From the Judges 3—Type Design
The TDC competition awards are divided between the best use of type in design, and typeface design itself. Both Latin and non-Latin submissions are accepted by the typeface competition, and the competition chairman, Maxim Zhukov, along with the Non-Latin Advisory Board (NLAB), brought particular sensitivity to the judging of non-Latin type. The TDC58 typeface design judges were Roger Black, Matthew Carter, Paul Shaw, and Erik Spiekermann, and here are their choices for best typeface design:
Roger Black
Judge’s Choice: Chiavari
This new stencil face takes the Latin (chiseled serif) style to a new extreme. The thins taper to points and then disappear. The result is a natural stencil design, and nothing like the industrial or Corbusier-inspired fonts we are used to, where the letters are just sliced so the template holds together. Rather than being sprayed on a shipping crate, these forms want to be deployed in fashion ads and perfume labels. The proportions are classical, with a whiff of Kis. The result is a display face that is delightfully fresh and elegant.
- Typeface designer: Hélène Zünd, Lausanne
- School: École cantonale d’art de Lausanne
- URL: www.helenezund.ch
Matthew Carter
Judge’s Choice: La República
The majority of this year’s winners were single typefaces; this is a rare example of a family—not a monster family, a sensible family. The purpose of the family can no doubt be inferred from the word “Newspaper” used in the sample setting. It has display and text versions and three weights. I like that the styles within the family have strong individual flavors rather than just being slices from the same salami that vary only in thickness. All the styles are economical in set-width, particularly the Display, which is frankly condensed for banner headlines, and all have good sturdy structures with unbracketed serifs. The small caps in the text faces are a practical size for acronyms (which is what they are really needed for nowadays), and in the Display face at least the accents are unapologetically big. My only question concerns the closeness in weight between the Regular and Light text faces, but in newspaper typography I have learned that there is generally a good reason for something that seems at first glance to be odd. I’m sure the client and the designer knew what they were doing—in fact, the whole design has the feel of a satisfying collaboration.
- Typeface designer: Cesar Puertas, Bogotá, Columbia
- Design Office: Typograma
- Client: Diario La República–Editorial El Globo
- URL: www.typograma.com
- Available in: Regular, Light, Italic, Semibold, Bold, Black, and Display
Paul Shaw
Judge’s Choice: Hipster Script
I chose Hipster Script because, based on the submitted specimen, it seemed to be a lively brush script that succeeded in feeling natural without resorting to an excessive array of alternates, ligatures, and swashes. I found this restraint impressive. However, it turns out that Hipster Script—a design still in progress as of this writing—has a glyph palette of more than 1,900 characters. This does not diminish the quality of its design, though it does undermine my reason for selecting it as a Judges’ Choice. had I known this I may well have chosen a different typeface to single out. In my opinion, Hipster Script was still the best script submitted to the type design competition. Like many of Alejandro Paul’s designs, it is an attempt—ultimately a futile one—to reduce the divide between writing and type, or, as he puts it, “between manual and digital.” To this end he has included among the numerous ligatures some that incorporate apostrophes. Although this is not a new idea—see Typo Script (Morris Fuller Benton, 1902)—it is an unusual one that has plenty of merit. It is a functional combination, unlike the i dot ligatures that have become so prevalent. Thankfully, Hipster Script is too hip to have any of them.
- Typeface designer: Alejandro Paul, Buenos Aires
- Foundry: Sudtipos
- URL: www.sudtipos.com
Erik Spiekermann
Judge’s Choice: Balkan
Typefaces can solve problems: they may be particularly legible at small sizes, fit lots of copy into small spaces, read well on screen. Or they are surprising takes on a classic model, well crafted, and useful. Balkan doesn’t solve a typographic problem; nor are the letterforms terribly exciting. But the premise was: how can one show two alphabets in one glyph? What are the differences and what are the common shapes for Latin and Cyrillic? Balkan combines them into one alphabet that solves not a typographic problem but a cultural one: it celebrates the differences and points out the overlaps. Most of us in the Western world tend to forget that the world’s majority reads what used to be called “Non-Latin” scripts, Cyrillic being one with several hundred million readers. More and more type designers find themselves confronted with this unknown territory as international brands realize that their messages need to be spelled out in the local languages, whatever they may be. Consumers everywhere may recognize brands by their logos, usually based on Latin letterforms, but real communication needs to speak their native language in the alphabet they learned at school. Balkan is more than a typeface: it is a concept, a lesson in communication and cultural awareness.
- Typeface designers: Nicola Djurek and Marija Juza, Zabok, Croatia
- Foundry: Typonine Font Foundry
- URL: www.typonine.com
- Available in: Balkan Sans One A, Balkan Sans Two A, Balkan Sans Three A, Balkan Sans B, Balkan Stencil One A, Balkan Stencil Two A, Balkan Stencil Three A, and Balkan Stencil B
