Grotesk beauty: Shaz Madani Studio X Typology 

Founded in 2019 by Ning Li, Typology is a Parisian skincare line born from a mission -to demystify the beauty industry with simple, straight-talking transparency.

Creating a “radical new skincare brand” is not an easy task, nor is it branding it. 

Just as the company’s team of health and skincare experts set out to challenge the beauty industry, the design approach follows the same path going back to basics -enter pure, legible typography.

Staying true to the company’s philosophy of simplicity and transparency, Typology’s visual language and aesthetics are pure unexaggerated beauty made with letterforms. 

Created by the London-based independent design practice Shaz Madani Studio the visual language of Typology “is pared back to its most essential, naturally active ingredients.”

“The identity builds on this philosophy by keeping graphic interventions to a minimum. Leading with a functional voice that is softened by its natural, free-flowing layout and type treatments” notes the studio that offers expertise in design and art direction across publications, branding, packaging, and exhibitions/signage. 

This sleek, transparent, simple yet stunningly effective branding is set in Sharp Type’s Post Grotesk, a typeface with maximum usability and an overall sense of neutrality designed by Josh Finklea in 2011. Finklea’s goal to design “a contemporary version of the traditional grotesk sans-serif for his own use” circa 2011 delivers the goods, his design a fine take on the font style which has seen an uptick in popularity over the past few years -perhaps as an answer to our visually oversaturated environments. 

From Akzidenz-Grotesk aka the first sans-serif to gain widespread popularity and thus created a whole market for this type of font that is considered the forefather of almost all modern grotesque faces to Parachute’s Grand Gothik Variable -a postmodern, multiscript, multifaceted type system which pays homage to the development of grotesque/gothic typefaces over the years- these typefaces conquered the world with their simple geometric appearance and Typology’s branding is another proof that grotesque reigns supreme.