We’re at it again! This time we’ve got a special Alphacrit session with Sahar Afshar and Naïma Ben Ayed focusing on Arabic type design. Sahar and Naïma will offer constructive feedback to four participants on their in-progress typefaces via Zoom. Sol Matas will host the session to keep everything running smoothly. Keep reading to learn more.

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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.

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Welcome to a brand new year and a brand new Q&A edition of Alphacrit. Instead of reviewing in-progress work during this session, Ulrike Rausch and Lila Symons will answer questions on a topic that is central to font life for type designers and type users alike—OpenType features.

Ulrike and Lila both have extensive experience in type design and font production. What’s more, they both specialize in developing script typefaces that are beautiful, experimental, utilitarian—or all of the above. Since writing OT features can be a tricky part of font production, Ulrike and Lila are the perfect pair to tackle some of the thornier questions type designers face.

Puzzled by positional alternates? Confounded by contextual alternates? Or struggling to understand what OpenType features can do for your font? We’ve all been there! During this live video conference, Ulrike and Lila will field questions submitted by you on OT features. There will naturally be an emphasis on script typefaces, but questions about writing OT features for non-script fonts are also welcome and encouraged. Everyone who wants to join this session will be accepted—registration is required, but it’s free, and it’s easy. Simply fill out the application (see below) and you’re on your way.

Want to know more about these OT feature experts? Read their bios below to learn about their backgrounds.

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Para que el Alphacrit pueda llegar y ayudar a más personas, la próxima sesión de Alphacrit será totalmente en español. Si necesitas de retroalimentación sobre tu trabajo de lettering ahora tendrás una excelente oportunidad. Las invitadas especiales de esta sesión son Nubia Navarro y Marova. Sol Matas será la moderadora. Sigue leyendo para descubrir más.

Nubia Navarro mejor conocida en redes sociales como Nubikini, es diseñadora gráfica de profesión. Nubia se especializa en la creación de letras digitales y manuales y trabaja en agencias de publicidad hace 6 años. Algunos de sus clientes son Adidas, Tiffany & Co., Sprite, Flowers of Colombia, Chocoramo y Adobe. Le encanta jugar con comida y fusionarla con las letras, la tipografía experimental es una de sus grandes pasiones.

Nubia Navarro

Nubia Navarro

Marova es una diseñadora gráfica y editorial dominicana especializada en el dibujo de letras y en la Caligrafía con Brush. Se inició profesionalmente trabajando en agencias de publicidad nacionales y multinacionales, y desde el 2013 que trabaja de manera independiente desde Marova Studio. Como Lettering Artist ha trabajado para marcas y empresas mediante la personalización de productos, desarrollo de líneas gráficas, identidad y la implementación en piezas de diseño y murales. Disfruta mucho trabajar tanto de manera análoga mediante papeles, pinturas, marcadores y gises, y también de manera digital.

Marova Studio

Marova Studio

Qué esperar: Cuatro personas van a presentar su proyecto o su trabajo en progreso. Cada persona recibe aproximadamente 10 minutos de crítica por parte de Nubia y Soy. La sesión completa va a durar alrededor de una hora. Cada participante se podrá beneficiar de presenciar las críticas realizadas a las otras participantes. El trabajo de lettering enviado para revisión podrá ser: palabras sueltas, logotipos o tapas de libros.

Por favor, envía solamente una pieza de lettering con cierta complejidad o 5-10 piezas más pequeñas para charlar sobre tu experiencia en general. Los ejemplos de trabajo tienen que estar listos una semana antes de la sesión, por eso, te rogamos que planifiques con tiempo.

Cuándo y dónde: viernes 12 de Julio, 12pm (GMT-5), a través de una videoconferencia.

Quién puede participar: La sesión estará abierta a cualquier persona. Dependiendo de la demanda, vamos a dar preferencia a grupos con baja representación y personas que no hayan participado antes. Grupos con baja representación incluyen, pero no están limitados, a: mujeres, personas de color, personas con discapacidad e individuos de la comunidad LGBTQ+.

Los cuatro lugares serán sorteados al azar.

Cómo participar: Completa este formulario https://forms.gle/AR3STZ7tz7JmuFGq6

Participa hasta: 5 de Julio

Preguntas: ¿tienes aún dudas? Envía un email: crit@alphabettes.org.

This Alphacrit is with the wonderful Nubia Navarro, aka Nubikini and Marova of Marova Studio. The critique will be held entirely in Spanish.

This special session of Alphacrit will focus on Indic scripts, specifically Devanagari and Odia. Kimya Gandhi and Alessia Mazzarella will review in-progress typefaces of four lucky participants seeking feedback on their work. Sol Matas will moderate to ensure a smooth crit. Read on to learn more.

Kimya Gandhi is a type designer from Mumbai with a passionate interest in Indic scripts, specialising in creating new and innovative Devanagari typefaces. Kimya is a partner at the type foundry, Mota Italic, with her husband Rob Keller. She divides her time between designing and teaching typography and type design at various design institutes in Mumbai. After graduation, Kimya gave herself two years to decide if she wanted pursue type design professionally, it’s been 7 years since and she is very happy that she did.

Alessia Mazzarella is a senior type designer at Fontsmith. After receiving a BA in Graphic Design from Central Saint Martins and a BA in Graphic and Multimedia Design from Sapienza (University of Rome), her interest in type design led her to the Typeface Design MA program at the University of Reading. She graduated with distinction in 2013. Alessia is interested in the technical and multi-script aspects of typeface design.

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, January 18 at 6:30 pm GMT (UTC +00:00) 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. Underrepresented groups include, but are not limited to: women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

How to apply: Fill out this form https://goo.gl/forms/dvHmo8QYt7NYSJuj2

It asks for some very basic information, like your name and email address. Nothing you can’t handle.

Applications due by: January 10, 2019

Questions: Still have questions? Drop us a line at crit@alphabettes.org.

Welcome to the tech edition of Alphacrit. Instead of reviewing in-progress work, Noe Blanco and Irene Vlachou will answer your questions about font production and technology. Designing a typeface is one thing, making a font technically sound is entirely another.

What kind of questions can they answer? Noe and Irene have wide a range of experience designing and producing fonts. Together, they can cover topics such as font engineering, hinting, getting a font ready for release, variable fonts, specificities of production related to the Greek script, foundry workflows and many of the details in between (coding OT features, bezier point placement, class-based kerning, their experience with various font editors, etc.). Read their bios below to learn more about their backgrounds.

Noe Blanco is a typeface designer and font engineer based in Barcelona. She enjoys drawing and producing fonts with a special focus on the process where drawing and design meet technology. After graduating at BAU with a BA in Graphic Design and an MA in Advanced Typography at Eina (Barcelona), Noe went on to complete an MA in Type and Media at the Royal Academy of Arts (KABK) in The Hague. Noe has worked for Underware and since 2013 has collaborated independently with numerous foundries such as Tobias Frere-Jones, Blackletra and FosterType. Currently she works at Klim Type Foundry and occasionally collaborates with other independent foundries.

Irene Vlachou is a typeface designer working somewhere between Bristol and Athens. After trying life as an artist and a violinist, Irene found her vocation. Her terrible handwriting and horror of olives turned out to be no obstacles for her becoming a type designer specializing in Greek. In 2004 she gained her Masters in type design at the University of Reading and since then she has been collaborating with many international type foundries as a typeface designer and as a Greek type advisor. She designs original custom typefaces as well as extending typefaces to add the Greek character set and she is a senior designer and the variable font obsessive at TypeTogether.

What to expect: There are six slots for this session. Each participant will come up with three questions (at the time of application) about font production or technology. During the session, Noe and Irene will answer the questions, starting with each participant’s first and getting to the rest if there is time. Participants will sit in on the entire session and have the opportunity to ask questions and follow up on anything they don’t understand. The session will last about an hour.

When & where: Friday, June 22 at 9am Central (2pm UTC) via video conferencing.

Who can participate: This session is open to everyone, of any skill level, and the eight spots will be drawn lottery style. Preference may be given to underrepresented groups and people who haven’t participated before. Underrepresented groups include, but are not limited to: women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

How to apply:
Fill out this form: https://goo.gl/forms/wgE2pqCsH0VFT0i02

It asks for some very basic information, like your name and email address. Nothing you can’t handle.

Applications due by: June 13, 2018

Questions: Still have questions? Drop us a line at crit@alphabettes.org.

Take your typeface to the next level by getting constructive feedback from two seasoned professionals. This Alphacrit, focused on typeface design, features Jill Pichotta and Nina Stössinger (Jill Pichotta!! and Nina Stössinger!!). Four lucky participants will submit their work for Jill and Nina’s review. Nicole Dotin will moderate to ensure a smooth crit. Read on to learn more.

Jill Pichotta began working for Font Bureau as an apprentice with David Berlow in 1991, honing her skills on projects for Rolling Stone, Esquire, Condé Nast Traveller, The New York Times, Apple Computer, and other notable brands. She has managed the production of retail releases for independent designers since 1993, and has contributed several of her own typefaces to Font Bureau’s diverse library. Over the years, she has divided her time between various retail, custom, and OEM projects. In conjunction with its mid-2016 launch, Jill Pichotta took on the role of Principal Product Manager for Type Network, overseeing type development and quality for the company’s global alliance of foundry partners.

Nina Stössinger is a Senior Typeface Designer at Frere-Jones Type. Originally from Basel in Switzerland, she graduated in multi-media design from Burg Giebichenstein University of Art Halle/Germany, where she discovered her love for type. She went on to receive a CAS in Type Design from Zurich University of the Arts, and an MA in Type and Media from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Nina teaches type design at Yale University School of Art, serves on the Board of Directors of the Type Directors Club, and has spoken at numerous international conferences and events (this year she’ll be a keynote speaker at Typecon!). Her published type designs include Conductor (with Tobias Frere-Jones), Nordvest, and FF Ernestine.

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 about a week before the session so plan ahead!

When & where: Friday, May 18 at 2 pm Eastern (UTC -4) 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. Underrepresented groups include, but are not limited to: women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

How to apply: Fill out this form https://goo.gl/forms/kvUTTfX3wG6fGkix1

It asks for some very basic information, like your name and email address. Nothing you can’t handle.

Applications due by: May 6, 2018

Questions: Still have questions? Drop us a line at crit@alphabettes.org.

Ever wonder what Dana Tanamachi and Kelly Thorn think of your work? You can find out! The focus of this Alphacrit session is lettering, where Dana and Kelly will provide constructive feedback on your own works of lettering. Nicole Dotin will moderate to ensure a smooth crit. Read on to learn more.

Dana Tanamachi began her career as a graphic designer, but serendipitously discovered she had a knack for creating large-scale chalk lettering murals — a trend which she pioneered beginning in 2009. Post-chalk, she now runs her Seattle-based company Tanamachi Studio where she blends her talents in lettering, design, and illustration for clients such as Nike, Target, West Elm, Instagram HQ, and the USPS. In 2017 she spent the entire year spearheading the ESV Illuminated Bible project, with over 500+ gold ink illustrations.

Kelly Thorn is a lettering artist and illustrator who runs the design studio Charles&Thorn with her husband Spencer Charles, whom she met while they were both working at Louise Fili, Ltd. Together, Kelly and Spencer specialize in lettering, type design, illustration, branding, packaging, book covers, and all of the intersections in between — including, but not limited to hand-poked tattoos!

What to expect: Four people will present their work or works-in-progress, each receiving approximately 10 minutes of feedback from Dana and Kelly. The entire session will last about an hour. Participants will have the benefit of sitting in on the other critiques as well. Work submitted for review can be anything from single lettered words, to logos, to lettered book covers. You may want to submit only one complicated piece or 5-10 smaller pieces to talk about your overall trajectory. Work samples need to be ready about a week before the session so plan ahead!

When & where: Friday, April 27 at 11 am Central (UTC -5) via video conferencing.

Who can participate: This session is open to everyone. Depending on demand, we will give preference to underrepresented groups and people who haven’t participated before. Underrepresented groups include, but are not limited to: women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals. The four spots will be drawn lottery style.

How to apply: Fill out this form: https://goo.gl/forms/43f7f2l8zuJBJqIp2

The form asks for some very basic information, like your name and email address. Nothing you can’t handle.

Apply by: April 13, 2018

Questions: Still have questions? Send us an email.

Get out of your head and into a feedback session where two accomplished designers review your in-progress work. This month’s session, focusing on typeface design, will feature Veronika Burian and Laura Meseguer.

Veronika is co-founder of the independent type foundry TypeTogether. Not only has Veronika released some amazing typefaces (hello Maiola!), she’s built a collaborative platform in TypeTogether, supporting not only the work of up-and-coming designers but some of our most accomplished and beloved, too. Learn more about Veronika.

Laura is a freelance graphic and type designer, and runs her own foundry Type-Ø-Tones. As if that weren’t enough, she has dedicated herself to helping others learn typography and type design through teaching and workshops. As such, she is the co-author of a very rare thing in type design — a book about type design — called “Cómo crear tipografías. Del boceto a la pantalla,” or “How to create typefaces: from sketch to screen.” Learn more about Laura.

What to expect: Four people will present in-progress work, each receiving approximately 10 minutes of feedback, with the entire session lasting 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 about a week before the session so plan ahead!

When & where: Friday, March 16 at 3:00 pm UTC/GMT via video conferencing.

Who can participate: These sessions are open to everyone. Depending on demand, we may give preference to underrepresented groups. Those include, but are not limited to: women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people. The four spots will be drawn lottery style.

How to apply: Fill out this form: Alphacrit application for March 16, 2018 It asks for some basic information, like your name, email address, and a description of your work. Nothing you can’t handle.

Application deadline: March 1, 2018

Questions: Still have questions? Send us an email.