A look at the origin story of ATypI itself: why it was founded, how it has evolved, perhaps where it is headed. Since we’ll be meeting in Paris this year, where ATypI was founded by Charles Peignot in 1956, it seems appropriate to take a look back.
Presenting the result of a type revival project of 16th-century type cut by an unknown punchcutter, researches and thoughts on the type. A type cut by an unknown punchcutter whose matrix is numbered MA174 in an inventory of Plantin Moretus Museum is the main theme. Interestingly, the letterform is not completely italic but has… Continue reading Reviving Unknown 16th-century Dutch Type
The Smithsonian Institute “is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex” and currently holds in its collection – stored in a warehouse – close to 400 file folders of original drawings from American Type Founders.
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
Buddhism, as one of the major religions in China, has had a profound influence on various fields, including calligraphy arts. Even before the invention of printing technology, monks and believers started to copy Buddhist scriptures while reading them, both to show proof of faith and to spread Buddhism. Some of the scriptures were written on… Continue reading Type Design in Chinese Buddhism: Digital Revivals of Chinese Buddhist Manuscripts and Wood-plate Printings
In 2017, Zenab Bastawala visited the British, Dutch and Armenian cemeteries known as Alampanah and Gulam Falia. The colonials impress the natives by constructing enormous ornamental mausoleums—around 300 to 400—at the respective cemeteries. The earliest grave is dated circa 1649. Each grave allows a discussion of the origins of the cemetery, the chronology of the… Continue reading Rubbing Colonialism at Surat Cemeteries
Digital devices are gradually replacing paper, and reading on screens with various resolutions has led sans serif typefaces to replace serif typefaces. The high readability of serif typefaces is something we can’t ignore. In Chinese, MingTi /SongTi is just like serif in Latin, with greater contrast on the strokes. For serif typefaces, there are some… Continue reading A Responsive Chinese SongTi typeface for Multiple-Use Occasions
This talk presents stories of creative obfuscation for communication from the past, present, and future. Examples include speculative typography that utilizes augmented reality, biotechnology, machine learning, and techniques created by non-experts that engage multiple senses like voice and gesture. The non-expert demonstrates the breadth of human ingenuity for primal need and desire, often against much… Continue reading Typographic Obfuscation: Communication for Privacy and Protest
Like most parts of Latin America, the printing material available were leftovers from Europe or North America. This presentation will review the first publications printed in Uruguay, discovering how nineteenth and twentieth century typographers had to exercise their creativity with little means, and how it improved over time.
