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How We Got to Now: A Brief Survey of Australian Typography 1983–2023

This presentation offers a broad overview on Australian typography over the past 40 years. Aimed at an international audience as well as those locals eager to contextualise and understand their own contribution, it is by no means exhaustive in nature. Spanning four decades of type design (existing typefaces, lost typefaces), typographic designers and typographic publishing right up to the current internationalised status of the field, this session will offer an important context for the rest of the ATypI event. This will be based on both previous and current research and writing from both professional and academic sources.

Keynote speaker Stephen Banham addresses the theme of ‘Crafted Technology’ by surveying how the various attempts at referencing Australian culture have been crafted using the ever-shifting technologies of their time. Given that this is the first time an ATypI conference has been held in Australia, this presentation will offer an important background to the subsequent presentations and workshops.

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Speaker

Stephen Banham

As a typographer, educator and writer centred on the social and cultural aspects of letterforms, Stephen Banham uses typography to tell stories through an array of materials and processes.

Recognised internationally, his design work and writings have appeared in countless international publications. He has spoken at international events from Barcelona to Beirut, New Zealand to New York.

A board member of the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD), Banham is Senior Lecturer in Typography at the School of Design, RMIT University. He has appeared as a typographic expert witness in the Supreme and Federal Courts of Australia.