ATypI Stanford 2026
Stanford University, California, USA
ATypI Stanford marked an important moment in our organization’s history as we gathered under the theme Homescreen: Design for Belonging. The following address was delivered May 29, 2026 at the opening of the conference by Nada Abdallah, President of ATypI.
Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, friends—welcome.
To stand here, at Stanford, is to stand at a place where revolutions began. Revolutions of technology, of culture, of imagination.
This is where ideas have leapt from a spark to paper, to the screens in our hands. And today, we gather not only to celebrate letters, but to ask together: what does it mean to belong—to language, to design, to one another?
ATypI has always been a meeting ground. For almost seventy years, this community has connected type designers and typographers, calligraphers and coders, educators and explorers, publishers and students, entrepreneurs and business people.
We do not come together only for type’s sake. We come together because type shapes how the world reads itself—how memory is preserved, how knowledge is passed on, how voices are heard.
Our theme this year, Homescreen: Design for Belonging, asks us to confront a paradox.
The homescreen is now where we live. It is the first thing we touch each morning, the last thing we see before sleep. It carries our languages, our identities, our connections. But behind that glass, we must ask: are we designing for everyone? Do our alphabets welcome difference, or do they flatten it? Do our systems empower all cultures, or just a few?
Belonging is not decorative.
Belonging is not optional.
It is the foundation of design.
When a child sees their script appear correctly, they learn their language matters. When a community finds their calligraphy preserved in digital form, they know their heritage endures. When we design with care and respect, we remind the world that letters are more than shapes—they are vessels of memory and belonging.
This week, we are hearing voices from across the globe. Each script carries its own rhythm, its own memory, its own fight for survival. Together, they form a living archive of humanity’s need to communicate—and to be seen.
I want to recognize the students who are here with us, the educators who guide them, and the designers who keep pushing at the edge of possibility. You are the lifeblood of this community.
I want to thank our local team at Stanford, Tom Mullaney and Audrey Gao; our hosts, Stanford University and SILICON; our partners and sponsors—Adobe, Google, Corvel Software, Monotype, Morisawa, Hanyi Fonts, Glyphs, The Type Founders, Letterform Archive, Automattic, University of the Arts Sharjah, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw—and the many hands that have worked tirelessly to make this conference possible: ATypI’s leadership, the Board of Directors, moderators, and volunteers.
I want to honor those who came before us, the elders of our field, who built the pathways on which we now walk.
But let us be clear: this week is not only about looking back. It is about building forward.
What kind of future will we design?
A future where technology excludes, or a future where every script finds a place?
A future where the homescreen is a mirror, reflecting only ourselves, or a future where it is a door, open to others?
This is our task and responsibility.
So I invite you, not just to present your work, but to imagine beyond it. Share your tools, your scripts, your struggles. Ask the difficult questions. Listen with care. Build bridges where there are gaps. And above all, design with belonging at the center.
Because type is not neutral. It is always connected to people, to cultures, to futures. And the work we do here together matters—not only to us, but to the generations who will inherit these letters.
Welcome to ATypI 2026 Stanford.
Welcome to a conversation about type, about belonging, and about possibility.
Welcome home.