Research project, ECAL 2009
in PROJECTS / R&D RESEARCH PROJECTS (R&D)
The department of visual communication made type design one of the components of its research strategy on the regional, national and international level.Within this framework, Typographer is the extension of the former project Corporate Typeface (“We make font”, Ecal, 2006) which lead to the creation of the Calligrapher software and opened a prospect towards the development of computer tools for the creation of fonts.The main goal of Typographer project was the creation of the prototype of a teachware integrating the specific components of type design into a digital drawing tool.
This prototype is different from the existing digital type design tools by the fact that it associates:
- the possibility of setting fundamental parameters of the key curves which define the letters
- with the possibility of generating, from those, the whole set of the glyphs of a font.
The project contributes to develop a common culture between the fields of design and computer sciences, centered on type design and well-adapted to the new professional practices of graphic and type designers.
Main applicant
Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL)
François Rappo (project leader)
Jürg Lehni
Assistants and students of the department of visual communication
Partners
David Keshavjee et Julien Tavelli : Creating Tools – Using Tools
Dimitri Bruni, Erik Spiekermann, Peter Bilak : interviews (collected by Jürg Lehni)
Frédéric Berlaen, Clément Gallet, François Rappo, Jürh Lehni, Ludovic Varone : workshops
Publication
Typeface as Program, Le caractère typographique comme programme, ECAL, 2009.
ISBN: 978-3-03764-072-2
Period
2007 – 2009
Funded by the HES-SO (University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland)