A pliego was the earliest known European printed book format. The first pliego created was the Sibyllenbuch, and is believed to have been printed by Gutenberg in 1452 before the Gutenberg Bible. The project idea has to do with the uncovering of an old suitcase that had been abandoned in a family garage. Inside was… Continue reading Pliegos Chapbooks
This presentation narrates the story of the creation of a modern typeface, Adinatha Tamil Brahmi, for the historic Tamil-Brahmi script and the wide-spread impact it had on the community in terms of script revival. Tamil-Brahmi is a regional adaptation of the historical Brahmi script that was used to write the Old Tamil language between 300… Continue reading Contemporizing a Historic Script: The Development of Adinatha Tamil Brahmi Typeface and its Community Impact
‘When Better Letters Met…’ is a series of short films celebrating the lives and work of retired sign painters and lettering artists. In this, the fourth in the series, we profile Australian showcard and ticket writer Barbara Enright. The film will be followed by a live Q+A with Barbara.Session delivered in partnership with Better Letters.
Hanwen zhengkai is a famous regular type font born in Shanghai during the 1930s that consists of 11 sizes and styles, and is the first set of full type from the Republic of China era. Hanwen zhengkai was warmly received after its birth and was soon purchased by the Japanese Ashizawa Printing Shop and Kaneda… Continue reading The Spread, Influence and Redesign of Hanwen Zhengkai
While neon signs traditionally use custom lettering, not fonts, tube-bent letters have inspired new typeface designs for over fifty years. And, vice versa, as desktop publishing began to replace lettering skills in the 1980s, typefaces became a common ingredient in sign-making of all kinds, including neon. This talk will present a brief survey of this… Continue reading Neon/Font: A Torrid Typographic Affair
The most evident, residual, and evoking parts of our memories are visual. Visual culture sets the tone for our familiarities and habits. When you grow up in a country like India and walk along streets painted, glued, and fixed with whimsical Bollywood posters, the disproportionate, hand written signs become second nature to your visual memory.… Continue reading A Type of Cure for Homesickness
Wander the world’s largest collection of wood type. Our tour sheds light on the vast holdings of Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum. Case upon case of American wood type that dates back to the 1840s is on display. From the veneer style pioneered by J.E. Hamilton to current work cut within the past month,… Continue reading Touring Type at the Hamilton Museum
Kelly Walters is currently working on a book project called “Depictions of Blackness,” which explores the emergence of racial stereotypes in print design works from 1865–1979 in African American history. From post-reconstruction to blaxploitation eras, “Depictions of Blackness” argues that depictions of African-Americans and African-American history are central to a critical understanding of American graphic… Continue reading Depictions of Blackness in American Graphic Design
Where is the border between writing and image and where does the written word end? When does our perceptual apparatus recognize an image as such? This question was asked by the French poet and writer Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) before he turned his attention to the visual representation of his poems he wrote during World War… Continue reading Between Font and Image: The Role of Typography as Exemplified by Guillaume Apollinaire’s Calligrammes
Embossing is the process of printing relief images and text on paper and other materials by providing three-dimensional effects. The concept of the embossing technique can be traced back to letterpress printing around 1450 AD, years after the cylinder seal. The cylinder seal was invented around 3500 BC to make an impression on two-dimensional space,… Continue reading 3D Printed Type Embosser: Revitalizing a Historical Artifact