This spring we’re gonna travel towards the Polish borders for some lectures and workshops during our “Wo-Wo Polski?” roadtrip. But we will not enter Poland. We repeat: we will not enter Poland. We are only gonna wave to the Poles. Miło cię spotkać! Four cities in three countries in one month, let’s hope our van won’t let us down.

22–25 April: Vilnius (Lithuania)

What’s up?

In this 4-day long typeworkshop at the Vilnius Art Academy you’re gonna create a typographic toolbox for social media. Short letterings which represent your different moods, which can be used to communicate your status in social media. You can use these letterings for your most favorite social media application. Letterings can be animated as well, just keep them pure typographic, black & white, without illustrative elements. Digital outline drawing of typefaces will be introduced, as well as some foundations of type design and lettering.

Thursday 24 April: lecture by Underware at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Maironio str. 3, Vilnius. Be in room 312 not any later than 18:00 o’clock, as Sami will then start to unravel the invisible research behind designing typefaces.

23 April: Plzeň (Czech Republic)
Lecture at the University of West Bohemia, as part of the DE.SIGN 2014 project. Faculty or Art & Design, 16:00 o’clock, sharp.

The iceberg called type design

Type design is maybe the most subconsciously observed visual human creation. Most people will read a text without notifying the typeface itself, and that’s totally legitimate. Only a happy few will notice the typeface which is used. You can call them graphic designers with a job-related disability if they can tell the name of the font, including its designer. But even those happy few will mostly not be aware of the kind of research which is involved in making those typefaces. The pan-European type design studio Underware will reveal the research behind their typefaces, and demonstrate that type design is like an iceberg: 90% is hidden under the water. A design lecture told from the submarine. Be aware: it can be dark below sea level…

24-25 April: Prague (Czech Republic)
24 April: Thursday at 19:00, lecture “The iceberg called type design” (see above) at Instituto Cervantes, Na Rybníčku 536/6, Prague. Open for public, so drop by if you’re around.

25 April: Type workshop at Prague College, School of Art & Design. One day to explore the foundations of type design, and offer yourself a kickstart in a new territory.

24 May: Leipzig (Germany)
The folks from Leipziger Typotage invited us to talk about type. In the end, type is about language. In the beginning too. And somewhere in between that language needs to get a certain shape. Therefore we present a message from the language engine room. “Occidental is dead. Now what?” Ten speakers in one day, so Akiem and Bas will do their best to get to the point quickly.

Do zobaczenia później!