Talk:
Take one typeface …
with Fiona Ross
Fiona Ross discusses the current state of vernacular language newspaper typography in one of the most densely populated cities in the world, now enjoying a burgeoning newspaper readership. Reviewing the use of Bengali typefaces in Kolkata, with particular focus on newspaper design, Fiona Ross shows how a single typeface has dominated communications since the 1980s, and presents recent efforts to extend the typographic palette with new designs.
These are truly revolutionary typeface designs, and they provide diversity and solutions for complex typography. They are now being implemented by the leading Kolkata newspaper publisher, effectively transforming the typographic landscape for millions of readers.
Fiona Ross concludes with some considerations about how this approach may serve as an example for other South Asian scripts, in different typographic environments.
This talk took place Friday, June 17, 2016, at 11:00am as part of the main Typographics conference schedule.
About Fiona Ross
Dr Fiona Ross specializes in non-Latin type design and typography, having a background in languages with a PhD in Indian Palaeography (SOAS). From 1978 to 1989 she worked for Linotype Limited (UK), with responsibility for the design of their non-Latin fonts and typesetting schemes. Since 1989 she has worked as a consultant, author, lecturer, and type designer; her recent work as a designer has been in collaboration with Tim Holloway and John Hudson (as Associate Designer at Tiro Typeworks) for clients such as Ananda Bazar Patrika, Adobe, Microsoft and Harvard University Press. In 2003 Fiona joined the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication at the University of Reading (UK), where she is Associate Professor in Non-Latin Type Design (part-time) and Curator of the Department’s Non-Latin Type Collection.
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