Q: How did designing multiple scripts at the same time within one project influence your workflow and/or design thinking?

A: Coming into the Matd, I knew designing scripts I was unfamiliar with would present a new and tough challenge. I was initially reluctant to try anything besides Japanese (a script I am very familiar with). However, throughout the course I was reassured by teachers and industry professionals that literacy in a language isn’t the definitive criteria for creating proficient type in a script, but in fact an understanding of the writing systems, its rules and history, are more important. This ground up methodology is what I applied when designing the three additional scripts in the type family. In this respect, my future workflow for designing in scripts, including latin, have been shaped by the guidance, advice and my own discoveries throughout the course.

Q: Aside from producing new typefaces, what are some other ways in which you hope to contribute to type design and the wider design community?

A: The Matd has provided me with a new perspective on type design’s situation within the wider world. I now no longer want to just draw beautiful curves (although I still enjoy this and hope it is a small part of my future career), but instead reimagine the growing technological possibilities in type design. I hope to move past creating a beautiful group of letters, and into realising abstract ideas in a usable product, hopefully doing so in a way that can be articulated and taught back into the type design community.

What is something you did (or you wish you had done/known) in preparation for the course that ended up being helpful during the development of the typeface?

A: After starting the course I quickly became intrigued and invested in the Sirijunga writing system, a topic that would later form the focus for both my dissertation and typeface. In hind sight I feel that I may have been a bit hasty and put up blinders for other topics I could have pursued. On the other hand, this early start allowed me to amass a wealth of knowledge on the writing system and ultimately benefited my final outcomes. I guess what I wish is that I had prepared myself better for the onslaught of learning and considered it all, rather than investing myself in an early discovery.