Press Release
Paraid Sans Type Specimen by Paul Robb Wins the Bronze A' Design Award in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
Paul Robb honored for graphics, illustration and visual communication design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 22, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Paraid Sans Type Specimen by Paul Robb, designed for S6 Foundry, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design category. The result belongs to the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Bronze A' Design Award Explained
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
About Paraid Sans Type Specimen
Paraid Sans is a sans-serif typeface designed for branding, editorial, and digital communication. The type family includes eight weights, from Thin to Extra-Bold, built through modular master construction and interpolation. Balanced proportions and careful spacing support clear hierarchy and smooth reading at many sizes. OpenType features and extensive Latin language support are included, and the fonts are delivered in OTF format for print and screen use. The neutral structure allows Paraid Sans to support content without dominating a layout.
About Paul Robb
Paul Robb is a Creative Director and Type designer with over 30 years of experience, and is a Professor of Graphic design at the University of Perugia, and a Professor on the MA Brand design course of the Academia of Perugia. Since 2000 he is Creative Director for Salt&Pepper an award-winning multidisciplinary contemporary graphic design studio focused on transforming brands and businesses. Expressiveness and authenticity are the basis of his work which is completed with a balanced fusion of creative design and technology. In 2020 he started S6 Foundry which develops creative fonts by designers for designers.
Award Record
Paul Robb is a winner of 25 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards span the editions from 2018 - 2019 to 2025 - 2026 of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design Award
The A' Graphic Design Award is an international graphic design competition recognizing good graphic designs by best creative agencies and designers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to graphic designers, communication designers, graphic artists and illustrators from all countries. Entries typically include logos, posters, infographics, brochures, packaging designs and business cards. Awarded graphic designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/graphics
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/179607
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/179607
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!179607
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/175604
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Paraid Sans Type Specimen
- Function
- Type Specimen
- Category
- Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Branding & Advertising and Arts
- Colors
- Sky Blue, Linen, Rosy Brown, Wheat and Deep Pink
- Images
- 5
- Client
- S6 Foundry
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Paul Robb
- Country
- Italy
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #179607
Credits
- Team
- Paul Henry Robb & Moira Bartoloni
- Image Credits
- @ Paul Henry Robb
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Paraid Sans is a contemporary sans-serif typeface designed as a flexible system rather than a fixed stylistic statement. It supports modern visual languages through clear structures, balanced proportions, and a wide range of weights. The design prioritizes adaptability, allowing it to integrate seamlessly into complex branding, editorial, and digital environments while maintaining clarity, consistency, and confident neutrality.
- Inspiration
- Paraid Sans was inspired by contemporary graphic systems, modular design thinking, and the need for typographic neutrality with character. The project draws from modernist sans-serif traditions, refined through systematic research and digital experimentation. The goal was to create a typeface that supports visual structures and content hierarchies without dominating them, offering designers a reliable, adaptable tool for evolving communication needs.
- Research
- Type of Research: practice-based typographic research. Research Objectives: to design a system-driven sans-serif for contemporary visual communication. Methodology: modular construction and iterative refinement. Data Collection and Tools Used: typographic references, layout testing, and Glyphs software. Participants or Experiments: designer-led testing across use cases. Results: a flexible multi-weight sans-serif system. Insights and Impacts: improved consistency in branding and digital design workflows.
- Challenge
- The main challenge was designing a typeface with strong internal logic while avoiding stylistic rigidity. Internally, the project required balancing neutrality with character. Externally, it demanded technical consistency across multiple weights and applications. Ensuring adaptability without visual monotony required careful proportion control, spacing precision, and extensive real-world testing across complex design systems.
- Realization and Technology
- Paraid Sans was designed using Glyphs through a system-based digital type design workflow. The process included structured master construction, interpolation across eight weights, optical refinement, and extensive spacing and kerning. OpenType features and multilingual support were developed through custom feature coding and iterative testing, ensuring consistency, scalability, and performance across print and digital platforms.
- Operation and Interaction
- Paraid Sans operates as a typographic system that adapts to different design contexts. Designers interact with the typeface by applying it across layouts, scales, and hierarchies, where it responds with clarity and balance. Its structure ensures smooth reading, strong alignment, and visual consistency, allowing content and design systems to perform clearly across digital, editorial, and branding applications.
- Project Duration and Location
- The Paraid Sans typeface project was initiated in 2025 and completed in 2026. The typeface was developed and finalized in Italy and presented publicly as part of S6 Foundry’s typographic research and release program, marking its transition from design research to professional and commercial use.
- Specifications
- Paraid Sans is a digital sans-serif type family comprising 8 weights from Thin to Extra-Bold. The typeface supports extensive Latin-based languages and includes OpenType features for professional typography. It is delivered in OTF formats and optimized for both screen and print use, complying with Unicode and ISO typographic standards.
- Keywords
- Sans-serif typeface, graphic systems, visual identity, digital design, branding typography, modern communication, adaptable design, clarity, modular layouts, contemporary aesthetics, editorial design, interface typography
