Home / ATypI Tech Talks 2021

Variable First, Variable Everything

“How are variable fonts built? Can we build them in a better way? And is there more that we could do with variable fonts than we’re currently doing? In this presentation, Simon Cozens will first give a tour of the existing open-source font toolchain and demonstrate a new method of producing variable fonts which is smarter and faster than current techniques. Further, Cozens will show how this method allows us to take full advantage of the opportunities provided by the variable fonts specification, enabling us to solve layout challenges in innovative ways.”

Simon Cozens
Speaker

Simon Cozens

Simon Cozens is a freelance font engineer based in the UK, specializing in supporting scripts with complex layout requirements. He is the creator of the open-source typesetting engine SILE, a truly multi-script layout engine, the author of “Fonts and Layout for Global Scripts,” and the developer of many scripts and plugins for the Glyphs font editor. Previously, Cozens was a missionary, anthropology lecturer, and theologian specializing in the pastoral theology of shame.