LGM 2019 – Making fonts without font editors
Channel: Libre Graphics Meeting
Date: 2019-07-17

Ana Isabel Carvalho, Ricardo Lafuente
Making fonts without font editors

Font design without a font editor? Manufactura Independente have been experimenting with this possibility and developed a font design and publishing workflow based on plain text files, Git and automated build systems. In the last years, we’ve been exploring type design methodologies from a hacker’s perspective, using non-standard tools to open up new ways of thinking libre type design workflows. This time, we’re presenting the result of years of refining our teaching methodologies in our type design workshops — a practical workflow for making bitmap fonts running on Python FontForge, GitLab, ASCII Art and Continuous Integration (CI) build systems. We’ll explain how these all work and connect while keeping the tech talk accessible to non-techies; we’ll also focus on the kind of considerations that bubble up when thinking up frameworks for teaching type design using libre principles and tools.

Manufactura Independente is a design studio based in Porto, Portugal. It was founded in 2010 by Ana Isabel Carvalho and Ricardo Lafuente as a space for both comissioned work and self-initiated projects. Their design practice orbits around the principles of free software libre culture and critical engagement with design tools.

http://manufacturaindependente.org

This presentation was recorded on Thursday, 30th May 2019 as part of Libre Graphics Meeting 2019, at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar in Saarbruecken, Germany. To learn more, see https://libregraphicsmeeting.org/2019/.