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Issue 2 ships mid-January and features interviews with Buffalo Zine, El Celso, Damien Gautier (Éditions 205), Martine Mathijsen, Rob Lowe (Cagoule, Anorak, Fire & Knives), Anna Gerber and Britt Iversen (Visual Editions), and Wayne White; a new installment of Type Affairs with Astrid Stavro, a special centerfold by Mark Pernice and a screenprinted insert hand-lettered by Kathryn Murray. Pre-order now.

Issue 2 is vacationing at our printers in Canada, and is due back in town (and available for purchase) in mid January. Expect sneak peeks all this month, and a few surprises from some GT friends celebrating the release.

Update: Get GT No. 2 first! — PREORDER ISSUE 2.

Issue 2 (coming soon!) subject Visual Editions has something very special planned for the next Friday Late event at the V&A. 150 readers will be peppered throughout the museum, reading aloud from VE’s Composition No. 1 in a real-life manifestation of the  “book in a box” experience. If you’re in London, check it out on November 25th. For the rest of you, stay tuned for Issue 2, where I speak with co-founders Anna Gerber and Britt Iversen about the “love and mischief” of book-making.

Issue 1 contributor Evelin Kasikov has updated her site with some nice stuff for Wired (US). Here, the queen of CMYK cross-stitch type branches out into new colors and new stitches! Looks fantastic. Take a look.

Been a bit too quiet on the blog recently, but rest assured, things are cranking behind the scenes. Production of Issue 2 is in full swing and promises to be bigger, filthier, and packed with even more surprises than before. Can’t tell you who will be featured in the sophomore issue just yet, but here’s a peak at a studio we visited in May with Ross Mantle, who made this photo of the artist’s desk. Can you guess who we met?

Expect to see Gratuitous Type back in your life this fall.

Gratuitous Type is coming to New York’s mecca for great magazines, artist publications, and books—Printed Matter! Awesome news and a great way to kick off the week. If you’re in New York, don’t forget you can also buy the magazine at Spoonbill & Sugartown in Williamsburg and McNally Jackson in Nolita.

There’s been lots of love on the internet for Gratuitous Type recently, so I’d like to say hello to any new followers who’ve joined us through another blog post. I’d also like to thank those who’ve covered the magazine recently, it’s been a thrill to see it appear on some of my favorite blogs ever. Some recent GT-related posts: MagCulture, It’s Nice That, Quintatinta, TypoJungle, Swiss Legacy, and No.Zines. Awesome.

A friendly Friday reminder: Issue 1 is now available in the GT online store. Issue 1 features the likes of Alexis Anne Mackenzie, Christian Hansen, Evelin Kasikov, David Smith (who kindly and ever-so-wisely documents a career of typographic love affairs), David Heasty and Stefanie Weigler of Brooklyn’s studio Triboro, this magazine (whose changing name reflects the typeface in which each issue is set), and Berlin’s Buchstabenmuseum. You’ll also find a special insert featuring some amazing 60s and 70s-era Cuban book covers. Try it, you’ll like it.

In Issue 1 of Gratuitous Type, David Smith chronicles his changing (and unchanging) typographic interests over the course of his career — from the “MAC trash” of the 90s through to the typography of his most recent projects. In the following excerpt, David discusses the founding design and typographic principles on which his studio, Atelier David Smith:

“One of the most naive principles was that we had to be proud and confident in showing 100% of our output. Whatever we did had to be as good as it could possibly be relative to the time, opportunity and budgets available. Too many studios have 5% of work that they showcase and 95% that’s “bread and butter” — a euphemism for mediocrity.

“Typographic principles? Easy. No Helvetica.”

More of Issue 1. Images courtesy of Atelier David Smith. © David Smith

In addition to films, music videos and animations, the multi-talented Christian Hansen (featured in Issue 1) combines handmade typography with still images in a carefully-honed technique that involves painting type directly onto reclaimed glass. Applying this process to film titles, commissioned images and personal work, Hansen has creates pieces that evoke cinematic narratives while betraying the filmmakers weakness for modern typography. These images offer a look behind the scenes of one of Hansen’s latest endeavors, a cover shoot for the latest album from Seattle-based band Moondoggies.

Photos by Ryan McMackin

The period from 1965-75 marked Cuba’s most prolific production of the printed book, when the circulation of this commodity peaked at 50 million in a country of just 7 million residents. Issue 1 features a sampling of the creative results of this boom in a special gatefold insert. These titles were cut from the print edition of GT, but live on here.

Photos by Ross Mantle

Triboro, the Brooklyn-based design studio whose Leftover series is currently featured in Issue 1, has updated their website with some fantastic new work, including packaging for the latest from Blonde Redhead, shown here.