Debating Bush memos (with Rather?) on Reddit »

Yes, that really is me trying to debate the Bush National Guard Memos with Dan Rather on Reddit.

There are a zillion posts in that thread, so he may never see my comment, and has every excuse to ignore it if he does. I wish I could get him to come out to one of my “Font Detective” talks that covers that case, preferably the one in NYC that is more open-​​ended. But if not, the talk at SXSW in Austin a week later.

In a funny coincidence, it turns out that Mr Rather currently has two main residences, one in NYC, and one in Austin. So you would think the odds would be good that he could come to one of the talks, if he wished.

“Crafting Type” intro font design workshop in Portland »

I am joining Dave Crossland and other type designers (depending on registration levels) to teach a 3-​​day intro type design workshop here in Portland at the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA). I am really looking forward to this, even if I don’t know that I can live up to the hype from the initial teaser post about it. But I love type, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to teach the basics of type design. I am looking forward to helping do that in a workshop environment, and doing so with other instructors so we can divide up the material, and even dynamically discuss things in front of the class. Dave comes from a very different perspective than I do in some respects, but we share our love of type and type design.

Thanks to Paul Platosh at PNCA for helping make this happen!

Here is some of my own work:

Hypatia Sans poster on Adobe’s site, click for high-​​res PDF.

New York: WebVisions + Font Detective (discount!) »

Friends of Speakers (like me) Save 15%!
WEBVISIONS NEW YORK + FONT DETECTIVE

Feb 27th – March 1st
Theater for the New City

WebVisions explores the future of web and mobile design, technology, user experience and business strategy with an all-​​star lineup of visionary speakers, including author, filmmaker and futurist Douglas Rushkoff, Ethan Nicolle, creator of Axe Cop and Jason Kunesh from the Obama for America campaign! Oh, and also me.

The event kicks off with a full day of workshops followed by special evening events, including my “Font Detective: Extra Bold” talk about cases of forged documents (sponsored by AIGA). And of course, two days of sessions, keynotes and panels, including my talk “Typography is the New Black.”

The “Font Detective: Extra Bold” talk sold out in Chicago, and it will be a much shorter version at SXSW a week later, so this is your best opportunity to come hear some really fun stuff. The Chicago audience refused to even take a bathroom break when given the option to hear more cases instead, so I gather people find it pretty compelling. Or maybe Chicagoans just have unnaturally strong bladders.

To receive the conference discounts, click the link “Enter promotional code” by the Order Now button and enter the code “DOGOODERY”

Register online at http://wvnyc-2013.eventbrite.com/#

Town Hall meeting for TypeCon coming to Portland in 2013 »

All sorts of folks are getting involved, but I’m one of those helping bring TypeCon to Portland OR for August 2013!

My colleague Jim Kidwell and I will be hosting a Town Hall for volunteers and interested parties 7 pm Tues Nov 27 at Extensis in downtown Portland.

More details and RSVP.

Conferences & Talks: Chicago, Hong Kong, Vegas, NYC »

I am doing a lot of fun talks and workshops I am doing in the next couple of months, starting tomorrow night in Chicago! If you’re in one of these cities listed below, I’d love to meet up with fellow typophiles and anybody who wants to talk fonts, over coffee, lunch, dinner, or a drink.

Chicago Tues Sep 25, 2012
AIGA presents: Font Detective, Extra Bold

7 pm at Harrington College, admission is $5 for AIGA members, $10 for non-​​members.

Probably nothing is more fun for me than talking about the legal cases I’ve been called in to consult on. Whether it’s a forged will, a pioneer mail bag, the NFL Hall of Fame, or the US Presidency, I’ve been asked to look into a bunch of fascinating cases involving fonts, printing, and logic. This long-​​form version of my presentation has only been seen once before, at the Type Director’s Club in New York City.

Chicago Fri 28 Sep 2012
WebVisions talk : CSS3 OpenType Fonts, the new web typography frontier

11:15–noon, WebVisions @ Siskel Film Center.

CSS 3 brings support for OpenType layout features to browsers. Most already have this support today. But what good is it? I show you everything from everyday workhorse typographic functionality like ligatures, true small caps, and oldstyle figures, through to the fascinating and bizarre: fonts that censor naughty words, predict the future, or translate languages. If you are coming to WebVisions, check it out!

Chicago Sat 29 Sep 2012
WebVisions workshop : Control the Web with Fonts & Type

1:30–5:00 pm, WebVisions @ Harrington College. Conference info here.

Join me for an immersive, hands-​​on workshop on using CSS3 typographic controls to create great web typography, from the basics of ideal type setting to enabling custom web fonts with @font-face. A live web site will be provided for each participant to practice and experiment on, along with access to WebINK web fonts.

You will also learn:

• How “real” web fonts are transforming the web, and exactly how to implement them.
• How to pick the perfect font for a web site
• How to choose fonts that work together
• The common crimes against legibility and aesthetics, and how to avoid them
• Issues around color, spacing, line length and font size

REQUIREMENTS: Laptop and basic familiarity with HTML and CSS.

Hong Kong, Wed 10 Oct 2012
ATypI talk: Crowdsourced Font Funding

10:20–10:40 am, ATypI “Research, Case Studies & Workshops” sessions @ Icon Hotel. Full talk description on the ATypI site.

All about the impact of Kickstarter (and similar services) on type design, from my own experiences and surveying everybody else using Kickstarter for fonts. What is involved, how should you structure your campaign, and what distinguishes successful campaigns?

Las Vegas, Tues 16 Oct 2012
PubCon panel: CSS & HTML 2012

3:10–4:25 pm, PubCon @ Las Vegas Convention Center

On this panel I plan to do an intro to web fonts and a small portion of my talk from Sep 28, above.

Las Vegas, Thurs 18 Oct 2012
PubCon Labs Q&A Session

11–noon, PubCon @ Las Vegas Convention Center

Meet with me one-​​on-​​one to ask questions about web fonts, web typography, or anything to do with fonts!

NYC, Tues–Wed Oct 23–24
Future of Web Design: booth & workshop

Conferences & Cristoforo »

Wow, it has just been a crazy time lately. I wrote most of this yesterday at 36,000 feet, on my way home from a quick tour of Europe for work: Barcelona, Paris, Hamburg and Munich. This included numerous customer meetings and three speaking engagements:

• Typo Week in Barcelona: I talked about some of my Font Detective work
• WebVisions Barcelona: CSS 3 OpenType support, the new web typography frontier
• Typographische Gesellschaft München (Munich): Fonts for eBooks

Now I have a break for a couple of weeks before my next conference, TypeCon in Milwaukee (Aug 1–5), where I’ll host a panel to talk about Kickstarter as a means of funding new type design. I’ll also be doing a talk on the same subject at ATypI in Hong Kong (October 11-​​15).

In the meantime, I have been hard at work in my off-​​hours on my Kickstarter-​​backed typeface, Cristoforo, with help from my fabulous intern, Andrea Harrison. The full details are available to my backers in an update on Kickstarter, but for public consumption, I’ll just say that work continues on the upright face, and has started on the italic, and I am predictably enough wishing that I hadn’t promised to add so much language coverage (central European, Greek, Cyrillic). But it’s coming along, and the extended language support offers some greater design challenges than just digitizing an old typeface.

My day job has kept me pretty busy, and has presented me with some one-​​sided decisions. Gee, I have exactly one day free in Paris: work on Cristoforo, or visit the Louvre? Okay, so I’m probably not going to collect a lot of sympathy votes here. But after spending less than 48 hours in each of Paris, Hamburg and Munich, then flying back to Portland, I am pretty beat.

Finally, I need to thank my backers for Cristoforo! Without them I would not have tackled the typeface, or would have done something much less ambitious and done it more slowly. Here is the backer listing (and yes, some of these are pseudonyms, it’s whatever they use on Kickstarter).

Web Typography Best Practices webcast series »

Through my day job I am doing a 3-​​part webcast series on web typgraphy best practices. It is free, and registering once covers all three webcasts (with no obligation to attend).

• Part 1: Selecting Fonts. Wed Sep 7, 11 am PST
• Part 2: Setting Text, Wed Sep 21, 11 am PST
• Part 3: The New Frontier—OpenType typography on the Web, Wed Oct 5, 11 am PST

Read all the details on the WebINK blog. Or just register now.

ATypI talk submission deadline April 30 »

Speaking of end-​​of April deadlines, there are only four days left for talk submissions for the ATypI international typography conference in Reykjavik, Iceland in September.

As always, it will be a great event with tons of fascinating and varied content about fonts, typefaces and typography. Going as a speaker usually nets you free conference admission, which saves you hundreds of dollars. It also gives people you don’t know yet a reason to talk to you about something you are interested in… recommended!

Type Tuesday in Portland, Oregon »

Effective immediately (that is, starting tomorrow!), on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm, I invite Portland typophiles to congregate. This is in the spirit of the monthly first Tuesday get-​​togethers held in Seattle. This is a chance to socialize, meet fellow type fans, and have a beer, a meal or a snack.

The first monthly Type Tuesday will be at Horse Brass Pub, which is an English style neighborhood pub in SE Portland. We may rotate through other locations, depending on the general will.

4534 SE Belmont St
Portland, OR 97215
(503) 232-​​2202

Next month we might postpone to the second Tuesday. Watch this space. Or contact me to be on a mailing list for future Portland Type Tuesday announcements. You can reach me by email as tphinney at the cal.berkeley.edu domain (they do free email for alumni).

I look somewhat like this:

Speaking @ Portland IDUG, visiting TypeCon Atlanta »

Just a quick note here. As posted on the Extensis blog in more detail:

1. I’m speaking this Thursday (July 9th) at the InDesign User Group right here in Portland, Oregon.
2. I’ll be at the TypeCon conference in Atlanta late next week, and happy to meet people there and answer questions.

Cheers,

T