Juan Luis Blanco is a graphic designer, type designer and calligrapher based in Zumaia (Spain). He has worked as a freelancer graphic designer from 1997, and in 2013, he attained an MA in Typeface Design at the University of Reading. During the MA in Typeface Design he developed Amaikha, a multi-script font family comprising Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic and Tifinagh. Currently he combines calligraphy classes and graphic design with typographic projects that focus in the Basque lettering style as well as multi script typefaces involving the Latin, Arabic and Tifinagh alphabets. He loves designing typefaces and maintains a healthy balance by rock-climbing.

Collective projects

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib. Worked with Kristyan Sarkis, Laura Meseguer in Qandus; and with Andreu Balius and Salah Bellizi in Tubqal, both including Latin, Arabic and Tifinagh scripts.

Akaya multiscript font. A tri-script font (Latin-Kannada-Telugu) developed with Vaishnavi Murty for Google Fonts.

Awards

TDC Certificate of Typographic Excellence 2017 for the multiscript typeface Qandus, a collective project with Kristyan Sarkis and Laura Meseguer.

Lectures/talks

BBDW21 (Bilbao Bizkaia Design Week 2021). “Diseñar tipografía”. Bilbao. 2021/11/22

IDarte. Talk about type design in the Design Public School of Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2021/04/15 (Basque version)

Letterform Archive. “Basque Lettering: Letters for Self-Assertion” (Online Lecture). 2020/11/17.

2CDG (Second Conference in Graphic Design). “Diseñar un sistema de escritura: alfabeto tifinagh y visibilización de la cultura amazigh”. Bilbao, 2018/06/28.

ATypI 2016: “A Typographic Maghribi Trialogue”. Warsaw, 2016/09/15.

7CIT (7th International Conference of Typography): “Alfabeto tifinagh: diseño tipográfico y supervivencia cultural”. Valencia, 2016/07/01.

Face Forward 2015: “The case of the Tifinagh script: typeface design to the rescue”. Dublin, 2015/12/12.

Typomad 2015: “Amaikha: diseñando una fuente multiscript”. Madrid, 2015/12/04.

University of the Basque Country: “Reading, una singladura tipográfica”. Bilbao, 2015/05/07.

Media/interviews

Berria. «Euskal grafian oinarrituz, bi tipografia sorta egin ditut: ‘Harri’ eta ‘Basati’». Zumaia, 2024/06/12.

Euskadi Irratia.  Baipasa: weekly collaboration on typography. San Sebastián, 2020/03…

Vimeo.  Interview by Liher Landeta: “Juan Luis Blanco – Grafía vasca“. San Sebastián, 2019/05/13.

Usandizaga Diseño. Entrevista al diseñador de tipografías Juan Luis Blanco. San Sebastián, 2018/11/28.

Euskadi Irratia. Interview in the public Basque Radio.San Sebastián, 2018/09/22.

Diario Vasco. «He diseñado la tipografía vasca ‘Harri’, un proyecto personal recién terminado». San Sebastián, 2017/05/07.

Published articles

“Lettres au Sud-Ouest”. Lettres Baladeuses. Alphabets et autres symboles dans les Landes et le Pays-Basque. Clement Criseo & Malou Verlomme. Éditioins Pimientos/Arteaz, Ciboure (FR). July 2023.

“Basque Lettering”. Forum Journal of Letter Exchange, Issue 41. March 2021

“Tifinagh alphabet, an ancient survivor in a modern multiscript environment”. The Palace of Typographic Masonry. Richard Niessen. Spector Books, Leipzig (DE). September 2018.

Exhibitions

50 años, 50 diseñadores Exhibition showcasing a selection of works made by alumni from the Fine Arts Faculty of the University of the Basque Country. Bilbao, 2021/03…