Type, letters and language | Peter Biľak | TEDxTrencin

Type designer Peter Biľak talks about language and why type designers today create new fonts to address the changes of the time we live in.

Hello

Type, signs and letters are
everywhere around us.

From the first moment we wake up and
look at our watch

to the last moment of the day when
we read books or magazines

we are surrounded by letters.

According to a research from 2004

we are confronted with
5,000 messages a day

that is a message every 12 seconds,
in some form or another,

digital or analogue.

All these message have some
emotional impact upon us.

All these letter had to be designed,
and this is what this talk is about.

People, or homo sapiens, have been using
speech for over 80,000 years.

The history of written messages is only
a tiny fraction of history of language.

The oldest written records
are about 5,000 old.

So it is clear that writing is not really
necessary for human communication.

We can live perfectly fine without type.

Type can materialise language.
It allows communication across time.

Writing allows incredible advantages
to human communication.

Type works very similarly to human voice.

Just like some voices can communicate
more effectively than others,

some typefaces, too, can communicate
some messages better than other type.

We can recognise human voices even
when distorted by a bad phone line.

Type has the same identification value.

Type identifies content,
and fills it with emotion.

I'm one of of those
people who design type.

Today's age is more complex than
anytime before, therefore

type reflects requirements
of the time we live in.

This is one of the reasons why
new typefaces are still designed.

For example, messages today
are more hierarchical, so type designers

design typefaces that allow
working with complex content.

When I talk about type, I don't
only mean Latin writing script.

Typefaces which I design support
over 250 languages,

in various writing scripts.

The truth is that there are
already many typefaces.

So it is only natural to ask
why designing a new one.

One of the answers can be this one:

If you look at offerings of
commercial type foundries,

we'll find over 150,000
various fonts for sale.

There is a difference between
a font and a typeface, but that is

outside of the scope of this talk.

Majority of this huge number
of existing fonts were designed

for headline use, and are not
suitable for using in small sizes.

If we were to find a single font
that works well in small sizes,

we are left with only
20% of the fonts.

If we apply another selection criterium,
and look for a font that works

equally well on computer
screen as on paper,

because most of the fonts were designed
for printing press, and reading on screen

is a relatively new phenomenon.

So if we look for those fonts, we are
left with a tiny portion of what was

previously a huge list of fonts.

And if we say that we need to set type
in multiple languages, say in Russian

Greek, or Arabic, we are left with
one or two fonts that we can choose from.

And if someone else is using and claiming
the same font already, and we look for

a unique typeface, there may
be nothing to choose from.

This is the reason why new typefaces are
being constantly designed.

And new typefaces will continue
being designed, because they

continue reflecting the period we live in.

My work is usually very functional.
I decide on different criteria —

legibility, economy of type setting, and
eventually also emotional character of

the typeface that effects the reader.

After all testing, trying all languages,
and output in different media,

the typeface will be ready for use.

There are very few people who make their
living with type design.

I estimate there may
be 200 to 300 such people.

Here, in Slovakia,
it is exactly two people.

Those two: Ján Filípek, and Ondrej Jób,
who happened to be my students

in The Hague (NL),
and they design type for living.

This diagram explains why there are so
few people designing type seriously.

To make a typeface, one needs knowledge
of three very different disciplines,

that can't be acquired in one place.

You need to know how language works,
basic knowledge of linguistics, which

is studied as a separate study field.

Type is dependent on technology.
Technology renders all type.

Type is processed by printing or light,
so type designer needs to know

about type rendering and
possibly programming.

And there is a field of design,
which is again studied separately.

Because one studies linguistics,
technology and design in different schools

there are few people who practice
type design.

Good typefaces use knowledge of all
three fields.

There are about 7,000
languages in the world.

In India there are over 400 languages.

There are estimates that
by the end of the century,

80% of those languages
will disappear. It took millennia to

develop those languages,and
only decades for them to go extinct.

There are various reasons for
disappearance of languages.

One of them is that English is very
popular, and erases differences

between regions and casts.

However, a loss of language
is similar to loss of biodiversity.

With a loss of language we
lose access to information

available only in
that particular language.

India is incredibly multicultural
and multilingual

This is a typical sign, a combination
of 6 different languages and scripts.

I co-founded the Indian Type Foundry,
and part of our work was research into

regional languages. This is a major script

the Devanagari, used to write
the Hindi language.

Our research hasn't started looking
at other typefaces,

instead, we would look at the base.

The most primary way to record
information is handwriting.

We would observe regional, cultural
differences how people write.

This foundation work allowed us to
make typefaces for regional languages,

covering needs of the local speakers.

In India you can encounter languages
that have no digital fonts.

Designing a typeface for those languages
allows publishing books,

and possibly even preservation
of those languages.

What is interesting about type
design is that

a typeface is not really a product.
It is more of a semi-product.

A typeface is not ready until
someone uses it.

Without usage a typeface is as
useful as a book that no one reads.

The use finalises the typeface,
gives it personal character.

I collect examples of my typefaces in use,

because I can learn from them,
and can surprise me.

Here are same samples of just
one typeface — Fedra Sans,

the typeface which is used in
the logo of this city.

European Union parliament is using it,
because it covers all EU languages.

Perhaps less expected
use is in the Bibles.

World Bible Translation Center is
using Fedra in most of their editions.

And finally, the same typeface is used
on the flyers of Greek terrorist group

responsible for bombing of embassies.

How on earth, one can decide
that one typeface expresses

content on these three diverse messages,

from governmental, to biblical
to terrorist pamphlets.

Each user probably chose this typeface
from many others, believing that

it fits them the best.

It is interesting to consider what
links those different users.

Here is one example of a recent typeface
I designed — called Karloff.

While the forms of Karloff are
very conventional, building on

work of Italian printer
Giambattista Bodoni.

These forms are considered very attractive

often used in fashion industry.

High contrast between
the thick and thin strokes

A few decades after Bodoni,
these forms of letters

were used to catch attention of readers
by making something

deliberately ugly.

I became interested in finding out

whether it is possible to connect
beauty with ugliness.

Typeface Karloff tries to do both.

One construction of the letters,
can be modified by changing

contrast between the thick and thin.

It mathematically shifts the black areas
of letters from one side to another.

And it is possible to continuously
shift between the

beauty and ugliness.

One version if pretty,
the other repulsive,

and it is possible to
interpolate between them

And exactly in the middle is
a neutral version,

a type that looks just like
typewriter's letters.

If we look closely at
books published today.

We can find out that even books
printed in 2014, use typefaces

that are relatively old,
designed decades or centuries ago.

It is caused by the fact that typefaces
have a potential to outlive

their makers.

The forms of letters are archetypal,
changing slowly.

There are many jobs whose results
are visible for a long time

Type design is one of those, and its
results may stay around for

a very long time.

I'll end this talk with a detail
of a poster that hangs in my office.

It is a calendar I designed.
Each line represents a day.

This is a calendar of 21st century,
with all its days.

Every day I come to the office,
I cross a day, to see where I am.

If you look at this calendar,
you will see days far in the future.

I have no idea if I will live this long.

But if I do my work well,
and get a bit lucky,

my work can outlive me.