WEBVTT

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Hello

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Type, signs and letters are 
everywhere around us.

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

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to the last moment of the day when 
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 
5,000 messages a day

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

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digital or analogue.

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All these message have some 
emotional impact upon us.

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

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

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

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The oldest written records 
are about 5,000 old.

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

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We can live perfectly fine without type.

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Type can materialise language. 
It allows communication across time.

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Writing allows incredible advantages 
to human communication.

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Type works very similarly to human voice.

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Just like some voices can communicate 
more effectively than others,

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

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

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Type has the same identification value.

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Type identifies content, 
and fills it with emotion.

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

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

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type reflects requirements 
of the time we live in.

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

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

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design typefaces that allow 
working with complex content.

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

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Typefaces which I design support 
over 250 languages,

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in various writing scripts.

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The truth is that there are 
already many typefaces.

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So it is only natural to ask 
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 
commercial type foundries,

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

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There is a difference between 
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 
of existing fonts were designed

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

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

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we are left with only 
20% of the fonts.

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

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equally well on computer 
screen as on paper,

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because most of the fonts were designed 
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 
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 
in multiple languages, say in Russian

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

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

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

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

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And new typefaces will continue 
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. 
I decide on different criteria —

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legibility, economy of type setting, and 
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, 
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 
living with type design.

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I estimate there may 
be 200 to 300 such people.

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Here, in Slovakia, 
it is exactly two people.

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

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

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

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To make a typeface, one needs knowledge
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,
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.
Technology renders all type.

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

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about type rendering and 
possibly programming.

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

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Because one studies linguistics, 
technology and design in different schools

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there are few people who practice
type design.

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Good typefaces use knowledge of all
three fields.

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There are about 7,000 
languages in the world.

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In India there are over 400 languages.

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There are estimates that 
by the end of the century,

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

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

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There are various reasons for 
disappearance of languages.

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

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between regions and casts.

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

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With a loss of language we 
lose access to information

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available only in 
that particular language.

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India is incredibly multicultural 
and multilingual

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

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I co-founded the Indian Type Foundry,
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 
the Hindi language.

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Our research hasn't started looking
at other typefaces,

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instead, we would look at the base.

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The most primary way to record 
information is handwriting.

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We would observe regional, cultural
differences how people write.

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This foundation work allowed us to
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 
that have no digital fonts.

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Designing a typeface for those languages
allows publishing books,

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and possibly even preservation
of those languages.

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What is interesting about type
design is that

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

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A typeface is not ready until 
someone uses it.

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

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The use finalises the typeface, 
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, 
and can surprise me.

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

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

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

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Perhaps less expected 
use is in the Bibles.

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

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And finally, the same typeface is used
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 
that one typeface expresses

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content on these three diverse messages,

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from governmental, to biblical 
to terrorist pamphlets.

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

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it fits them the best.

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It is interesting to consider what 
links those different users.

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

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While the forms of Karloff are 
very conventional, building on

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work of Italian printer 
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 
the thick and thin strokes

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A few decades after Bodoni, 
these forms of letters

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were used to catch attention of readers
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 
beauty with ugliness.

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Typeface Karloff tries to do both.

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One construction of the letters,
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 
of letters from one side to another.

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And it is possible to continuously 
shift between the

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beauty and ugliness.

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One version if pretty,
the other repulsive,

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and it is possible to 
interpolate between them

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And exactly in the middle is
a neutral version,

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a type that looks just like 
typewriter's letters.

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If we look closely at 
books published today.

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

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that are relatively old, 
designed decades or centuries ago.

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

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their makers.

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The forms of letters are archetypal,
changing slowly.

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

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Type design is one of those, and its 
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
of a poster that hangs in my office.

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

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

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

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If you look at this calendar, 
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, 
and get a bit lucky,

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my work can outlive me.