It seems that the end of this year is going to be intense. I am really glad to announce my talk about the Tifinagh script in the Face Forward conference in Dublin. I’ll talk about the normalisation and unification of the Amazigh language, as well as the renaissance and standardisation of its original script, the Tifinagh alphabet, in Morocco, where it coexists with the Arabic and the Latin scripts.
The practice of typeface design in this peculiar context raises extremely interesting and uncommon questions, namely: Which are the criteria to define a unified and manageable character set from more than 20 dialects each one with diverse peculiarities and uses? How to translate the shapes of ancient carved letters into digital media? How to encourage the adoption of an unfamiliar writing system in a context of competition with the Arabic and the Latin script? Would the design of a cursive and more easily writable alphabet facilitate its use at schools? Would a bicameral script help readability in long texts? If so, is Tifinagh an uppercase or a lowercase alphabet? Which would be the right approach to devise a bicameral writing system from a monocameral script that has no calligraphic tradition? I will show a glimpse of the history and development of the Tifinagh alphabet as the answers to these questions are analised.
Saturday, December 12th, 11:30am, track d.
Complete program here: http://faceforward.typography.ie
See you in Dublin!
