After some introduction and teasing from Erik Spiekermann, Chip Kidd stepped on stage. He thanked Erik, and announced that “You make me feel like Lady Gaga, only with bigger breasts.” What was to follow was an hour of impeccable comic timing, dramatic pauses and eyebrow raises, he had the audience in stitches with barely a handful of words.
An African King may seem like an unusual guest for a conference on typography and graphic design, but King Bansah and Julian Zimmermann’s talk about branding a royal celebrity created a noticeable buzz of anticipation amongst the TYPO attendees.
OK this is the one everyone has been waiting for. Chip Kidd. He is in the same hero category as Neville Brody, David Carson and Jonathan Barnbrook – but in my opinion he is in a league of his own. There doesn’t seem to be the usual love him or hate him divide with Chip. You just love him.
Chip Kidd and Neville Brody spotted at TYPO London 2011.
Ivo Gabrowitsch is a self-confessed ‘typoholic’. As the Managing Director of FSI Fontshop International, he eats, sleeps and breathes typography. His latest obsession and project being Mobile FontFonts, fonts specifically formatted for embedding into IOS apps and a concept he champions and conquers.
Conference Director Robin Richmond sharing deep thoughts with Lawrence Weiner.
First time in the Jeffery Hall for us for some proper type talk. And there is not just Bruno but a whole group of speakers introducing us to Ubuntu, Nokia, Aktiv Grotesk and Boticario. Even more refreshing is that Nokia is presented and explained into greatest detail by the client himself.
… spotted in the crowd
Susana Rodríguez de Tembleque gave a short but sweet presentation yesterday. She spoke about two defining moments in her 18 year career. Number one was in 1997 which was what she calls her first big job and number two was in 2009 which is what she calls her first dream job.
There can be no hope of translating Tim Fendley’s talk about his work on Legible London into a neatly structured review. Such a colossal undertaking (the project, not the review) demands more space and time than can be afforded here.
Look again, think again was the standout sound byte from Marina Willers’ talk this morning. The invitation to keep questioning and experimenting is pivotal to Wolff Olins work, and as she flicked through case studies of their work, each project feeling different from the next, that sense of inquisitive experimentation shone through.
Arriving at #typo11, as a non designer and coming from the advertising and social media industry, I was expecting to be challenged by some hardcore type nerd lingo and design-geek dialect. But I found a real sense of the familiar in the language Jeff Faulkner used in his talk ‘Extraordinary Machines’.
