Join us for an evening of knowledge shares on typography and type design followed by a moderated discussion from our panelists.
👋 Schedule
6:30 – 7:00 — Sign in, find the space and hang
7:00 – 7:10 — Event opening
7:10 – 8:30 — Talks and panel discussion
8:30 – 9:00 — Hang and network
Event Venue
West Tower: Register your entry at level 3, then head up to the event space on the level 29.
── T A L K S──
🔈 Brand voice and custom fonts: three snapshots ▶️
with Vikas Kailankaje
Along a row of toiletries on your bath counter, you spy ‘Colgate Ready’, a brand font for Colgate by Fontsmith. While booking a Grab ride, ‘Grab Community’ by hrftype stares back at you. While shopping online, you chance upon the family of custom fonts gracing Sephora’s marketing materials (the handiwork of Schriftlabor). If you happen to own a Bosch product, you have probably been staring at ‘Bosch Sans’ by Erik Spiekermann and Christian Schwartz often as you turn a dial or glance at instructions. These are but a few examples of the design and application of custom fonts or modified fonts. They are tailored to meet the requirements of a multinational brand and can act as the ‘visual voice’ of a brand. Through three contemporary snapshots, you will gain a better appreciation for how these fonts can improve brand recognition while projecting a brand’s personality.
Vikas Kailankaje is a lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts Singapore and prev. Founder & Principal Designer at STUDIO VBK.
🔈 History and politics: multiscript typography in Singapore ▶️
with Damien Chong
This talk explores the history & development of Singapore's short typographic history and its multiscript environment, by analysing manuscripts, cultural and historical contexts; as well as unpacking colonial and political implications both past and present.
With the influx of immigrants after Singapore’s founding as a trading port, Latin, Tamil and Jawi were scripts commonly used alongside each other; although typographic traditions were mostly imported rather than developed in Singapore. Due to its unique circumstances and a lack of typographic resources and history, it is observed that Singapore developed its own approach to multiscript typesetting called Typographic Approximation. Developed naturally in a multiscript environment—Typographic Approximation is a script-agnostic approach, as opposed to the dominant practice of Script Harmonisation that has roots in a latin-centric environment.
Damien Chong is a graduate of the Master of Arts, Typeface Design program from the University of Reading; multiscript type designer, graphic designer and researcher; and occasional Death of Typography collaborator.
🔈New ways of seeing type ▶️
with Lee Qiu Wen
This talk explores type as a tool for community building and parallel design education by introducing local type collective Death of Typography (DOT) and its activities. DOT was founded from the growing enthusiasm for type in our local context.
Seeing a gap in access and resources to type design, DOT experiments with alternative approaches to learning and teaching typography. This is facilitated through DOT’s Font Incubation Programme and experimental type workshops, showcasing the results and outcomes achieved by local designers.
Lee Qiu Wen is a founding member of Death of Typography, Part-Time lecturer at LASALLE College of Arts, Postgraduate at Type West 2023 Online Cohort; and Graphic and Type designer.
👯 Panel discussion 👯
moderated by Mark De Winne.
Mark De Winne is passionate about typography, design and storytelling. A graduate of the Type & Media programme at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK), he was part of the inaugural batch of Type Director’s Club Ascenders in 2018. He is currently a director at Eight Inc.
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By attending our Singapore Product Design meetup events, you are entering an area where photography, audio, and video recording may occur. We foster curiosity and connections through our events and are a harassment-free zone 💜