At the end of the presentation he mentioned that he wanted to keep things from being overly technical, only addressing issues the audience can easily sympathize with. Typography in Thailand has a long way to catch up with the world and it would be too serious a subject to throw complicated technical aspects of type design to the audience. Though, I actually wouldn’t mind if the issues brought forward were more complex, since it would extend the boundaries in which we perceive type. Nonetheless, it gave a nice balance to the whole conference when weighted against some international guest speakers.

On the other side of the field, there are those designers who explore type in its expressive form and the process in which we create type. Type as a mean of visual expression may be experimental in nature as demonstrated by Rukkit Kuanhawate, a Thai graphic designer who have been working on both design and art projects, where he developed a portable stencil block, which consists of simple geometric shapes extracted from letterforms, that could be used to create countless variation of stenciled letterings on-the-go. One cool (if I may use the word) thing is that this stencil block allows for creation in both Thai and Latin alphabets as well as some basic decorative graphics. Unlike other type projects shown in this conference, it doesn’t have the refined qualities possessed in commercial typefaces. But that’s its charm. It’s the other end of the field.

Attention to detail is important. Perhaps, it’s the most important trait for a professional typographer. When we think of type we usually think of something small, one that is within our frame of vision. At small sizes, details become unnoticeable, and imperfections are tolerable. But type doesn’t always remain small and, more than often, has to adapt to larger scale uses. Suppakit Chalermlarp, the last of our Thai speakers, had a career in signmaking, specializing in large-scale application of type. How he sees type may be a tad different from how graphic or communication designers see them. When it comes to large-scale artwork, small details are even more important, and it can draw a clear line between good and bad design. Consistency needs to be perfected because when enlarged, even the tiniest of irregularities can be plainly visible. Overly large ink traps and incoherence in stroke width may be just a few examples reflected in his talk. As a professional signmaker, he would have have to clean up these details himself. In fact, his talk was mainly about the enlargement of these seemingly small things. Certainly there are types that were made for very special purposes, such as Bell Centennial which was designed to address poor reproduction and ink spread in telephone directory printing, and weren’t meant for large-scale uses. But that doesn’t mean that when types are small, details may be neglected. Every typeface should be perfect in itself. That may be what distinguished a commercial font from a free one. ‘You get what you paid for.’ Christian Schwartz’s response to a question at the beginning of the conference regarding this issue is dead obvious, but true.

After all the eight speakers have spoken and the last question answered, BITS MMX eventually came to an end. People naturally started chatting once again, discussing some of the issues raised during the conference with their friends while praising their favorite designers. Soon, it was time to say farewell. As the organizer of this symposium, Anuthin Wongsunkakon, on behalf of Cadson Demak, climbed onto the stage and gave a few traditional words of thanks to all the supporters. Then there was a big round of applause, signaling the closure to one of most significant events in Thai type history.

Wandering out of the auditorium, many may be deeply inspired, some may have made discoveries, while others may start to see type in a new perspective. All of these are great but they only apply to a small group of people. To others outside of this little circle, the importance of typography is still fairly vague. For the most part, people don’t know what typeface they are reading. They can’t tell a Didot from a Bodoni. They can’t see that some serifs are sharper than others. They wouldn’t bother observing the shapes of the tittles. They wouldn’t even notice a ligature when they come across one. So why in the world would one go that extra mile to polish these little details? I would say it’s a mark of professionalism, a sign of quality, and a symbol of perfection. Even if you don’t understand the technical aspects of type design, you could at least appreciate the process. Don’t see it as a typographer designing type, but consider it a professional perfecting the minutest of details. Isn’t it this excellence we should all strive for? Whether you are an engineer, an architect, or a scientist, it’s not difficult to understand. So don’t say you are not a typographer or you don’t work with type. In a sense, you type everyday. And when BITS MMXI comes, just go, sit back, and think small. In the meanwhile, have great expectations.

BITS (Bangkok International Typographic Symposium) First ever typographic conference in SE Asia. Bangkok, Thailand. 30th-31st October 2010. 

Presented by Alliance Française de Bangkok with a support from Goethe Institut Thailande and Japan Foundation Bangkok. 

Organized by Cadson Demak in association with ThaiGa. 

Project Directors: Claire Keefe, Pierre Laburthe, Dr.Norbert Spitz and Ayumi Takita. 
Program Director: Anuthin Wongsunkakon and Ankana Srisuk
Workshop Director and Art Director: Pongtorn Hiranpruek
Assistant team: Stawix Rucha, Sitanant Srichanthuk, Anuntaporn Chaiwaraporn, Suksom Ruanghirun