The Future Sketches group welcomes you to the world of computational typography!

In this lunch lecture series, we are delighted to host six designers/studios whose work explore the intersection of typography, language and computation and whose work speaks to what design may look like in the future.  

Through their work, they are redefining the boundaries of traditional typography, unleashing the potential of computation to explore what new forms of communication arise when type is approached as a dynamic medium, how AI can inform new type design tools, and how computation can help democratize design.  We'll hear about what they are working on, what they are excited about and what visions they have for the future of typography.

Tune in Fridays at lunchtime as we delve into the intersection of design and computation, where each speaker’s unique perspective opens a window into the future of visual communication.

Recordings

Calendar

Friday September 8, 2023 (12-1pm ET): Space Type Studio

Friday September 15, 2023 (12-1pm ET): Just van Rossum

Friday September 22, 2023 (12-1pm ET): Talia Cotton

Friday September 29, 2023 (12-1pm ET): Peter Cho

Friday October 6, 2023 (12-1pm ET): Beatriz Lozano

Friday October 13, 2023 (12-1pm ET): DIA studio

Speakers

Space Type is a studio practice that specializes in typographic design in the form of new digital experiences, large-format murals, printed risographs, and custom typefaces. Their work has been installed in public galleries, exhibitions, and open-air sites, and they regularly engage with communities and institutions such as The Cooper Union, Letterform Archive, and Parsons School of Design through traditional and experimental workshops, classes, and open-source educational tools and resources. In 2022, they co-founded a new school and community, Type Electives, to support increased equity and accessibility to specialized education in non-traditional type design and creative technology, including generative and AR typographic applications. Space Type is run by Lynne Yun and Kevin Yeh. 

Just van Rossum is a pioneering designer/programmer, who can be blamed for popularizing the Python programming language in font development circles. He teaches type design and programming at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KABK) in The Hague.  He is the original author of the TTX/FontTools Python library. In the mid-nineties, he co-wrote RoboFog with Petr van Blokland, which was a scriptable font editor and a precursor to RoboFont. Together with Frederik Berlaen, he co-developed DrawBot, an educational Python-based tool for creative coding. Just's current project is Fontra, a work-in-progress browser based font editor.

Talia Cotton is a designer, coder, and educator, and is recognized as a leading specialist in the intersection of branding and technology. In 2023 she founded Cotton, a creative agency pursuing purposeful design work with code. Talia also teaches intro and advanced coding at Parsons School of Design. Before Cotton, Talia led data-driven and algorithmic design on two teams at Pentagram, while running an independent design and code practice. Talia was named a "Responsible Designer to Watch" by GDUSA and was awarded the Young Guns Award for creative professionals under 30. She has been recognized by The One Club, TDC, Fast Company, and It's Nice That, and has inspired audiences at the international Google Visual Design Summit, OFFF Tel Aviv, and Future London Academy, among others.

Peter Cho is a designer and design leader in Oakland, working as the VP of Design at Brilliant.org, an interactive STEM learning platform. His career has spanned different design disciplines at the intersection with technology, including user experience and user interface design, type design, branding, motion design, interactive installations, media art, and design education. He holds an MFA degree from the UCLA Design | Media Arts department, where his work dealt with issues of language, writing, and meaning, and an MS degree from the MIT Media Lab, where his research explored custom models for typography in time-based and reactive media. He has received honors for his work from Ars Electronica, Tokyo Type Directors Club, New York Art Directors Club, ID Magazine, and Print Magazine.

Beatriz Lozano is a designer, typographer, and educator exploring how technology can push typography to exist at the intersection of the physical and digital world. She teaches interaction design at Parsons and was formerly a design director at Sunday Afternoon. Originally on the path to becoming a mechanical engineer, Beatriz shifted to graphic design as her involvement in immigrant rights activism exposed her to the power of visual communication. Her work has been recognized by the ADC, TDC, Communication arts, and PRINT.

DIA is a branding and graphic design studio specializing in kinetic identities and typographic systems. Headquartered in NYC and Chamonix, France, they have developed a new approach to designing identity systems where motion is foundational and creative tools always accompany brand guidelines. Their generative tools and autonomous design systems empower internal teams and simplify oversight.

NYC is their base; however, they have been recruited by some of Europe’s best universities because of our unique approach to design. Mitch Paone, our Creative Director, most recently taught design at Haute école d‘art et de design – Genève, Switzerland (HEAD) and The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Netherlands (KABK). He was the first resident professor at the La Becque x ECAL residency in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland. His courses implement DIA’s creative process into the academic curriculum, focusing on motion and generative tools in a graphic design context.

Information

We will post transcribed recordings online after the series is over. Please contact veraseyp@media.mit.edu if you have any other questions about this event.