OSiR – OSiR album art

Published June 21, 2025

Front of the album cover

OSiR is a trio of friends from Warsaw who grew up on Polish rap and British electronic music. Dygnitarz 808 and breakjanek are part of the 666VOLVO collective, while Frano Dead was one half of the duo Frano Bebun.

Tired of shallow lyrics and repetitive beats, they decided to create an album filled with bitter reflections and analog synthesizers. The album features 14 tracks, with guest appearances from DJ Cutahead, Stopatentów, Bebun, and Jakub Jan Bryndal.

The graphic design of OSiR’s self-titled album visually reflects the so-called “spirit” of the record and its lyrics. The overall aesthetic draws inspiration from the late communist era in Poland (late PRL) and the early 2000s, in line with the album’s name and its full meaning.

The concept was driven by research into the typography of that period and the deliberate use of a “dirty” or “lo-fi” visual layer to give the cover a sense of authenticity.

The author – Marcel Kaczmarek, began his research by looking for real-life examples of sports center signage, often visually awkward. He found a fittingly ironic case in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, where the name was clumsily set in a 1974 typeface – New Zelek by renowned Polish designer Bronisław Zelek. It perfectly captured the sharp, gritty aesthetic he was after.

New Zelek has been digitized and extended in 2013 by Polish type design studio Threedotstype. Marcel used this typeface for the album title on the cover and LL Unica77 by Lineto for the tracklist and small text.

[More info on Discogs]

Design of the album booklet

Back of the album cover featuring the tracklist

Possible vinyl cover (unrealized)

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

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