Pooja Loves Street Lettering in Bangalore

Even though I have lived in three different continents, the place that has felt most alien so far has been in my own country and is the one I live in currently—Bangalore. Before I moved to Bangalore, I had never acknowledged the comfort of being in a city where the all the street signs are in a familiar script, even if I could only half-understand them, or not understand them at all. Five years ago when I first moved here, I began picking up, what are still rudimentary, skills in reading Kannada from the brick-and-mortar yellow signs, like the one below, that announce names of streets and neighbourhoods across the city.

Srinivasalu Layout

And before I knew it, I was sucked into spotting different styles of Kannada lettering that pepper the city.

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Alphabettes News — November 2015

And just like that the last month of the year is here, and that means it is time for November’s news roundup. And we have got it all this month—conference talks, interviews, awards and more.

Verena Gerlach at BITS MMXV
Verena Gerlach was one of the speakers at the Bangkok International Typographic Symposium MMXV, where she spoke about treating the city as an inspiration for her work.

Martina Flor, Stephanie Rieger, Marcy Sutton, Steph Troeth speak at Beyond Tellerrand Berlin 2015
At the Berlin edition of Beyond Tellerrand last month, speakers included Martina FlorStephanie RiegerMarcy Sutton and Steph Troeth. You can hear all the talks from the conference on Vimeo.

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Alphabettes News — October 2015

In this edition of Alphabettes in News we pick up on some slack from September, show you a variety of great work by women designers, and bring to you the opportunity to learn more about their research and hear their opinions about typography and type design.

Dyana Weissman completes thirteen years at Font Bureau
Dyana Weissman, whose Benton Modern Display is a personal favourite (she designed the extension with Richard Lipton), completed thirteen years of working at Font Bureau last month, where, she says, some of her favourite clients have been Adidas, Marie Claire magazine, TIME magazine, and Korn Design.

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Alphabettes News — September 2015

Welcome to the first edition of what hopes to be a monthly roundup of women making news in the world of type design, typography and lettering. To not miss any exciting news from the months before September, this time we’re turning the clocks back a little, so sit back and catch up on the amazing things these ladies have been up to this year.

Ruxandra Duru’s report Type Foundries Today goes live on Typographica
Last month, Ruxandra Duru’s census and accompanying analysis of contemporary type foundries based out of Europe, the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand was released by Typographica. This report is a timely first step in understanding the nature of the type business better, and a must-read.

Mary Catherine Pflug wins four CSPA Collegiate Gold Circle Awards
Mary Catherine Pflug has bagged not one, but four, CSPA (Columbia Scholastic Press Association) Collegiate Gold Circle Awards for the campus magazine, The Independent; including one for “General use of typography throughout magazine.”

Jessica Hische’s book In Progress is out
If you dig hand lettering, chances are you already know that Jessica Hische’s book In Progress hit the shelves this September. Read more about the book in Shauna Lynn Panczyszyn’s review, or get yourself a copy.

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Verena Gerlach is September’s Creative Character…
Read Verena Gerlach’s interview in which she speaks about her work as a typeface and graphic designer, FF Karbid in particular, and about the arts and culture scene in newly-reunited Berlin in the early nineties when she was a student.

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…and Julia Sysmäläinen was May’s
Julia Sysmäläinen, probably best known as the designer of FF Mister K, talks, among other things, about her love for language and how being fluent in more than one language and script has influenced her work in this great Creative Characters interview.

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Isabel Urbina Peña’s launches Yes, Equal
Late in August, Isabel Urbina Peña launched Yes, Equal, a directory of sorts of women creatives. Next time you hear a conference organiser bemoaning the very limited number of women they can invite to their event, you know where to point them to.

Nadine Chahine becomes Monotype’s first female director
With her promotion to UK Type Director, Nadine Chahine became the first woman to hold this position at Monotype.

Nicole Arnett Phillips launches the third volume of Typography.Journal
Typography.Journal, a boutique print journal, is the brainchild of Nicole Arnett Phillips, aka Typograph.her. Its third volume, which explores the intersection of maths and magic in visual communication, is now available for purchase.

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Rebecca Bartola receives the first TDC Beatrice Warde Scholarship
Rebecca Bartola, who is an American student currently studying at Central St Martins, London became the first recipient of the TDC Beatrice Warde Scholarship this July. Check out her work here.