Main Program Day 1

PRESENTATIONS

1:20p–1:40p
Why is TypeCon in Portland Again? So You Can Hear This Story. Lloyd Reynolds, Reed College, and the Calligraphic Renaissance in Portland Oregon
Gregory MacNaughton

Lloyd Reynolds founded the Graphic Arts Workshop at Reed College in 1948 and for the next forty years the program had a profound impact on Beat Generation poetics, American Zen Buddhism, handwriting instruction, and the advent of digital typography.

In this lavishly illustrated presentation we’ll trace the impact of Lloyd Reynolds on each of these fields of interest and discover why it only took Steve Jobs six months to get everything he needed from his Reed education.

1:40p–2:00p
You’re Losing Your Soul
AJ Mercer

Typography today relies on digital tools to refine, optimize, and systematize letters, but in the pursuit of pixel-perfection, something vital is being erased. With algorithms on the rise, natural intuition about what is optically right is being replaced by what’s mathematically correct.

This presentation explores personal experiences around the erosion of soul in contemporary typography, the influence of sign painting on type design, and how automation is stripping away the nuance, imperfection, and humanity that makes type an expression rather than a replication. Through stories from the studio, examples from travels, and a few lovingly flawed letters, we challenge perfection and demand room for vernacular, character, and personal touch in an increasingly homogenized world.

2:00p–2:20p
Put Your Type in the Blender: Using 3D Animation to Market Your Fonts
Brian Dove

In a time where video content is king of the ever-shortening attention span, how can our typefaces earn more of that attention? For the past two years, I have been using Blender, an open-source 3D modeling and animation software, to make captivating videos and graphics to promote my fonts in a sea of moving images.

By adding 3D animation to my digital toolbelt, I’ve built vibrant 3D worlds for each of my typefaces that help me create a unique visual identity for each family. Combining 3D animations, 3D images, motion graphics, and static typesetting adds up to a more diverse visual language in the promotion and marketing of fonts.

In this presentation I’ll go over the basic capabilities of Blender, the pros and cons of using it for type related graphics, useful plugins/resources, and how to get started with this software even if you have no prior 3D experience. I’ll share the results of some of my experiments with Blender, along with roadblocks I’ve hit along the way (so maybe you don’t have to).

2:20p–2:30p
Q+A

2:30p–2:50p
Coffee break

2:50p–3:10p
Reclaiming Typographic Lineages
Vida Sačić

What happens when letterforms fall out of circulation—forgotten, fragmented, or physically worn down? This presentation explores how underdocumented typographic histories can be brought back to life through a hybrid practice that spans archival digging, cultural research, and hands-on making. I’ll share insights from collecting and cataloging wood type in Croatia—pieces that carry traces of migration, memory, and regional identity—and how those forms are reactivated through both traditional letterpress and digital tools like laser cutters and CNC routers. The talk highlights two recent projects: Ms. Olga, a typeface inspired by the lettering of Olga Höcker, a hugely influential but largely forgotten 20th-century artist; and a display face based on Hairy Who catalogues, created for a community-centered project at Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago. These works show how typographic heritage can be remixed and reprinted, and how tactility, labor, and experimentation shape new typographic futures from overlooked pasts.

3:10-3:330p
Nastaʿlīq: The Art of Identity in Iranian Calligraphy
Kourosh Beigpour

Nastaʿlīq: The Art of Identity in Iranian Calligraphy explores the profound connection between the Nastaʿlīq script and Iranian cultural identity. Originating in the 14th century, Nastaʿlīq became not only a dominant form of Persian calligraphy but also a visual representation of Iranian intellectual and artistic expression. This talk delves into how Nastaʿlīq reflects the complexities of Iranian identity, weaving together historical, cultural, and philosophical elements. By examining its fluid forms, aesthetic intricacies, and usage in poetry, literature, and visual arts, Kourosh Beigpour highlights how this script transcends mere text to become a symbol of continuity and transformation in Iranian culture. The presentation will also explore the role of Nastaʿlīq in contemporary Iranian art, demonstrating how it continues to serve as a bridge between tradition and modernity, embodying the evolving nature of cultural identity in the digital age. Through this examination, Beigpour invites a deeper understanding of how calligraphy can be a powerful vessel for cultural memory and artistic innovation.

3:30p–3:50p
The Phaistos Risk: On Movable Typo-Colonialism
Joshua Unikel

The Phaistos Disc is often called the oldest movable type in the West, if not the world. Dated during the Late Minoan Period (1700–1400 BCE), the disc is printed with cryptic, repeating glyphs. Despite its mystique, however, the disc is likely whitewashed and fake. In this talk, I’ll reckon with this history and the ways we might decolonize the Phaistos Disc in 2025.

First, I’ll unpack the contemporary whitewashing of the disc. I’ll explore how the disc is simultaneously used as the origin point of Anglo-European movable type while in actuality being an artifact of the racially diverse Minoans, a society that may not have been European or even Western.

Next, I’ll discuss why the disc may be fake. First, I’ll explain how its discovery is probably part of a tradition of suspicious archaeology based on fabricated relics. I’ll also show how the disc itself—from its unprecedented glyph system to its spiral typesetting—suggests its falsity.

To close, I’ll examine how the disc contributes to issues of typographic colonialism in design history. Namely, I’ll reposition the disc as an object used to demote if not eclipse Asian and other non-Western origins of type throughout the world.

3:50p–4:00p
Q+A

4:00p–4:20p
Coffee break

4:20p–4:40p
Type Without Borders: Enabling Multilingual and Bidirectional Typography for Emerging Markets
Ifran Ahmad

As digital communication transcends linguistic and geographic boundaries, the need for inclusive, culturally aware, and technically sound typography grows. In emerging markets like MENA, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, right-to-left (RTL) and complex scripts—such as Arabic, Urdu, Persian, Hebrew, and Devanagari—pose unique challenges for software platforms, type designers, and content creators.

This session explores the technical and cultural complexities of designing and localizing type for bidirectional and complex scripts. Drawing from real-world globalization projects, it highlights how thoughtful typography enhances usability, creativity, and digital inclusion.

Attendees will gain insights into key RTL design challenges, the business value of localization-aware type, and the evolving role of designers in enabling multilingual access. This talk invites you to see type not just as design, but as a bridge between languages, users, and cultures.

4:40p–5:00p
Codifying a Handwritten Cursive-Mode Exemplar
Jonathan Dubay

Nearly fifty years ago, educators and artists Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay, inspired by Lloyd J. Reynolds and others, created the Getty-Dubay Italic script, a monoline version of the Arrighi’s Chancery style. They authored eleven handwriting books for children and adults in this script, catching the attention of media outlets such as TIME Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Good Morning America, The New York Times, and others.

Getty and Dubay drew their letterform models by hand until recently, when—in their mid-eighties—they agreed to have their handwriting style codified into a set of digital fonts. Unlike looped continuous cursive styles, the Getty-Dubay Italic cursive mode utilizes letterform alternates and optional joins. These myriad choices make Italic appealing for handwriting, but difficult to replicate in a join-as-you-type cursive handwriting font.

Jonathan Dubay presents his experience working with the authors to capture their letterforms, creating the 72 variants that now make up the Getty-Dubay Font family. His dive into the deep end of the contextual alternates may provide a roadmap for those contemplating an educational script project.

5:00p–5:20p
Researching Italian Type History: On Analog and Digital Archives, and a Scrappy Database
Marta Bernstein

I started my research in 2005 with the aim of filling a gap in Italian type history: not much was known about the hundred years between the death of Bodoni, the famous printer and punchcutter from Parma in 1813, and the rise of Nebiolo type foundry.

The project aimed at mapping type foundries active in Italy, their production, and the evolution of the local type founding industry.

More than showing the results, this presentation would focus on the process of finding primary sources and retrieving information from type specimens, magazines, newspaper articles, local registries. Where do you start if you don’t know what to look for? How do you find primary sources? What is available online? How do you access libraries and private archives? How do you build a database to keep track of information?

Type historians don’t talk enough about how to start research, how to organize research materials. I hope my journey as an independent researcher digging in the past of my home country will inspire and support more researchers, because so much of the history of type is yet to be rediscovered, made accessible, preserved, archived, narrated.

5:20p–5:30p
Q+A

5:30p–5:40p
Closing remarks