Yves Peters aka Unzipper wrote an interesting article about type design. The first part of a series of articles investigates the type designer as artist and tries to answer questions such as Why design new typefaces? or What constitutes good type design? It’s a good beginner’s read, something that would help my mom understand what the hell I am doing.
initial sketches for Greta by Peter Bil’ak
So that’s it. It’s the end of a long year for all the students of Type]Media. Unfortunatly or fortunatly, I wont be taking part in the graduation this year because I need more time to finish my work. I am very greatful that my teachers are offering me to spend more time to reflect on my work and to let it mature a bit more. So this blog is not over yet and there will be new stuff coming soon as I intend to work on a new typeface.
Never thougth I would manage to draw the italic in three days. It’s amazing what I can do when I am stressed like hell. Bring the coffee and cigarettes!
Only four weeks left to finish my typeface and there is still so much to do.
Berlin is melancholic and poignant, it’s a place of erasure and transfiguration. Its conflicting history is an integral part of its identity. I cannot escape the feeling that something else once stood here and its shadow is still present. It is as if I was walking through a movie set that is being slowly dismantled. Following are a few photos that illustrate my impressions of Berlin.
traffic signs by Knootchy
Next week all the type geeks will converge to Berlin to indulge in an orgy of typographic lectures. Naturally Type & Media will be present! Interestingly someone sent me a link about the nationalities that will be present at Typo-Berlin. The pie chart clearly shows that the germans are the majority of visitors. But what is surprising is the rather high number of Belgians compared to the Dutch and the Brits. There will be 37 belgians, that is almost twice as much as the dutch. OK, 37 is not a lot but if you think that we actually outnumber the “great-dutch-nation-of-typographers” then something must be happening in Belgium. How to explain this sudden interest for typography in Belgium? I can’t.
As far as I know type design stopped in belgium with Hendrik van den Keere around 1580. However, there seem to be a new generation of belgian type designer such as Jo De Baerdemaeker and Frederik Berlaen. But it remains very marginal and in an ever increasing globalized world the origins of the designers cary less and less importance. Don’t get me wrong, I am not nostalgic or a chauvinist, I am just curious to know why there is so much interest in typography in Belgium. This renewed interest will hopefully bring an end to more than 427 years of complete disregard for type design.
Feel free to correct me if i have omitted to mention other contemporary belgian type designers.
