AIGA NY + Global Typography

Jun 15

Last week I was at Parsons for an AIGA X Global Typography Event- a topic that has always interested me and is part of my job constantly.

While technology and google earth have brought us all together faster - the technology of type design has also played a role in bringing the voice of faraway lands into our homes. With a click of a button, we can now see foreign languages, scriptures, current and historical. We can look at webpages in Thai, Farsi, Chinese - something that is common now was once inaccessible, and seeing scriptures from foreign lands was “exotic”. Globalization of business has allowed more and more type designers to be elevated into the forefront as companies are becoming increasingly international, and not just international but heavily diverse. Look at Uber, for example, a company that has its app in 60 countries, all with unique languages and as a result unique typefaces for each locality. Through type design we are breaking the barriers of communication in the world and technology has offered type designers an international market and more of them are stepping outside their comfort zones and trying their hand at adding multilingual support to their typefaces.

Now more than ever, digital communication allows us to reach beyond geographic and topographic barriers. What does it mean to practice design and typography at a time where nationalities, languages and scripts constantly interact? As designers, communicators, or typographers of this globalized world, how are our roles evolved to cater to how barriers are being broken with language? This panel discussion honed into designers whose work stretches beyond Latin typography to share their perspectives on designing for a global world.

Speakers:

Chris Wu: Chris is a designer and creative director based in New York. He is a partner of the multidisciplinary design practice Wkshps
YuJune Park: YuJune is the co-founder of Synoptic Office and the Associate Director of Communication Design at Parsons School of Design.
Caspar Lam: Caspar Lam is the co-founder of Synoptic Office, a multidisciplinary studio operating in the space between design, technology, and education.
My favorite speaker of the night was Wael Morcos: Wael is a graphic designer and type designer from Beirut, Lebanon. Wael received his MFA from RISD in 2013, after which he moved to New York and worked with several studios in the city before founding Morcos Key. Wael has been featured in Print Magazine’s 15 under 30, was named a Young Gun by the Art Directors Club, and an Ascender by the Type Directors Club.

It was really inspiring to see all the type work done around Arabic Typography - while other languages are growing, Arabic type design is relatively quiet and there isn’t many Arabic typefaces at our disposal currently. It got me thinking about the prospects of working on an Arabic type-set as a side project.