Spector

Six in one go: Haus der Kulturen der Welt issues the first three volumes of the book series The New Alphabet, each in a German and an English edition. 
Alphabets, binary code, DNA – the present explosion of knowledge is based on breaking down the world into its smallest units. Do new concepts of the world merely require new words? Or completely different systems of symbols? The New Alphabet book series provides speculative suggestions for new alphabets to capture the diversity of forms of knowledge and approaches to the world.
The 25 small, pocket book-sized volumes form a typecase of ideas, they correspond and relate to one another; they offer space for discoveries and aim to annoy; they are aesthetically challenging and academically stimulating. They combine and recombine a wide variety of representations, artistic positions and graphic elements. The topics range from Chinese pictograms to the language of the body and playlists in music.

The New Alphabet is edited by Detlef Diederichsen, Anselm Franke, Katrin Klingan, Daniel Neugebauer and Bernd Scherer and published by Spector Books, Leipzig. Concept and design of the series by Olaf Nicolai in collaboration with Malin Gewinner, Hannes Drißner and Markus Dreßen.

Jury statement:

The obviously young designer: Siyn Mao, has the greatest joy to create a book about a monster, a dinosaur. The Wüstenrot Foundation has renovated the enigmatic structure and documents it in this publication. The cover is so simple, but grandiosely designed, with two special colors. Pink and blue - actually just like the building itself, it needs no typography, no title. Only at the third or fourth glance does the supposed graphic become a read line. The foundation itself takes a very low profile, with a logo on N4. An invigorating mix of documentary and new photos, black and white and color, plans, interviews, drawings - all very complex, but visually coherently presented on 290 pages. Text, heavy and wide single-column, fits the theme. It is a great pleasure to experience this building - the publication succeeds brilliantly in this. (Wilhelm Opatz)