Thanks to powerful font technologies, nowadays a monolinear script font can be designed, produced, and released within a couple of hours, days, or weeks. So why would one spend a couple of years? Simply because every story has two sides, no matter if it’s numbers (read kerning), forms (read outlines), or ideas (read concept).
Based on the four central questions of life—what can I know? what should I do? what may I hope? what is a font?—Underware gives in-depth insight into the making of Duos (2014–2017), including the tools they have built and applied, the way ideas developed and were rejected, how their work was organized and shared, and the way bugs were searched for and destroyed.
This presentation will include images, videos, and other material that has never been shown in public before, and which might never be seen afterwards.
Speaker
Akiem Helmling
Akiem is one of the members of the Underware collective.
Zealotry wouldn’t be an inappropriate collective noun for Underware. They not only design typefaces, they live type–they educate about type, they publish about type, they talk about type, they want (and organize) others to talk about type.
Their work is among that of the most popular of independent type foundries—happy-go-lucky, high-quality, text-friendly typefaces for both display use and comprehensive typesetting. Underware’s typefaces stand out thanks to unique aesthetics, finished quality, and a considered collective presence. Underware is a refreshing and intelligent type foundry who, while taking what they do seriously, manage to not take themselves too seriously.
Speaker
Bas Jacobs
Born in Wanssum, the Netherlands 1976. Studied visual communication at the art academy ABK in Maastricht and followed the post-graduate course typography and type design at the KABK Den Haag. Lives in Amsterdam since September 2001. Founding member of Underware.Underware is three men with one mission: wipe the dust from the type-design by throwing it on the street. More talking, more sharing, less secrets. In other words, Underware is a typographic design-studio publishing their own typefaces and publications. The company was founded in 1999 by Akiem Helmling, Bas Jacobs and Sami Kortemäki.