Type Tricks & Troves: A Design Diary

Monday, August 3, 2020, 12:30 - 2pm

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Petr van Blokland will give a free, virtual lecture as part of the Herb Lubalin Lecture Series. Van Blokland will cover personal foundry notes on sketching, scripting, and features; spacing and kerning; exploring axes and design spaces; proofing and usage; what to draw and what to script?; and and why these views may be interesting. The event is open to the public, but registration is required.

Petr van Blokland (1956) graduated Cum Laude from the graphic arts program at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague. With his partner Claudia Mens, van Blokland worked since 1980 as a designer in the studio they co-founded. His output ranges from sketching and model-making to programming in various languages. He specialized in systematic design, with an emphasis on typography, type, and corporate design. He has taught for many years at the Academy of Fine Arts, Arnhem, TypeMedia at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague and at the Master Graphic Design, St. Joost in Breda. He is a co-founder of WebType and Type Network. His oldest typefaces Proforma and Productus, originally released by Font Bureau, are now published by TYPETR at Type Network. Recent new typefaces include Bitcount and Upgrade. His work brought him ATypI’s coveted Charles Peignot Prize in 1988.

New initiatives focus on the design and production of typefaces, exploring the possibilities (and limitations) of Variable Fonts and the use of programming in the process of graphic design and typography. Recently, together with Claudia Mens, Design Design Space was founded, offering an online environment for design workshops and studies.

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