Rui Marques and Ricardo Sousa, recent graduates of Communication Design at FBAUP, have just won a Silver in the Typography category of the ADCE Student Awards 2025 with PINHAIS, a typeface that began in the FBAUP LDC Bachelor course (exhibited in the design graduation exhibition) and grew into a rigorous, exploratory approach to letterform design. (see the UP’s press release here)
The ADCE Student Awards are among the most respected platforms for emerging creative talent in Europe. Organized by the Art Directors Club of Europe — a network linking 23 national associations — the awards place student work under the scrutiny of an international jury and position it alongside some of the most exciting young designers on the continent. With ADCE now connected to The One Club for Creativity, winning work enters a global creative conversation, gaining visibility far beyond its local context.
This kind of recognition has real impact within our community. It reaffirms the strength of the work produced at FBAUP and shows what becomes possible when curiosity, discipline, and experimentation align. Rui and Ricardo bring that combination into everything they do, and their achievement sets an example we hope others will follow. We want our students and alumni to keep pushing boundaries, to place themselves in dialogue with the greats, and to understand that their work belongs — confidently — on international stages.
The recognition in Barcelona reinforces not only the quality of the project but also the energy and relevance of contemporary Portuguese typography.
In a year with nearly 300 submissions from 19 countries, seeing a typeface born in our classrooms receive European acclaim is both a milestone and a motivator — a reminder of what collective ambition can achieve, and of the creative futures still ahead.
Congratulations guys. Keep up the excellent work! We are proud of your achievements.
You can test-run Pinhais here, in this website. An/or you can see Pinhais and many many more typefaces designed at FBAUP in Laura Jardim’s type portfolio: https://fbauptypes.fba.up.pt/
(Post featured image from the UP Press Release. Images from Pinhais from the students’ final class presentation)
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