A framework for discourse in typeface design

This lecture was delivered at the 6th ICTVC, in Thessaloniki. It discusses structuring relevant literature for teaching, and supporting independent learning, in typeface design.

Transcript

1. A framework for discourse in typeface design Gerry Leonidas
2. Discussing priorities | Developing a field Visual communication is now an established discipline with a burgeoning professional practice, varied educational systems, critical research, national and international conferences and competitions, trade magazines, and academic journals. 
 Across many areas, visual communication is entering a period of sustained growth and expansion. This calls for strategic decisions for directions of development, setting priorities for action, and clarifying relationships with related areas of activity.
3. Developing a field: discussing priorities Visual communication is now an established discipline with a burgeoning professional practice, varied educational systems, critical research, national and international conferences and competitions, trade magazines, and academic journals. 
 Across many areas, visual communication is entering a period of sustained growth and expansion. This calls for strategic decisions for directions of development, setting priorities for action, and clarifying relationships with related areas of activity.
4. Typeface design is a social enterprise.
5. practice instructions compendia, indirect records historical accounts specifications for practice narratives of interpretation and explanation [theory]
6. practice compendia, indirect records historical accounts instructions and specifications for practice interpretation, explanation [theory]
7. Volume and intensity of practice obscure interpretation
8. 1 Typemaking environments are commoditised
10. 2 The added value of design is redefined 
 away from the visible acts of practice
11. 3 A typeface does not contain enough 
 information to explain itself
12. Channels of distribution
19. “Rejection or ignorance of the rich and varied 
 history and traditions of typography are
 inexcusable; however, adherence to traditional 
 concepts without regard to contemporary 
 context is intellectually lazy and a threat 
 to typography today.” Jeffery Keedy
 The rules of typography according 
 to crackpots experts 
 Eye 9, 1993
20. Visible Language* 50th anniversary issue *Journal of Typographic Research
21. Visible Language 50th anniversary issue 240+ submissions
22. Adobe. (1990) Adobe Type 1 Font Format Sutton, J., & Bartram, A. (1968) An atlas of typeforms Ahrens, T., & Magicura, S. (2014) Size-specific adjustments to type designs Lawson, A. S. (1990) Anatomy of a Typeface Lund, O. (1999) Knowledge construction in typography: the case of legibility research and the legibility of sans serif typefaces Hochuli, J., & Kinross, R. (1996) Designing books: practice and theory Poynor, R. (2003) No more rules: graphic design and postmodernism Spiekermann, E. (2013) Stop stealing sheep and find out how type works Spiekermann, E. (1986) Ursache und Wirkung. Ein typographischer Roman
25. Twyman, Michael 
 (1998) The British Library guide to printing: history and techniques Twyman, Michael 
 (1970) Printing 1770–1970
26. Framework for enquiry
27. 1. Approaches to historiography 2. Paradigms for typemaking 3. Discussions of typefaces in the context of use 4. Examinations of specification for making 5. Explanations for typeform construction 6. Approaches to validation
28. 1. Discussions the past 2. Ways of making type 3. Typefaces in documents 4. Capturing knowledge for others 5. Explanations of lettermaking 6. Does it work for that?
29. Approaches to historiography
31. Paradigms for typemaking 1. letters made to size, mostly by hand 2. typefaces engineered for proprietary reproduction 3. typefaces as platform-independent products 4. typefaces as formal relationships within systems
32. Discussions of typefaces in the context of use 1. lines and paragraphs 2. persistent documents and ephemera 3. Type families, type systems 4. global type, global typography
34. Implications of specification for making 1. models for letters 2. emerging disciplines of practice 3. typeface design as an open-ended system
36. Explanations for typeform construction 1. Gerritt Noordzij’s moving pen 2. Richard Southall’s models and patterns 3. organic / sampled / constructed patterns
40. adhesifny adhesifny EssayText by Ellmer Stefan
41. adhesifny adhesifny Fenland by Jeremy Tankard
42. Approaches to validation 1. systems with defined constraints 2. the “performance” of rendered text
45. 1. Approaches to historiography 2. Typemaking paradigms 3. Type in the context of use 4. Specification and making 5. Typeform theories 6. Approaches to validation
47. MRes Typeface Design
48. Thank you @gerryleonidas @typefacedesign [speakerdeck.com/gerryleonidas]