Future Type: Summer 2019
International Perspectives in Type is a yearly summer course taking a small group of students to research and visit the Bauhaus in Germany and other European countries to meet with designers and discuss work, styles, perspectives, etcetera. Starting in Berlin the group visited Type Hype, the Buchstaben Museum, the Wiemar Bauhaus and Museum, the Dessau Bauhaus, the Bauhaus Museum Berlin, The Jewish Museum, the Berlin Wall, participated in a letterpress workshop at Erik Spiekermann’s P98A Studio and bookshop, and discussed lettering with Martina Flor. Afterwards we moved on to Amsterdam where discussions were held at the University of Amsterdam Library with Mathieu Lommen, the studios of Joost Grootens and Bas Jacobs, and finally the design department at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam,
In commemoration of the vast knowledge gained and perspectives understood an oversized and unusual book was created to mark the occassion.
Being in the year of the Bauhaus Centennial, it seemed especially important to visit not just what the forward lookers in history saw but what today’s designers saw as the future of typography. The oversized book contrasts the different approaches and thoughts of the future of design between German typographer Kirsten Dietz and Dutch type designer, Bas Jacobs, through mirrored spreads. The reader can follow the story of one designer all the way through, flip the book and follow the same story for the other designer or read one page of one designer flip the book and read about the other designer’s approach to the same topic. Either way, there is a detachable double-sided poster in the style of both designers which can be enjoyed in the book or removed and hung on display.
After all, “The Future Belongs to the Brave.” —Kirsten Dietz
Instruction: Claudia Roeschmann, International Perspectives in Typography
Design/Copywriting: Mikaela Buck