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Plovdiv is the first European Capital of Culture that uses the Cyrillic alphabet

Who is behind PUNKT studio and what was the process of creating the graphical identity of Plovdiv as a European Capital of Culture in 2019?

Georgi Lazarov: PUNKT studio is 13 years old already! I created the company in 2007 in Plovdiv. A few months later Krassimir Stavrev joined me as a partner in the company and since then we have managed the studio together. At the moment I live and work in Sofia while Krassimir is in Plovdiv. We have a team of seven people: Georgi Vassilev, Mihaela Angelova, Elitsa Dimitrova, Georgi Stavrev and Pavel Pavlov. All of them have the freedom to choose where they want to work from. They can choose between our offices in either Plovdiv or Sofia, their home, their country house or even from the seaside. It doesn’t matter as long as we are always connected to our group in Slack.

Krassimir Stavrev: Our portfolio is very rich – over the years we’ve worked on many visual identities for big and small companies and NGOs, we’ve worked on preparing layouts for books and of course we’ve also worked on numerous graphical projects for print and digital, to communicate in the best possible way the features of a product or service.

Creating the visual identity of Plovdiv as a European Capital of Culture in 2019 was one of our most important projects recently. It gave us the opportunity to present our ideas, to promote our city and of course to showcase the capabilities of our studio.

Plovdiv was one of the two European Capitals of Culture. How do you perceive the event now that some time has passed?

GL: Plovdiv, together with the Italian city of Matera were the two cultural cities of Europe in 2019, and I would say that we were very lucky that the event happened in 2019 and not this year. This year with the Covid-19 pandemic Plovdiv really lost its attractiveness as a cultural and tourist destination. Everything went wrong at the start of 2020 and this created a lot of obstacles to properly evaluate the effect of promoting the city last year. As a studio that has spent the last years focusing its efforts on creating the visual identity of events and festivals that are connected to audiences and people, this period of isolation is really hard for us.

You created the logo of Plovdiv as a European Capital of Culture and also the graphical identity of the event. Please share how the idea for the logo was born and why did you decide to participate in the competition to design it?

KS: Our participation in the competition was a challenge for us, because from all the studios that were invited, we had the strongest connection to Plovdiv. I believe that this inspired us and helped us to present our ideas about the city’s identity in an authentic and complete way. As far as I remember, during our presentation, the chosen logo was the last option that we showcased. It was created from a sketch that Zhorko (Georgi Vassilev) showed us on Skype one day. At that time, we used to work remotely, but not due to Covid-19. It was in the summer of 2017 when I was working from the seaside and was trying to combine work and holiday. Right from the beginning, it was a bit worrying that we did not have enough time to impose the new identity until the beginning of 2019. In the end, we accepted the challenge, we completely dived into the project and I dare to say that we managed it very well.

You represent the modern generation, active and young designers in Bulgaria. What is Plovdiv to you? How do you interpret Plovdiv as a European Capital of Culture in the graphic identity that you created?

GL: Our idea was to create a very clear symbol that can be easily recognised and used in the hundreds of materials for the event.

In the final version of the logo we successfully synthesized the most important symbols of Plovdiv – the seven arches symbolise the silhouettes of the seven hills in Plovdiv and mimic the famous vaults at the entrances of the Ancient Stadium and Ancient Theater. They also represent the shape of the theater from a bird’s eye view, they symbolize the letter P (in Bulgarian П) for Plodviv in our Cyrillic alphabet. We saw in these seven lines the curves of the Maritsa river, the hundreds of arc windows built during the Bulgarian revival period and the architectural boom of our city in the XIX century. There are a few more words that correspond with the spirit of Plovdiv – namely multi-layered, wide range, preserving and transformation, and last but not least a lot and together. The latter became the motto of the event for the whole year.

After the logo has been presented a lot of different interpretations occurred. We kept calm and after some time we realised that all the noise that was made around the logo of Plovdiv as the European Capital of Culture was not for nothing and in contrary saved us a lot of time and effort. The goal has been achieved. Everyone knew that Plovdiv has a new logo and the road in front was clear to unveil its whole identity. People were following what was happening with the new visual identity. Furthermore, people have seen in the logo an opportunity to interpret and develop it in their own way. We have seen some pretty good visualization of it on social media. Of course, everyone is interpreting it according to their own values and capabilities.

KS: As for the symbols that represent the logo, for me the strongest one is the idea of a gate, an entrance to a special year, filled with entertainment and unforgettable moments for the visitors and citizens of Plovdiv. The graphical representation of the logo is a well known design approach that allowed us to create a lot of communication elements.

By combining the Uni Neue font from FONTFABRIC, we created a beautiful composition and balance between the font and the sign. In the brand book that we created we showed a lot of flexibility in the compositions that made the usage of the graphical identity really easy for us and for the foundation and partners working on this massive project.

Without a doubt the most impressive artefact of Plovdiv 2019 was the creation of the hand written font Plovdiv, based on more than 3000 handwritings of Plovdiv citizens. Tell us more about this process and how did you execute the idea?

KS: PlovdivTypeface was officially launched on the 1st Nov 2019. I would like to highlight that we did not create only one font for the project, we created a whole font family under the name PlovdivTypeface. It includes the handwritten font Plovdiv Script, Plovdiv Display – a beautiful font that can be used for long texts and headlines (it exists in three variations – Light, Regular and Bold), Plovdiv Sans, a san serif typeface which complies with the proportions and principles of the above mentioned two fonts and is ideal for long legible texts. The font family also includes the font Plovdiv Pictograms and Plovdiv Maina Mode, which is maybe the funniest font as it allows the users to write with the “language” of the Plovdiv citizens.

Plovdiv is the first European Capital of Culture that uses the Cyrillic alphabet. The creation of the PlovdivTypeface font family is a landmark for our studio, but also a significant cultural heritage that will last for generations to come. I do not recall calling our fonts artefacts, but the PlovdivTypeface font family is exactly that – a cultural artefact.

GL: The main credit for the creation of the font family has to go to Pavkata (Pavel Pavlov) from our studio as well as Alexander Nedelev from Typedepot, our partners for this project. The font family would not have been created without the kind financial support of Plovdiv’2019 Foundation, without the unbelievable enthusiasm of all volunteers in this project as well as the citizens and friends of Plovdiv that participated with their handwriting that laid the foundation of the font.

For the promotion of the PlovdivTypeface family you created a website and a special exhibition. What is the fate of PlovdivTypeface after its presentation?

GL: Through the plovdivtyface.com website anyone can download the font family for free. We explained in a short PDF document how the fonts can be used and installed on a PC. To date the font has been downloaded more than 4000 times! We see more and more often how the font has been used, we have received a lot of positive comments and messages of appreciation for our work.

To reach more people we also created a travelling exhibition called Plovdiv Typeface. It shares the stages of the project, showcases the fonts separately and explains interesting statistics from our graphological research. Within a year the exhibition has changed to different locations within Plovdiv. It started as an open space exhibition at the Djumaya square, after that it moved to the Plovdiv Plaza Mall and then to the National Library “Ivan Vazov”. We are planning to change the location one more time before the end of this year.

KS: On the 29th of October this year we presented the PlovdivTypeface font family at the ATypI international typographic conference, which was held virtually this year. We had the opportunity to discuss with colleagues from different countries the social aspects of the font art.

Do you think that the brand identity competitions of the future European Capitals of Culture could become international and would you participate in such competition?

KS: We haven’t really thought about this, but why not?! It would be an honor for us, if we could contribute with our knowledge to the future cities of culture. It would be great to pass on the learnings to other colleagues that create brand identity for the next cities of culture in Europe.

We have been thinking about how a font would look like if we apply our system for evaluating handwritings for another city in another country. Would the statistical data about the main characteristics of a handwriting and the most common letter shapes be different from the ones that we have in Plovdiv? If there are different dialects in a country, would they affect the handwriting of people from the different regions? There are a lot of interesting questions for which we would be happy to find answers, when we find a partner in another city that is ready to embark on a journey with us.

What are the future projects of PUNKT studio?

GL: At the moment we are redesigning the visual identity of the Museum of Humor and Satire in Gabrovo. Soon we will announce the redesign of some other popular brands. It is interesting that our latest projects are focusing on the redesign of well known brands, which is an interesting process of evolving and modernizing a business. The challenges are very different from creating a visual identity of a start-up.

KS: We also dedicate time to continue an interesting project that we started in 2019 called Regionale – A Guide For Tourism and Culture. It is a bilingual book (in English and Bulgarian) with a road map. The set presents 30 festivals that are held every year in the Plovdiv region. Our aim is to create similar books for other regions in Bulgaria. At the moment we are considering various options to finance the project and we are researching potential partners with whom we could collaborate with.

Explore PUNKT and their activities:

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Editor

Stefan Peev
graphic designer and typographer from Bulgaria

Fontfabric процъфтява като независимo шрифтово студио в България, посветено на изработването на световни шрифтове вече повече от 12 години. Черпейки вдъхновение както от аналоговите, така и от цифровите типографски практики, компактен екип от талантливи дизайнери има за цел да създава устойчиви иновативни шрифтове за водещи проекти. Българската кирилица е наследството, което студиото се надява да популяризира и остави за бъдещите поколения у нас и на световната сцена.

Fontfabric започва своята история през 2008 г. – една година, след като България е приета в ЕС и след като опитите за утвърждаването на българската форма на кирилица като национална идентичност на България в ЕС се провалят. Защо според вас този опит е неуспешен? Какво недостига на българската форма на кирилица да бъде окончателно утвърдена в България и в международен план?

ПМ: Може би липсва културна и икономическа тежест, която да засвидетелства легитимността на нашите намерения. Нашата цел е да възродим и продължим делото на Васил Йончев, Васил Бараков, Стефан Кънчев, Борис Ангелушев, Кирил Гогов — творци, дали изключително много, за да стигнем до развитието си днес. Бихме искали да наложим овалната кирилица като трайна и устойчива форма на националната ни идентичност.

ПМ: България има богата история и ключова роля във възникването и развитието на кирилицата, редно е нашият принос да продължава. Нека не забравяме, че именно Наум и Климент (двамата изявени ученици на светите братя Кирил и Методий) работят усилено по новата писменост с благословението на тогавашния български владетел цар Борис I.

ПМ: За съжаление, правителството не заявява категоричната си подкрепа към това начинание. Политическата воля отсъства. Няма как да очакваме международните кабинети да обръщат внимание на българската култура, ако самите ние не заставаме зад тези идеи. Посетете уеб сайта на Министерството на културата и вижте как е организиран и проектиран. Излишно е да споменавам, че използваната форма на кирилица е традиционната руска, а не българската.

Въпреки това овалната форма на кирилицата се радва на популярност в средите на дизайнери и разработчици. Все повече печатни издания и уеб сайтове ползват българска форма на кирилица. Редовно получаваме въпроси за формата и нейните конструктивни особености.

Ние правим всичко по силите си за нейното популяризиране. Може да погледнете и кратката ни историческа справка, посветена на кирилицата.

СС: Мисля, че нещата изначално винаги тръгват отвътре навън. Просто трябва да погледнем къде е нашата страна спрямо Европа и останалия свят в геополитическо измерение и ще си отговорим на въпроса.

Имаме ли смелостта да се изправим с позиция и самочувствие на република със славна история и голям потенциал, то тогава ще можем спокойно да запечатаме тази си идентичност с облата и естетически издържана наша кирилица. Да започнем да ценим себе си, за да ни уважават и зачитат и навън. Запазването и цененето на културното ни наследство, изградено от имената, изредени по-горе – това значи национално самосъзнание и самочувствие. Продължителното неглижиране и нехайство към въпроса за утвърждаването на кирилицата ни само ще ни връща назад – там, откъдето другите идват.

Коя вълна в историята на шрифтовото изкуство в България е Fontfabric? Как ситуирате Fontfabric в контекста на историята на шрифтовото изкуство в България?

ПМ: Fontfabric е активен участник в дигиталната революция, повлияла включително и шрифт индустрията. Достъпността до софтуер и пазарни посредници като MyFonts направиха шрифтовото изкуство достъпно за глобален кръг от хора.

Паралелно с това невероятната скорост и свързаност, която имаме в днешно време, извади на показ шрифтовото изкуство и даде пряка връзка до него на дизайнери, които доскоро са го считали за елитарно и недостъпно.

СС: Спокойно мога да кажа, че Fontfabric даде тон, вдъхновение и начало на новата вълна от шрифт дизайнери и студиа по времето на т. нар. преход за България (периодът, започнал след 1989 г.) или дигиталната ера, погледнато в световен мащаб.

Ситуирам Fontfabric като носител на новото, актуалното и на моменти нестандартното. Всички виждат и знаят в колко динамично развиващ се свят живеем. Нуждите и търсенето на хората и бизнеса се променят само за няколко години. Нашият фокус винаги е бил, и ще продължава да бъде, да превръщаме въпросителните в отговори, които работят по най-добрия начин – естетика и функционалност.

Fontfabric се превърна в своеобразен инкубатор на кадри. Как си обяснявате това? Защо завършващите университетски специалности с изучаване на шрифт у нас не търсят начин да се реализират като шрифтови дизайнери непосредствено след дипломирането си?

ПМ: Като човек, минал неотдавна през тази система, мога да споделя личния си опит. До преди 5 години не се предлагаха много възможности на човек да се занимава с шрифтов дизайн. Дори да е завършил магистратура в Академията, пътят към индустрията оставаше по-скоро затворен за общността.

Fontfabric разкрива един успешен бизнес модел на българска компания, наложена на международната сцена. Това дава амбиция и надежда на все повече хора да опитат късмета си. Мнозина не отдават значение на това, че за да е устойчива и да се развива, една компания трябва да подреди действията и приоритетите си, така че да може да генерира средства, да работи с клиенти, да печели доверието им, да се налага на пазара и т.н. Това е изключително трудно начинание, но Fontfabric е пример, че е възможно – светлината в тунела вече е налице.

СС: Самият факт, че имаме марка в типографията, чиито граници и влияние се простират толкова широко в световен мащаб, може съвсем естествено да е повод за национална гордост и самочувствие. Аз поне, поглеждайки нещата по-отстрани сега, го усещам по този начин. Още по-висшето от тук нататък са нашата визия е цели, които се разклоняват в две главни направления – да проповядваме кирилицата в българската ѝ форма и да палим искрата у бъдещото поколение дизайнери на шрифтове. Знам, че много хора гледат към нас и това трябва да разпалва още по-силно този огън в нас и около нас.

Проблемът е, че знанието и умението да изграждаш шрифт само по себе си не е достатъчно условие да си успешен и да продаваш добре. Всички знаем, че едно добро ястие се готви с усърдие и идва в резултат на последователно следване на рецептата и прилагането на множество техники с прецизност. Е… Нека кажем, че във Fontfabric сме се научили да готвим добре 🙂

Имате ли свои препоръки към българското образование в областта на графичния и шрифтовия дизайн?

ПМ: Някои от настоящите и бивши колеги преподават в Академията. Определено считам, че това е място, в което човек може да се развива, стига да има устрема и волята. Добри знания в областта на типографията могат да бъдат придобити и в университети като НБУ, SoftUni. Ние често сме гост лектори в редица от българските вузове. Държа да подчертая, че мисията е възможна дори и ако човек се самообучава, чете книги, блогове, ресурси и ходи на различни работилници като тези, които организираме ние самите. Планираме все по-разширени програми, свързани с обучение и шрифтов дизайн, така че следете дейностите на Fontfabric.

СС: Съветът ми е, наред с изучаването и следването на класиката и основите на типографията, да се дава повече свобода на твореца, който се намира у всеки. Нека се предоставят повече шансове на студентите да намират път към по-нестандартни и уникални форми на буквата. Всеки нов шрифт носи свой собствен дух и персоналност. Има много и най-разнообразни форми на буквите, които могат да стъпват като основа и принципи на стандартните санс и серифни класически начертания, но да изглеждат достатъчно различно, интересно и нетипично. Съветът ми е, ако има пет или десет студента по шрифт, то нека всеки започне дипломен проект в различна стилистика. Така те самите взаимно ще се обогатят накрая – всеки един от преживяването и пътя на другия.

Шрифтът е бизнес продукт, но и културен модел, олицетворение на културните и естетическите търсения на времето. Как гледате на тази сложна взаимовръзка между двата аспекта на шрифта? Не прекаляваме ли днес в усилията да създаваме шрифтове, ориентирани към бизнеса? Какво липсва в калейдоскопа от шрифтове в България?

ПМ: Балансът между бизнес проекти и такива с не толкова изявена комерсиална цел е същината на това да си релевантен към настоящата дата. Ние правим както успешни “най-продавани шрифтове” като Nexa, Intro, Mont, така и безплатни RND проекти като 36 Days of Type, Colus или Slovic, който беше един от първите “variable” шрифтове за времето си.

Много са посоките и възможностите за развитие на шрифтовете у нас. Съществува една творческа безтегловност от около 30-на години между края на ХХ в. и началото на XXI в. Липсват възстановки на оригинални български разработки. Бих окуражил всеки, който има желание за колаборация, да се свърже с нас.

СС: Основен закон, по който винаги ще се води и движи бизнесът – търсенето определя предлагането. Поглеждайки назад към линията на времето и пътят, който лично аз съм извървял като творец и дизайнер, при мен нещата са преминали от неконвенционално и уникално по само себе си творчество към все по-комерсиални, функционални и ползваеми шрифтове, които се продават добре. И в това няма нищо лошо, ако човек е избрал това начинание за свое поприще и иска да изгради солиден екип от професионалисти във времето. Всичко това изисква стабилен бизнес модел и добри доходи, няма как да е инак.

Та, една от основните ми цели и стремежи сега е да правим и продуцираме по-нестандартна и уникално изглеждаща, въздействаща типография. Нещо, което да ползва силата и възможностите на еволюиралата технология, като съчетава и трансформира традиция, наследство, история по модерен и новаторски начин.

Какви са бъдещите планове на Fontfabric? Какво предстои да бъде постигнато в средносрочен и дългосрочен аспект?

ПМ: Fontfabric се превръща от студио, правещо и разпространяващо шрифтове в такова, което консултира и работи в тясна връзка със своите клиенти. Партнираме си успешно с бизнеси, студия и агенции от българия и чужбина. От корпорации като Telenor, Lipton, Polpharma, Axel Springer до културни институции като Музей „Дом на хумора и сатирата” в Габрово.

Нaскоро имахме и възможност да направим шрифт за българския национален отбор по футбол. Много благодарим на маркетинг екипа на Cauza.bg и на БФС за оказаното доверие.

В още по-широк аспект компанията се превръща все повече в обучителна платформа. Целим да предоставяме качествено съдържание на блога си, както и в социалните ни мрежи.

Провеждаме и обучителни работилници, които се радват на изключителен интерес и успех. Определено ще развиваме все повече тази наша дейност.

СС: Малко или много отговорът се крие отчасти в предходните ми изложения.
Израстваме и се развиваме с всеки изминал ден. Мечтата ми е един ден, като погледна към Fontfabric, да виждам олицетворение на всичко, което винаги сме търсили, мислили и сме си представяли, че може да направим някога – реалност. Колкото по-голяма и реализирана е тази мечта, толкова повече причини за вътрешно задоволство от добре свършената работа и хубавото чувство, че целият този труд и време са си заслужавали. Нещо, което се е зародило тук в България, живее, ползва се и се преоткрива от стотици хиляди, милиони хора всеки Божи ден в целия свят, и което да оставим като завет на идващите поколения.

Разберете повече за дейността на Fontfabric:

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РЕДАКТОР

Стефан Пеев
издател, графичен и шрифтов дизайнер

Fontfabric thrives as an independent digital type foundry dedicated to crafting premium typefaces for over 12 years now. Drawing inspiration from both analog and digital typography practices, a compact team of talented designers aims to create future-proof fonts for exceptional projects and leave a legacy for generations to come.

Fontfabric’s story begins in 2008 – a year after Bulgaria becomes a member of the European Union and the efforts to solidify the Bulgarian form of the Cyrillic alphabet as part of the national identity of our country in the EU fall through. Why, in your opinion, was this attempt unsuccessful? What did the Bulgarian form lack, in order to be officially established both locally and internationally?

PM: Perhaps, the cultural and economical weight needed to prove the legitimacy of our intentions wasn’t authoritative enough. Our goal is to revive and continue the life work of Vasil Yonchev, Vasil Barakov, Stefan Kanchev, Boris Angelushev, Kiril Gogov – artists who’ve dedicated themselves, so we can reach our current state of development. We would like to establish the oval Cyrillic as a lasting and sustainable form of our national identity.

PM: Bulgaria takes pride in its rich history and key role in the emergence and development of the Cyrillic alphabet. It is only natural that we contribute as much as possible. Let us not forget that it was Naum and Clement (the two prominent disciples of Cyril and Methodius) who worked hard on the new script with the blessing of the then Bulgarian ruler Tsar Boris I.

PM: Unfortunately, the government does not express its strong support for this endeavor. It seems there’s no apparent political will. We cannot expect international cabinets to pay attention to the Bulgarian culture if we ourselves do not stand behind these ideas initially. Take the time and visit the website of the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria and explore its organization and design. Needless to say, all you’ll find is the traditional Russian form of the Cyrillic alphabet, not the Bulgarian.

Nonetheless, the oval shape of the Cyrillic alphabet proves to be gaining popularity among designers and developers. More and more printed publications and websites use the Bulgarian form. Additionally, we are regularly asked questions about it and its design features.

We’ve taken it as our mission to do everything in our power to promote it. Consider taking a look at our brief historical reference dedicated to the Cyrillic alphabet.

SS: I believe that initially, everything follows the “from the inside out” principle. All we have to do is observe where our own country stands in relation to Europe and the rest of the world in the geopolitical context, and we’ll have our answer.

Do we feel courageous enough to put a foot down as a confident republic with a glorious history and infinite potential? If yes, then we would easily seal this identity with the official presence of our oval and aesthetically sound Cyrillic script. Let’s start appreciating ourselves so that we become respected and valued from the outside as well. Preservation and appreciation of our cultural heritage built with the help of the people listed above – that’s the meaning of national self-awareness and self-confidence. Prolonged neglect and indifference to the issue of establishing the Bulgarian form of the Cyrillic script will only take us back – where others are coming from.

Which wave in the history of type art in Bulgaria does Fontfabric represent? How would you situate Fontfabric in the context of type design history in Bulgaria?

PM: Fontfabric is an active participant in the digital revolution, which has affected the font industry irreversibly. The availability of software and market intermediaries such as MyFonts has made type art accessible to a global range of people. All the while, the incredible speed, and accessibility we have today has made type design public and has given designers a direct link to this form of art. Designers, who until recently believed it to be elitist and inaccessible.

SS: I can safely say that Fontfabric set the tone, inspiration, and beginning of the new wave of type designers and studios during the so-called “time of transition” for Bulgaria (the period that began after 1989), also referred to as the digital age, when viewed from a global perspective.

I situate Fontfabric as a bearer of the new, the current, and at times the non-standard. Everyone understands the fast-paced world we live in. The needs and demands of people and businesses change rapidly. Our focus has always been (and will continue so) to transform questions into answers that work in the most beneficial way – both aesthetically and functionally.

Fontfabric has become a kind of incubator for designers with a knack for typography. How do you explain this? Why don’t university graduates who major in related fields of study in Bulgaria look for a way to develop as professional type designers immediately after graduation?

PM: As a person who has recently gone through this exact system, I’ll let my experience answer this for me. Up until 5 years ago, there weren’t many opportunities for graduates to start growing in the field of type design confidently. Even if they had a master’s degree from the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, the path leading into the industry remained rather closed to the outside community.

Fontfabric reveals a successful business model of a Bulgarian company that is well-recognized on an international level. It seems to spark ambition and hope, and we get to meet an increasing number of people who try their luck. However, many do not pay attention to the fact that in order to be sustainable and grow, a company must organize its actions and priorities so that it can generate funds, work with customers, gain their trust, establish itself in the market, etc. This is an extremely difficult undertaking, but Fontfabric is an example that it is in fact possible – the light at the end of the tunnel is already shining upon us.

SS: The very fact that we have an influential brand in the global typography sector, comes quite naturally as a cause for national pride and self-confidence. Or at least that’s how I feel, looking at things from the sidelines now. And even higher in the grand scheme of things come our vision and goals that branch into two main directions – to preach the Cyrillic alphabet in its Bulgarian form, and to ignite the spark in the future generation of type designers. I know many people are looking up to us and this fuels us even further. Consequently, it affects all who are around.

The problem is that the knowledge and ability required to build a typeface is not sufficient to be successful and sell well. We all know that a good dish is cooked diligently and comes as a result of following the recipe with consistency and applying many techniques with precision. Well .. let’s just say that in Fontfabric we are quite the cooks 🙂

Do you have any recommendations you would like to address regarding the Bulgarian education in the fields of graphic and type design?

PM: Some of our current and former colleagues teach at the National Academy of Arts. I definitely believe that this is a place where one can develop, as long as one has the aspiration and the will. Good knowledge in the field of typography can also be acquired in universities such as the New Bulgarian University and SoftUni.

We are frequent guest lecturers in a number of Bulgarian universities. I want to emphasize that the mission is possible even if one learns from books, blogs, resources, and attends various workshops, such as the ones we organize every year. We are planning on more advanced programs related to training and type design, so make sure you follow our activities.

SS: My advice is, along with the traditional studies and the basics of typography, to offer more freedom to the individual artist – the one that lives in every single person. Let students be encouraged to find their way to more non-standard and unique letter shapes. Each new font carries its own spirit and personality. There are many and varied forms of letters that can be used as a basis of standard sans and serif designs, but also look different enough, interesting, and atypical. If there are five or ten type students, then let everyone start a graduation project in a different style. This way, they will enrich each other in the end – through their own experience and the paths taken from the others.

Fonts are business products, but they are also the embodiment of the cultural and aesthetic pursuits of the time. How do you view this complex relationship between the two aspects of the font? Aren’t we “overdesigning” typefaces today to make them more business-oriented? What is missing in the kaleidoscope of fonts in Bulgaria?

PM: The balance between business projects and ones with a more creative purpose is the essence of remaining relevant today. We execute both successful bestsellers like Nexa, Intro, Mont, and free RND projects like 36 Days of Type, Colus or Slovic, which was one of the first variable fonts of its time.

Many directions and opportunities are present for the development of fonts in our country. There has been a state of artistic weightlessness for about 30 years between the end of the XX century and the beginning of the XXI century. I’m missing revivals of original Bulgarian works. I encourage anyone who is willing to collaborate to contact us.

SS: This basic law will always lead and run a business – demand determines supply. Looking back at the path I have personally taken as an artist and designer, things have moved from unconventional and unique creative projects to increasingly commercial, functional, and usable typefaces that sell well. And there is nothing wrong with that. It’s what happens when a person chooses the type endeavor as his business and wants to build a solid team of professionals over time. It requires a stable business model and a good income, there’s no other way.

That said, one of my main goals and aspirations now is to make and produce a more non-standard and unique-looking, influential typography. Something that uses the power and capabilities of evolved technology, combining and transforming tradition, heritage, history in a modern and innovative way.

What are the future plans of Fontfabric? What medium-term and long-term goals are yet to be achieved?

PM: Fontfabric is transforming from a studio that designs and distributes typefaces into one that consults and works closely with its clients. We partner successfully with businesses, studios, and agencies from Bulgaria and abroad. These vary from corporations such as Telenor, Lipton, Polpharma, Axel Springer, to cultural institutions such as the House of Humor and Satire in Gabrovo.

Recently we had the opportunity to design a font for the Bulgarian national football team. We send our gratitude to the marketing team of Cauza.bg and the Bulgarian Football Union for the trust.

In an even broader sense, Fontfabric is increasingly becoming a training platform. We aim to provide quality content on our blog as well as on our social networks.

We also run training workshops that attract a lot of interest and prove to be very successful. It’s definitely in our plans to develop this activity further. And we won’t be stopping there.

SS: More or less the answer lies in my previous statements. We grow and develop with each passing day. My dream is to one day see Fontfabric as the embodiment of everything we have always sought, thought, and imagined the studio will become. The bigger and more implemented this dream, the more reasons for inner satisfaction from a job well done and feeling that it was all worth it. Something that originated here in Bulgaria will be enjoyed and rediscovered by hundreds of thousands, even millions of people every day, and which we’ll leave as a testament to future generations.

Explore Fontfabric and their activities:

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Editor

Stefan Peev
graphic designer and typographer from Bulgaria

Ventsislav Dzhokov

Ventsislav joined the type community in search of a dynamic, developing sector that would fit his personality, and he hasn’t looked back since. Inspired by the interaction of letters and forms within a word or a sentence, he tends to focus on diversity and a strong underlying concept when working on a project.

Web:
Typefaces: Intro Script, Nexa
More… TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION | Ventsislav Dzhokov