Each Alphacrit is planned many months in advance. Little did we know then what was in store for our future selves. Would we have continued planning, knowing our psyches would be full of just about everything but type design? In the midst of it all, I’ve found some small comfort in sticking to a few daily routines and exploring areas of interest I couldn’t before. If that resonates, we’re running this Alphacrit for you.
First, what is Alphacrit? It’s a virtual type design critique for four lucky participants picked at random. They’ll receive feedback on their in-progress typefaces by two seasoned type designers — Sara Soskolne of Hoefler & Co and Nicole Dotin of Process Type Foundry. Sol Matas will host the session to keep everything running smoothly.
Register to watch this event
Attend this critique as an audience member and get a look inside Alphacrit. Use the link below to register and you’ll receive an email with instructions on joining the crit, plus a reminder a day and an hour in advance. Registration is required.
There are no plans to post a recording after the event.
What to expect: Four people will present their in-progress typeface, each receiving approximately 10 minutes of feedback. The entire session will last about an hour. Participants will have the benefit of sitting in on the other critiques as well. To keep it focused, we suggest presenting either a single weight of a typeface or come prepared with a specific question about a multi-weight typeface. Specimens need to be ready a couple of days before the session so plan ahead!
When & where: Friday, April 17 at 9:00am US Central (2:00 pm UTC) via video conferencing.
Who can participate: This session is open to everyone, of any skill level, and the four spots will be drawn lottery style. Preference will be given to underrepresented groups and people who haven’t participated before. That includes, but is not limited to: women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals.
How to apply: Fill out this form https://forms.gle/beaUUXtNKdrSEfv7A
Applications due by: April 5, 2020
More about Sara and Nicole
Sara Soskolne is Senior Typeface Designer at Hoefler & Co. As a reformed bookworm, her deepest inspiration as a designer is the experience of reading, and her abiding interest is in creating typefaces which not only serve, but enrich, that experience. Since joining H&Co in 2005, Sara has contributed to the design of many font families and parts thereof — including Verlag, Chronicle, Gotham, Tungsten, Idlewild, Numbers, Sentinel, Quarto, Ringside, and most recently Decimal. Sara was also one of the founding instructors of the Type@Cooper Condensed certificate program.
Nicole Dotin is a typeface designer and partner at the Process Type Foundry, an independent type design studio based in Minnesota, USA. Nicole holds an MFA in visual studies from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and an MA in typeface design from the University of Reading, UK. Although she has designed both retail and custom typefaces, she enjoys the varied activity of running a type foundry — doing everything from helping customers to speeding up production tasks via code. In her spare time, she organizes and helms Alphacrit, this very thing you’re reading about.