Cover of the presentation "Basque Lettering Style: Letters for self-assertion". 2020-11-17
Watch the video here (https://vimeo.com/511290721)
TRANSCRIPTION:
I'm pleased to now introduce our speaker today, Juan Luis Blanco. Juan Luis Blanco is joining us live from the Basque Country. It may be lunchtime in California, but in Euskadi, it's time for dinner pintxos washed down with a Rioja alavesa.
Juan Luis Blanco is a graphic designer, a type designer, and a calligrapher based in Zumaia in the Iberian Peninsula, otherwise sometimes called Spain. I don't want to step on any Basque toes here. In 2013, Juan Luis studied at the University of Reading and earned his MA in typeface design, and it was there that he developed Amaikha, a multi-script font family ...
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Harri tipografia bezero baten enkargu bitxi baten ondorioz jaio zen, behintzat kontzeptualki. Haren eskaera zera izan zen: “gure logoa euskal munduarekin lotura garbia izatea nahi dugu, baina harategietan eta sagardotegietan erabiltzen den euskal tipografia hori erabili gabe” – euskal grafiaren estiloari erreferentzia eginez.
Euskal Herriko paisaia bisualari erreparatuz gero, badago zalantzik gabe bisitariei nabarmen gertatuko zaien kontu bat, haiek tipografiaren ezagutza izan ala ez: eskualde osoan zehar letreroetan, seinaletan, karteletan eta nonahi ikus daiteken tipografia bitxia. Oso letra lodiak dira, harrian zizelkatua daudenen ezaugarriak neurriz gorako moduan aplikatzen direlarik, trazuak konkaboak bihurtuz eta haien muturretan izkina zorrotzak sortuz era bitxi batean. Zenbait kasuetan itxura baldar eta landugabea dute, aintzinako argin bat eginda balira bezala. Horregaik, ez da harritzekoa maiz ...
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Hay algo en el paisaje visual del País Vasco que no pasa desapercibido a sus visitantes independientemente de su conocimiento sobre tipografía: el peculiar estilo de rotulación vasco usado en placas de calles, señales, carteles o letreros en todo el territorio. Es un tipo de letra extremadamente pesado realizado en lo que parece ser un diseño glífico muy exagerado, dando lugar a astas cóncavas que producen vertices y terminales muy agudos y formas de letra a veces inusuales. Dichas formas tienen un aspecto rústico y tosco, lo que les confiere un cierto aire primitivo y manual. No es pues de extrañar que se empleen con frecuencia en tiendas de alimentación, restaurantes, sidrerías y otros casos en los que ...
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There is something about the visual landscape of the Basque Country that will not go unnoticed to the eyes of its visitors regardless of their knowledge of typography: the peculiar lettering style spread all over the region on street plates, signs, posters and fascias. They display extremely heavy letters in a sort of overemphasised glyphic style with characteristic concave stems that produce very sharp terminals and awkward letter forms. Those shapes look certainly rough, unrefined and overdone, conveying a sort of primitiveness rooted way back in time. This seems to make it a convenient choice for food shops, restaurants, cider houses and other cases in which projecting the idea of authenticity, tradition and "Basqueness" is intended.
Harri, as ...
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