Journal

LOCALFONTS INTERVIEW

Questions: Szandra Peev

19 September 2022

SUPERTYPE FOUNDRY

Jürgen Huber and Martin Wenzel: The design of a typeface must resemble the key values of the brand

In this exclusive interview we spoke with the creators of the Lidl corporate font family – Jürgen Huber and Martin Wenzel from Supertype foundry (Germany) about the process of creating a corporate font that is used in 29 European markets. The designers shared details about the start of the project, what were the challenges along the way and how did they create the localized versions of the corporate font.
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LOCALFONTS INTERVIEW

Questions: Szandra Peev

17 May 2021

FRNCOJONAS FOUNDRY

Franco Jonas: You can find very good quality typeface designs in Chile

In this interview Franco Jonas is talking about the typography design education in Chile and Latin America, and the main forums for ideation in the field of typography. He also shares how he started designing non-Latin fonts (Cyrillic and Greek), how he sees the development of font design in Chile and reveals his professional plans for the near future.
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LOCALFONTS INTERVIEW

Questions: Szandra Peev

29 March 2021

CONTRAST FOUNDRY

An interview with Maria Doreuli about the evolution of the Cyrillic script and her forthcoming workshop with Krista Radoeva, titled Cyrillics: Theory and Practice.

Maria Doreuli: Cyrillic fonts are on the rise

In this interview Maria Doreuli talks about the relationship between the Latin and Cyrillic scripts, about the exponential growth of the Cyrillic script market, about the future plans of her studio, Contrast Foundry, and a series of online workshops on Cyrillic Typography that she works on with the Bulgarian type designer Krista Radoeva.
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LOCALFONTS INTERVIEW

Questions: Szandra Peev

15 March 2021

LETTERJUICE

An interview with Pilar Cano and Ferran Milan about global and local fonts and their latest font Baldufa

Type design needs to respect the language and the culture it represents

In this exclusive interview Pilar Cano and Ferran Milan, founders of Letterjuice type design studio, talk about the importance of respecting the language and the culture when creating new font designs. They also share their view on global and local fonts and the process of creating new fonts. They reveal the launch of their new font Baldufa, which now supports 4 writing systems.
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LOCALFONTS INTERVIEW

Questions: Szandra Peev

25 January 2021

LETTERSOUP

An interview with Botio Nikoltchev from LETTERSOUP about the type as a cultural heritage and as one of the ways to recreate the surrounding world

Type is a cultural heritage, it is one of the ways to recreate the surrounding world

In this exclusive interview Botio Nikoltchev speaks about his professional development. He was a student of Lucas de Groot. After graduating he had the chance to work with such a famous type designers as Akira Kobayashi and Erik Spiekermann. Botio shares his views on diversity of Cyrillic letterform models in the different Cyrillic alphabets. He tells us about the project Sofia Sans, which is now the typeface of Sofia – the capital of Bulgaria. Botio also describes his newest font release Apparat and reveals his future plans.
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LOCALFONTS INTERVIEW

Questions: Szandra Peev

23 November 2020

TYPOTHEQUE

An interview with Peter Biľak from TYPOTHEQUE studio about the seemingly marginal languages and the need of font’s localization

Seemingly marginal languages are an integral part of the world

In this exclusive interview Peter Biľak shares why there are no marginal languages, which Bulgarian designer inspired him to start creating fonts with a Bulgarian form of Cyrillic and is the Bulgarian form of Cyrillic just an upright italic. He also talks about his latest plans and projects with South Asian languages.
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LOCALFONTS INTERVIEW

Questions: Stefan Peev

30 October 2020

PUNKT

An interview with Krassimir Stavrev and Georgi Lazarov from PUNKT studio about the graphical identity of Plovdiv as a European Capital of Culture in 2019

How to turn a city into a capital of culture

In the final version of the Plovdiv’s logo (as a European Capital of Culture) we successfully synthesized the most important symbols of the city – the seven lines in an arch form symbolise: the silhouettes of the seven hills in Plovdiv, the 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 eye view, they symbolize the letter P (in Bulgarian П) as Plodviv from our Cyrillic alphabet. We saw in these seven lines the curves of 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 multy 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.
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LOCALFONTS INTERVIEW

Questions: Stefan Peev

21 October 2020

Spacetype

Stan Partalev and Mirela Belova from the independent type foundry Spacetype talk about their very first common font family – Gogh which covers a broad spectrum of languages, including extended Latin and Cyrillic.

A typeface should be visually appealing and technically sound

We believe that type designers need to create products that they themselves would use. As we work on many other projects, we wanted a font that can be easily used in many contexts. This is how the font idea was born. We wanted it to be easily readable and at the same time usable for headlines.
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Exhibition

21 October 2020

Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Bulgaria

International Triennial of Stage Poster

Korean Brand Design Association

An exhibition of Hangul and Cyrillic collection of posters

POSTERS & LETTERS
HANGUL & CYRILLIC
October 24 – October 29, 2020

From October 24 to 29 in the main hall of the Gallery of San Stefano you will be able to see the exhibition “POSTERS & LETTERS / HANGUL & CYRILLIC”, presenting posters inspired by the Korean script “Hangul”.

The Korean Brand Design Association uses HANGEL as a starting point to invite authors from South Korea and around the world to create posters on the subject. The result is an extremely rich and diverse collection that explores the role of the written sign as a source of inspiration and artistic provocation, providing unlimited opportunities for contemporary visual reading.

Among the exhibition stand out the three posters of the talented current Bulgarian visual artist – Ivan Kashlakov, recently awarded a number of awards for graphic design, including that for a young Bulgarian poster artist “Assen Stareishinski”, presented by the International Triennial of Stage Poster.

The exhibition is organized on the initiative of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Bulgaria together with the International Triennial of Stage Poster and the Korean Brand Design Association.

 

LOCALFONTS INTERVIEW

Questions: Stefan Peev

15 October 2020

Fontfabric

Svetoslav Simov (CEO and founder, on the left) and Plamen Motev (type director, on the right) from the renowned Bulgarian type studio Fontfabric share their thoughts on the popularization of the Bulgarian Cyrillic and the key presence of the local type craft in the evergrowing font scene.

The Bulgarian type craft belongs on the global stage

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.
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