Third and Final Dispatch from TypeCon 2004
Sorry for the delay — I got caught up in the whirlwind that was TypeCon 2004, barely time to sleep, let alone find an empty wireless station for the time it would take me to write a decent recap. But it’s over now — though I still haven’t caught up on sleep, it was a blast, and I’m so happy I was able to go.
I actually began this entry what seems like weeks ago. I’m only realizing now that I haven’t yet covered any of the actual conference sessions. Dear me.
Not being a morning person, and particularly because I wasn’t staying at the hotel (I live across the bay from San Francisco), I didn’t make it to any of the early (or even earlyish) sessions, unfortunately. I was really sorry to miss the Roger Black session on typeface design for magazines — heard it was great, though one comment I heard was that it might have been nicer to pick a couple of examples and go into greater depth about those few experiences, rather than have it be a wide survey of Black’s experience.
It did seem to me in some sessions that I would have preferred more in-depth case studies like that. But on the other hand, the speakers have such wide and long experience, it’s great to see such an immense body of glorious work. Jim Parkinson showed a slide of dozens of magazines spread out, all of which bore nameplates he had created. It was nothing short of a virtuoso display, and I started an applause that the crowd took up, swelling to a glorious ovation. Couldn’t help myself.
There were a few other things I was also sorry to have (just) missed, including Akira Kobayashi’s session on reviving Palatino with Hermann Zapf, the auction, a history of grotesks, the type critique, and Armin’s talk, among others. But among what I did go to, here are some of the highlights:
The Tupigrafia presentation: Tony and Claudio showed off their magazine, which is gorgeous. Tony also did a wonderful demonstration of Samba, which is just a brilliant, surprisingly flexible display face. At the end, he previewed Samba Metal, which the crowd just ate up. Tony is crazy entertaining as a speaker. He’s pretty much just crazy. We should all go down to Brazil and hang out with him. He’ll show us a good time.
Dan X. Solo on the death of Gutenberg: an incredibly moving presentation, a personalized history of movable type, and how the industry came to an end, more or less with a whimper instead of the bang it deserved, if it had to end at all. Having grown up with Solotype books, it was a pleasure to see him in person — a dapper gentleman, he is, and a charming, graceful speaker.
The tribute to Ed Benguiat: another very touching experience. Here’s a man who has contributed a simply immeasurable amount to the field, and he was feted as such. He’s got Spiekermann’s edge, but you always know he’s ribbing you, not outright slamming you. He gave House’s Ken Barber no end of shit for a wavy red line during the presentation of House’s upcoming Benguiat Collection, but it was all in good fun.
The marketplace: a ton of great books, type, clothing, posters, and old sign pieces. I can’t believe I didn’t actually buy anything — every time I went in there, I ended up talking to someone for a while and then rushing out to get to the next session. Oh, well — I spent plenty of money on food…
The type gallery: what a fantastic collection of new and old things people were showing off, including a lot of vintage Benguiat stuff as well as fonts in progress, and everything in between. It should be up on the TypeCon website at some point if it isn’t already. I heard the exhibit is going to travel to ATypI.
Bickham Script Pro: in the words of Christopher Walken’s SNL character The Continental, “Wowee wow wow!” As pointed out by Mark Simonson in his own recap, this and the new House Benguiat interlocking font are what OpenType was made for. I’m so glad I finally joined the OSX/OpenType party. Speaking of which…
The parties: Saturday night at a gallery space in SoMa. Featuring Jared and Joe on the digital turntables, a live band featuring one of the conference organizers, the traditional Type Quiz (at which Stewf won third place, which was the entire ITC library on CD-ROM — sweet!), and a dance contest that was simply off the hook. Dyana Weissman of Font Bureau, Max Kisman, and Caio Silva tied for first and all won free admission to TypeCon 2005 (in NYC!) and lunch with Ed Benguiat. Now I’m really sorry I can’t dance.
The parties, part two: closing night at Sumner Stone’s Alphabet Farm. Wonderful way to close the festivities, out in the open, in the warmth and glow of both the Capay Valley and exhausted and happy conference-goers. Too bad the people I was hanging out with the most throughout the weekend couldn’t make it, but I finally got to hang out a bit with Tiffany Wardle and Stephen Coles, who now lives about a mile away from me.
Sorry if I missed anything, which I’m sure I did.
For my own work, what I took away from the conference, since I’m not a type designer (yyyyet): I’m thoroughly converted to the Church of OpenType — the possibilities of that technology are simply astounding. I may even bring something out of the drawer for the first time in a dozen years, because OT makes it viable as a design. I’m also inspired to try focusing more on doing my own (digital) lettering — how gorgeous it is when done well.
Tamye and co. put on a simply awesome conference. Looking at the photos makes me already nostalgic. I met so many wonderful people I don’t even know where to begin. All these Typophile/Typographica people are just as down-to-earth as they are online.
So that’s it for this year — thanks for asking me to blog about it, Giles and Amanda. Great fun. Next year in NYC!
Comments:
Excellent sum up, Chesh. I was about to do something similar at Typographica, but I would do better to just link to yours.
BTW, I won the ITC Designer Collection. I was a bit overzealous when I assumed it was the entire ITC library. But hey, a $999 product for getting lucky on a few trivia questions ain’t bad.
Thanks for your thoughts, Chesh. While I didn’t make it to very many sessions, I did have many great conversations with people about type design, business, and history. I take great comfort from the fact that I’m not the only type geek.
And sorry for calling you, Josh.
I’m so sorry I missed out on all the fun. But hey, with a bit of luck we get to hook up next year at NYC2005. Down-to-earth? Heh, we’ll see about that… :-D