A new generation of type specimens

Type Specimen is a quick and easy way to navigate the type foundry, containing over two hundred original font styles. Type Specimen allows you to categorize individual fonts, make comparisons, or see details of specific glyphs. All of this for free of course.

Home

The Home page shows a slideshow of some of the latest fonts in their typical use and allows quick access to the pages of individual fonts, where you can see instructional examples and a brief characteristic of the fonts. The lightbulb icon in the toolbar allows you to quickly navigate to the Welcome page at any stage of the program, and is also a simple way of bringing up the Navigation Bar and the Help section.

Fonts

Each font has an example of its family typeface on its page, a listing of all available styles, a magnifiable preview of all available glyphs in the specific font set, and detailed written information about the origin of the typeface, technical details, or its OpenType features. The Back button will transport you to the previous section. The star icon in the toolbar allows you to mark fonts as favourites. You’ll then see them highlighted in the Fonts drop-down menu each time you run the appplication.

Search

You can sort all font styles into predetermined classification groups or according to defined shape characteristics through a simple search interface. Full-text searching in the names and styles is available. Clicking on the font style will take you to the font’s home page.

Combine

Combine is a revolutionary way of finding appropriate combinations of fonts without having to install a single font into your computer. Select Headline, Subhead or Text in the drop-down menu, choose the typeface you like and move the fields around to find suitable combinations, or browse through a number of preset combinations. Or let yourself be surprised with a random combination using the Shuffle button.

Info

All important information about fonts, language support and compatible applications in one place. The section also contains information about OpenType features, which are standard among our fonts and which let you take advantage of the full potential of current typography.

Help

A single button in the Navigation bar lets you bring up the Help section from any page in the application, letting you see all supported gestures and means of using the application. This way you’ll never miss an important feature of the application.

Visit http://www.suitcasetype.com/app for download link.

Deadline 15 February 2011.

On deciding to enter any design competition you should ask yourself two very important questions:

What will you get out of it?
The ED-Awards receive the widest publicity in the design awards field. Agencies and designers who excel here, receive the best coverage available. The reason is simple: the ED-Awards are based on a network of design media, i.e. the means of communication themselves.

How certain can you be on the quality of the results?
The ED-Awards boast the most qualified jury around, composed of representatives from the leading European design magazines. They are specialised design editors and critics, whose daily work is precisely to recognise and promote the best of communication design internationally. Further more, an observer appointed by the International Council of Graphic Design Associations, the world body for professional communication design, is always present in order to ensure that all rules are followed to the letter.

Representatives of these magazines compose the jury:

2+3D (PL), Design Austria (AT), Design Week (UK), +design (GR), Elephant (Int), étapes: (FR), Grafik Tasarim (TR), idpure (CH), KAK (RU), Novum (DE), Progetto Grafico (IT), TYPO (CZ), Visual (ES), BNO Vormberichten (NL).

All winners and finalists are published on the annual ED-Awards catalogue.

Submission period: January 1 — February 15, 2011.

Click here to learn more details on how to win an ED-Award for yourself.

• How to submit work
• Winners’ gallery
• Rules
• Categories
• Jury

Because Austria’s neighbour to the north has very little information about what is happening on the Austrian design scene – despite the common border – the one-day forum aims to present contemporary Austrian art to the Czech public. The event is connected to issue 41 of Typo which features a special focus on Austrian graphic design.

The lecturers are among the most important representatives of contemporary Austrian design and typography, and have been selected so that their contributions cover the broadest possible spectrum of current events in the industry. The speakers are: Erwin Bauer, the owner of the successful studio bauer – konzept & gestaltung; Martin Tiefenthaler, a typographer, designer and educator; and Marcus Sterz, a designer and typeface artist.

The event is co-hosted by Typo magazine, the Austrian Cultural Institute Prague, the Czech Union of Graphic Design, design austria and Die Jungs Kommunikation.

The talks will be held in German with Czech translation. Entrance fee: CZK 300, students and members of UGD CZK 100.

Hub Praha, Drtinova 10, 150 00 Praha 5

Even though the newsletters are sent to nearly 750,000 email addresses, it is the book format that brings the weight the interviews deserve – if only for the fact that computer monitors do not yet allow one to truly inspect the details of a text face.

A brief foreword by Jan Middendorp is followed by 180 pages filled with 26 richly-illustrated interviews featuring typeface samples as well as reproductions of sources of inspiration and examples of completed works. Questions mainly revolve around the subject of typeface design, but sometimes meander into more personal matters. As a result, the book offers a remarkable window into the souls of the typographers. The reader can see how their common passion for letters is expressed and how the designers differ in their specific approaches to font design. In Volume I – indicating that there will be further volumes – David Berlow, Jean François Porchez, Veronika Burian & José Scaglione, Jos Buivenga, Alejandro Paul, Mark Simonson, Dino dos Santos, Christian Schwartz, František Štorm, Tomáš Brousil and the fellows from Underware all speak about their fonts.

After the book was delivered and I unwrapped it, I was surprised by how large it was; subconsciously and based on the images posted online, I had expected the book would be smaller. The book format does offer plenty of space for illustrations, but in any case don’t think that this is a book you would be able to read during your morning commute. At first I was taken with the elegant cover decorated with scores of different variations on the ampersand printed in partial gloss on a black background. But I literally reacted with a start as soon as I opened the book. Heavy and full, the pages seem like promotional fliers. It seemed as though every graphic design element was oversized, and the Auto text face at that font size did not encourage me to read at all. I can’t help but feel that the artistic design that was used, which stands in direct opposition to Jan Middendorp’s highly readable text, harms this otherwise excellent book.

Jan Middendorp: Creative Characters. Design: Nick Sherman. Dimensions: 21.5 × 28 cm, 192 full-colour pages, printed flexible covers, ISBN: 978–90-6369–224-7.

With increasing frequency, traditional ideas about good design formulated in central areas are confronted with various hybrid approaches which, in most cases, have been designated as non-central. The combination of styles, images and approaches are coming to the forefront, questioning established paradigms regarding the position of the designer, aesthetic qualities and the effectiveness of visual communication.

List of speakers:

Johanna Balušíková (SK/NL)

Conference topic:

The qualitative criteria of design in the centre and on the outskirts.

More information:

http://kupe.1977.sk

MDW is based on the concept of a series of lectures and hands-on workshops, at the end of which an open dialogue between lecturers and participants will be established. The activities of MDW will always be under the umbrella of a common theme that will be different each year. In parallel to the workshops and lectures, there will be exhibitions, shorter presentations, and thematic excursions exploring the rich historical and cultural heritage of the island. Tinos, due its century-long tradition in the arts and architecture and diversity of landscape, is considered an ideal place for field trips linked to the intellectual and artistic explorations of MDW.

The theme of the inaugural MDW is Hand Vs. Machine. Through the lectures and workshops we will explore to what extend our artistic practice and human existence are dependent on machines and anything mechanical, be it a computer, a car, or a mobile phone. Is the machine a substitute for human touch? In what ways do machines define our happiness, how much do they “steal” from it, and, ultimately, what can we design, create and accomplish using only our hands? The first MDW will take place at the Cultural Foundation of Tinos, who generously doanted the use of their space for our activities. A part of our program will be the international exhibition Voices in Freedom, shown for the first time in Europe, and presented in collaboration with the International Poster Biennial, Mexico. The 115 limited edition posters, created by some of the world’s leading poster artists, celebrate the bicentennial of the Mexican Independence.

A couple of words on how it all began: Internationally acclaimed American artist and designer Luba Lukova and award-winning Greek graphic designer Dimitris Karaiskos, having met and collaborated at international design exhibitions in Paris and Athens, had a mutual idea about a multi-cultural meeting of design practitioners on a Greek island, aiming to bring together design and art-related people from the Mediterranean and beyond. The island chosen was Tinos, a Cycladic island situated close to Mykonos and Delos, and the event was baptized “Mediterranean Design Workshop”. The time of its first realization was decided to be mid-September 2010, and it seems this is going to become the first time such an event is taking place in the Cycladic and Mediterranean region.

International top designers will share their creative processes, on a series of presentations that will cover such different areas as graphic design, new technologies, artistic direction, photography, illustration or animation.

Addressing in particular to design students and professionals, but also to public of other creative areas, this will be a unique opportunity to meet the designers that have set the pace for the international visual culture for the last decades.

Speakers

Abbott Miller, Pentagram, USA
Ahn Sang-soo, South Korea
Bruno Monguzzi, Italy
Cyan, Germany
Étienne Mineur, France
Javier Mariscal, Spain
Marian Bantjes, Canada
Matt Pyke, UK
Michael Bierut, USA
Paula Scher, USA
Peter Knapp, France
Pierre Bernard, France
Stefan Sagmeister, USA

List of workshops

Cyan (Detlef Fielder + Daniela Haufe)
Etienne Mineur
Javier Mariscal
Niklaus Troxler

http://www.agiopen2010.com

Phil Baines

Phil Baines studied Graphic Design at St. Martin’s School of Art (1985) and the Royal College of Art (1987). His design practice includes high profile, one-off commissions; general graphic design for arts organisations; and type design. Phil is a Professor of Typography at Central Saint Martin’s, University of the Arts London, a contributor at design conferences and a frequent writer for Eye and other design magazines. Part of his teaching responsibility is jointly curating the Central Lettering Record with Catherine Dixon. He has written four books: Type & Typography (with Andrew Haslam, 2002), Signs: Lettering in the Environment (with Catherine Dixon, 2003), Penguin by Design: A Cover Story 1935–2005 (2005) and Puffin by Design: 70 Years of Imagination (2010).

pi6 - Rena Chrysikopoulou & Michael David Ochs

Rena Chrysikopoulou and Michael David Ochs met in Germany where they both studied visual communication at the Kassel University of Arts (Kunsthochschule Universität Kassel). They have worked in design agencies based in Barcelona, Kassel, Frankfurt and Athens with clients such as Hewlett Packard, Merck, Alpha Bank, Pepsico-HBH, Elbisco, Thonet and Credit Suisse. Rena has worked as well in the Image and Identity department of ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games, as a senior designer. In 2005 they co-founded “pi6 communication design” based in Athens, Greece. Their work has received various distinctions, amongst others in the Type Directors Club New York, European Design Awards, iF Communication Design Awards, International Poster Biennale Warsaw and the Greek Graphic Design & Illustration Awards. They are co-founders and co-organisers of the annual Design Walk exhibition in Athens and they teach Typography at Vakalo College of Art and Design. Rena and Michael are members of the Greek Graphic Designers Association.

www.pi6.gr

More details

Dates: 12—16 July 2010

Each workshop can host up to 15 participants. The workshops will be held in English. Participation to the workshops is free

In order to reserve a place in the workshops you should send an e-mail to ithaca@thedesignshop.gr stating your name, country, age, telephone number and e-mail address. There is a 50 Euro guarantee fee that has to be deposited in order to make the reservation. This amount will be returned to you upon your arrival in Ithaca. It is the participants’ obligation and responsibility to arrange their trip to Ithaca and to book their accommodation.

How to get to Ithaca:

Ithaca is located in the Ionian Sea, next to the island of Kefalonia. You can reach Ithaca by boat only. The ships leave from Patras twice a day (www.strintzisferries.gr) as well as from Astakos, Lefkas or Kefalonia. Alternatively you can fly to Kefalonia and then take the boat to Ithaca (half hour). Olympic Air and Aegean Air fly from Athens to Kefalonia. There are also many charter flights to Kefalonia from many European Cities.

Accommodation:

For information on accommodation you can contact:
Polyctor Tours: +30 26740 33120, +30 26740 33338, www.ithakiholidays.com
Dellas Tours: +30 26740 32104, www.ithaca.com.gr

Created in 2007 in association with fourteen leading European graphic design magazines, the ED-Festival’s objective is to reward excellence in communication design and to inspire the creative community across Europe. After successful events in Athens, Stockholm and Zurich, this year edition of the Festival will be held in the city of Rotterdam, a highly creative hub by European standards.

Delegates from all around the globe are expected to gather at the De Doelen Congress Center for a three-day conference that boasts an impressive speaker panel with among others, Frenchman Philippe Apeloig, Moving Brands from the UK, Swedish Fantasy Interactive and Dietwee from the Netherlands.
Wrapping up the Festival, the winners of the 2010 ED-Awards will have a chance to receive some exposure and generous rounds of applause at the much awaitED-Award Ceremony, to be held on Sunday 30th May.

The Festival’s program also includes a series of engaging design related activities such as seminars, workshops and guided tours (by water taxis or bicycles) to local design agencies. For those planning a longer stay in Rotterdam, ED-Festival recommends on their website a best of current exhibitions and galleries not to be missed around town.

For the full program of the ED-Festival (Rotterdam, 27th-30th May) and to purchase tickets please visit www.europeandesign.org.

The European Design Festival 2010 is endorsed by the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (icograda), supported by the city of Rotterdam and sponsored by Veer.

One-day symposium will take place in Brno, Czech Republic in the House of the Lords of Kunštát on 21 June 2010 at 10:12.

The theme or topic for this conference is type. This is a broad area embracing the history of type, the design of type, type education, the use of type (typography) and much more. The key criteria for the acceptance of a talk is that it have educational value. It is not enough to simply show work, knowledge must be shared as well. Indeed, TypeTalks’ reason for existing is the pleasure taken in learning and in sharing knowledge. Furthermore, there are excellent speakers this year!

Talks

Tomáš Brousil (CZ): Tabac

Veronika Burian (CZ/D): Typographic matchmaking

Florian Hardwig (D): Localize! The dialects of handwriting in type design

Michael Hochleitner (AT): A contemporary view on the relationship of lettering and type

Rob Keller (US/D): Font technology is crazy!

Dan Reynolds (US/D): The passion of the young, multi-script type designer