Typeroom’s Calendar 2016: the best typography events to plan for

Ever since they were first co-opted (for industrial designers by Container Corporation of America CEO Walter Paepcke at the first Aspen conference in 1949, and for graphic designers by American Institute of Graphic Arts president Colin Forbes in 1985) attendees, speakers and organisers alike, have wrestled with the shaggy medium” writes Alice Twemlow. Today a growing number of professional conferences around the world compete for audiences and this is our calendar of typography events listed in chronological order. How to choose the right one? “Consider the speakers, the location, the event’s track record, and don’t forget the attendee list—after all, many of these annual meetings have become ersatz tribal gatherings for design professionals interested in distinct specializations” says Quartz. We are obliged to agree.

Typography Day 2016, February
For the ninth time in a row, TypoDay 2016 is about to address issues faced by type designers, type users and type educators. The event will feature a day of workshops on Typography and Calligraphy followed by two days of conference dedicated to ‘Typography and Education’. The conference includes presentations by invited keynote speakers, eminent academicians, blind juried papers, industry professionals, research scholars and students. Planned over three days the Conference will focus on the following issues: experiments and explorations in education of typography, basics and elements of typography design, typography and process of learning, typography education with multilingual scripts, typography education in native (indigenous) scripts, education in local language typography and research activities in typography and education. The event will also host an exhibition of selected posters and typographic works of students and faculty members from Design Institutes. TypoDay2016 is taking place on 25th to 27th February 2016 at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore in collaboration with the Industrial Design Centre (IDC), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) with support from India Design Association (InDeAs) and Aksharaya.

TYPO Berlin 2016, May
Considered a major meeting point of the graphic design scene with around 1,500 participants and more than 60 speakers lecturing on up to 5 stages, workshops and panels for 3 days, TYPO Berlin has become one of the world’s most important creative venues since it’s premiere in 1995. TYPO Berlin 2016 “Beyond Design” is dedicated to the mental tool called designing. “It’s not about the well-worn narrative forms of graphic design that are readily available on every street corner. And it’s not about flash in the pan sensations. It’s about a strategy of responsible design. It’s about the design of the future. And about thinking about thought. It’s about what our brain was made for – networking, language, learning, interaction” writes the official website and Erik van Blokland, Matteo Bologna, Nadine Chahine, Menno Cruijsen, Catherine Dixon, Field, Daniel Gjøde and numerous others are some of the first speaker commitments that will enlighten us from the 12th to the 14th of May in Berlin.

Typomania 2016, May
Focused on young, creative, energetic people - designers, illustrators and animators alike - Typomania is an annual type, typography, calligraphy and video feast, which aims to popularize the typography culture, be sensitive to traditions and support the most daring interesting experiments and projects. The festival is competitive and various prizes are awarded to the creators of the best typographical videos and although the prizes for 2016 are yet to be announced, videos containing type as the active component, created between 2014 and 2016 are eligible for submission. The Typomania 2016 International Typography Video Festival is scheduled for 28–29 May 2016 in Moscow. Submission period begins on the 1st of March, 2016 and ends on the 1st of May, 2016 so be spontaneous, be creative, just be and do it now.

Kerning 2016, June
In case you didn’t know or bothered to, a very Mediteranean typographic event is premiering this summer and everyone is invited. The first international conference in Italy dedicated solely to typography and web typography this year the three day festival will offer once again the chance to meet developers, gurus, managers and innovators from all over the world. On June 1st and 2nd (workshops) and 3rd (conference) 2016 top notch speakers from the whole world of typography we will gather in Faenza, in the very heart of Italy, to create a fruitful event full of talks and workshops. Kerning is a non-profit event.

Typographics 2016, June
A 10-day design festival “for people who use type” Typographics is devoted to contemporary typography, with talks, work­shops, and tours focusing on where typography is today and where its future may lie. From the 13th to the 23rd of June, a series of workshops and tours have been scheduled with Type@Cooper before and after the conference (17-18), with options focusing on everything from hand lettering to responsive typography.

Most of the Typographics festival will take place at The Cooper Union, in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, a reason for being there on its own. The school is the alma mater of many noteworthy typographers and lettering artists including Herb Lubalin, Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast, and Lou Dorfsman.

British Typography and Branding Week, June - July
“This programme broadened my mind, inspired and motivated me. I think the best of what I am doing right now happened partially because of this experience” said Olga Semyonova, art-director at TBWA of the British Typography and Branding Week.  

The typographic event which takes place this June is ready to answer to numerous questions. “What is British Typography and Branding and why is it different from Dutch or German? Why does every piece of British Design have a very distinct style with typography as the main element? Was it always there or did it only appear in 60s? Did it get to the end in the 90s? Can a non-british designer become a british typographer? Where can we find examples of British Typography and how can we use them?” These are some of the many questions that will be answered during this five day typographic fest, customized for any typophile.

“This programme will help you to build a skeleton of typographic wisdom, that you will be able to build on in future” and includes lectures, workshops, visits to exhibitions, self-study work and professional discussions.

ICTVC 2016, July
The 6th International Conference on Typography & Visual Communication (ICTVC) is taking place on 7, 8 and 9 July in Thessalloniki. The already established worldwide major event keeps exploring the world of typography and visual communication and since its inception in 2002, people from diverse fields and different disciplines with a passion for visual language research, education, and practice, contribute to the conference. A series of workshops will precede the conference (5 & 6 July) and the exhibitions will constitute an important part of the event that attracts speakers and delegates on an international scale, and from a wide range of disciplines related to typography and design. This year’s theme “Discussing priorities | Developing a field” is all about visual communication, this established discipline with a burgeoning professional practice, varied educational systems, critical research, national and international conferences and competitions, trade magazines, and academic journals. Across many areas, visual communication is entering a period of sustained growth and expansion. This calls for strategic decisions for directions of development, setting priorities for action, and clarifying relationships with related areas of activity which ICTVC is eager to explore with speakers such as Michael Twyman, Neville Brody, Petr van Blokland, Mary Dyson and Louise McWhinnie to name a few.

The 6th ICTVC is organised by the Institute for the Study of Typography & Visual Communication with the collaboration of the Thessaloniki State Museum of Contemporary Art and the Graphic Communication program of the Department of Design & Multimedia, the University of Nicosia.

TypeCon 2016, August
With renowned graphic designer Lance Wyman as TypeCon’s keynote speaker for 2016 this is going to be a celebrated experience of good design. For the past five decades, Wyman has defined the field of environmental graphics, specializing in identity systems for cities, events, institutions, and transportation - his work for the 1968 Mexico Olympics is widely celebrated as a pinnacle of environmental and branding design. He currently teaches corporate and wayfinding design at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. TypeCon is an annual conference presented by the non-profit Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA), an international organization dedicated to the promotion, study, and support of typography and related arts.

Since the inaugural conference in 1998, TypeCon has explored type for the screen, printing history, Dutch design, type in motion, Arabic calligraphy, the American Arts and Crafts movement, experimental typography, webfonts, and much more. Special events include the Type & Design Education Forum, and an exhibition of international type and design.

AtypI 2016, September
ATypI, Association Typographique Internationale, is the global forum and focal point for the type community and business having as members literally everyone who matters in the type world. A not-for-profit organisation AtypI is respected in over 40 nations, and almost 20 countries have their own country delegates. For 2016 the conference is revisiting Poland, the second time after 1975. The first conference of Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI) in Poland took place back then in Warsaw and Kraków thanks to to Roman Tomaszewski and his efforts to reintegrate Polish designers with international community. Since that time much has changed in Poland and in Central Europe. The time has come to invite AtypI Members to visit Poland again for Warsaw Crossroads AtypI 2016 on 14th to 18th September 2016.

The Future of Text 2016, August
“‘The Future of Text’ should be called ‘How to Live in the New Now,’ since you’d be hard-pressed to find a wider range of expertise on how text morphed into the words that wrap around and inform our lives. In addition, you’ll learn how to live with and capitalise on the changing face and uses of text through dialogue with some of today’s top experts. If you don’t emerge with a different view of how to work with text, take your pulse: you might be dead” says Jane Yellowlees Douglas, Associate Professor of the University of Florida on this brilliantly curated event about the future of reading and writing. “The Future of Text eventsare thought-provoking and poignant reminders that text is how we communicate with the future” added Vint Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet so be prepared to visit Silicon Valley this October for an introduction to what tomorrow brings.