Home / ATypI Paris 2023

Arcade Game Type Design—afternoon—SOLD OUT

Sorbonne University, Campus Pierre and Marie Curie, 4 Pl. Jussieu. Check in 15 minutes before session start time.

15:00-18:00 GMT+2
3-hour half-day afternoon session

Arcade games from the 1970s to the 2000s are a treasure trove of amazing pixelated fonts. They were mostly Latin and Japanese monospaced fonts designed in an 8×8 pixel grid. Being designed for entertainment, their most standout feature was that they generally came in multiple colors, which give pixel fonts a whole new dimension of possibilities.

This workshop starts with a lecture on the history of arcade game fonts, followed by a lettering session using iron beads as the means of pixelation. The participants are encouraged to design with the technical limitations of classical arcades in mind, but can freely explore as they like, in any writing system. It is recommended for anyone who loves lettering.

No preparation necessary; all necessary tools and materials will be provided.

Workshop duration: 3 hours

Total number of spots available: 12

15:00-18:00 GMT+2
3-hour half-day afternoon session

Toshi Omagari
Speaker

Toshi Omagari

Toshi is an independent typeface designer in London. He graduated from the Visual Communication Design course at Musashino Art University in Tokyo in 2008 and the MA Typeface Design program at the University of Reading in 2011. Since he joined Monotype in 2012, he has released a number of revivals of forgotten classics such as Metro Nova, The Berthold Wolpe Collection, and Neue Plak, while also working on custom typefaces for clients such as H&M and Sir Quentin Blake. He now runs his own studio. His experience with writing systems goes beyond Latin, including Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Tibetan, and Mongolian. Toshi is also an avid gamer, and has written Arcade Game Typography, a specimen book of pixelated typefaces from retro arcade games. Inspired by the old game fonts, Toshi has started Tabular Type Foundry that releases monospaced typefaces only. He also runs Omega Type Foundry for non-monospaced fonts. His other hobbies include blades and knives, Rubik’s cube, and shrimp keeping.

Instagram @toshiomagari

Twitter @Tosche_E