Posts Tagged → typography

Multiscriptual Typesetting

image of globe showing north and south america



Last month I had the honor of creating the graphics for Designing without Borders, a three-part lecture series hosted by AIGA NY and the TDC. The design process was a collaboration between myself and the event organizers; Caspar Lam, Juan Villanueva, and Lynne Yun, which led to an ambitious undertaking of designing with a dozen languages. This experience was equally rewarding as it was challenging. It inspired me to continue pushing my understanding of typography by going beyond what is linguistically familiar. 


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																				Cooking with Peter Pauper Press
									

								

								
								
								
								
								
								

									
My connection with the Peter Pauper Press cookbook series started during the first years I was living in California.

I recall the first time I found a book from the collection was at the Recycle Bookstore in San Jose, CA — one of the best second-hand bookstores in the Bay Area. During the years living in California I found so many great books in this bookstore and they also have two great cats. 


Recycle Bookstore, Ender the cat taking care of business and my friend Calvin browsing through books, San Jose, CA. Photos by Frank Grießhammer


The first book I got was Simple French Cookery. I was in awe: from the colour combination to the type choice and the effective and simple illustrations. 


Simple French Cookery (1958)


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																				Remember December: Learnings from Teaching Typography 1
									

								

								
								
								
								
								
								

									
As 2017 closes out, I, and I think many others, are reflecting on the weight of everything that has happened in the previous twelve months. It was a year raging with political and climate-inflicted disasters throughout; filled with frustration and feelings of hopelessness. Despite this (or perhaps because of this, as a means of avoidance or way to channel positive energy) it was also personally an incredibly productive year. 


Professionally, I started leading a new team in Germany, taking on the responsibility for guiding the design direction for some of the best icon designers around. That, in addition to the brand team I was already leading, would have been enough to call this a good year. But outside of work, teaching Typography 1 at California College of the Arts was the most rewarding endeavor. 


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																				Remember December: An early Christmas present for my students
									

								

								
								
								
								
								
								

									
Few examples of the felt letters and hiragana. From left to right, top to bottom: O す り V / W R ふ か / る い S Z


Students learn best if they enjoy and love what they do. Besides all the learning and assignments, I regard it as essential that they develop passion and joy for their profession. Suffering becomes visible in design, while the joy of creation lets the outcome (no matter whether type, book or graphic) look light, simple and natural.


Some students struggle to develop this joy in the context of class assignments. I have been teaching at a women’s college in Kyoto, Japan since April 2017. And it is sometimes hard to judge whether the young women are actually enjoying their studies or not. Sometimes, we require input from an outsider, as well as a situation that is out of the ordinary. So we held a workshop on a Saturday, run by the Japanese design studio Dainippon Type Association, to trigger the passion of the students.

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