The second edition of APF is all about type. What type of designer are you? What type do you use? Basically, what’s your type?
Because this is a wide topic, we are convinced this is a huge opportunity to question yourself. Do you have a certain vision on what design should be? Do you follow the rules of typography or do you say fuck it? What’s the thing you like the most? Or what’s the thing you really hate? There are tons of questions you can ask yourself about your design practice.
We at APF are very curious about your point of view. So prepare your posters and show us your type! The posters can be autonomous or made for a client.
The jury will go through all submissions and make a selection for the exhibition. The top 3 designers (picked by our jury) will win a font package donated by our partner TYPELAB.
Programme
The festival will take place from 18-26 September. If you want to visit the exhibition you'll have to book a time-slot. Get your tickets and book your time-slot HERE
Jury
Our selected jury went through all of your submissions and made a selection of the 50 best posters for the exhibition.

Evi Peeters has over a decade of experience in brand design, which she gained at agencies like Base Design (New York) & Duval Branding. After joining Mirror Mirror in 2016 to help shift their focus to branding, she took on the role of Managing and Design Director as of 2019. Mirror Mirror is an Antwerp based design agency specialized in branding and visual communication. They merge creativity with a keen understanding of commercial appeal, and combine artistic intuition with strategic insights.

Daan Rietbergen is an Utrecht based independent graphic designer and artist specialized in visual identity, poster design and typography. After five years of learning his craft at Studio Dumbar come mid-2019, Daan Rietbergen launched his own independent practice in his home city of Utrecht in order to pursue his own commercial projects and continue his artistic explorations.

Esther JL Noben is art director at TOYKYO, a multidisciplinary design studio based in Ghent, BE. The studio was founded in 2006, born from a shared passion for striking visual culture. They believe that creativity, optimism & originality are key elements in life and they apply the same philosophy to their design work. As image-makers, they enjoy navigating the blurred lines between graphic design, illustration and set design. Toykyo aims to evolve, transform and transcend.

Ward Heirwegh graduated in 2007 with a masters degree in graphic design from Luca School of Arts (Ghent) and now runs an independent practice in Antwerp. His projects are situated within the cultural and creative field: editorial design projects, visual identities and other commissions for institutions and artists. He teaches graphic design at the St Lucas School of Arts (Antwerp) and founded a research-based publication platform called Sleeperhold Publications. In addition to his daily practice he conducts research into alternative means of distributing information and is co-founder of a research platform that maps cross-over design practices.
Winners
Our open call has ended which resulted in 2.107 submissions from 75 different countries. Our festival will exhibit the 50 best posters chosen by our jury. Congratulations to all selected designers!
Practical
The festival will take place from 18.09 — 26.09 at Spoor Oost, Buurtspoorweglei 2140 Antwerp. In order to visit the exhibition you're required to book a time-slot, you can do this HERE. Admission is completely free so don't hesitate! Due to COVID-19 restrictions we can only admit a select number of people and a face mask is mandatory. More info about our workshops and lectures will follow soon.
Workshops & Lectures
Tired of all the zoom meetings and looking at your screen all day? We've got you covered with our workshops hosted by Antwerp Type Society! Go back to creating and printing posters manually. Spots are limited so get your tickets HERE

This workshop has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. A new date will announced soon.
A collaborative screen printing workshop by Gezeever and Kristof van Gestel.
This workshop starts off with the Idiosyncratic Machine. A shape-generating drawing method developed by visual artist Kristof Van Gestel. The space in between everyday objects become the basis from which unexpected abstract shapes are systematically derived. These shapes are then used for the creation of stencils for screen printing. Participants will be jointly creating compositions with these shapes. By constantly passing through printed sheets among te participants they are forced to interact with each others choices of shape, color and position.
The results of the workshop will be exhibited at Gezeever for the entire week, after this you can take the results back home!
Coffee and cookies are included, but bring your own lunch.
Location:
Marialei 25, 2018 Antwerpen
Get your tickets HERE

Do you remember the freedom that came with drawing as a kid? When was the last time you picked up a writing tool just for the fun of it? We know the feeling – stuck behind a computer all day – creating graphic or other work, hardly ever time for an experiment or some creative play. No excuses during this workshop, though, as we want you to get out of your comfort zone and get your hands dirty. Literally.
With experiment comes surprise and discovery*, that’s why we selected a bunch of unusual and interesting objects to create freehand lettering & calligraphy. Since it’s all about having fun, no prior knowledge is required.
The workshop consists of two parts. Before noon, we will break away from the rules of calligraphy and embrace imperfect and expressive letter shapes. Black ink and paper will be the main ingredients during this play time. Everything else is up to your imagination.
During the afternoon we will use the expressive letter shapes we created to design a memorable poster. Cut, copy, paste and draw some more – everything is possible – as long as we don’t need digital tools for the end result.
Geertrui Storms and Pieter Boels, both lettering artists working in a variety of (letter) styles, will guide you through the workshop. They will provide feedback and tips & tricks to make you feel confident about creating your own expressive lettering.
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*Quote by Kim Lee Kho
The results of the workshop will be exhibited at the Studio of Pieter Boels ‘till the end of the week, after this you can take the results back home!
Coffee and cookies are included, but bring your own lunch.
Location:
Lange Leemstraat 22, 2018 Antwerpen
Get your tickets HERE

Roll up your sleeves! Roll out that ink! Train those biceps for some print galore!
Join Toykyo and Superdruk for an analog poster workshop in their Print Walhalla. Toykyo designed some new woodblocks, ready for you to puzzle and play on the big proofing presses of analog print factory Superdruk.
Combine modular typographic and illustrative elements to big posters, take these home with you and show the world your printing skills. Probably the only time Toykyo allows you to mess around with their designs.
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4 hours of printing fun
4 participants per session
4 sessions in total
9am > 1pm & 2pm > 6pm
€100/session
Location:
Superdruk - Transvaalstraat 26, Berchem
Get your tickets HERE

Be prepared for a clash in visual cultures when these four designers talk about their design practice and fields of research. The event takes place outdoors at the APF installation. So don't forget to bring a blanket for these lectures under the stars.
SPEAKER #1
Jo De Baerdemaeker (typojo) is an independent Belgian typeface designer and researcher. He holds an MA in Typeface Design and was awarded a PhD from the University of Reading. His interests are designing, researching and writing about world script typefaces (particularly on Tibetan, Lantsa, Mongolian and Javanese) and multilingual typography. His work helps cultures and languages to share and store their information digitally. He focuses on developing digital fonts of writings that have been threatened. For example, he developed the first digital font for Tibet.
SPEAKER #2
Ine Meganck is professionally active as a graphic designer in the Belgian and international cultural field. On a regular basis she collaborates with Chloé D’hauwe. Ine studied Graphic Design at the LUCA School of Arts (Ghent). In 2012 she graduated from a second master at the Werkplaats Typografie (Arnhem) (NL). There, and together with Valentijn Goethals she initiated the ongoing project Phantom Radio, a nomadic pirate radio station. Since 2019 she teaches typography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. A selected list of clients include: Philippe Vandenberg, Toestand VZW, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Peter Buggenhout, Hannah De Meyer, Julie Cafmeyer, Dries Segers, Hans Op de Beeck, Amenra, Ghent University Museum, Anneleen Swillen, Mashid Mohajderin, Willem Boel, Brihang, Flemish Architecture Institute.
SPEAKER #3
Hussein Shikha is a visual artist and a visual researcher, he studies graphic design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Through design he explores the cultural heritage of his motherland culture. In his project Your Beauty is Sumerian he investigates the South Iraqi carpets, bearers of stories, myths, symbols and patterns, originating from the ancient Sumerian culture. On the basis of these carpets Hussein wants to visually investigate the self-proclaimed phenomenon of 'virtual weaving' and 'the digital rug'. His work tries to answer the question: Can a carpet be translated into an animation?
SPEAKER #4
Pauline Le Pape is a Type designer and Art Director based in Amsterdam. She mainly works within the cultural field on various medium and formats with a focus on typography. Her font Till Normal can be found on Typelab.fr. Pauline describes her venture into type design as “a multiplication of coincidences.” For one, it suited her personality, more of an observer than anything else. She likes tasks that require meditation and patience, something that all type designers are adept in, and on the other hand, she was drawn to the social connotations that typography can carry.
The talks will be moderated by Isabel Van Bos (Brussel / curator).
Location:
Spoor Oost - Buurtspoorweglei, 2140 Antwerpen
Get your tickets HERE
Partners
The festival is organised by Dennis Janssens and Tom Tiepermann of the Antwerp based design studio ssnn. Together with their amazing team of partners, sponsors, friends and volunteers they want to offer everyone an unforgettable experience. Thanks everyone for helping make APF happen.