A two-day typographic conference
14–15 March 2012
Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, a Faculty of Birmingham City University
1-day £25 | 2-day £40 (concessionary ticket)
By the early twentieth century the definition of typographer was restricted to the designer of a printed page as distinct from the compositor or machine operator. Nowadays ‘typographer’ has become a vague term, which takes no account of the inherent differences that technology has brought to the discipline: typography is no longer a vocation but an emergent profession difficult to define.
Whether typography can be accounted an ancient calling or a new profession, it requires a high degree of discipline and technical knowledge. In this technological age, surely some way is needed of distinguishing between the ancillaries of the profession and the truly literate and practical typographer?
This symposium will look at the changing roles of typography’s past; examine the nature of typography’s present; and soothsayer into typography’s future.
Rob Banham, Lost in film: design and production in the twentieth century: Vince Connare, ‘We are the 99%’: Priscila Farias, Tropical types: São Paulo city 19th century typographers: Antero Ferreira, Design catalogue for the Archive of the University of Coimbra (2005–11): ortho-microtypography in scientific texts: Jessica Glaser, The graphic sandwich: Barbara Henry, Reading Walt Whitman’s faces: Thomas Milo, Arabic versus Eurabic: Julián Moncada, Diverse voices: perspectives on gender diversity and the development of type design history: Robert Sharl, David Osbaldestin, The new print: Aspasia Papadima, Thomas Photiadis, Evripides Zantides, The use of eye-tracker technology to evaluate gender perception differences/biases on typeface design and characteristics: Alice Savoie, International cross-currents in typeface design: France, Britain and the US in the phototypesetting era,1949–75: Juliet Shen, The several roles of a bespoke Native American font: Vaibhav Singh, Typography proper: lessons from the Hamiltonian system of interlinear translations in the digital era of multi-script typography: Elena Veguillas, La Tipografía: witness of the changes within the Spanish printing trade: Hazel Wilkinson, Ornamental type and the identification of unknown printers in the hand press period
The full programme of speakers is available for download from the Typographic Hub website.
A booking form can be downloaded from the Typographic Hub website.
