The TypeLab at Typographics 2024 will host a series of informal workshops, demos, interviews, experiments, and more.
TypeLab is an informal, multi-day, typographic hackathon coordinated by Petr van Blokland to complement to the main Typographics conference and workshops. Like the original TypeLab events in the 1990s, it is a place for people to meet and talk about type and design with an informal structure that allows more spontaneity and interaction than typical mainstage conference events.
Attending TypeLab
All TypeLab events will be open to the public with free registration. This year’s TypeLab will be a split across multiple days and platforms, with a combination of in-person events in New York City and online events around the globe.
* The dates above are based on the time zone for NYC.
Schedule specifics are very much subject to change. More details about the schedule and attending TypeLab will be posted in coming weeks. For updates and announcements, join the Typographics mailing list and follow Typographics on Mastodon and Instagram.
TypeLab Schedule
TypeLab events will take place over the course of five separate days.
The TypeLab schedule is always very much subject to change at any time, without notice. Event programming will constantly evolve until the final event has ended, allowing for spontaneous alterations and additions as space and time allow.
Times are shown in your current time zone (EDT/UTC-4)
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Join us in the Zoom call for a casual hello to start the day.
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Come join us to draw some letters! We’ll follow some fun recipes, chat, hang out, and have a great time together.
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As technology continues to evolve, the field of design is not left behind. In this presentation, Xiaoyu (LT) Xue explores the symbiotic relationship between design and technological advancements through a series of projects that integrate mixed media with design and motion. The session will delve into how these integrations influence the aesthetics, functionality, and user engagement of modern design. Attendees will gain insights into innovative design processes and how these can be applied to enhance their own projects in graphic design, motion graphics, and beyond.
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Beginning with the first commercial recordings that became available in the late 19th century, music packaging has evolved alongside developments in typographic and printing technologies. This presentation explores album cover design from a technological perspective by examining ten covers. Whether it’s Victorian hand-lettering reproduced through stone lithography for an early “canned” recording or a custom digital font promoting a contemporary musician, the design of music packaging has always gained inspiration from the latest advancements in type and printing. In this presentation we’ll examine how progressive developments in metal type, phototypesetting, desktop publishing and Open Type fostered typographic innovations in album cover design.
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In the early days of digital fonts, it was common for a font supporting West European languages to contain no more than 200 alphabetic characters. Even under those conditions, working out all the necessary kerning pairs was labor-intensive drudgery. Although the typical character count is manyfold nowadays—not to mention the additional languages covered, the basic approach to kerning has hardly changed. Suffice it to say that the task of kerning has become an ever greater bottleneck. Isn’t it time we re-examined our time-worn, laborious approach to kerning? Let’s imagine a new strategy that relies on geometric patterns, takes advantage of available computing power, and frees the designer to focus on the more creative aspects of type design.
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In my experience, branding has been a constant source of inspiration for my typographic projects. Logo design has led me down interesting paths, exploring shapes I wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. In this talk, I’ll share how I’ve created typefaces from branding ideas and other creative sources. We’ll explore concrete examples and strategies for cultivating creativity in typographic design. Join me to discover how branding can be the initial spark for unique and meaningful typefaces.
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Motivadas por la experiencia del espacio de diseño colectivo que armamos junto a otrxs compañerxs en la pandemia llamado “”Chancho va”” hemos comenzado una investigación sobre espacios de diseño colectivo o colaborativos, y queremos compartir nuestras hipótesis, preguntas y expectativas sobre este proyecto aún en desarrollo. Esta investigación se encuentra aún en instancia de escritura, se convertirá en un artículo que publicaremos en el libro de Alphabettes (https://www.alphabettes.org/)
Nuestra investigación pone el foco en el origen, las metas y el rol de estos espacios de carácter comunitario / colaborativos / colectivo que llevan adelante acciones de diseño.
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Quiero compartir la importancia de experimentar y crear proyectos personales en el mundo del lettering. Mostraré cómo estos proyectos, realizados sin la presión de un cliente, pueden abrir puertas en el mercado profesional y transformarse en proyectos comerciales.
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Mi experiencia en la Maestría en Tipografía de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Me gustaría compartir en el foro una pequeña investigación del tema del darklettering, en esta plática tocaremos:
- Rustic Letters por W. Dennis en 1914.
- La cultura del metal y los logos con Christophe Szpajdel con Lord Of The Logos.
- Exponentes actuales (Tatuaje, Lettering).
- La Tipografía y la ilegibilidad.
- Conclusión.
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En esta charla, abordaré cómo mi experiencia en el graffiti, específicamente a través de la práctica y observación de Flops (throw-ups) durante mi adolescencia y adultez, condujo a mi transición hacia una disciplina más formal y alejada de las paredes: la tipografía. Presentaré el proyecto tipográfico Throwup, una fuente de color diseñada para reflejar mi estilo personal al momento de pintar en la calle, pero ahora en la pantalla.
Hablaré sobre los tipos de técnicas y materiales que se utilizan en el graffiti, y cómo esta dualidad desembocó en un proyecto formal para un grafitero, pero informal para un diseñador de fuentes.
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“El diseño de marca es un área especializada del diseño gráfico, que requiere un gran conocimiento tipográfico para proponer identidades gráficas frescas, con características particularmente novedosas o únicas que refuercen o transmitan el discurso o historia de la marca. Diseñar estas letras auténticas de la marca tienen el objetivo claro de poder diferenciarse dentro del abanico de estilos tipográficos disponibles en los distribuidores de tipografía o en fundidoras de autor que bien cualquier diseñador podría seleccionar.
Pero como tipógrafos, creo, a veces estamos diseñados mentalmente para sistematizar y resolver correctamente las letras diseñadas en el sistema tipográfico. Sin embargo, ¿les ha pasado que les son rechazadas las propuestas que diseñan? ¿Pero cómo pasa esto si vos sos el experto? En la poca trayectoria dentro del mundo de la publicidad enfocado al nicho de las bebidas, he podido encontrar que se necesita cambiar un poco el chip tipográfico que se encuentra encarnado en mi sistema y he tenido que analizar y entender la perspectiva de la agencia y el lenguaje de las marcas en la agencia en la que me desarrollo. Y estas inquietudes sobre algunos proyectos me han llevado a pensar distinto a ese chip encarnado que deseo compartir.”
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En esta platica, compartiré el proceso de creación de una fuente tipográfica para texto basado en un libro del siglo 19. En esta presentación, platicaré de mi experiencia en el primer termino de Typewest Online, y de como ha sido comenzar mi camino como en el mundo de la tipografía, desde la investigación, el análisis y todos los errores y aprendizajes que tome en el proceso. Está platica será interesante para ti, si estás comenzando en type design, y quieres conocer como se lleva a cabo este proceso de renacimiento tipográfico.
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Tijuana y San Diego plasman su historia a través de sus formas paralelas de creatividad, el juego y la recursividad como cultura y modo de vida.
Transborder Typeface es una tipografía display diseñada a cuatro ojos que busca reflexionar y generar incidencia sobre la idea de una comunicación visual regional a través de las letras. Permite re-apreciar, reconfigurar y resignificar el imaginario narrativo de un mismo territorio con proximidades y similitudes profundas, usando códigos reconocibles para los habitantes de todo el territorio o la región.
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Los ‘Dechados’ fueron trabajos de bordado y deshilado que formaron parte principal tanto de la vida cotidiana como de la educación femenina, desde el último siglo del periodo virreinal hasta la primera mitad del siglo XX. Principalmente realizadas por mujeres, estas creaciones no solo representaban ejercicios de costura, sino también testimonios íntimos de sus pensamientos, imaginaciones y valores en una época en la que la manifestación pública de sus ideas era limitada.
Fue tras la contemplación de una de estas obras en un museo, que surgió la idea de una tipografía que buscara capturar digitalmente las formas de las letras que una vez fueron las confidentes silenciosas de las mujeres. Inspirada en estas piezas y en su importancia dentro del testimonio histórico de la expresión femenina, nace la familia tipográfica modular variable, “Dechado”“. Esta presentación tiene como objetivo abordar el proceso completo de desarrollo, análisis, creación y expansión de la fuente Dechado.
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FEA un proyecto tipográfico en México, que desarrolló una propuesta contra el buen diseño, generando la primera casa fundidora digital.
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Presentación y pequeña demo de PufflingKit, un paquete de Python y DrawBot, que desarrollamos en tortilla.studio el verano pasado para crear animaciones rápidamente con nuestra fuente Puffling, y aplicar consistentemente los colores y otros parámetros de dirección de arte para los materiales gráficos de la fuente.
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Esta presentación realizada por Otli Yeccan Castillo Cuervo, Brenda Ortíz Cabrera y Mara Edna Serrano Acuña muestra los hallazgos parciales de una tesis de la licenciatura en Diseño Gráfico de la BUAP. El objetivo principal es reivindicar la escritura manual (handwriting) sobre un soporte físico de papel, con instrumentos como lápices o plumillas en contraposición de la escritura digital (typewriting) la cual implica la pulsación de botones en un teclado, y que está en riesgo de desuso por distintos factores como su desaparición en el plan curricular de la Educación Pública en México, así como de la costumbre actual de emplear aplicaciones de mensajería instantánea, dispositivos móviles y digitalización de notas y documentos, evitando el ejercicio manual.
Escribir a mano favorece la coordinación visomotriz, ayuda a la memoria, la codificación de datos, facilita la consciencia del espacio y el entendimiento de las proporciones de las formas. Para desarrollar estas habilidades se plantea la creación de un taller para practicar la escritura a mano donde con ejercicios de caligrafía ligada, con distintas actividades manuales para reforzar la motricidad fina, dirigido principalmente a estudiantes de educación básica de entre 15 y 17 años.
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Un repaso por algunas fundiciones y proyectos que ofrecen fuentes tipográficas gratuitas, libres o de código abierto. Partiendo de conceptos básicos para entender la tipografía, la finalidad de la charla es ampliar la batería de recursos tipográficos para estudiantes universitarios que están empezando a trabajar con la misma.
TypeLab Day 2
Hosted: 👯 In-person at Cooper Union (Register to attend)
Times are shown in your current time zone (EDT/UTC-4)
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The students will present their graduation projects. This year, this event is the only TypeLab Europe event. Here is the YouTube link to watch: youtube.com/live/QlpQuGJkB-c
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[In-person only] 1:1 design critiques in the lower level of 41 Cooper Square with Stephen Nixon of Arrow Type. Sign up form for 20 mins of time will be posted at the TypeLab doors from 9 am on this day. First come, first serve, so be there early to grab a time with Stephen.
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Early man had drawn abstracted forms from nature and objects around them to form pictograms for communicating with each other. These later developed into the symbols which was the physical existence of a language. These constructed letter forms had phonetics and meaning.
Here is an exploratory engagement into the forms of nature and how they visually may have influenced us consciously and subconsciously to shape the letters that we write, draw or design today. The explorations are studies using the visual design principles and looking into forms from nature and parallels of the letter forms and their arrangement that we experience today in various formats of visual language in typography. We further will peep into the similarity of form across various scripts with similar phonetics.
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In the design world, being a great creative isn’t enough. To succeed, designers also need business and people skills. Business skills mean knowing how to manage projects, budgets, and talk to clients. People skills involve understanding others, listening well, and working together smoothly.
For designers, it’s crucial to learn project management basics to meet deadlines and use resources wisely. Budgeting ensures projects stay on track financially. Good client communication builds trust and keeps everyone happy.
People skills are about empathy, listening, and teamwork. Understanding your clients’ needs and working well with others are key to success. Plus, being adaptable and learning from challenges keeps you ahead in this fast-paced field. By mastering both sides – business and people – designers can thrive in the creative industry.
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[In-person only] Demo of Traditional American Sign Painting brush lettering styles, in-person only
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Modyfi is a new, browser-based, non-destructive design platform build for multidisciplinary designers. In Summer 2024, we’re launching a suite of first of their kind, web-based typography tools. In this session we will demonstrate the Modyfi app, preview our upcoming suite of typography tools, and invite the Typographics community to share feedback and critique.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a laptop so they can play along and try some of the tools shared in the demo.
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[In-person only] 1:1 design critiques in the lower level of 41 Cooper Square. Look for a sign up sheet near the TypeLab doors to grab a time with John. First come, first serve, so get there early.
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[In-person only] Imagine bringing your wildest design dreams to life with ease. The art of prompting lets you create intricate patterns, explore endless color palettes, and prototype complex interfaces in no time. It frees you from repetitive tasks, fueling your creativity and innovation. Focus on your boldest ideas, and watch them come to life faster than ever.
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The Alphabettes Variety Show features live interviews, interactive activities and other surprises. Now in its 7th year at the Typelab @ Typographics, the Variety will be back live at Cooper Union.
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Occupant Fonts has developed a number of tools for our font drawing and production processes. Here, we’d like to share some of the Glyphs-based tools we’ve created over the past few years. From simple scripts to help with interpolation to proofing plugins, we hope that opening up these tools for other type designers will be helpful!
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Brazilian culture is known for its lively and colorful nature, with a mix of rhythms and flavors that inspire art, design, and typography. The BR20+ project by Henrique Nardi and Marcos Mello celebrates Brazil’s diversity by showcasing the work of contemporary type designers who have made significant contributions to Brazilian typography over the past two decades. The project includes a letterpress/screenprint poster with laser-cut Brazilian font matrices as the foundation for a multimedia art display, featuring workshops, exhibitions, and outdoor video projections.
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A reflection on the history and current best practices of designing large typeface systems, demonstrated on the latest Typotheque’s Zed type system. Peter Bilak will discuss how to plan from the outset a system of interrelated styles that follow a consistent design principles, across various writing scripts.
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Step right up, esteemed patrons of the typographic arts, and prepare to be bewildered and bedazzled by a spectacle most extraordinary! Two intrepid gentlemen of the Queen’s own England, the enigmatic Mr. David Crossland and the illustrious Laurence Penney Esq., shall grace our humble stage once more, following their triumph at the prestigious “Association Typographique Internationale 2022 Tech Talks” soiree, titled “Mom, You Sure Can Rehydrate a Pizza”.
Tonight, they shall unveil a contraption of unparalleled ingenuity and arcane power: THE FENCER! This digital marvel, forged in the fires of innovation, possesses the uncanny ability to not only compose but also scrutinize the very fabric of “avar v2” mapping rules. Imagine, if you will, a typeface endowed with the power to warp its dimensions at will, to erect impenetrable barriers against the uninitiated, and even to summon axes from the ethereal realms beyond!
This is no mere parlour trick, dear friends, but a glimpse into the future of typographic manipulation. Prepare to have your minds boggled and your perceptions challenged as these two masters of the digital arts reveal the secrets of THE FENCER!
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[In-person only] I have been developing a syllabic, pictographic script that can be used to write English (and can be adapted for most languages). It has no practical purpose, but it opens up new types of forms to explore in lettering and calligraphy, and it can make a familiar language look as unfamiliar as a mysterious ancient inscription.
This workshop can be different things for different people, depending on what you’re interested in:
* If you want to experiment with lettering or calligraphy, I can give you a monoline skeleton of some D16 writing for you to stylize during the workshop (fill out the form below to tell me what to write)
* If you want to learn the system, I will provide the instructions and charts and you can practice writing your own phrases
* If you want to adapt D16 to write a language other than English, we can talk about how to apply the principles of the system to your language
If you’d like to come to the workshop, please fill out this form to indicate what you’re interested in doing.
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In this short presentation I will walk the audience through various proposals currently active in the MPEG ISO OpenFontFormat standardization pipeline. The OpenFontFormat is the standardized counterpart to OpenType, and as such it is expected that these changes, if approved, go into the OpenType specification.
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Writing quotation marks, numbers, punctuation, spaces, or symbols is integral to every language. Specific typographic rules have been developed for each language for centuries, but in recent decades, they have been disregarded due to globalisation and the unification of software tools.
The basis of this international cooperative project is to systematically describe the current typographic rules and practices of all 24 official EU languages, including minority languages, in the future, with the help of local professionals. The aim of this research is to create a publicly accessible database of typographic rules, which will be followed by a web application for the general public as well as public and commercial institutions.
The presentation will introduce the cooperation plan and open the discussion to gain attention from potential partners, especially among the technological software leaders in the field of typography; they are primarily from the USA.
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The Meitei Mayek is indigenous script used to write Manipuri language. They had adopted Bengali script to write Manipuri language, however, the original Meitei script has recently been adopted in the state. In 2005, an effort was made to replace the Bengali script with Meitei Mayek in all forms of communication. Additionally, an effort was made to design the script in context of taste, culture and linguistic advancements linked to the state of Manipur. Therefore, there is a growing demand for digital fonts in Meitei script as part of digital communication.
The main purpose of this particular project is to address the unavailability of fonts in Meitei script to use for digital purposes. The objective of the project is to design a Meitei typeface for digital displays and a font as a part of deliverables of the project.
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[In-person only] Demo of Traditional American Sign Painting brush lettering styles, in-person only
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Palestinian poet, Mosab Abu Toha writes in A Rose Shoulders Up:
“Don’t ever be surprised
to see a rose shoulder up
among the ruin of the house:
This is how we survived.”
Design histories in Southwest Asia & North Africa have been traditionally erased in design or
narrated from a Eurocentric perspective to benefit dominant discourses. Our narratives’
survival relied on oral history and cultural institutions. This presentation uses the collection
of the Letterform Archive in San Francisco to develop a contextualized curriculum for the
first time on design histories and identities from the region. It redefines and retells past and
contemporary design practices within the SWANA region, emphasizing the diversity of our
communities and amplifying overlooked voices. It will show artifacts that support a
multitude of scripts — indeed, the region is home to more than 28 languages that use the
Arabic script (Persian, Urdu, Ottoman Turkish, etc), and scripts like Tamazight, Hebrew, and
Ge’ez. Finally, this talk will question the role of cultural institutions as keepers of diverse
narratives and what it means for our collective liberation.
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ʻŌpua is a collection of typefaces developed around the concept of Hawaiʻi Futurism, first used on the ʻŌpua O Ka ʻĀina aloha shirt, along with an accompanying exhibition in Honolulu in March 2024. The typeface collection includes 3 subfamilies connected to Hawai‘i, specifically Mauka (the mountainside), Makai (the oceanside), and Ko‘olau (the windward side), and was designed prioritizing the letters of the Hawaiian alphabet. We will talk about our ʻĀina-based design process, and how prioritizing Hawaiian language significantly shaped the typeface design overall.
Times are shown in your current time zone (EDT/UTC-4)
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As a graphic designer surrounded by animator friends, I was amazed by their 48-hour film projects. I wanted to challenge myself with a “graphic designer’s version” of the project—creating a “24-hour typeface”. Since then, this has become an annual tradition that I eagerly look forward to. The time limit within this specific medium of creating letterforms lends itself to playful and rewarding experimentations, which I’ll be sharing in this short talk.
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An informal session between educator/s and former students; some of whom are in the industry, others in the final semesters. The session revolves around the use of the Eportfolio in Typographic education at The Design School at Taylor’s University, it’s effect on learning and lifelong learning, from a reflective standpoint now that ample time has passed for students who have experienced it.
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John will share the journey of his type revival project at Type West, focusing on the oldest extant book produced with movable type in the Philippines. From type hunting to completing the necessary glyphs, John will cover every step of the process.
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In the process of reviving an ancient script, Baybayin, how do type designers develop their fonts at an age when the entire Philippines predominantly uses Latin? We’ll cover the usual techniques as well as personal experiments with Baybayin support in font production.
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This talk explores the history & development of Singapore’s short typographic history and its multiscript environment, by analysing manuscripts, cultural and historical contexts; as well as unpacking colonial and political implications both past and present.
With the influx of immigrants after Singapore’s founding as a trading port, Latin, Tamil and Jawi were scripts commonly used alongside each other; although typographic traditions were mostly imported rather than developed in Singapore. Due to its unique circumstances and a lack of typographic resources and history, it is observed that Singapore developed its own approach to multiscript typesetting called Typographic Approximation. Developed naturally in a multiscript environment—Typographic Approximation is a script-agnostic approach, as opposed to the dominant practice of Script Harmonisation that has roots in a latin-centric environment.
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Keetru is an ongoing project developing a multi-script typeface encompassing major Indic scripts. The design is inspired by the calligraphic strokes of pens used for Chinese characters. I envisioned using these pens to craft Indic letters, infusing them with the characteristics of Chinese character strokes. In this presentation, I will showcase the progress made so far, including Tamil, parts of Devanagari, and a complementary Latin script.
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For over a decade, Pooja has been documenting street lettering from different cities around India, and as an indispensable part of her practice, it has become catalyst for her wide-ranging work. In a talk set against the backdrop of striking images from her archive — India Street Lettering — she will share the story of this initiative, and how she treats it as more than just a static, visual record, but an ever-evolving way to make connections and find patterns, uncover under-represented histories and design languages, and jump start new teaching and publishing ideas.
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Join to hear Abhijit talk about the inspiration and process behind his ÉsadType graduation project ‘Gul’🌹
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An overview of Fontra developments, with a demo of the new features.
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“Embossing is a technique that creates a three-dimensional effect on paper and other materials. It has been used since the invention of letterpress printing and even earlier with the cylinder seal, invented in 3500 BC to make impressions on wet clay. This project explores the possibility of using 3D printing to revitalize the historic artifact. 3D printing can bridge old and new technologies to provide a more intuitive and memorable experience.
3D-printed type embossers are portable and customizable, making them ideal for participatory activities at promotional events and campaigns. Unlike digital printing, embossing provides a rich, tangible, fun, and intuitive experience. Users can interact with the device and material, seeing the process and feeling the paper being bitten as they turn the rolls. This project can also be used for educational purposes and to design applications for vision-impaired users, such as printing tactile letters and braille. (please see www.instagram.com/p/CseWbpvpSqN/)
TypeLab is the perfect space to introduce the design process and applications. If there is enough interest, this project could be more than just a proposal. It could become a workshop, a collaborative space where ideas are shared, and new possibilities are explored, further enriching the world of typography.”
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We will share the background of BKK Type Walk, what we have learned, and the obstacles we encountered, as well as the future outlook of this project. At the same time, we would like to open up a discussion for everyone to share their opinions and suggestions on this topic.
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Through the exploration of a unique and accidental overlapping typography found on fading shop signs in Penang, Malaysia, we can ask deeper questions about typography in general: what stories it can tell about people and places, how it connects us to past generations, and where we are going in the future.
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Explore the artistry and elegance of various calligraphy scripts in this session. From learning to mastering essential strokes to crafting beautiful letters, we dive into techniques of scripts, letter construction. Discover the foundational principles of letter construction, spacing, and rhythm, while familiarizing your control and precision with traditional calligraphy tools. We will also see how we can use the pencil / pen as an idea generating tool. we will see and understand the nuances of graceful letterforms and harmonious compositions. Equally suited for a beginner seeking to develop fundamental skills or an experienced calligrapher /type designer looking to refine your craft, this brief study time offers a structured approach to cultivate your artistic expression.
Times are shown in your current time zone (EDT/UTC-4)
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Baybayin is an abugida writing system of the Philippines. The script pre-dates the arrival of Spanish colonizers and it should have disappeared with the adoption and spread of the Latin alphabet during colonial rule, yet it persists and today is being revived by designers around the world as a way to stay connected to Filipino heritage and as a symbol of Filipino pride. Analyzing contemporary examples from popular culture, fashion and martial arts, this presentation explores the Filipino diaspora’s use of baybayin type and includes a reflection on the presenter’s process in designing a baybayin font.
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This presentation explores how typography can serve as a vessel to embody and celebrate regional identities. Using the Bahandi typeface and other related works by the presenter, it reflects the cultural heritage of the Waray ethnolinguistic group from the Philippines.
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“Motion Type in Georgetown is a series of motion types that feature animated elements and letters from Georgetown, inspired by its vibrant streetscape and heritage. The ethos “When the new meets the old, from traditional to contemporary, from static to motion” lies at the heart of the creative approach of this series.
The result is a collection of motion designs conveyed in various ways, such as the context, expression, and emotion of the everyday objects in Penang. By exploring and capturing the visual essence of this historic town, tradition is reimagined through a modern digital lens.”
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In this pilot episode, three young designers from EkType talk about their experiences so far with Devanagari type — how to start, finding inspirations from existing materials and implementing those to design type.
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Impromptu: A photo bomb of lettering & such at Singapore’s first public Chinese cemetery.
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A journey to delve into the intricate world of Vietnamese stamp typography. Reveal the beauty and significance found in the often-overlooked details of these miniature masterpieces.
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A casual sharing session of my explorations into pop-up typography — a fun little intersection of paper engineering and letterforms. I will flip through some of my works and share my thoughts and processes behind them.
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A writing system that uses a Western-based alphabet to transcribe Southeast Asian words. What does it look like? Then, let’s dive into handwriting dynamics and learn how type design can implement these elements.
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Explore how typography not only decorates but also counts down to potential wins on Vietnamese lottery tickets, with each font choice adding to the excitement and anticipation of the draw.
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For 12 years, I have been working as a graphic designer and brand designer in various languages in many countries. I have been doing a lot of localization work in each language (Korean, Thai, Khmer, Laos, Traditional Chinese, Japanese). As a result, I learned the fonts of various languages, and I learned that each country has different characteristics of typography. I would like to share my experiences together with 2024 Typographics TypeLab.
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“Writing with my Dinner” explores writing processes using unconventional tools, in this case, my dinner. This presentation showcases a compilation of handwritten letters crafted with parts of fish, prawns, and crabs. The incorporation of these tools introduces an element of unpredictability, challenging traditional perspectives on writing tools. Throughout, the focus remains on sharing the work in progress, the problems encountered, the DIY methods used to enhance the writability of the tools, and how the edible parts of the culinary companions end up on the dinner plates, adding a unique flavour to the creative journey!
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Southeast Asian countries have a diverse typographic landscape, ranging from handpainted signs in a tranquil local monastery to multilingual store signs on a busy commercial street in a city centre, and even monumental inscriptions discovered in ancient ruins. In this informal chat, we’ll discuss how traveling to learn about people’s way of life, culture and history can help type designers engage deeply with a script and discover the many expressions of its letterforms. We’ll also think about the relevance of digital collections in our design process. Type designer Ben Mitchell has been exploring SEAsia for 25 years, seeking out weird and wonderful letterforms across the region. Sirin Gunkloy has been investigating Thai manuscripts and inscriptions on recent excursions with local academics.
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My presentation aims to help people struggling to find inspiration for type design, drawing from my own experiences. I will explore how my cultural background, everyday life, and P5.js coding can be expanded into unique typographic forms.
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“Working at Ek Type, I designed Jaini Latin in 2023 as an experimental companion for an existing Devanagari typeface Jaini. It takes visual cues from the Devanagari letterforms, like the Devanagari pen angle (opposite to Latin’s), the hint of a running top line along the cap- and x-height, and the wavy stems and sharp tail ends. This visual fusion of Latin letterforms and Devanagari influences has been done carefully and subtly for the Latin to appear as readable as possible. These features also gives the Latin font a unique local flavour.
In this talk I want to touch upon the design process and conceptual ideation behind Jaini Latin. I will mention the challenges faced while tackling this reversed contrast, and the steps taken to arrive at a balance. I also want to briefly contemplate the probable cultural implications of a fusion font such as this.”
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Built on Erik van Blokland’s original, Devanagari TypeCooker is a tool to generate recipes or prompts to practice drawing Devanagari letterforms. In a very short, informal talk, its creator Pooja Saxena will introduce the tool and the terms and concepts that drive it, followed by a Devanagari TypeCooker drawing session facilitated by her and Namrata Goyal. Together they will explain the recipes they share, draw along with the participants, and give friendly but nuanced feedback on the results. This practical session will be a perfect way for a designer interested in Devanagari lettering and type design to get past their hang-ups and get drawing!
TypeLab Day 5
Hosted: 👯 In-person at Cooper Union (Register to attend)
Times are shown in your current time zone (EDT/UTC-4)
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Type and Math are an unstoppable duo. When the two take charge, concepts give rise to frameworks, static evolves into interactive, and visuals become multi-sensorial. ‘from Data to Type’ takes a closer look at how typography can be encoded with meaning beyond what meets the eye—from letterforms that follow the literal stars to letterforms that embody New York’s quintessential soundscape. We anchor these processes in the realm of open-source tools that help set-up a dialog between designer and audience. Personable experiences become paramount in a world that treats everything like datapoints. Here is an approach that takes what’s hidden and leverages it to drive community tools, identity systems, and playful interfaces.
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We will demonstrate the improved varLib.interpolatable fonttools tool with graphical output now, as well as a new kern auditing tool called halfkern.
Time-permitting, we will also demo varLib.avarPlanner, ttLib.scaleUpem, and pens.svgPathPen.
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A peek into the world of tool-building for type design through the lens of tools I’ve made for my own workflow, with the purpose of making the process [see title].
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Reading is one of the most complex cognitive processes and typography is its tool. However, the understanding of the link between typography in movement and its comprehension is still narrow. “Kinetic Typography: Shaping Tomorrow’s Text” is a talk that briefly presents the results of a PhD thesis built on the curiosity about the application of movement in typography while concentrating on the reader’s attention and comprehension. The research analyzed the taxonomy of kinetic typography through experiments where stimuli from different categories are compared based on eye tracking data. In this talk we would like to discuss the possibilities of the change that kinetic typography can bring to the screen, reading and typography.
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In this lecture, I will explore the concept of designing programmes and systems for typographic expression. This approach is not limited to programming—it encompasses a broad range of tools and methodologies.
I have long been interested in tools in the design process and their impact in aesthetics, productivity and scalability—from mastering industry standards, learning new tools as part of a project’s problem solving efforts, misusing or making your own tools, to the influence of AI and its assistive potential.
Attendees will gain insights into how procedural thinking can be applied to typography and other design fields, leading to more coherent and flexible visual systems. This lecture aims to inspire designers to think more deeply about the tools they use and to encourage a methodical yet creative approach to design challenges.
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This workshop’s for those who use letters for a living and would like to start making their own. The online first half will summarize basic principles of letter-drawing and review common beginner’s mistakes (especially those graphic designers are prone to); the in-person second half will be a hands-on critique session. Bring a WIP (brandmark, logo, even typeface); get suggestions for future development. A must for branding designers, aspiring type designers, and anyone who wants to work more effectively with lettering, wordmarks, and typefaces.
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This presentation will center on the font editor tools used in designing and building Hangul fonts. Beginning with a historical overview of commonly used tools, we will zoom into the current font industry scene and observe how Hangul type foundries and independent designers are employing font editing tools such as RoboFont, FontLab, and Glyphs. We also plan to share ideas and thoughts on new digital tools tailored for Hangul design that may emerge in the future.
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With the latest development in variable fonts and color fonts, typography is getting enriched, and so is iconography! In this talk, Wenting, co-founder and CEO of Typogram, will share new ways to utilize variable font and color font technology for icons — to make icons customizable, animate-able, colorful, and recolor-able.
Customizable
Variable font tech can be seen as a bezier curve editing capability. With that, icons can enjoy controlled editing capacity without exposing the hard-to-manipulate bezier curves and control points.
Animatable
The variable font axis can be seen as an animation timeline. With that, icons as glyphs can go through a series of transformations and appear animated.
Colorful and Recolor-able
Arguably color font technology is better suited for icon font than for text. Icon font used to be quite limited for the lack of support for popular dual-tone icons, which is being changed with color fonts. Not only can icon fonts be colorful, but it also brings an easy way to recolor them to fit the brand.
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COMPA is a dingbat system resulting from participatory workshops with residents of the Mexicali-Calexico border.
Recently has collected testimonies in a visual dictionary/guide on the Tijuana-SanDiego border with the help of TMX Tipografía México and World Design Capital.
It’s under construction constantly, expanding and testing to promote citizen narratives with vulnerable migration situations. The idea is to generate concrete iconography to narrate geographies and territories with imaginaries derived from migratory processes. Where typography as a social tool favors the creation of community with emotionally empathetic communication.
COMPA is an example of participatory co-design, which shows the multiple possibilities, as well as the challenges and boundaries to be broken down in the design and development of typographic systems as effective communication tools, primarily favoring non-Latin writing systems.
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This session will include a brief overview of The People’s Graphic Design Archive (PGDA), a crowd-sourced digital-first archive, and an opportunity to contribute (and take home a piece of) the Archive!
This session will provide a collection of vintage stamps and tickets for participants to upload in real-time. We will discuss tagging and descriptions of everyday design materials’ typographic and design elements to ensure preservation and accessibility.
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As one of the foreign-born residents in United States, I can tell you that a simple Google Translate is not enough to bring an authentic voice to design. However, as a designer, I also understand that designing with type in another language is complicated.
In this presentation, I will talk about how I kickstarted a type design advocacy framework that amplifies voices in multi-scriptural typography and vernacular design research — Flourish. It consists of a design talent network structure that promotes multi-scriptural and multicultural type designer exposure.
Flourish proposes that through gathering a network of type designers who thoroughly understand typography localization, companies can create more inclusive product experiences for multilingual audiences.
I believe that designing type with inclusivity in mind is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic decision. With a more robust advocacy for type and typography, businesses and institutions can discover their unique visual identity, complemented by the expertise and resources of type designers equipped with the necessary skills and vision.
The TypeLab schedule is always very much subject to change at any time, without notice. Event programming will constantly evolve until the final event has ended, allowing for spontaneous alterations and additions as space and time allow.