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Hello

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Type, signs and letters are [br]everywhere around us.

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

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

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we are surrounded by letters.

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According to a research from 2004

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we are confronted with [br]5,000 messages a day

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

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digital or analogue.

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All these message have some [br]emotional impact upon us.

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

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

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

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The oldest written records [br]are about 5,000 old.

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

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We can live perfectly fine without type.

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Type can materialise language. [br]It allows communication across time.

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Writing allows incredible advantages [br]to human communication.

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Type works very similarly to human voice.

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Just like some voices can communicate [br]more effectively than others,

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

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

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Type has the same identification value.

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Type identifies content, [br]and fills it with emotion.

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I'm one of of those [br]people who design type.

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

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type reflects requirements [br]of the time we live in.

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

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For example, messages today [br]are more hierarchical, so type designers

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design typefaces that allow [br]working with complex content.

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

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Typefaces which I design support [br]over 250 languages,

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in various writing scripts.

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The truth is that there are [br]already many typefaces.

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

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One of the answers can be this one:

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If you look at offerings of [br]commercial type foundries,

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

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There is a difference between [br]a font and a typeface, but that is

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outside of the scope of this talk.

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Majority of this huge number [br]of existing fonts were designed

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

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

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we are left with only [br]20% of the fonts.

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

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equally well on computer [br]screen as on paper,

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

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is a relatively new phenomenon.

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

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previously a huge list of fonts.

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

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

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

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

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

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And new typefaces will continue [br]being designed, because they

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continue reflecting the period we live in.

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

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legibility, economy of type setting, and [br]eventually also emotional character of

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the typeface that effects the reader.

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After all testing, trying all languages, [br]and output in different media,

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the typeface will be ready for use.

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

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I estimate there may [br]be 200 to 300 such people.

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Here, in Slovakia, [br]it is exactly two people.

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

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

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

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

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that can't be acquired in one place.

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

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is studied as a separate study field.

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Type is dependent on technology.[br]Technology renders all type.

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

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about type rendering and [br]possibly programming.

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

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Because one studies linguistics, [br]technology and design in different schools

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there are few people who practice[br]type design.

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Good typefaces use knowledge of all[br]three fields.

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There are about 7,000 [br]languages in the world.

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In India there are over 400 languages.

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There are estimates that [br]by the end of the century,

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

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

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There are various reasons for [br]disappearance of languages.

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

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between regions and casts.

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However, a loss of language [br]is similar to loss of biodiversity.

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With a loss of language we [br]lose access to information

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available only in [br]that particular language.

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India is incredibly multicultural [br]and multilingual

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

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

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regional languages. This is a major script

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the Devanagari, used to write [br]the Hindi language.

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Our research hasn't started looking[br]at other typefaces,

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instead, we would look at the base.

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The most primary way to record [br]information is handwriting.

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We would observe regional, cultural[br]differences how people write.

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

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covering needs of the local speakers.

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

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Designing a typeface for those languages[br]allows publishing books,

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and possibly even preservation[br]of those languages.

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What is interesting about type[br]design is that

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

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A typeface is not ready until [br]someone uses it.

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

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The use finalises the typeface, [br]gives it personal character.

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I collect examples of my typefaces in use,

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because I can learn from them, [br]and can surprise me.

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

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the typeface which is used in [br]the logo of this city.

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

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Perhaps less expected [br]use is in the Bibles.

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

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

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responsible for bombing of embassies.

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How on earth, one can decide [br]that one typeface expresses

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content on these three diverse messages,

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from governmental, to biblical [br]to terrorist pamphlets.

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

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it fits them the best.

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It is interesting to consider what [br]links those different users.

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

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While the forms of Karloff are [br]very conventional, building on

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work of Italian printer [br]Giambattista Bodoni.

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These forms are considered very attractive

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often used in fashion industry.

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High contrast between [br]the thick and thin strokes

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A few decades after Bodoni, [br]these forms of letters

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were used to catch attention of readers[br]by making something

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deliberately ugly.

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I became interested in finding out

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whether it is possible to connect [br]beauty with ugliness.

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Typeface Karloff tries to do both.

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One construction of the letters,[br]can be modified by changing

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contrast between the thick and thin.

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

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And it is possible to continuously [br]shift between the

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beauty and ugliness.

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One version if pretty,[br]the other repulsive,

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and it is possible to [br]interpolate between them

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And exactly in the middle is[br]a neutral version,

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a type that looks just like [br]typewriter's letters.

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If we look closely at [br]books published today.

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

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that are relatively old, [br]designed decades or centuries ago.

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

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their makers.

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The forms of letters are archetypal,[br]changing slowly.

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There are many jobs whose results [br]are visible for a long time

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

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a very long time.

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

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It is a calendar I designed. [br]Each line represents a day.

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

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

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

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I have no idea if I will live this long.

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

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my work can outlive me.