The Alphabettes are taking a small break from their travels to bring you news from July. We hope to back with monthly updates from this month; wish us luck!

Tribute to Rosemary Sassoon during the 7º Congreso Internacional de Tipografía
At 7º Congreso Internacional de Tipografía held in Valencia (Spain), tribute was paid to Rosemary Sassoon, who is best known for designing the Sassoon series of typefaces specifically for children.

Alphabettes at 6th International Conference on Typography & Visual Communication (ICTVC)
At the 6th International Conference on Typography & Visual Communication (ICTVC), which was held in Thessaloniki (Greece), Liron Lavi Turkenich presented a talk on the subject Latinised Hebrew, Radical anecdotes in search for solutions, and also joined Laura Meseguer, Luisa Baeta, Bianca Berning, Alessia Mazzarella for a panel discussion on Collaborative practices in typeface design.

Continue reading →

July! That means half of 2016 is already over! Gotta catch up with the news (we’ll thank us in a couple of years). So what happened since the last round-up …

February: We published our Love Letter Series

Feb 2: Diana Ovezea released her type series Equitan Sans and Slab with ITF

Feb 16: The exhibition “A+: 100 years of graphic communication by women at Central Saint Martins” opened in London, organized by Ruth Sykes

Continue reading →

 
Next week, the whole (type) world will look and travel to New York City for the incredible Typographics festival. I thought TypoBerlin this year would be impossible to top regarding number of Alphabettes in attendance and in town. But given that no less than ~21 ’bettes are living in NYC*, plus us global trotters who are visiting from abroad, next week’s event will probably be the record breaking meeting of our little club to date.

The organizers Cara di Edwardo, Alexander Tochilovsky and Roger Black did a really great job at putting together an interesting diverse line up (the first 50/50 female/male speakers event I know of!). Elizabeth, Nina, Marta, Fiona, Victoria, and I are speaking, Tânia is giving a workshop, Sara can be visited on a studio tour, and at the free Type Lab Isabel is doing a demo, and Amy and Bianca are organizing the Alphabettes Variety Show on Saturday afternoon. Stay tuned for details about that. If you are unable to join us at the lab, you may be in luck …

Check our Twitter and Instagram feeds for live reportage and other nonsense. And if you don’t have a ticket yet and are anywhere close to York Neue, this is your chance to see us in person, so register already. Or for the free Type Lab days. (Oops, I see the two events mentioned above are the only women on the Type Lab program. Girls, get out there!)

 
 
* Here is a map of us all I put together back in March for no reason; not totally up to date but giving a rough overview (pins are not showing actual location! No, Lynne is not actually living on the East River.)

It is almost eight weeks to the day since we launched the Mentorship Program. Here is a quick update on how it went so far and where we are heading next.

Number of applications received in the past 8 weeks

Continue reading →

Cover spread of “The New Wardens” in The Recorder #3. Illustration by Ellie Cryer. Additional illustrations by Ping Zhu, Ellie Foreman-Peck, Maya Stepien and Kelsey Dake.

Last spring, I was approached by Emma Tucker, the editor of Monotype’s recently revived magazine The Recorder, to write an article about women’s contributions in type for the upcoming issue. I pitched a series of interviews with women who were championing type and typography à la Beatrice Warde, given her deep connections to the original publication. Besides Shelley Gruendler, I had no prior personal contact with Indra Kupferschmid, Mariko Tagaki or Elizabeth Carey-Smith. Selecting only a handful of modern-day Beatrices was challenging; my list of potential interviewees was quite long. Ultimately, I tried to gather a variety of perspectives that included educators, practicing designers, and those active in contemporary discourse. I could have never imagined, only a few months later, they would all become an integral part of this thing called Alphabettes. Before it sells out, check out The Recorder Issue 3, featuring a host of engaging articles and contributors, as well as my interviews with “The New Wardens”. They’re in great company.

***June 29, 2019 Update***

For the past three months we have been making progress behind the scenes of our new and improved mentorship programme.

This is taking some time because sorting out our online privacy policy is more complicated than we anticipated. We want to make sure we are respecting your personal information. Our legal team is on it and we will be ready to go soon!

The Alphabettes mentorship program team

***March 19, 2019 Update***

After three years of matching mentees with mentors and collecting learning experiences, we realised that we need a short hiatus in order to grease our wheels. We are now in the midst of improving the application process and we will be back soon, with shiny updates.

For the moment, we will not be accepting new applications. For those of you who applied and have not been contacted yet, your requests are safe with us and once we reintroduce the program you will be our top priority.

We believe in the impact and the potential of this program and we are working hard to maximise it. Thank you for your patience!

The Alphabettes mentorship program team

(March 29, 2016)
As the first of hopefully several outreach activities, Alphabettes is happy to announce that we are starting a mentorship program. The aim is to help people, especially students and professional newcomers, to immerse themselves in the industry.

If you are looking for career, industry or educational guidance by professionals in the fields of type, typography, or the lettering arts, please fill in the form and we will try to match you with mentor who can guide you to achieve your goals.

If you are working in this field and want to volunteer as a mentor, please fill in the form and we will get in touch.

FAQ are listed below. If you have any additional questions, drop us an email: mentorship@alphabettes.org

What will you do with my information?
We will keep the information you provide confidential but may share parts of it with potential mentors to find the right match for you. Please be patient, it may take a bit until you receive a reply.

Can I choose my mentor?
We will try to match potential mentees with a mentor who is best suited to their career goals. If applicants already have a specific mentor in mind, they will have the option to state her name in the form but we can’t guarantee she will be available. If the preferred mentor has to decline the request we will try to find equally suitable alternatives.

How often will we meet?
You and your mentor will work out together how frequently, and when, you will connect. It can be anything from a one-off session to quarterly, monthly, or even more frequent meetings.

Where do we meet?
That’s up to you and your mentor as well. Meetings can happen online or in person. Our volunteers are spread across the globe. Some of us are in type-congested areas such as London, Berlin, New York City or the Bay Area where face-to-face meetings can be arranged more easily.

Who is eligible to apply as a mentee?
Although the program is open to everyone in our field, depending on demand, we may give preference to underrepresented groups.

What does it cost?
The organisation of the mentorship is at no cost, but also at no liability.

What’s the difference between a mentor and a consultant?
The idea is to provide guidance by experienced type and lettering professionals. It is not to be confused with free of charge consultancy. If you require more extensive business consulting or expert knowledge, you are welcome to get in touch with individual professionals: http://www.alphabettes.org/about/ or http://yesequal.us/