Conference badges, patiently waiting to be claimed © Joe Clark
Before I start with my report of the first day, I’d like to take a quick look at the conference materials. For starters I have to admit I really like this year’s logo. The five letters of ATypI extending and converging to form a hand symbol is a neat idea, and the Arabian looking end result turned out quite beautiful. Though the accompanying type treatment looks slightly stiff, the 07-ligature is a cute detail.
In comparison to last year’s superdeluxe conference bag this year’s was simply adequate. It included amongst others very well produced and exhaustively documented showings of Robert Slimbach’s Arno Pro and Carl Crossgrove’s Beorcana; Font 006, the two latest editions of FontFont Focus and some additional FontShop goodies; the latest issue of Ultrabold, the Journal of St Bride Library and Letterspace, The newsletter of the Type Directors Club; a Microsoft brochure on Mathematical Typesetting; 14 faces, Work from the MA Type Design class of 2007 at the University of Reading.
Although the programme brochure was nicely designed in subdued grey and blue – using Jeremy Tankard’s Bliss Pro –, there was a problem with the programme overview. Instead of having the main track to the left, it was in the middle column, which I didn’t find very logical. Yet whenever there was only a presentation on the main track and nothing on the others, the title and speaker’s name were shifted to the very left, out of its original column. This led to some confusion, and at one point I showed up in the wrong conference room because of that.
Some new items were included as well. A list with the contact details of all the conference attendees proves to be very handy if you somehow didn’t manage to get hold of someone’s details and still want to get in touch after the conference. And in response to recurring discussions on the ATypI mailing list evaluation forms allowed you to rate the content and presentation skills of the speaker for the individual presentations. Because I didn’t get to filling in those forms, I will append my scores to the reviews.
The Polish delegation: Top row, left-to-right: Marian Misiak, Artur Frankowski, Adam Twardoch, Georg Seifert. Bottom row: Dominika Naborowska, Łukasz Dziedzic.
© Daniel Rhatigan
The first full day of ATypI goodness kicked off in earnest for me, as I had to do the opening presentation in the Hand Made track – filling in for Ieuan Rees – right after the screening of Gary Hustwit’s Helvetica movie. It soon became clear that this Brighton edition wouldn’t exactly be the smoothest conference in the history of ATypI.
Upon arriving at the Faculty of Arts & Architecture campus, I decided not to sit in on the Helvetica movie. I’d seen in at Typo Berlin last spring, so I was cool. Besides the organisation had kindly asked people who had already seen it to let the others have the opportunity. They feared the audience would be too large for the capacity of the Sallis Benney Theatre, a fear that turned out to be unfounded.
Something smells funky in the Sallis Benney Theatre © Jean François Porchez
As I’d only known for little over a week about having to do a presentation, I wanted to mentally prepare and make sure I would be in Seminar Room 202 on time. I got hold of someone from the organisation and found out I somehow had overlooked the speaker’s meeting the day before (for which I apologize again). I was shown to the seminar room that was located on the highest floor in a far removed corner of the building. Furthermore it was really tiny; its capacity of maximum 45 people would prove to be insufficient throughout the conference. After receiving a quick tour of the audiovisual facilities of the room, we agreed I’d be back a quarter of an hour early to set up.
Hand Made · Yves Peters | Oversampled
My presentation didn’t start off very well. I showed up on time only to find the room locked with nobody there. A couple of students working next door couldn’t help me, so I started looking around for somebody with the organisation. Not having found anyone, I made my way back to the room, which this time was unlocked, already half filled with people and with the person from the organisation and a tech person waiting for me. While I scrambled to set up, for some reason the tech person left before the connection with the projector was made, and I was left to my own devices.
Comparing destruction in type design with punk music
With the assistance of some members of the audience I managed to get the projector working properly, but frankly I was a little rattled and didn’t feel too comfortable during the first part of my talk. Then ten minutes or so into my exposition more people started to trickle in, disturbing the presentation. I learned afterwards that the Helvetica movie had started quite late and consequently run overtime. Which doesn’t make sense, because its length is known: it shouldn’t have been that difficult to fit it in so it wouldn’t mess up the remainder of the program. Eventually the room was packed, with people lined up against the wall and standing in the doorways. This painfully made clear the room really was too small. I managed to catch up on the lost time, but was told near the end of my presentation that I could go overtime because of the late start of the Helvetica movie. By then it was too late though.
Comparing reconstruction in type design with hip hop music
Of course it would be rather presumptuous of me to review and rate my own presentation, so let’s just say that apart from the initial confusion I had the impression it went down well, and it resulted in a number of people walking up to me afterwards and asking for additional information and/or a PDF of my slides. Actually, if anyone feels like criticizing my presentation just send it over and I’ll post it here unedited. (My detractors are going to have a field day. :)
Hand Made · Florian J Hardwig | On airlines, flame bows and speed loops The forms of primary script
Right after me on the Hand Made track came Florian Hardwig, who I recently met online on the Typophile Type Identification Board. Last year Florian completed his degree at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Braunschweig, Germany with a book project on the forms of primary script. His presentation dealt with his research for the project and the resulting book.
Starting from various handwritten examples for different countries, Florian explained that the various ‘dialects’ of handwriting styles are not a personal and individual thing. The way we write is mostly defined by the writing model acquired in primary school. And because school is generally organised nationally, one can distinguish handwriting styles from different countries (and periods). This led to some startling slides, with letter shapes that were downright bizarre and illegible for certain members of the audience but obvious for others.
About twenty models of teaching & learning handwriting were presented and compared, including reform approaches by Hans Eduard Meier or Dr. Rosemary Sassoon. Florian showed that the shapes of letters are the result of a 4-dimensional sequence of movement, which caused those ‘airlines, flame bows and speed loops’ from the presentation title. By concentrating on the essential – the trace, the sequence of strokes – the ‘construction’ of the letters was revealed and analysed. The talk concluded with a presentation of the resulting book project, after which posters with a enlightening overview of the script models from different countries were handed out to members of the audience.
‘Von Luftlinien, Flammenbögen & Speedloops’ book project © Florian Hardwig
The three books © Florian Hardwig
‘II Minuskeln’ book © Florian Hardwig
Detail from ‘IV Modelle einiger Länder’ © Florian Hardwig
‘Von Luftlinien, Flammenbögen & Speedloops’ poster © Florian Hardwig
For me, this was a near perfect presentation, with a well defined and thoroughly researched topic. Florian didn’t merely lecture – he took us on a journey of discovery, explaining along the way which were his findings and his analysis. Instead of spoonfeeding the audience dry facts, he allowed us to participate and gave us the impression we were discovering the answers together with him. Florian spoke enthusiastically, punctuated his clear narrative with just the right amount of subdued humour and handled speaking in English skilfully, playing to his strengths.
Speaker effectiveness excellent | very good | good | fair | poor
Presentation content excellent | very good | good | fair | poor
:: The ATypI 2007 Brighton Reports ::
Day 1 | opening night
Day 2 | morning session | afternoon session
Day 3 | morning session | afternoon session
Day 4 | closing day
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