TYPO – San Francisco

A couple weeks ago Europe’s premium design event, “TYPO” took place in San Francisco at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) and was open to the public. The two-day event made its U.S. debut on April 5 and was centered around the theme “Connect.”

The event had a wide range of speakers including the beautiful free form lettering of Jessica Hische, and the very technical and precise work of Kutlu Çanlıoğlu, who is responsible for the user experience and design of 27 different language services for BBC World services.

The opening speech from Tina Roth Eisenberg, a Swiss designer, was about side projects and how sometimes we can get side tracked from what we really love to do. Joshua Davis, had a more over the top stage presence, but defended the idea that work and play are synonyms, instead of antonyms, and we lose the enjoyment of work as we grow up. Çanlıoğlu showed complexity and uniqueness of the different cultures around the world and how research and small details can affect the success of a project.

As day one came to a close, I felt that the speakers focused on spreading the message of enjoy what you do and do what you enjoy because in the end it will all pay off.

The second day started with Hische where she presented “Uniting Nerds through Typography.” She showed inspiring lettering and how small fun projects can boost your work/skill visibility. Mike Monteiro, finished up the conference with a great presentation on how having a solid process of creation is essential to succeed and get your work respected by the clients. He also emphasized that it’s the designers’ responsibility to educate their clients so they respect you and your work.

Neville Brody and Michael Bierut also brought comedy to life through their presentation, which I also not only found funny, but insightful. Type guru and TYPO facilitator Erik Spiekermann also brought the comedic factor to the conference. Over all, the speakers inspired me and I’m looking forward to the 2013 conference.

I’ve included some presentations that I found inspiring:

Tina Roth Eisenberg – The Power of Side Projects and Eccentric Aunts

Joshua Davis – Beyond Play

Mike Monteiro – What Clients Don’t Know (… And Why It’s Your Fault)