Jean François Porchez might have even added that such practices of taking type for granted are simply unprofessional. His presentation was quite similar to Schwartz in a sense that he talked about the process, though it wasn’t on collaboration, but rather the actual type design process and how clients play an important role in it. In fact, he even stated at the beginning of his presentation that it is not possible to come up with a design without first understanding the context and objective of the client. He guided us through a series of projects including Parisine, Henderson, Retiro, and Vuitton. One of the many interesting issues raised in the presentation was the idea of modernization. Brands with a long history, such as Louis Vuitton and AW Conqueror (both are Porchez’s’ client), have to evolve and a way to do that is to modernize its image. But what is modern? We used the word carelessly since decades ago and will probably continue to use it decades from now. For most people, who are ignorant of modernism, it’s probably just a word easier said than contemporary. ‘So, is there a method in which we could make type look modern?’ an audience asked. His answer? ‘You are a designer of your time, that is why everything you do is modern. Try to be yourself, always.’ A bit egotistic but true. New tools and technology continue to change and shape our everyday life. How then, can type, a creation of our mind, not be a product of our time? Even the context in which we apply type changes. Moreover, some typefaces may have been designed years ago before rising to popularity or becoming a representation of an era. It just depends on when and where the designers and their audience would bring it to center stage.

Normally, type is seen as a container for content, but sometimes it can be the content itself, as illustrated in Hubert Jocham’s presentation where he talked about typographic logos. Whenever we think of logos, we usually think of symbols. But still, there are many famous and popular brandmarks consisted only of type. Some are even just Helvetica made unique. These well-composed types have a meaning of their own. Their image and letterforms often become so symbolic that when even changing the text doesn’t totally destroy the awareness of a brand. However, good logotypes aren’t always easy to find. It may be due to the fact that many designers today lack lettering skills, practically limiting themselves to four basic solutions—having the logotype (usually an existing font) and the symbol on top, next to, or independent of each other, while the fourth integrates them together, which comes closest to being a pure logotype. In any case, a well-designed logotype is strong enough to be a symbol in itself, thus an additional symbol becomes redundant. Besides, type may even be more expressive than pictures or icons. ‘Types can shout, when pictograms can’t,’ said Jocham, when illustrating how type can be more communicative and commanding in some situations, such as a ‘no entry’ sign.

Another point worth mentioning during Jocham’s talk was his answer to an audience’s simple question: What’s the difference between corporate identity and brand identity? He responded, as he was careful to say, from a German perspective. From a Thai perspective, I would say I was somewhat intrigued by his not-so-broad answer: ‘I think there’s a big difference. But I can only say how it is in Germany. Brand identity is purely commercial and it’s more connected to product brand and advertising. Whereas, corporate designing has something against the commercial aspects of business and would rather not involve advertising agencies. It’s a term that says the right thing with a culture behind it.’ The answer is unique to an international conference. It’s this diversity of culture, beliefs, language, and outlook that makes your time worthwhile.

Unlike the other three international speakers, Masayoshi Kodaira, is not a typographer by profession. He is a Tokyo-based graphic designer, though many of his projects utilizes type in remarkable ways. His works weren’t complicated. They were simple, but well-executed. One could see that his process doesn’t instantly begins unconventionally but rather one with a conventional start leading towards the unconventional. He spent most of the time talking about his work and his design process, including such projects from Art Fair Tokyo, Fukatake House, Nara Yoshimoto Exhibition Signage, and many others, most of which were straightforward with no complex meaning behind. That naiveness might not bring a big ‘Wow’ but rather a lovely ‘Ahh…’ instead. Much like what happened when we suddenly grasp a mathematical equation—it just clicks, and that’s a rather nice feeling, a charm every graphic designer yearns for.

Aside from giving presentations, the four international speakers also ran workshops with the management of Pongtorn Hiranpruek, which naturally attracted numerous people. There were designers, college students, and even teachers, some already have a bit of experience, while others didn’t. Nevertheless, there are always new things to learn, especially from someone whose culture and background are different from yours. Walking around the workshops, one could see that each designer had something of their own to offer.

Christian Schwartz assigned different categories of magazine—fashion, sports, IT, business, and kids & families, to the students, and let them draw a suitable version of the word ‘Sunday’ as a headline for their magazine. But instead of starting from scratch, they had to be based on an existing typeface. So the problem was, what elements of a typeface do you want to keep? And which do you prefer to eliminate? It’s a way of working that once goes to the extreme, may result in new letterforms. 
 Jean François Porchez, on the other hand, had his students worked with more than just pencils. He demonstrated how to use a calligraphic pen, the traditional one you have to dip into an ink bottle. For students who grew out of computers, this approach was rather fascinating as they have the chance to experience old tools that are new to them, giving them, at least, a sense of how the stroke varies along a single letter.

Typefaces may appear clean and refined once they are finished but their origin may be rough. Roughly elegant was the word Hubert Jocham chose to describe his style and it basically applied to his workshop as well. When we write or draw type, we usually start with the outline, however, he asked the students to fill the letters, treating them as a piece of fine drawing. The results, though, were not fine, but rough, and it was this roughness that leads to unexpected letterforms. It is certainly a notable method, the opposite of how people normally approach type design. You can always refine them afterwards, then it’ll be roughly elegant.

Masayoshi Kodaira had a somewhat different activity for his students. It was still about type and lettering, but he gave them more personal freedom. Unlike the others, he let the students chose whatever word they wanted to work on and approach it however they like, then he critiqued them one by one. Although there weren’t any groundbreaking design method offered, there were a lot more discussions going on. It was quite personal when compared to the other three workshops and Masayoshi often gave his own ideas on how he would approach each individual problem.

Overall, the workshops were an inspiring activity where people could obtain more insight in typography. It gave them a hands-on experience, which they wouldn’t get by just sitting in the auditorium. According to an attendee, one thing worth complimenting was that the subjects and issues brought forward by the designers at the workshop were reasonably different from their presentation. It was certainly better for people who attended both the talk and the workshop as they would have the chance to see facets of typography unique to each session.

Coming back to the presentation, there are, of course, four local speakers. And as this conference is held in Bangkok, it is certainly unsurprising that there should be a few talks on type in Thai context. But we have to admit that many contemporary Thai typefaces are largely influence by latin characters, or what Ekaluck Peanpanawate, a Thai typographer who have been working closely with Cadson Demak for many years, would called ‘Based on Thai Ni-yom’. In fact, his presentation largely illustrated the relationship between Thai and Latin type design process.

Sometimes, it is merely the objective of the project to have Thai alphabets entirely based on Latin characters, such as when we have to develop a Thai version of a corporate typeface which belongs to a foreign company. Nokia Sans THAI and 3D World THAI, based on Nokia Sans and WeddingSans respectively, are two of the many examples visible in the market today. It is also a matter of demand and supply. More than often, English text are used together with Thai and we need a solution where two types of different language blend seamlessly. The obvious response is to have a Thai font based on an English font.

Before going any further into the essentials of Thai typeface, it may be important to know first what makes Thai, Thai. Obviously, one of the common characteristics, which can also be seen in Ekaluck’s custom font, Mekhong Gothic and HongThong Gothic, for Thai companies are those sharp pointy terminals. But perhaps, it’s not merely the sharp end points, but the act of adding that tip, which makes Thai, Thai. According to Pairoj Teeraprapa, Thai people have a knack for ‘adding’ as opposed to the western belief of ‘less is more’ (which, in fact, is kind of ironic, since the Eastern philosophy embraces the Middle Path). But, whether we are influenced by the West or we acknowledge that excessive (even the word itself has a rather negative connotation) isn’t always effective, one could say Thailand is in a transition phase, albeit a slow and incoherent one. So, how do we actually fuse such Thai-ness into this ever-growing modern world?

In one of his slides, Pairoj mentioned that there is a scale in which we could create Thai-ness and to what extent, is depended on the designer. A Thai typographer might ask himself how much sharpness the terminals of his letters should expressed. Certainly, a sharp tip is visually symbolic of Thai-ness, however, it can become unreasonably strong and forceful. So it merely comes down to: How much should he add?

To Be Continued….
Looking at the details of BITS MMX (Part 1)
Looking at the details of BITS MMX (Part 3)