CGD

The cooperation between the typographer Jan Horčík and the Czech independent music label, Endless Illusion, is of a long-term character and certainly cannot be viewed within the ordinarily delimited relationship between a commissioner and a graphic designer.

Endless Illusion has long been profiling itself as a promoter of the feats of current Czech producers in the field of electronic music, and the scope of its production also includes rare archive Czechoslovak (or, respectively, "Slavic") music material. The graphic share on the overall concept is fundamental, and Horčík's enthusiasm in approaching his task is equally significant. He was already defining the visual style linked with Endless Illusion's activities in his bachelor's thesis at the Prague Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in 2012 (design of the script family Danzza, inspired by the music genre "italo disco") and, later, in his 2015 diploma work. Moreover, he has not ceased developing his bold and non-hackneyed, and yet well-elaborated and painstakingly crafted visualization further in the last year, for example, via several issues of the Jupiter 08 bulletin, published by the given label, and in the EP and LP cover designs (Daniel Araya & Marcos Cabral - Split 02; Mama Bubo - Planeta Haj; D'Marc Cantu - Hypnopompic; Zarkoff - Pioneers). In 2017, the graphics work by Jan Horčík for Endless Illusion received acknowledgment from the prestigious international competition, the Society of Typographic Arts, with the famed graphic designer Neville Brody as one of its members.

Pavla Pauknerová

“All three nominated projects are based on the principle of collaboration.“ Jan Horčík

Jan Horčík is a student at the Type Design and Typography Studio led by doc. Karel Haloun and assistants Radek Sidun and Tomáš Brousil at the AAAD in Prague. He is interested primarily in vector illustration and in designing his own typefaces and their application in design – creating his own fonts (collaborating on the Topol typeface with his colleague Filip Matějíček), posters and collages. He has worked for the successful Signall print magazine. He collaborates with other AAAD students, assisting on their projects – he was involved with the Cutulum brand, established by the talented fashion designer Eliška Kuchtová. He has also designed promotional materials for exLovers, wall illustrations for Top4Football, an in-store collaboration with DeForm studio and typographic works for graphic studios MÜtanta, Okolo and many others. In 2014, he designed the Real Minimalism publication by Jiří Černický and the 22 22 2 exhibition catalogue for the Prague-based Chemistry Gallery. Many people associate Jan Horčík with Metrovagonmash, published by BigBoss, which shows iconic metro carriages from former Soviet bloc countries made by Mytishchinski Mashinostroitelny Zavod. The publication features an elaborate analysis of the carriages and their graphic designs in different cities.

Filip Suchomel