Write-up: TYPO London 2011 (Thursday)

Places

From 20-22 October, London was host to the TYPO 2011 conference. The conference started sixteen years ago in Berlin, continuing without interruption since. London holds the distinction as the first event held outside of Germany. The format: three days of talks with appearances by more than forty speakers. The schedule is quite ambitious. Talks begin in the early morning and continue well into the evening: there is no filler and the expectation of quality is high. Erik Spiekermann (always direct, brutally honest, wonderfully hilarious) and Adrian Shaughnessy acted as the glue of the conference, holding the space between speakers in place.

The theme of the conference is perhaps best summarised by a point Dale Herigstad made in the very first talk, later expanded upon by Tim Fendley. Spaces become places when they contain meaning; places gain definition with name. The speakers, organisers and audience members all arrived from a great many places, and the work and conversation shared amongst them reaches even further.

While I currently design and develop for the web, my background is in print. I formally studied as a Graphic Designer, schooled in the principles of the Bauhaus and Swiss design. Towards the latter half of university, I experienced the autumn years of post-modernism in design — a divergence that encouraged experimentation and insisted on questioning legibility — an experience that certainly influenced my understanding of design as much as formal modernism. The speakers who volunteered their time for this conference came from a genuine mix of design and art backgrounds. Design conferences of this scale are quite rare, and I feel quite fortunate to have had the opportunity to see the work of so many of my peers and heroes, to view the work as presented.

The quality and tempo of the conference was perhaps set by the first day of talks, a series to kick off the weekend in great anticipation.

 

People

Dale Herigstad. Media Space: Where is what? Where is where?

Chief Interaction Officer, Possible Worldwide

Screens can define places. Historically, a shape — the rectangle — confined information and entertainment. The rectangle, the screen, is surface onto a scene. Through advancements in dimension and space, the confines of the screen begin to erode. Detached observation moves to immersive and interactive space. Gestures, metadata, contextual information, social networking, multi-planing leads to the creation of media space. Content portals, transitions and advanced interaction provide a dynamic experience in-game and media space.

Further thoughts from the TYPO Blog

 

Nat Hunter. Telling the right story

Creative Director, Airside

Telling the right story is as important as a narrative work. Before presenting examples of great Airside narratives, Nat Hunter told a bit of her own story. Moving from chemistry to programming — with a great cameo from the Logo turtle! — to human computer interaction (HCI), she went on to start Airside as a collective with two partners. A few of the highlighted projects:

The new Virgin Atlantic in-flight entertainment system is welcome. I often fly Virgin to New York and the in-flight entertainment is — whilst better than most airlines — quite a terrible experience. Currently, an awkward game controller controls the user interface; accessing any piece of media requires, at minimum, half a dozen clicks and arrows presses. The new interface works entirely through touch and gesture. Media is largely accessed with one touch. Hunter described the challenges inherent to in-flight entertainment: by the time an airline manufactures and installs it, the system is outdated. The interface is meant to last for ten years. Aside from a few questionable UI decisions (primarily, heavy gradients) the interface should stand the test of time. I am eager to experience it on my next flight.

Ms Hunter shared an anecdote about the adoption of the new video screens: success is measured by a decline in drinks purchased from the bar, implying higher engagement with the entertainment system as a result of shorter wait times and more immediate interaction.

Further thoughts from the TYPO Blog

 

Kutlu Çanlio?glu& Titus Nemeth. BBC’s Global Experience Langauge in 27 languages and 9 scripts

PhD Candidate, Reading University / Senior Creative Director, BBC World Service

The BBC World Service poses a unique user experience and typographic challenge to the designers and developers of the broadcasting system. BBC news is available in twenty-seven languages and nine scripts. In applying their Global Experience Language (GEL) framework to the many World Service websites, the BBC attempt to ensure a consistency of layout, local interpretations of colour and design patterns whilst maintaining a respect for the varied methods of content delivery. Brasil, as an example, rarely uses images for hard news; images are largely provided by local contributors. In Russia, all news is hard news, it is difficult to ascertain hierarchy. Bandwidth in China is unpredictable and slow: web users expect links to always open in a new window so that they may continue to load in the background. Çanlio?lu and his team often weigh accessibility and experience principles against regional expectations, continually asking the question: are the differences relevant to our approach?

The BBC join a bold, global initiative to utilise professional typography on the web, as embedded fonts. Arabic, as the flagship, is often only available in a single script released by Microsoft decades ago; a simplified representation of letterforms that ignores many cultural and linguistic subtleties. The irony, of course, is that users grew accustomed to the mistakes of the computer font and anticipate those changes over their authentic, written counterparts. The BBC selected Titus Nemeth’s Nassim typeface for Arabic-language sites. Much of the talk focused on the fascinating development of this typeface.

Further thoughts from the TYPO Blog

 

Jonathan Ellery. The here and the now

Founder, Browns

After a brief debate on his role as artist or designer (“design is: a brief, a client and fees”), Jonathan Ellery discussed the publishing business of his design studio, initiated in 2005. Named Browns Editions, Ellery self-publishes many of his own artist works, personal works that otherwise would be unlikely to see the light of day.

I felt 136 Points of Reference was particularly interesting. A collection of objects, moments, and broadly defined things that influenced Ellery and his work at the studio. The reference points were arranged in the publication in a way to show relationships between objects; to build rhythm and context. He remarked that everyone has a constantly evolving set of references, and that we have a responsibility to acknowledge these references. Once acknowledged, set them aside and move on. In keeping the same points of reference, you and your work are at risk of becoming mere shadows of their former selves.

Further thoughts from the TYPO Blog

 

Tony Brook. Bred in the bone

Creative Director, Spin

Mr Brook took time at the beginning of the talk to briefly discuss two projects: the identity for Haunch of Venison and the curation/design of the Wim Crouwel exhibition at the Design Museum in London. The first appears to be a fantastic piece of reductive work: an apparent raw interpretation of the legs (the haunch) of a three-legged deer, turned to its side.

The Design Museum work was an extraordinary opportunity for Brook — a self-described “Wim Crouwel” stalker. He embraced the opportunity to meet with Crouwel, explore archives in the Netherlands. With some persuasion, Brook convinced the Design Museum to curate an exhibition. Spin visualised everything: catalogues, iOS apps, posters, invitations, exhibition signage, souvenirs.

“Bred in the bone” is a loose theory that design is shaped by the culture, heritage, economy of language and genetic makeup of those who create it. Brook used his own heritage to illustrate his point; the importance of Northern (England) culture in Halifax, Yorkshire — the places, people, language and music that leave sometimes in-discernible traces of influence in life and work.

Further thoughts from the TYPO Blog

 

Michael Bierut. The only important decision

Partner, Pentagram

Mr Bierut presented his showcase of work from Pentagram very much in the spirit of the conference. A sense of place for each project: work that embodies the context of the cities and landmarks in which commissioned. The title of the talk references the most important decision a designer can often make: what typeface should I use? In the highlights below, I’ve noted the typeface selected/created for each.