Associate Professor of Typography. Working in the field since 1986, teaching at Reading since 1998. Involved heavily in knowledge transfer projects, consultancy, and course development. Specific interests: typeface design processes, typographic education, and  Greek typeface design and typography. Programme director for the MA Typeface Design, and course director for the TDi. Vice-President of ATypI.

Publications
Knowledge Transfer and support for typeface design
Research co-supervision
Conference presentations and invited lectures
Invited teaching
Reviewing, judging, and related work
Interviews and media contributions

 

Publications

Book review (2015): History of the Monotype Corporation, Judy Slinn, Sebastian Carter, & Richard Southall; Andrew Boag & Christopher Burke (Eds). Vanbrugh Press, 2014. [forthcoming]

Snapshots from 1985–1995. Exhibition, FAAP: Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado, São Paulo (2015)

On systems and quality in typeface design (2015) In 5th Meeting of Typography – Book of Proceedings. Ana Catarina Silva & Marta Madureira (Eds). IPCA, Barcelos • Text on Academia.edu

Beyond Latin [texts and editing] (2015) With John Hudson, Neelakash Kshetrimayum, Kamal Mansour, and Pascal Zoghbi. In Eye 90

Typeface review: Essay Text (2015) In Typographica, Stephen Coles (Ed.)

Greek printing outside Greece, from the 15th century to e-books. Exhibition, Reading (2015)

You make it happen: document demand, typeface supply (2014) In Granshan design & identity, Boris Kochan (Ed.), Kochan & Partner • Text on Academia.edu

Typeface review: Capita (2014) In Typographica, Stephen Coles (Ed.)

Going global: the last decade in multi-script type design (2013) In Typographica, Stephen Coles (Ed.) • Text on Academia.edu

Slanted Babylon (2013) In Slanted Special Issue: Babylon, Julia Kahl (Ed.), Magma Brand Design

Reading typeface design (2013) In Yearbook of type, Julia Kahl (Ed.), Niggli

An emerging discipline (2013) In Parenthesis no 24. Sebastian Carter (Ed.), FPBA • Text on Academia.edu

Type ahead (2013) In Computer Arts Collection: Typography, Vol 2 no 2

Typeface review: Colvert (2013) In Typographica, Stephen Coles (Ed.)

Thoughts on a quiet master (2012) In Monotype Recorder, Monotype Imaging (Republished online)

Foreword for Type compass: charting new routes in typography (2012) SHS Publishing, Rome

You need an opinion, on top of an impulse (2012) In Whatever Next: a discourse on typography, James Edgar (Ed.), Camberwell Press • Text on Academia.edu
(Publication accompanied by exhibition at the Kemistry Gallery, October 2012)

Never lost for words (2012) Text for booklet on a font collection, Monotype Imaging

Type design and development (2012) In Typography Referenced, Emily Potts (Ed.), Rockport Publishers

In the bunker: the first TypoLondon stirs things up – and takes the locals by surprise (2011) Review of 2011 TypoLondon conference. In Eye magazine, no 82, and on the Eye blog

Lost in flatlands (2011) Eye magazine, no 80, and online. See also follow-on piece in Typenotes:  ‘Palettes are evil’ (8 August 2011)

In with the old, in with the new (2011) Review of the first Design of Understanding conference. In Eye magazine, no 79, and a shorter version on the Eye blog

Type tales told for ordinary folk (2010) Review of Just my type: a book about fonts. Simon Garfield, Profile Books, 2010. In Eye magazine, no 78, and online

Formal richness for the tablet age (2010) Review of Type: a visual history of typefaces and graphic styles, (2 vols), Cees W. de Jong (Ed.). Taschen 2010. In Eye magazine, no 77, and online

A few things I’ve learned about typeface design (2009, 2010) Published in the Letter Exchange Forum no 18, September 2009, and in I love typography, March 2010 • Spanish translation published on UnosTiposDuros, September 2014

Languages, scripts, and typefaces (2006) Response published in tipoGrafica no 70 • Text on Academia.edu

A primer for Greek type design (2002) In Language, Culture, Type, John D Berry (Ed.), ATypI & Graphis

An introduction to Greek typeface design (2000) Palo Alto, CA: AGFA/Monotype, 54 pp

Γραμματοσειρές και πολιτισμική ταυτότητα (2000) Ειδική έκδοση Ελληνική τυπογραφία

Don Knuth’s Digital Typography: in search of the digital Cresci (1999) In Information Design Journal, 9:3, 1999, 111–118

 

Knowledge transfer in typeface design  

KTP Merson Sign Design (2010–12)
A two-year, funded project to enable a company with an established presence in sign design and manufacturing to develop and embed in-house capability in multiple language and multi-scrip applications.

KTP Monotype Imaging (2008–10)
A two-year, funded project to develop a strategy for bringing to market fonts based on Monotype’s archive of historic drawings for legacy typemaking technologies, and develop new, extended-character set typefaces for the Indian mobile market.

Adobe : Minion Pro, Warnock Pro, Myriad Pro, Garamond Premier Pro, Hypatia Pro, Arno Pro, Clean Sans and Clean Serif, Adobe Text, Trajan Pro, Bickham Script Pro, Source Sans
Bigelow & Holmes : Lucida Bright
Chank Diesel : Newfont
Clubtype : Sassoon Infant
DaltonMaag :  Co, Cordale, HP Sans, UBS Frutiger, UBS Headline, Bookerly, [redacted]
Farnhill : Rijksoverheid
Fontshop : Tisa Sans Greek
FontSmith : Albert
Hoefler & Frere-Jones : Whitney [a.o.]
Łukasz Dziedzic : Lato
Microsoft : Sylfaen, Calibri, Cambria, Candara, Consolas, Constantia, Corbel, Segoe UI, Segoe Script, Sitka
Štorm Type : Anselm
Monotype (inc. Ascender, Bitstream, Linotype) : Andale, Aphasia, Berling, Convection, Prima Sans, Segoe Script, Tiresias, Ysobel
Munchfonts : Ergo, Ergo Serif, Really
Jeremy Tankard : Harmony, Bliss Pro
Terminal Design : Clearview
Tiro Typeworks : Brill, Clio, Gabriola, Helvetica, [redacted], SBL Greek
Type-Together : [redacted]
Typotheque: Fedra Serif B

[And others]

 

Research co-supervision

Ferdinand Ulrich (2015– PT) : The interaction between changing design processes, technologies, distribution models and production of type in the digital era.

Victor Gaultney (2015– PT) : Italics redefined: influences and approaches in the design of contemporary secondary text typefaces.

Pria Ravichandran (2015–)The development of typographic forms for Kannada and Telugu scripts.

Riccardo Olocco (2015–) : Redefining 15th-century Venetian romans.

Elena Papassissa (2015–) : Armenian typefaces from 1840 to the present: traditionalism, Latinisation, and the search for identity through changing technologies.

David Osbaldestin (2014– PT) : British sanserif printing types: development, deployment and influence. (registered at BCU/BIAD)

Emanuela Conidi (2013–) : Early Arabic types in Europe and the Middle East between the XVI and XIX centuries.

Helena Lekka (2012–) : Linotype in Greece: the introduction of modern typefaces in the popular print media in the 1970s.

Matthew Lickiss (2012–15) : Relationships between document instantiations
across systems, mediums, and genres.

Jean Louis Moys (2009–12) : Typography and reader perceptions of affect in document design.

Research Advisory Group member

Alastair Montgomery (2010– ) : [Typographic variables on reading processes in dyslexic children.]

Androniki Sioki (2008–14 PT) : Reading and the morphology of the page: a historical study of the typographic design of the Greek alphabet book, 1771–1919.

Titus Nemeth (2010–13) : Arabic type making in the machine age: the influence of technology on the form of Arabic type, 1908–1993.

Myra Thiessen (2008–11) : Using visual explanations of complex verbal concepts to aid dyslexic children in literacy acquisition.

Jo De Baerdemaeker (2005–08) : Tibetan Typeforms, from 1738 up to the present day.

 

Conference presentations and invited lectures

[To be confirmed] Kerning.It, Faenza (June 2016) • forthcoming

[To be confirmed] KSBDA, Seoul (May 2016) • forthcoming

[Design and research for global typography.] Basel School of Design (April 2016) • forthcoming

[To be confirmed] CAFA, Beijing (March 2016)  • forthcoming

A framework for developing discourse in typeface design. FaceForward conference, Dublin (December 2015) • forthcoming

From tragedy to politics: Doxiadis’ argument for post-war reconstruction. Presentation in the “Books in unexpected places” series of the Being Human festival (Reading 2015) • video forthcoming

Swift strokes and sampled constructs. ISType, Istanbul (June 2015) • slides on Speakerdeck • video on Vimeo

Where’s my jetpack? Breaking Borders (December 2014) • video on Vimeo

On minimum quality in typeface design. 5 Encontro de Tipografia, Barcelos (November 2014) • slides on Speakerdeck

The Didot Greeks: a masterful adaptation with a persistent legacy. Didot conference, Amiens (October 2014) • slides forthcoming

Typefaces for screens. Smashing Conference, Freiburg (September 2014) • slides on Speakerdeck • video on Vimeo

Learning to see questions. Typecon Education Forum, Washington DC (July 2014)

Notes on multi-script typeface design. Die Welt in Schrift – GRANSHAN. TGM, Munich (July 2014) • slides on Speakerdeck

Document demand, typeface supply v.2. Toppan Printing Museum, Tokyo (May 2014)

Challenges and methods in multiscript typeface design. TYPE&, Tokyo (May 2014)

From production specification, to markup for meaning. InfoDesign 2014, UDLAP, Mexico (March 2014)

Display typefaces. SVC, BIAD, Birmingham City University (January 2014)

Out of the Reading box. Eye magazine Type Tuesday, St Bride Library, London (December 2013)

Tools, techniques, and innovation in typographic design. Design.r/e.volution, Warsaw (November 2013) • slides on Speakerdeck

Notes on typographic decisions [panel contribution]. W3C: Publishing and the Open Web Platform, Paris (September 2013) • slides on Speakerdeck

Document demand, typeface supply. Granshan Conference, Bangkok (July 2013) • slides on Speakerdeck

The Newest New Typography. Ampersand Conference, Brighton (June 2013) • slides on Speakerdeck • video on Vimeo

Who needs another German type designer? TypoBerlin  (May 2013) • slides on Speakerdeck

John 1, Victor 0 : a reappraisal of Baskerville’s Greek types. Industry & Genius, Birmingham (April 2013). Repeated at ICTVC, Nicosia (June 2013)

This is the new typography (and the typefaces that make it happen) v.2. ALUO Design Talks, Ljubljana (April 2013) • video on YouTube

A renaissance in display typography. Typography Day Guwahati (March 2013) [cancelled due to illness]

Typography maturing online. Brill Symposium, Leiden (November 2012)

The Greek-English Intermediate Lexicon. TDC Salon (November 2012) [cancelled due to hurricane Sandy]

This is the new typography (and the typefaces that make it work). TypoLondon (October 2012) • slides on Speakerdeck. Repeated at Transit Gallery, Prague (November 2012)

Digging into the ATypI Archive.  ATypI Hong-Kong  (October 2012) • slides on Speakerdeck

Developing a new model for distance-learning in an archives-rich discipline. Designs on eLearning, London (September 2012) • Proposal here

Redefining typographic teaching for shiny planes. Typecon Milwaukee Education strand keynote (August 2012) • slides on Speakerdeck

A new bilingual lexicon. ISType, Istanbul (June 2012) • Original talk on Vimeo.  Repeated at ALUO Design Talks, Ljubljana (April 2013) • Their video is better

It’s typography, Jim, but not as we know it…. Od „Ala Ma Kota” Do E-Matury, Warsaw (April 2012) • Video on YouTube, slides here

A new, hybrid postgraduate programme. IDC 2012, Katowice (January 2012)

Emerging meta-typography. Critical Tensions, St Bride, London (November 2011)

Think it through! ATypI Letter2, Buenos-Aires (October 2011) • Video on the ATypI site

Integrating research in typographic education. Un coup de des, ESAD, Paris (September 2010)

A few thoughts on typeface design v.2. TGA, Vienna (March 2010)

What Greek can teach designers. ATypI Mexico (October 2009)

Thoughts on typeface design education. Typecon Atlanta (July 2009)

Typeface design for graphic designers v.2. Sofia Design Week (June 2009)

Typeface design for graphic designers v.1. Dublin Institute of Technology (March 2009)

A few thoughts on typeface design v.1.  ATypI St Petersburg (September 2008). Repeated at the Letter Exchange, London (January 2009)

Book design in transition: a threat or an opportunity for designers? STGU, Warsaw (December 2007)

Thoughts on specialisation in design education. First Conference on Design Education, Katowice (December 2007)

Rethinking [typo]graphic design education. ATypI Helsinki (September 2005)

Making design practice explicit. Typo.graphic.beirut, Beirut (April 2005)

Who needs another typeface? and  The designers are off snowboarding! University of Alberta (May 2005)

Type design as lotus-eating. Bad Type, St Bride, London (October 2004)

Restating the brief: a new agenda for design education. ICTVC, Thessaloniki (June 2004)

Polytonic Greek. ATypI Vancouver (September 2003)

Greek typeface design. Parsons School of Design, New York (September 2003)

Rewriting the alphabet: a case-study of history forgotten. Mind the map!, Istanbul (July 2002)

On some Greek typefaces of the last five years. ICTVC, Thessaloniki (June 2002)

Developing strands in Greek type design. ATypI Copenhagen (September 2001)

Leipzig and Greek type design. ATypI Leipzig (September 2000)

Typography and the Greek language: designing in a cultural context. ATypI Reading (September 1997)

Panels, fora, etc.

Education / Research strand coordinator / moderator:  ATypI Vancouver (2003), ATypI Prague (2004), ATypI Helsinki (2005), ATypI Lisbon (2006), ATypI Brighton (2007), ATypI St Petersburg (2008), ATypI Mexico (2009), ATypI Barcelona (2014), ATypI São Paulo (2015)
Type-Crit member: ATypI Amsterdam (2013), ATypI Barcelona (2014), ATypI São Paulo (2015)
Typographic education panel member: ICTVC, Nicosia (2013)
Education Panel member and session moderator. Typecon Atlanta (2009), Typecon Buffalo (2008), Typecon Milwakee (2012)
Postgraduate education in design panel member: IDC, Katowice (2012)
“The letter eth” panel moderator: ATypI Reykjavik (2011)
Multi-lingual typeface design panel member. Typecon New York (2005)

 

Invited teaching

DHBW Ravensburg : September 2015
Type&, Tokyo : May 2014
University of Nicosia : February 2009, June 2010, June 2011, June 2013
VSUP, Prague : November 2012
TDC, New York : October 2007, November 2012 [cancelled due to hurricane Sandy]
IStype, Istanbul : June 2012
Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem : January 2012
Letter2, Buenos-Aires : October 2011
Die Graphische, Vienna : March 2010
Katowice and Cieszyn, Poland: November 2006, July 2009
University of Macedonia : February 2007
University of Alberta : May 2005
ICTVC, Thessaloniki : June 2002, June 2004
Lahti Institute of Design : May 2002
tipoGrafica, Buenos-Aires : November 2001

 

Reviewing, organising, and related work

Vice-President : ATypI (2013–)
Board member : ATypI (2004–2010, 2013–)
External Examiner : MA Graphic Design, University of Portsmouth (2009–14)
Organiser: Out of the Reading box. Eye magazine Type Tuesday, St Bride Library, London (2013)
Organising / scientific committee member / chair:
• ICTVC (2002, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016)
•