Special Events
TypeCon2006 offers attendees a variety of special events, including the Third Annual Typophile Film Festival, the big Saturday night party, the Type and Design Education Forum, field trip to the Museum of Printing, and much more! What's more, we have a number of events that are free and open to the public. Read below for details...
The following special events are free and open to TypeCon attendees and the general public. You MUST pre-register in order to attend these events.
Wednesday, August 9
10:00 am - 1:00 pm: A Typographic Tour of Cambridge and Boston
Presented by Paul Shaw | FREE!
An introductory tour of environmental lettering in Cambridge and Boston with stops at locations (or what is left of them) associated with W.A. Dwiggins, D.B. Updike, and other Boston typographic luminaries. The tour begins at Harvard University and its surrounding area in Cambridge before a T-ride to Boston to see sites around City Hall and the State Capitol associated with the Boston printing and design community. The tour ends with a look at the area between Arlington Street and Copley Square.
Meeting Point: "Out of Town News" at Harvard Square Red Line station entrance (aboveground), Cambridge
Requirements: Buy 3 T tokens in advance. Wear good walking shoes, and bring water, cameras, notepads, sunglasses, hats, good shoes, binoculars, etc.
4:00 - 7:00 pm: An Introduction to WAD: A Look at Selected Materials from the Dwiggins Collections at the Boston Public Library
Presented by Paul Shaw | FREE!
This afternoon features a guided visit to the Dwiggins Rooms and Dwiggins Collections at the Boston Public Library. Attendees will view his marionettes and artifacts from his studio, then have an opportunity to view examples of his calligraphy and lettering, illustration, decoration, magazine design, book design, and, naturally, type design. The material selected will cover Dwiggins' entire career from c. 1900 until his death in 1956.
The Boston Public Library
Rare Books and Manuscripts
McKim Building, 3rd Floor
700 Boylston St.
Boston MA 02116
617-859-2225 or 617-536-5400
info@bpl.org | www.bpl.org
8:00 pm: The Third Annual Typophile Film Festival
Produced by Punchcut and presented by Typophile and SOTA | FREE!
The Typophile Film Festival is a celebration of typography in motion - a showcase of short films that are inspiring, educational, experimental, and humorous. The festival affords its audience a unique opportunity to see motion design in which type is the star. Standouts this year include John Langdon's alternate opening credits for The Da Vinci Code, new work by Blur, Convert, and MK12, and Gary Butcher's animated homage to Josef Müller-Brockmann. Past festivals included shorts by The Font Bureau, Motion Theory, Trollbäck and Co, and WeWorkForThem.
Grand Ballroom, 4th Floor
Hyatt Regency Boston
One Avenue de Lafayette
Boston, MA 02111-1739
617-912-1234
Thursday, August 10
9:30 am - 12:30 pm: A Boston Calligraphy Discovery
Presented by Margaret Shepherd | FREE!
This guided walk along Boston's "calligraphy trail" is a tour of the alphabet - the stylized letters on local buildings, monuments, and plaques, starting with an "A" in the Boston Public Library's Rare Books Department and ending with a "Z" in the Central Burial Ground on Boston Common.
Meeting Point: The Boston Public Library
Rare Books and Manuscripts
McKim Building, 3rd Floor
700 Boylston St.
Boston MA 02116
617-859-2225 or 617-536-5400
info@bpl.org | www.bpl.org
11:00 am - 1:00 pm: A Engraving and Its Relationship to the Evolution of Typography and Graphic Design
Presented by Marjorie Cohn and Nancy Sharon Collins | FREE!
Attendees will view actual engravings from the collection of the Fogg Art Museum, discuss the history and the process of engraving, and examine the nature of the "cut" as a line or form is made in this elegant, almost lost art. Part of this discussion will be the influence of engraving on the origins of graphic design and typography. The remainder of the session will be in the enjoyment of magnificent examples of works of art on paper.
The Agnes Mongan Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Fogg Art Museum
Harvard University Art Museums
32 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Directions and information
There is normally a $6.50 per person charge for study room visitors, which also covers entrance to all of the Fogg Art Museum galleries and exhibitions. The fee will be waived for anyone pre-registering for this event.
1:30 - 6:30 pm: The Type and Design Education Forum
Presented by SOTA's Education Group | FREE!
A series of presentations and discussions on type and design education, featuring James Craig, Designing with Type, Ilene Strizver, The Type Studio, Mark Jamra, Type Culture, Audrey Bennett, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Laura Franz, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Gillian Mothersill, Ryerson University, John McMillan, ISTD, John Sherman, Notre Dame University, and Norbert Florendo. This forum is aimed at design educators, students, and practicing professionals who are interested in the state of design education. Audience participation is welcome and encouraged.
Grand Ballroom, 4th Floor
Hyatt Regency Boston
One Avenue de Lafayette
Boston, MA 02111-1739
617-912-1234
2:30 pm: Tour and Play at Firefly Press
Presented by John Kristensen and Michael Babcock| FREE!
Visit one of the finest letterpress printing offices operating today. Firefly Press, in operation since 1978, is an entirely letterpress operation, doing true letterpress only - printing directly from metal type that they set in-house. Firefly follows the philosophy, not just the mannerisms, of such Boston-area printers as D. B. Updike, Bruce Rogers, W.A. Dwiggins, and Rudolph
Ruzicka. Firefly projects include small books and brochures, broadsides and certificates, invitations, announcements, and stationery. They didn't set out to be a museum - it just happened that way. They print on a Vandercook proof press and a Chandler & Price Craftsman platen press, and have two
Linotype machines, two Monotype composition casters and a Monotype
display type caster, and about 250 cases of type for hand setting. A typecaster will be operational for this visit, and attendees can print their own keepsake on the Vandercook!
Firefly Press
119 Braintree Street, Suite 202
Allston/Brighton section of Boston
Braintree Street runs parallel to Mass Pike and immediately south of it, between the top end of Harvard Avenue and Everett Street. The B train of the Green Line stops at Comm Ave. and Harvard Ave., about a 10-minute walk from the shop. The 57 bus (Kenmore Square/Watertown Square), the 64 bus (Central Square, Cambridge/Oak Square, Brighton), and the 66 Bus (Harvard Square/Dudley Square) all stop at Union Square, Brighton, which is a short two blocks from Braintree Street via Hano Street. 119 Braintree is the building flying the biggest American flag in Boston.
The following special events are for full-conference registrants only. You MUST register for TypeCon2006 in order to attend these events.
Thursday, August 10
8:00 pm: Opening Night Festivities and Presentations - Hyatt Regency
Featuring Allan Haley, Monotype Imaging, Anna Chagnon, Bitstream, and David Berlow and Mike Parker, Font Bureau
The official opening night of TypeCon2006 is a celebration of the history and current state of type in Boston. Sponsored by Headline Sponsor Bitstream.
Saturday, August 12
8:00 pm: Wicked - Hyatt Regency
Groove on your love for type with an evening of music, drinking, and dancing. Break out the velvet hip-huggers, tie-dye, and platform shoes and indulge in a late 60s/early 70s blast from the past. Blow your mind at the annual Type Quiz with hosts and quizmasters Allan Haley and Paul Shaw, who'll have some heavy prizes for this year's winners. DJs Joe and Jared provide the outta site soundtrack to this evening of wicked retro cool. Sponsored by Headline Sponsor Monotype Imaging. Can you dig it?
Sunday, August 13
8:00 pm: Closing Night Celebration - Field Trip to the Museum of Printing in North Andover
Featuring Gardner LePoer and Louis Rosenblum, Museum of Printing, Mike Parker, Font Bureau, and Lawrence Oppenberg, Galápagos Design
TypeCon winds down in historic fashion with a trip to the Museum of Printing in North Andover. Board the bus and get out of the city for a few hours of fun. A casual dinner and cold beverages accompany such activities as short presentations about the Museum's amazing collections (including the original drawings of the complete Mergenthaler font library) and impromptu demos at the hot metal machines.
