Type Tasting Global Lettering Typography Workshop at SXSW Austin, Texas
London based designer Sarah Hyndman is taking her Type Tasting venture to the US next week. She’s running a day long ‘Global Lettering Workshop’ at South by Southwest (SXSW) on Saturday March 8th.

SXSW is a massive festival that takes place every year in Austin, Texas. It brings together the brightest minds in digital media, technology, journalism, health, film, space, business, gaming and more, with hundreds of sessions, parties and meetups spread across dozens of venues around Austin.

“It’s amazing to be a part of an event of the scale of SXSW. I feel honoured to be included in the lineup of what the organisers describe as ‘an incubator of cutting-edge technologies and creativity’ and excited about the potential connections to be made.”

The SXSW organisers contacted Hyndman and invited her to put in a proposal for a workshop, explaining that they were keen to include a creative typography event in the programme. They had become aware of Type Tasting after its successful workshop at Pick Me Up last year.

“I’m delighted to be taking Type Tasting to the US just over a year after launching the venture. I’ve spent the year initiating conversations about how we experience typography in our environment, so I’m looking forward to opening this out to the international audience that SXSW attracts, and to being inspired by the new opinions and ideas that will be thrown into the mix.”

Above: Type Tasting at Pick Me Up 2013

Type Tasting Global Lettering Workshop at SXSW
The Type Tasting workshop at SXSW will be a global version of two successful London workshops.

Participants will be invited to get creative exploring and reimagining the typography found on signage from around the world. They’ll customise templates taken from existing street signs, and have the opportunity to learn more about each type style and its provenance.

The exhibition of customised letters will grow throughout the day as the completed ones are added to the collection on wall. With a seating and materials for 50 people at a time we expect to generate a large, vibrant display of reimagined lettering.

Underpinning the creative session will be a discussion of the themes and history revealed by the signage we encounter around us. This will be based on case studies:

One study will show what an exploration of your local area can reveal. It takes Dalston in London as an example and shows how the signage charts the transformation of the rapidly changing area. Another case study demonstrates that tracing the journey of a type style around the world, in this case Art Deco, can reveal the trade, travel and economic conditions of an era.

Above: Type Tasting at Pick Me Up 2013

After SXSW, what’s next for Sarah and Type Tasting?
“I have a couple of talks coming up. One is about my edible type and I’m planning to bake a batch of typography to accompany that. I’ll also be doing some writing including a Type Tasting book amongst other things. Type Tasting workshops, Type Safaris and collaborations will continue, new ones will be announced on the website.”

“I’d love to head over to Rio later this year to explore the signage there. It’s a stunning and vibrant city with so much history and it’s going through a time of incredible change now in the build up to the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.”

Follow the adventures of Type Tasting at SXSW on Twitter: @TypeTasting #GlobalType #sxsw

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