Natalia Witwicka (She/her)
I am a graphic designer working primarily with typography and digital media to create identity systems, bespoke typefaces, interactions and animations. I enjoy working on bold, concept-driven projects which allow me to playfully communicate my ideas and explore the exciting possibilities between technology and culture. My practice draws from the space connecting the digital and the analogue, and the opportunities that traditional processes provide to add new angles to my work.
Scottish Artists’ Films
The identity for Scottish Artists’ Films, hypothetical Glasgow festival screening films created by artists and designers based in Scotland, directed at people interested or involved in the arts. The design was inspired by the experimental beginnings of animation (artists like Hans Richer, Viking Eggeling, Len Lye), aiming to place the event on the avant-garde scene.
The theme of overlapping concentric circles is based on an intro to the film ‘Art and Movement’ (Glasgow, 1965) about an exhibition of artists using movement in their work. This cinematic element functions as a metaphor for the films’ impact and complexity, the overlap between art and filmmaking, and presents Scottish art as far-reaching despite being created by a relatively small community.
Poster film still: Alison Piper.
Animation music: Junto Club, Freedom From The Known (Glasgow, 2016).
Manhattan Typeface
Manhattan is a playful, modular typeface inspired by a brutalist residential complex in Wroclaw, ironically called ‘Manhattan’ by the locals. This project celebrates some of the best of Polish architecture and constitutes a love letter to my home city. The curved strokes and condensed style are inspired by the facade of the buildings. The typeface includes sets of stylistic alternates, ligatures, and numerals. Within the printed and interactive type specimens, I describe the buildings’ history and the career of their architect, J. Grabowska-Hawrylak.
Horror Films Booklet
Design of a booklet promoting contemporary horror films to people who dislike the genre. Each page has a unique, triangular pattern overlaying an image from the film. I was inspired by bold geometric interiors and how they build visual tension in films like Suspiria (1977) and The Shining (1980). The layout is dynamised by using spreads with short quotes and interviews about the development of post-horror.
Work in Progress Show
I took part in designing the identity for the GSA’s Communication Design Work In Progress Show 2021. It is a collaborative project between Louise Julien, Rachel Kate MacLeod, Maria Pelosi, and myself. My main tasks were making the typeface and the website. We based the identity around the feelings of restlessness, energy, and movement, which are the common denominators of our class’ practices from home during lockdown.
The geometric, bespoke typeface and the neon green introduce the show in a digital form. I had the idea for the typeface after experimenting with making letters out of matches. The animations are based on glyphs from the typeface and designed to suggest a progress, while showing a sneak peek of the work exhibited.
Visit the show here.
Einstein-Rosen Bridge
Using the media available in a web browser to create an interactive experience of travelling through a wormhole (formally called an Einstein-Rosen Bridge). The project takes the audience on a space journey, from powering up a Black Hole to reaching its theoretical opposite end: the White Hole, where time runs backwards. It explains a complex physics concept through an accessible and playful digital experience. Try it out here (desktop only).
