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Gent, Instagram'ed - October 2012

This is the second instalment of my typographic explorations of my home town Ghent. Although last time I promised I would never include pictures of my breakfast or my shoes, you will see Lucy, one of our cats, making a cameo. But technically speaking it is in Ghent, and there is also typography in that image, so I don’t want to hear anyone complaining. ;-)

07.11.2012 - 17.55.15

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Plantin Institute of Typography - Expert class Type design

The Plantin Institute of Typography trains experts in typography and design. It offers a unique program which combines theoretical insights and historical background with contemporary technical knowledge and practical skills. The team of local and international teachers are experts in their field. Their extensive experience in the graphic and printing industry guarantee their outstanding ability. The expert classes are taught in the Plantin Institute of Typography, in the world-renowned Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, Belgium. For the third consecutive year it organises its Expert class Type design, taught by type designer Frank E. Blokland.

25.10.2012 - 22.46.49

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Gent, Instagram'ed - September 2012

Partly inspired by Phil Baines’ and Catherine Dixon’s wonderful city lettering walks, and part by Herbert Marker’s efforts to preserve Vienna’s disappearing architectural lettering, I recently started a far more modest project of my own. For a while now I have been hesitating whether I should document the sometimes beautiful, sometimes atrocious, and sometimes plain odd examples of architectural lettering and typography in my home town Gent. Thanks to the ease of use of Instagram, I finally started a series registering whatever catches my eye when I move through the urban environment. The images are shared via Twitter and on the public part of my Facebook account. Don’t worry, there will be no pictures of my breakfast or my shoes; only lettering and typography.

01.10.2012 - 07.11.33

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Type Amsterdam 2012

In exactly two weeks, on Thursday, October 4, the University of Amsterdam - Special Collections hosts the third edition of Type Amsterdam. The free conference is an afternoon about current typography affairs. It again boasts a stellar line-up of specialists – most of them type designers – who will speak about a variety of topics, ranging from historical research over type design theory to actual type creation.

20.09.2012 - 08.47.49

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Printing demonstrations and film screenings in MIAT Ghent

It has become a yearly tradition during the Ghent city festival. From July 14 to 23 the printing department of the Museum for Industrial Archaeology and Textile organises guided visits, several demonstrations and film screenings. A must for type lovers and anyone interested in the printing trade.

14.07.2012 - 23.36.45

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Between Writing and Type - The Stencil Letter

Typography is writing with prefabricated letters, so says legendary Dutch typographer Gerrit Noordzij. But what about stencil lettering? The shapes are pre-existent, yet each letter needs to be drawn by hand. The upcoming exhibition Between Writing & Type: The Stencil Letter explores the spectrum described by writing at one end and typography at the other. To my knowledge this is the first exhibition specifically dedicated to stencil letters. It displays examples from the 18th century until today, collected by Erik Kindel and Fred Smeijers. You are cordially invited to the opening this Thursday evening, April 19, in the project room Kades-Kaden in Antwerp, Belgium.

18.04.2012 - 18.25.53

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Shapeshifters 2012 focuses on Designing Information

Morag Myerscough @ TYPO London. Photo © Gerhard Kassner
The 2012 Shapeshifters lectures focus on how graphic designers visualise/transform information so that it becomes almost intuitively comprehensible. Six lecturers reflect from their own vision and know-how on interactive design, editorial/news design, data visualisation, exhibition design, cartography and wayfinding systems. On February 8 the series opened with Brendan Dawes – MoMA exhibited artist, designer, author, maker, self confessed generalist and the founder of Beep Industries – and renowned publication designer Mark Porter, who designs magazines, newspapers, books, websites and apps for content worth reading. Tonight, Wednesday March 7, Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture, Urbanism and Planning of the University of Leuven Andrew Vande Moere and eclectic designer Morag Myerscough will take the stage at the Beursschouwburg in Brussels. And the final two speakers this season will be Dutch graphic designer Joost Grootens and information designer Tim Fendley on April 27. Both Morag Myerscough and Tim Fendley were very popular speakers at TYPO London, so your attendance is highly recommended.

07.03.2012 - 18.32.24

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Jean Jacques Peters 1941-2012

After battling a very aggressive cancer for over a year, yesterday evening my father chose to not let his illness have the last word. I feel very fortunate that we live in a civilized, humane country, where a person at the end of his life can decide to leave with dignity, without any more needless suffering.

Somewhat related – I would like to apologise to the people coming to tonight’s BNO Romeo Delta evening CUT! in Rotterdam for not showing up. The organisation is looking into rescheduling my presentation at a later date, most probably the next IMG LAB evening on February 20th.

23.01.2012 - 00.34.46

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BNO Romeo Delta goes to the movies

Let me start by wishing you all a terrific 2012. For me personally it looks like the first half of the year is about to get really busy. Exactly one week from now I am doing the first of six presentations – one a month. I will be talking about Two Decades of Trajan in Movie Posters at the BNO Romeo Delta evening CUT! at De Unie in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The meeting on Monday, January 23 will be entirely dedicated to the magic of the silver screen, but from a designer’s viewpoint. Move over film stars, it’s time for the creators of movie posters, title sequences, art direction and special effects to walk the red carpet. It promises to be a very entertaining event.

16.01.2012 - 15.09.08

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Type An Sich | Matthew Carter

Photo by Jan Middendorp
For the 6th edition of Type An Sich, Catapult presents a selection of Matthew Carter’s typographic work in Antwerp, Belgium. Matthew Carter is an icon of type design who has 50 years of experience in typographic technologies, ranging from hand-cut punches to computer fonts. He is probably the most read type designer in the world. His fonts, such as Verdana and Georgia, are on most people’s computers, and the Miller family is among the most widely used newspaper faces across the world.

11.10.2011 - 21.41.30

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