The objective of this workshop is to introduce participants to a method for developing a series of fast and creative-challenging sketches for new type designs. Through the use of a 1” balsa broad-nib writing tool and India ink, participants are introduced to Noordzij’s stroke theory through the experience of the translation and rotation dimensions in a series of three stages in the workshop. These stages are prompted by a custom digital tool—SLOType—a mashup application directly inspired by the Letterror Type Cooker app, with GlifoTipo and Oblique Strategies. The creative prompts were designed to guide the user (novice or advanced) in a progressively challenging way into designing an original “adhesion” keyword that may later be digitized. On the one hand, they are given formal typographic instructions to respond to. On the other hand, they are given progressively abstract rules, and emergent driven features to design for, in order to detach from previous models, question their own assumptions, bend the rules, and generate original design sketches.
SLOType Workshop: Kickstarting Typeface Design Sketching
Ana Catarina Silva
Ana Catarina Silva is a teacher and researcher. She holds a PhD in Sciences and Technologies of Communication from the University of Porto in Portugal, her thesis focusing on the design of the technical book in a hybrid editorial context. Her research projects address a variety of fields and their borders, from hybrid editions to independent publishing, typography, and illustration. Books (and their forms) are Silva’s passion. Since 2007, she has taught typography in editorial and design projects for undergraduate and graduate degree programs in graphic design and digital design at the Escola Superior de Design at the Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave (IPCA) in Barcelos. Silva is also a research member of CAOS (Communication, Art, Object, and Synergies)/ID+ (the Research Institute for Design, Media, and Culture) and a member of the Design Obs, a Portuguese design observatory.
Eduardo Napoleão
Eduardo Napoleão teaches at UNIVALI (Brazil), lecturing on design process, sound design, typography, and visual identity projects at Graphic and Game Design courses. Napoleão is Design Manager at DesignLab/UNIVALI and a PhD candidate at UFSC (Brazil) and UPorto (Portugal) in a combined program. He focuses his research on branding, design management, typography, game studies, and the role of creativity in design while he taking time to practice sports, games, and playing musical instruments.
Pedro Amado
Pedro Amado is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, lecturing on creative coding, web design, typography, and type design. Amado is an integrated member of the direction of the i2ADS research institute, a founding member of the ATIPO typography association, and country delegate for ATypI. Passionate about digital tinkering, an amateur letterpress printer, and a digital photographer, Amado focuses his research and development activities on computational and post-digital typography and editorial design, as well as human-computer interaction.