structure, an organic drawing and a digital flavour.” The designer’s goal to “find a balance between a font that is graphic and fluid” is fully achieved through a website displaying its “high tension while keeping a reading comfort.” The Everett Family is a sweeping representation of the font in multiple type sizes, cleverly designed to then show the process behind it.

Another project with a typographic focus is Funk’s Powerful a self-initiated project by Nolan that combines his interest as a drummer with font design. The result is a series of three posters inspired by the relationships between playing drums and making posters, displaying information about drumming “inspired by grooves of contemporary funk tracks — the purely typographical visual language and repetition give a strong visual impact.”

Finally, Inscape is a magazine that demonstrates Nolan’s ability as an editorial designer with an accurate eye for layout and content. Created in collaboration with Océan Bussard, the magazine deals with “the hidden side of the city, anchored with interests in fields or architecture and urbanism.” Each photographic essay featured in the book comments upon different aspects of the city, “communities, buildings and road signs”, and interestingly the central part of the issue is solely text, “breaking common magazine’s structure”.

Since graduating ECAL Nolan has worked with Swiss Typefaces where he was in charge “of creating new styles for an existing font family from their catalogue.” He also worked at Editions Attinger working on publications. Nolan has also won a rebranding contest and began working on the identity for music festival,Festi’neuch. But the busy designer isn’t in a hurry to stop anytime soon, “Now I’ll go to Munich for an internship at Herburg Weiland” explained Nolan, “About the future though, I’m not sure now but I think I’ll begin to seriously work as an independent”, a decision that with this portfolio he is certainly capable.