Zombie Typography

For at least twenty years, the end of typography is happening any minute now. Various developments in technology and changes in our habits are supposed to kill it off. Similar claims have been made for typography's esoteric offspring, typeface design. And yet, both are not only surviving as activities, but they are positively thriving: more people are interested, more are talking and reading about typography, and more people are going to more events (like this one). So, what's the secret? This talk is about typography's secret power: what regenerates it after every call for doom, and draws ever more people in. It is a talk about a one-way street, where once typography becomes part of your world, there is no way out. Zombies indeed.

Transcript

1. Zombie typography
   Gerry Leonidas
   

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2. Jeffery Keedy:

   Zombie Modernism, Emigre 34
   

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4. The end of typography is now.
   [start in about 1968, repeat regularly]
   

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6. themediabriefing.com/article/newspaper-circulation-decline-2001-2014-prediction-5-years
   

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11. Newspaper?
    Magazine?
    Subscription?
    

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16. The type design profession is threatened!
    

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22. And yet…
    

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48. So, what does this mean?
    

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49. materiality community
    memory
    

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50. materiality community
    memory
    typemaking

    typesetting
    distribution

    networks
    content

    creation
    

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51. Typography is a social enterprise.
    

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60. 1. Value of making and distributing trends to zero
    2. Ownership shifts from objects to utility
    3. Evaluation of design relies on context
    

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61. Thank you
    @gerryleonidas
    @typefacedesign
    

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