2021 Gerard Unger Scholarship results

Aeroplan

Nina Faulhaber’s Aeroplan (previously Flieger) is a revival of a typeface found in a book about aircraft engines published by Waldheim-Eberle A.G. Wien-Leipzig in 1916. While in the original printed book the typeface was slightly irregular and populated with unusual details, Nina’s digital version is an open interpretation rather than a copy. The letterforms are based on the original, but they have been given a contemporary digital sharpness and more regularity in the forms and contrasts. Aeroplan is a small type family that includes upright and italic styles. We are looking forward to start working with Nina and see how Aeroplan can be expanded and taken to the next level during the internship.

Nina is currently studying communication design with a focus on type design in Augsburg, Germany. She is fascinated by the interplay between precise craftspersonship and artistic freedom, which she practices both in her work as a type designer and as a wood sculptor.

For Veronika Burian, co-founder of TypeTogether, “Aeroplan reveals its individualistic character only at second sight. Its certain awkwardness draws you in and makes you look deeper to then find little enchanting details. Aeroplan’s attraction is this moment of unease mixed with a sense of familiarity. The italic especially emits a stark rhythm that immediately feels natural.”

In the words of José Scaglione, co-founder of TypeTogether, “Aeroplan is the bridge where contemporary and vintage design meet, and they do so beautifully. Nina’s typeface produces blocks of text that look even and pleasantly readable, so it is a real surprise to see how daring, even intrepid, the lettershapes are when you zoom in on them.”

With Aeroplan, Nina has become the the scholarship’s eighth recipient after Roxane Gataud (Bely), Juan Bruce (Noort), Quentin Schmerber (Temeraire), Bogidar Mascareñas (Laima) Florian Fecher (Lektorat),  and Anya Danilova’s upcoming Rezak. Each of the Gerard Unger Scholarship published typefaces have won awards, including the TDC Certificate of Excellence award for three of them.

Participants

This year we received 46 submissions from 44 designers living all over the world — representing 25 schools in 13 countries. Thirty-six of the families were single script and 10 were multiscript, showcasing nine different scripts.
 

Merits

We want to thank every student who submitted their typeface to the Gerard Unger Scholarship, and also the teachers and tutors who have helped throughout the process. The incredible response from students and their impressive work always makes this worthwhile.

The TypeTogether team has selected the main scholarship winner and awarded merits to eight other outstanding typeface projects: Aimé by Fer Cozzi, Cemita by Miguel Angel Contreras Cruz, Didonist by Sergei Rasskazov, Glossa by Emerson Eller, Letra Brasileira by Sandro Fetter, Nausea by Fred Wiltshire, Ploquine by Emma Marichal, and Tiffin by Salomi Desai. José and Veronika will give each merit winner an exclusive feedback session on their project, a merit certificate, and a social media badge.

The Aimé type family explores the idea of sculpting letterforms. The result is a mix of a rustic feel and expressive shapes. The project studies the morphological peculiarities of letters and diacritics present in languages recognized in the Argentine territory. The final goal was to demonstrate certain characteristics of phonetics in the lettershapes and their impact in the paragraph’s textures and rhythm. Designed by Fer Cozzi in 2018 and redeveloped during the Practica program in 2020. Tutors: Nicole Dotin and Sol Matas.

Fer Cozzi is an independent type designer born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She obtained her diploma at the University of Buenos Aires, and later completed the postgraduate career in Type Design at the same university, where she also works as assistant professor. Designer, talkative, and passionate about letters, some of her work has been selected for renowned typography exhibitions and competitions, such as Tipos Latinos, Pangramme, and TDC. 

Cemita is a type family inspired by traditional food from Puebla México — a cemita poblana, like a powerful and magical sandwich that can have different fillings. Cemita brings those different flavours into the family: sans, serif, rounded, and script. Designed by Miguel Angel Contreras Cruz at the Principles of Typeface Design: Display Type class at Type@Cooper. Tutor: Juan Villanueva.

Miguel graduated from the graphic design faculty of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla and was selected in the biennial of Tipos Latinos in 2016. He is a member of the Mexican collectives Letter INC. and Letrástica, oriented to activities around calligraphy, typography, and lettering, where he teaches, designs fonts, and organises meetings. Miguel received a BIPOC fund for Principles of Typeface Design: Display Type class through Type@Cooper with Juan Villanueva and a BIPOC Scholarship for Python Scripting for Type Design with Peter Nowell.

Didonist is a stencil variable font that combines the logic of stencil construction with Didot-style proportions and shapes. The main purpose of the optical axis is to make the font parameters and contrast change according to the size of the letters and to a minimum stroke thickness of 1mm (the minimum technically possible for a hand-made stencil). Designed by Seryozha Rasskazov during the Master Type Design 2020–2022, ECAL. Tutor: Kai Bernau.

Seryozha Rasskazov is a graphic and type designer, lettering artist, and sign painter from St. Petersburg, Russia, currently living and studying at Lausanne, ECAL Master Type Design.

The Glossa type family is an interpretation rather than a revival and explores the boundaries of interpretation through Renaissance forms. This project follows Garamont’s pattern while blending diverse sources to find its own idiom. Designed during the Expert Class type design course at the Plantin Institute of Typography, Antwerp. Tutor: Frank E. Blokland.

Emerson Eller is a Brazilian multidisciplinary designer and researcher with a deep interest in typography and type design, holding a PhD in Communication Design from the University of Lisbon. In 2019, he graduated from the Expert Class type design at the Plantin Institute of Typography, Antwerp.

Letra Brasileira, by Sandro Fetter
Letra Brasileira, a script typeface to support handwriting lessons based on three main guidelines: simplicity, accessibility, and tradition. It includes three versions: a cursive, simple style, a contemporary style, and the traditional Brazilian continuous cursive model. Designed by Sandro Fetter as part of his doctoral thesis in the Graduate Program in Design of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Tutors: Prof Dr Airton Cattani and Dr Edna Cunha Lima.

Sandro Fetter is a Doctor by Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS, 2019) — where he teaches Typographic Studies, Type Design, Digital Interface Design, and Project Management — and Master in Graphic Design by Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial (ESDI/UERJ, 2011). He is also a researcher in the fields of typography, calligraphy, type design, and education. 

Nausea is a multiscript text typeface for print, inspired by Renaissance type with a focus on West African scripts. Designed by Fred Wiltshire during the Masters in Type Design at the University of Reading. Tutor: Gerry Leonidas.

Fred Wiltshire is an English/French type designer currently finishing his Masters in Type Design at the University of Reading.

Ploquine is an extensive type family that takes inspiration from wood typefaces, 19th century taste, and the work of the French wood type manufacturer Emile Ploquin. The result is a contemporary charming family that conserves the mechanical and original quirkiness. Designed by Emma Marichal during her studies at the Type design post diploma course at Esad d’Amiens. Tutor: Sébastien Morlighem.

Emma Marichal is a French graphic and typographic designer based in Lyon. She studied graphic design in Brittany where she discovered typography with the type designer Jack Usine. She consequently took the type design post diploma course at Esad d’Amiens. In 2020, she released Gallique, a display typeface, with Type Department. She currently collaborates with 205TF and continues work on her EsadType typeface family and many others projects.

The Tiffin family has a fresh approach on the coexistence of the Devanagari and Latin scripts. Designed together for the purpose of bilingual literary magazines, they convey the same message in their own non-compromised voice. Designed by Salomi Desai during the Ésad Type programme at the Amiens School of Art & Design, France. Tutor: Sébastien Morlighem.

Salomi Desai is a type and graphic designer from Mumbai, India. She was introduced to typography during her BA in Graphic Design at Central Saint Martins, London. Following her graduation she worked as a graphic designer on branding and packaging projects. A continued interest in customising letters led her to pursue an internship at Mota Italic and later she took the the Ésad Type programme at the Amiens School of Art & Design. She currently works at Universal Thirst as a type designer for Latin and Indic script projects. 

We also want to thank all the other participants for their submissions. While they may not have been selected for the Gerard Unger Scholarship, we wish them the very best on their future path in type design!