We’ve now entered the third stage of TypeParis Summer25 — a compact yet pivotal phase where the evolution and expansion of all designs consistently astonish us! For this part of the program, we’ve brought in instructor Malou Verlomme and Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer, the co-founder of Glyphs. They, along with our regular team of instructors, have been helping attendees transform their typefaces into complete, fully digital families. These days have also included a visit to a magnificent Parisian library, home to countless precious and rare books, and we welcomed our third guest critic.
Design Consolidation and Production Focus
This phase begins with the familiar basic set meeting, where the group showcases all the work they’ve completed on the main weight of their typefaces. It’s truly remarkable to witness the expansion and development of their designs each time!
Upon reaching this advanced stage of the Summer25 programme, attendees must dedicate themselves to consolidating their designs. First, they concentrate on expanding their initial design into a functional full font. To do so, they have learned drawing punctuation, numerals, diacritics, and adding broad language support to their typefaces.
Following this, they begin to explore ideas for extending their type family, considering options such as italics and additional weights, always ensuring these additions match their project’s brief and design style. In order to push creativity, the attendees explore in short sessions, they explored variations from their family like a black slab, thin rounded, reverse contrast slab or sans, a high contrast black, etc. on few glyphs. From that they will selected the most interesting variation. It is also time to learn how to interpolate masters with the help of the team as well Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer from Glyphs app.
Exploring Parisian Libraries: l’Arsenal
A treasured way to balance the intense pace of our classroom work is through several visits to Paris’ libraries, each filled with countless precious and rare books. But these appointments serve a deeper purpose than just offering a change of scenery. They are designed to equip attendees with essential historical insights, guiding them through the creation and development of their typeface projects. A true understanding of Latin letterform construction is simply not possible without a clear grasp of the alphabet’s history.
The stop in this third phase was the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, officially recognized as a historical monument since 2003. Situated within the ancient Arsenal de Paris and originally established by King François I in the sixteenth century, this library specializes in rare books and the history of bookmaking and binding. On this visit, led by Christine Prieur and Patrick Odent-Allet, our entire group, alongside some instructors, closely examined a specially chosen collection of historical type specimens, rare books and writing manual books from Ladislas Mandel collection, receiving detailed, individual explanations for each item.
Welcoming International Guest Critic: Diana Oveza
During this brief period, we also had the valuable opportunity to welcome Diana Oveza from The Netherlands as a guest type critic. Oveza’s fresh approach and inspiration provided attendees new perspectives and diverse creative avenues to complete their type, also planning potential family extensions. After individually studying all attendees’ projects, she gave a presentation focusing on her custom typefaces, and the students had the chance to ask her all the details about her creative process.
Glyphs’ Indispensable Support in Class
We are once again fortunate to have the much-appreciated presence of Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer, the Glyphs co-founder, in class.
Having Rainer with us daily during this advanced stage of the program is incredibly advantageous for the entire group. Attendees receive passionate and patient personal assistance from the individual who best understands the Glyphs software. Rainer’s invaluable help, combined with the mastery of our instructor team, enables attendees to achieve an advanced level of digital workflow within Glyphs.
Ready to discover their impressive progress in the upcoming phase? Stay tuned!
– By Gina Serret
