A common issue with multiscript typography arises when a graphic identity, originally designed with only Latin in mind, is later extended to cover other scripts—more often than not, the fonts lack the necessary characters. The problem becomes particularly acute on the web, where texts in scripts unforeseen by a site’s designers may need to be published. The two obvious solutions—either to switch to a typeface with a larger character set or to commission an expanded character set for the existing typeface—may not always be practical. With this in mind, and taking inspiration from David Berlow’s parametric fonts, this session presents an experimental system using a set of specially designed Greek variable fonts. Measurements are taken from a given Latin font and applied to the variable font, a synthetic Greek font being produced that matches the measurements—stem widths, cap height, x-height, and so on—of the Latin font. While not achieving the quality of custom Greek typefaces, the parametric fallback fonts are significantly more pleasing to the eye than the typical alternative of system fonts.
Irene Vlachou is a typeface designer working between Bristol and Athens. After first trying life as an artist and a violinist, Vlachou found her true vocation. Her terrible handwriting and horror of olives turned out not to be obstacles to her becoming a type designer specializing in Greek. In 2004, she received a master’s degree in type design from the University of Reading; since then, she has been collaborating with many international type foundries as a typeface designer and consultant. She designs original custom typefaces, extends existing typefaces, and is the variable-font obsessive at TypeTogether. イリーニ・ヴラフーはブリストルとアテネを行き来する書体デザイナー。画家やバイオリニストとして生計を立てるのに失敗したのち、天職を見つける。彼女は自身の汚い手書きと地元の特産品のオリーブの恐怖を物ともせず、ギリシャ書体デザイナーを目指すようになる。2004年にはレディング大学の書体デザインコースを修了し、書体デザイナーおよびコンサルタントとして様々な書体ファンダリーとコラボレーションする。現在タイプトゥギャザーにてカスタム書体製作および販売用書体へのギリシャ文字追加を担当している。チームきってのフォントマニア。
Speaker
Laurence Penney
Laurence Penney is a font-technology consultant based in Bristol, UK. With a focus on dynamic type systems, he specialized in TrueType: coding rasterizers, hinting fonts, and training others how to hint. He later took on the challenge of creating MyFonts, the open platform selling fonts from all foundries, and helped build the team that made it the market leader by a wide margin. The recent revival of color and variable fonts gives Penney hope that the type world has not forgotten the best ideas from a generation ago. He looks forward to helping these technologies take off. ローレンス・ペニーはブリストル在住のフォント技術コンサルタント。動的なタイプシステムに興味がありTrueTypeに強く、ラスタライザをプログラムしたり、ヒンティング、またヒンティング教習も行う。オープンなフォント販売サイトであるMyFontsの創設者で、市場での圧倒的な牽引役となる同サイトを運営するチームを築き上げた。近年のカラーフォントとバリアブルフォントの復興により、昔の優れたアイデアも蘇ることを期待しており、それら技術を世に広める活動を夢見ている。