Learning to Design the Cherokee Syllabary

Monday, July 13, 2015, 6:30 - 8:30pm

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A sample of the Phoreus Cherokee typeface, designed by Mark Jamra

A sample of the Phoreus Cherokee typeface, designed by Mark Jamra

Mark JamraMark Jamra delivers a free, public lecture as part of Type@Cooper's Herb Lubalin Lecture Series.

Many issues and questions arise when designing non-Latin forms that lie outside a designer’s experience. How do the history, function and particulars of the Cherokee syllabary affect a type designer’s understanding of typographic communication? Do any of the characteristics of the contemporary, multi-font family actually apply to a syllabary with such a unique history and purpose? This will be a personal account of the lessons learned from a challenging project that's leading to new typographic forms for this particular language.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Registration requested.

Mark Jamra is a type designer and associate professor at Maine College of Art in Portland, ME. He has designed and produced typefaces for over 30 years and is the founder of TypeCulture, a digital type foundry and academic resource. His typeface designs include: Alphatier, Phoreus Cherokee, Expo Sans, Expo Serif, Latienne, ITC Jamille, Tacitus and Kinesis, an Adobe Original. His lettering and typefaces have been exhibited in numerous exhibitions and received awards from the Type Directors Club and the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI). He is also a co-founder of JamraPatel, a studio for collaborative type design projects.

Mark graduated with a BFA degree from Kent State University and completed his graduate studies in 1983 at the School of Design in Basel, Switzerland. He has lectured. conducted workshops and taught graphic design, letterform design and type history at colleges in the U.S and Germany. He has been a typographic consultant to the Hewlett-Packard Research Laboratories in Bristol, England and for URW Software & Type GmbH in Hamburg, Germany. He is currently serving on the ATypI's board of directors.

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