Full-Day Workshops
Variable Brand Voice
Time: 10:00 AM–6:00 PM (with a 2-hour lunch break)
Price: FREE
Check-in: 9:00–9:45 AM
Presenter: Rodrigo Saiani, Plau Design, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Algorithms and AI are helping brands take personalization to levels beyond the imaginable but branding has historically being more about consistency than flexibility. Variable Brand Voice is the typographic manifestation of the inevitable shift towards flexibility and mass personalization. By means of variable fonts, parametric and programmatic design, brands are leveraging tools to make communications a true one-to-one experience. In this hand-on workshop, Rodrigo will share more than 15 years of knowledge and students will work through a briefing and create a variable brand voice for their favorite band or artist. [READ MORE]
Rodrigo Saiani is a type designer and creative director at Plau Design in Brazil. He works at the intersection of language, culture, and graphic voice, creating custom type systems and brand identities for global clients.
The Art of Letterpress
Time: 10:00 AM–4:00 PM (no long “formal” lunch break, eat while inky)
Price: FREE
Check-in: 9:00–9:45 AM
Presenter: Tine Kjølsen, Royal Danish Academy, Copenhagen, Denmark
Step into the world of traditional letterpress printing at the seaside letterpress studio located at the Royal Danish Academy. This hands-on workshop offers participants the chance to engage directly with the craft of letterpress, exploring its rich history and influence on typographic design. Participants will work and engage with original Danish printing presses and materials, gaining insight into the techniques that have shaped the visual culture of typography. [READ MORE]
Tine Kjølsen is a designer and educator at the Royal Danish Academy, where she teaches graphic design and typography. Her work blends historic printing methods with contemporary visual culture.
Half-Day Workshops: Morning
The Post-Modern Mexican Blackletter Hand
Time: 10:00 AM–1:00 PM
Price: FREE
Check-in: 9:00–9:45 AM
Presenter: Jesús Barrientos Mora, Talavera Type Foundry, Puebla, México
In this workshop, we will get our hands deep into the savoury darkness of five styles of Mexican urban Gothic lettering: Mazate (an italic textura), Victoria (a condensed rotunda), Morenita (a rounded Schwabacher), Montellano (a stiffed fraktur), and Retazo (a reversed-italic bastarda). We will work with flat brushes, optionally with broad square nibs and calligraphy markers, and plenty of black ink. [READ MORE]
Jesús Barrientos Mora is a calligrapher, designer, and founder of Talavera Type Foundry. His work explores vernacular Mexican typography and its intersection with cultural identity.
Broad Nib Calligraphy
Time: 10:00 AM–1:00 PM
Price: FREE
Check-in: 9:00–9:45 AM
Presenter: Anastasia Vrublevská, TAMDEM Studio, Prague, Czech Republic
This intensive three-hour calligraphy workshop is designed for all kinds of typography-related professionals and students; from top-level design directors and poster artists to those beginning to explore a career in typeface design or editorial layout, anyone interested in typography, lettering, and the calligraphic arts will benefit from this session. Participants will explore drawing and perfecting letterforms using the broad-nib pen. This pen is a mighty weapon in any designer’s toolkit, where lettering and sketching by hand are practical skills that continue to sharpen talent and hone craft over time.
Eight participants will work in creative harmony, learning how to draw the gorgeous calligraphic forms that are most foundational to pleasure and profit in the world of type and lettering.
Anastasia Vrublevská is a calligrapher and type designer based in Prague. She co-founded TAMDEM Studio and specializes in historic scripts, experimental lettering, and tactile type education.
Building Font Families
Time: 10:00 AM–1:00 PM
Price: FREE
Check-in: 9:00–9:45 AM
Presenters: Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer (Vienna) & Georg Seifert (Berlin)
Use the latest Glyphs to set up and manage an interpolation, avoid common pitfalls, create variable and static font exports, and apply post-production steps. Bring your MacBook with the latest Glyphs installed.
Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer is a type designer, educator, and part of the Glyphs team. Georg Seifert is the creator of Glyphs font editor. Together, they help the world make better fonts—faster, smarter, and more joyfully.
Riso Printing, Session 1
Time: 10:00 AM–1:00 PM
Price: FREE
Check-in: 9:00–9:45 AM
Presenter: Flemming Dupont, Royal Danish Academy, Denmark
Join us for a workshop in two-color Riso printing on A3 format. You can create your design on the day or bring something from home to use as a starting point. All printed posters will be exhibited at the Royal Danish Academy after the workshop. There is also an afternoon session.
Flemming Dupont teaches print media and analog design processes at the Royal Danish Academy. His riso workshops are legendary for their bold color, bold ideas, and experimental energy.
Half-Day Workshops: Afternoon
Modern Retro Type: Chinese Meishuzi Design
Time: 3:00–6:00 PM
Price: FREE
Check-in: 2:00–2:45 PM
Presenter: Tao Yihong, Hanyi Fonts, Beijing
Curated by Hanyi Fonts and led by professional Chinese typeface designer Tao Yihong, the Modern Retro Type: Chinese Meishuzi design workshop offers a four-hour immersive experience. “Meishuzi” (美术字), meaning decorative Chinese characters in English, refers to a distinctive tradition of stylised lettering used mainly for signage and display, which gained wide popularity in mid-20th-century Shanghai, China. [READ MORE]
Tao Yihong is a designer at Hanyi Fonts and an expert in Chinese display lettering. Her work focuses on the visual culture and revival of hand-painted meishuzi styles.
Expressive Gestural Calligraphy & Letterform Modulation
Time: 3:00–5:00 PM
Price: FREE
Check-in: 2:00–2:45 PM
Presenter: Dr. Chaitanya Shrikant Gokhale, Srishti Manipal Institute, India
This hands-on workshop invites participants to explore the dynamic world of expressive, gestural calligraphy and lettering. Designed to inspire creativity and experimentation, the session focuses on the art of modulating letterforms using both traditional and unconventional calligraphy tools. Participants will learn how to manipulate pressure, angles, and tool grips to create diverse letterform styles, unlocking the emotional essence conveyed through each modulation. [READ MORE]
Dr. Chaitanya Gokhale is a type designer and educator whose work explores multiscript letterforms, performance, and emotion in calligraphy. He teaches at Srishti Manipal Institute in Bangalore.
Creating a Community Typeface
Time: 3:00–6:00 PM
Price: FREE
Check-in: 2:00–2:45 PM
Presenters: Lee Qiu Wen, Sylvia Low & Wee Yen of Death of Typography, Singapore
This workshop invites participants to experiment with type and explore new ways of thinking about letterforms through hands-on, analog activities. Inspired by vernacular typography― the workshop celebrates how type expresses culture, community & storytelling. Letters made during the workshop will be used to created a community typeface. Participants will also be able to create and bring home an experimental type zine.
Death of Typography is a Singapore-based collective working at the intersection of community, culture, and typographic experimentation. They believe in fonts as living, collective artifacts.
Recycling Fonts with Font Filters
Time: 3:00–6:00 PM
Price: FREE
Check-in: 2:00–2:45 PM
Presenter: Jan Šindler, No Design Foundry, Berlin
Attendees will learn how to work with the pen protocol in Python/DrawBot. They will create a visual font filter, that will in the end plug in into a server. After the workshop, they will obtain the code for the server so will be able to continue their experiment at home. Being your MacOS computer with DrawBot installed. Basic knowledge of programming is recommended. Those with other type of computers, make sure to have VS Code and recent Python installed and come a bit earlier.
Jan Šindler is a designer and coder from the Czech Republic, now based in Berlin. He’s behind No Design Foundry and builds tools that bend, break, and beautify type.
Riso Printing, Session 2
Time: 3:00–6:00 PM
Price: FREE
Check-in: 2:00–2:45 PM
Presenter: Flemming Dupont, Royal Danish Academy, Denmark
Join us for a workshop in two-color Riso printing on A3 format. You can create your design on the day or bring something from home to use as a starting point. All printed posters will be exhibited at the Royal Danish Academy after the workshop. There is also a morning session.
Flemming Dupont teaches print media and analog design processes at the Royal Danish Academy. His riso workshops are legendary for their bold color, bold ideas, and experimental energy.