The Arabic script has been a long developing writing system, and its diacritics constitute a visually rich and complex in dimension. There are points that differentiate consonants that have similar forms known as niqāṭ, vocalization marks known as tashkyl, Qur’an accents to aid in recitation, and decorative marks. What is the history and relevance of… Continue reading Diacritics in the Arabic Script
The design of a typeface is a complex process, but it follows a logic that can be formalized by constructive elements, such as the module, that can respond to an appearance based on the strokes created with a tool or in standardized geometric shapes. A selection of these elements can be established by a series… Continue reading Typographic Stencils as a Creative and Didactic Tool
Over the decades and centuries, typography has evolved substantially, but rarely at the same time. In this presentation, we will be looking at conceptual and conventional typography, and how the former has affected the perception towards the latter. Since typography is a craft that everyone encounters on a daily basis, the goal of this discourse… Continue reading Conceptual Type, Conventional Type
Hanzi Graphy focuses on the history, architecture, and physical characteristics of Chinese characters while establishing a common set of vocabulary. Kanji Graphy takes it further and tells the story of how Chinese characters settled in Japan and became the root for a hybrid writing system. The book is divided into two sections. In the first… Continue reading Carrying on: Kanji Graphy and Hanzi Graphy
This is the story behind a pretty special navigation typeface designed for a city in the southwestern part of Russia, Belgorod (the name means White City) that has a long and dramatic history. Starting as a Slavic dwelling in the eighth century, and became an important fortress defending the state border from numerous enemy attacks… Continue reading An Incise for City Navigation
If you design type, you won’t want to miss Peter Nowell’s demo of Font Proofer—a powerful new tool for generating proofs. Font Proofer has an intuitive UI for creating an assortment of proof layouts, editing repetitive spacing strings, and exporting PDFs. It’s fast, highly customizable, and compatible with both Glyphs and RoboFont. While proofs are… Continue reading Font Proofer: A New Chapter in Proofing Type
Font engineering is a specific niche of the type design industry, and the lack of accessible documentation makes it hard for other industry professionals to understand what it is and what it is for. It is also not a topic usually taught during a type design education program; therefore, students are hardly aware of that… Continue reading Font Engineering: Defining a Profession
Michael Parson will present the work he has been conducting on his latest typeface. Koruption is the result of questions Parson had been considering about variable fonts. Rather than using this new technology to navigate with traditional features like weight, width, or slant, he wanted to explore how a regular typeface could be transformed into… Continue reading Exploring the Limits of Variable Fonts
Discussion and exploration of existing, new, and emerging tools, techniques, problems, and solutions for automatic kerning and spacing in font engineering. Panelists include Tim Ahrens, Jérémie Hornus, Igino Marini, and Toshi Omagari.