10th Annual Typo Day to be held in Sri Lanka

Typo Day 2017, an event meant to explore the finer aspects of typography and calligraphy, will be held for the first time in Sri Lanka from 23 to 25 February. Considered to be South Asia’s largest conference on typography and diversity, Typo Day 2017 is hosted by the Department of Integrated Design – University of Moratuwa, Industrial Design Centre (IDC) – Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay), India Design Association (InDeAs) and Aksharaya. It will seek to address issues faced by type designers, type users and type educators.

Calligraphy is the art of drawing letters, words and phrases in certain ways using special pens and brushes that create abstract compositions with the drawn text; it is the basis at which the art and science of typography is formed. Typography is both an art and a science for designing and setting type or fonts for the alphabets of different languages; it looks not only at the design and style of a font but also how the type will appear in terms of spacing, dimensions and detailing of the letters. 

“Today, most people with a background in modern design education understand that any form of branding or identity requires a thoughtful approach to typography and calligraphy,” said Prof. Sumanthri Samarawickrama, Faculty, Department of Integrated Design, University of Moratuwa.

The opening day of the event will feature workshops in modern pointed-pen calligraphy and digital typography at the University of Moratuwa. These workshops are expected to provide attendees with high-quality tools so that they may cover the basics in practice strokes and technique. A colloquium on ‘Research in Typography’ is also scheduled to take place.

To be held at the Western Province Aesthetic Resort (NADA), the conference will take place on the second and third days. The conference will be devoted to addressing issues faced by type designers, type users and type educators. And will include presentations by invited keynote speakers, eminent academics, industry professionals, research scholars and students. The event will also host an exhibition of selected posters and typographic works of students and faculty members from design institutes.

Participation in the workshops and conference at Typo Day 2017 requires online registration. For information on how to register, visit: www.typoday.in/about.html.