The Polish Music Publishing House was founded in 1945 in Kraków, Poland. With a long and vibrant history of printing music, the house had been the only music publisher in Poland for several years. For a new project, Marcin Hernas designed booklet scores for the most beautiful compositions written by great Polish composers including Fryderyk Chopin, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Henryk Wieniawski, Stanisław Moniuszko, and Grażyna Bacewicz. The typography brings together Beatrice Display, Beatrice, and Ogg.

The typography is stamped with gold foil, accenting Beatrice Display’s internal contrast and Ogg’s italic strokes. We got to hear from Marcin on why he paired Beatrice and Ogg to achieve both a classical and modern look that could create balance and contrast with illustrated monochrome portraits. 

“Beatrice Display’s high contrast resonated with the delicate appearance of the whole design as a typeface that is both bold and legible. Ogg on the other hand conveyed a historical tone. These are composers from the 19th and 20th century, so a classical, elegant, yet fresh looking typeface was a must — especially because it was used for their names and typeset right in the center of the cover. Ogg has this uncommon charm which fits with a contemporary approach to the classics of Polish music,” he said. “Even if these typefaces seem to come from different worlds, they work perfectly together — that is probably the reason why this combination works so well in themes such as classical music.”