RECYCLE.STUDIO N° 002 / SWISS GRID EST. 2026
Vol. II Discipline of Reuse 12-Column Grid

RECYCLE .STUDIO

A design studio applying Swiss typographic discipline to the practice of material reuse. Grid before gradient. Hierarchy before hue.

— Editorial Note, Vol. II

02

PROJECTS

Selected Work, 2024-2026
01 / 06 IDENTITY

PLASTIC REASSEMBLY PROGRAM

A modular identity system for a polymer recovery cooperative. Built on a strict 12-column grid with condensed wordmarks at six sizes.

02 / 06 EXHIBITION

MATTER IN MOTION

Exhibition design for a touring survey of post-consumer textile recovery. Black-and-white wayfinding, signal red for required action.

03 / 06 EDITORIAL

A FIELD GUIDE TO REUSE

A 264-page reference volume on municipal recycling streams. Set in Barlow Condensed and IBM Plex Mono.

04 / 06 SIGNAGE

MUNICIPAL SORTING CODES

A pictogram system for civic recycling stations. Forty-eight icons; one tone of red, deployed only on action items.

05 / 06 DIGITAL

CIRCULAR INDEX UI

A web platform documenting the lifecycle of a thousand industrial materials. Layered grids, no decorative chrome.

06 / 06 CAMPAIGN

THE LONG RETURN — A CIVIC CAMPAIGN ON DEPOSIT-RETURN INFRASTRUCTURE

A national-scale visual program for deposit-return logistics. Five posters, one rule book, twelve regional adaptations. Designed as a system, not a series.

03

REFERENCE

Methodology & Bibliography

3.1   Methodology

The studio operates on a four-stage protocol — survey, strip, structure, state. Each stage produces an artefact: a survey ledger [1], a strip diagram, a structural grid, and a stated specification. Recycling, in this framework, is the recursive application of these stages to existing material rather than the production of new.

3.2   Grid Doctrine

A 12-column grid [2] with sixteen-pixel gutters is treated as a constitutional document. Cards span 4, 6, or 12 columns. Marginalia is permitted only in the outer two columns. Any departure from the grid must appear as a footnote in the project record — see fig. 3.2.1.

3.3   Typography

Headlines are set in Barlow Condensed at weight 700, uppercase, with a letter-spacing of 0.02em. Body text is Inter at 400 with a line-height of 1.7. Reference numerals and citation marks are set in IBM Plex Mono [3]. No other faces are sanctioned.

3.4   Palette

The palette is binary. Pure black and pure white form the working pair. Signal red is reserved exclusively for required action and is never used for decoration. Two grays serve as structural utilities only.

3.5   Motion Specification

Interactive elements scale to exactly 1.02 on hover — never 1.05, never 1.10 [4]. The transition is 0.2 seconds, ease. Background icons rotate on a 15-second loop. No parallax. No scroll-driven scaling. Motion is permitted only where it carries information.

3.6   Imagery Doctrine

Photography is forbidden in the manifesto and reference sections. Three-dimensional rendered geometry — cubes, planes, segmented arrows, octahedra — serves as the sole pictorial vocabulary. Each form is constructed from CSS transforms, never from raster.

Bibliography

  1. [1] Muller-Brockmann, J. Grid Systems in Graphic Design. Niggli, 1981.
  2. [2] Hofmann, A. Graphic Design Manual: Principles and Practice. Niggli, 1965.
  3. [3] Bil'ak, P. “Conceptual Type?” Dot Dot Dot 15, 2008.
  4. [4] Studio internal memorandum, “On the 1.02 Hover,” 2026.
  5. [5] Federal Office for the Environment, Annual Recovery Report, 2025.
04

INDEX

Process & Outputs, 2024-2026
PROJECT CATEGORY CLIENT YEAR
01Plastic Reassembly ProgramIdentityArc Recovery2026
02Matter in MotionExhibitionKunsthalle GS2025
03A Field Guide to ReuseEditorialMunicipal Press2025
04Municipal Sorting CodesSignageCity of Bern2024
05Circular Index UIDigitalIndex Circulaire2026
06The Long ReturnCampaignFederal Office for the Environment2026
07Closed-Loop Wordmark SeriesIdentityHelix Materials2024
08Deposit Schedule PostersPrintCantonal Authority2025