Responses by JUNO
Background: Hamburg-based brand and design agency JUNO wanted design audiences to connect with Swedish paper mill Munken and create visionary designs with the new free font Munken Sans. We also wanted to inform the international design community about the Munken CoLab initiative, which is bringing together creatives from all different fields. And finally, we wanted to introduce the new Munken brand identity and its significance.
Reasoning: We have been working for Munken for years. Visiting the scenic Swedish village Munkedal, where Munken paper is produced, we noticed the road signs and the characteristic transportation font Tratex. We immediately understood that the typography was an integral element of the village’s visual language. Using the strength and Swedish nature of Tratex as an inspiration for the Munken redesign was only logical. It then became a perfect match when we reached out to Swiss font designer Laurenz Brunner, who disclosed that Tratex is one of his favorite fonts and was eager to redesign Tratex as a new Munken font.
Challenges: The campaign had a tight deadline, but despite the global pandemic, we were able to deliver the project on time thanks to a great team.
Favorite details: The Munken brand has always been about nature, design and creativity. The mill, where Munken is produced, is one of the most environmentally friendly companies worldwide. To continue bringing nature and paper together into a sound balance, Munken wanted to create new solutions with the aid of creatives from different fields, thus the Munken CoLab initiative. The result of the first Munken CoLab initiative is the Munken Sans font. It was developed over the past few months and was a collaboration between JUNO and the Swiss font designers of Lineto foundry. In the future, Munken CoLab wants to develop new and sustainable solutions in the areas of paper, publishing and design.
Visual influences: Regarding the visual language of Munken, we were playing around during the creative process of layering books with Munken Sans printed on them when we realized the picturesque expressiveness of the font and started to explore this usage further. This eventually led to an associative and playful approach for the casing.
Anything new: During the rebranding process, we understood that the new Munken Sans font should be shared with everyone, instead of making it an exclusive asset that would only be used as a mere brand font.
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