During type projects, many specific parts can be automated to support the design process, such as live spacing/kerning, feedback, filling details, QA, and proofing. But much of this is so closely related to a particular design that these functions will never become an application. The aim of assistants is to support those tasks during sketching and drawing in order to make design cycles as short as possible, giving as much feedback as possible, while still allowing flexible alterations to the code and the design where needed.
Petr van Blokland (1956) works together with designer Claudia Mens and others, depending on the type of project. He graduated in 1980 cum laude in Graphic Design at KABK/The Hague and studied Industrial Design in Delft. His special interest is in typography, type design, designing the design process, programming and design theory.
Van Blokland received the Charles Peignot Award for typography of ATypI in 1988 and was Board Member for a number of years. He lectured at various academies on bachelor and master level. His current focus is on international projects related to typography and type, e.g. as co-founder of webtype.com, and typenetwork.com for which a range of software design tools were developed. That is also the location of his type foundry TYPETR.
Instagram @petrvanblokland
Twitter @petrvanblokland
