TypoDiversity is an open, participatory event series combining talks and workshops on the intersection of research and practice in typography and type design. The concept was developed by Gerry Leonidas and Kaveh Ashourinia out of frustration with the expense and travel restrictions of many typographic conferences, which exclude exactly those who would most enrich the programme. TypoDiversity raises issues of agency, resource, representation, and inclusion in the development of environments for authoring, design, and distribution. The aim is to place informed, representative narratives at the heart of discourse.
The goal is for each event to adapt to the environment in which it is held, shaped by the team and hosting location. There are two conditions for Typodiversity events: 1) that they are run with as little expenditure as possible, taking advantage of institutional resources; and 2) that the recorded content of the talks and workshops will be openly and freely accessible. This format intentionally echoes the brief developed by Gerry for the three ATypI Working Seminars held in 2019 and 2020.
The hybrid format minimises the impact of travel and attendance costs, visa hurdles, and legal limitations. While recognising that English functions as a shared language for global scholarship and exchange, TypoDiversity aims to actively support contributors’ languages. To achieve this, we try to subtitle presentations in the relevant second language of the event, and vice versa. To facilitate real-time Q&A sessions and open conversation rooms, interpreters help with real-time translation.
TypoDiversity 2 • 2024
The second TypoDiversity event took place in July 2024 to support the development of a research project with the working title “the Balkan Gaze”, in collaboration with Cătălina Zlotea and Irma Puškarević.
The project focuses on the interplay of alphabet, language, and community in the broader Balkan region. It aims to connect the typographic authoring environments and output to the discourse on community identity within the region and in relation to Europe more broadly. The subject matter spans the four scripts used in the region, the forms of letters and diacritic marks, the rules of composition, the numerous variations in “official” and vernacular implementations, and relevant educational models: all aspects of typographic design and production.
At the heart of the project is a focus on foregrounding primary material that has not been widely recorded, or is disparately located and documented. Initially the project will provide a framework for recording, contextualising, and analysing letterforms, typefaces, and documents across genres. This recording will map visual language output to the authoring and technological environment in each period and location, to contextualise the impact of external factors.
At a second stage, the project will map the discourses on modernity and renewal,
national and regional identity, and the role of heritage and patrimonial narratives in identity building in the region. It will then connect the visual evidence to these
discourses, and showcase the role of visual evidence in recording, revealing, and
interpreting social narratives. This stage will also look at the role of local, migratory, and diasporic communities in shaping visible language.
The project is in active development.
TypoDiversity 1 • 2023
The first event took place at the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, University of Reading, on 3 & 4 November 2023, on the theme of “exploring the Arabic script world.”
Videos from the event are hosted on the TypoDiversity YouTube channel:
